A Land's End to John O'Groats Charity Walk

 
 

Well we've got here, since the start of our walk we've been looking forward to getting to Chepstow, the quarter mark of our walk, and a rest day with Carlie's Aunt and Uncle. The past few days have been a real slog, the weather changed as we left Bridgwater tipping down with rain as we crossed the M5 and headed on towards Cheddar.

Not only was the weather against us, but the scenery wasn't so spectacular either. On the plus side it was flat, so it was easier to get the mileage up. We picked our way through Somerset over the M5 about five times and right by the side of it to cross the Avon and by the M48 to finally cross over into Chepstow. Before we even walked into the centre Nat (Carlie's Aunt) was there waiting for us to. I really want to thank Nat and Parf for their kindness, already they've been so good to us really making us feel welcome and helping us rest and recuperate. It’s been lovely to see all Carlie’s family too especially Carlie's youngest sister, Evey, who I’d not seen for some time. Shame you're not about Rachel but thanks for the support and comments.

So what's next for us? We're planning to have a couple of days walking with only day sacks on, while we're still close enough to come back to Carlie's aunt and uncle's in the evenings. This will give us time to heal and sort some of our aches and pains out before we head on to the Pennine Way - I'm starting to get blisters on the new skin where a blister has already been!!! Not good!

 

Well I'm sorry it's been so long since we last 'blogged on' but we've been trying to press on to Chepstow and rest (thank you very much indeed Nat and Parf). Well quite a lot has happened since we last let you know about our trip. We've left Cornwall, been through Devon and are now in Somerset - having had our first view of Wales!

Just now we're in Bridgewater and only online thanks to a kindly pub owner who has lent us his laptop and free wi-fi to let you all know what we've been up to. Unfortunately we come with bad news, we're a day behind due to an enforced day off from Carlie going over on her knee and straining it. It's on the mend, but needs time to rest fully - bring on Chepstow and the couple of days after where we'll be walking with daypacks only!

We have many thanks to make too, firstly to Sue the warden on the Tarka Trail who very kindly gave us a place to stay overnight and also gave us breakfast to push us on our way. Thank you very much indeed Sue for your kindness to the both of us and for your donation to our charaties too. Thank you.

We must also thank the people of Challacombe (not inculding the useless 'campsite' who need to be taken off the caravan and camping club list!), but the ladies of the B&B we stayed at as well as the owners of a lovely farmhouse who let us stay overnight for next to nothing!! Thank you so much you really helped us on our way.

Last night we spent on the Quantocks overlooking Wales and the Bristol Channel about 8miles out of Bridgewater. We had the fortune to get chatting to a lovely couple from London who were in the area on holiday. Thank you very much to the both of you for your pate and veg and company. If ever you're in Cardiff and need a bed - let us know!

Well like I said we're on our way to Chepstow, hopeing to get there in 2 days time.....watch this space!

Thank you also to all those of you who have recently sponsored us we really to appreciate it and it helps to know you are thinking of us and donating to push us on our way.

 

You'll have to bear with me on any spelling mistakes here - you may well know I'm not the greatest speller. So how are we? Well the sun is shining here in Wadebridge and we're pressing on well so all in all we're doing well. My knee has been giving me a lot of jip and I've some mammouth blisters on my foot - hey ho that's to be expected when you take somthing like this on. The weather has been a mixed bag, a lot of mist, wind and some rain and a couple of days of sunshine too.

We spent last night at a proper campsite! So made use of the shower facilities which is always a moral-booster. A few days ago we camped outside Penhale Army camp, which took be back about 8 years, when I was last there with the army!

Thank you again to those of you who have sponsored us recently, very good of you and great to know this is all worthwhile. We've got ourselves into a bit of a routine now - bascially it's based about where the next pub is for that refreshing pint (of Orange Juice or lemonade!) or where the next food stop is, as the carrot to spur us on

So in all Carlie and I are making good progress and feeling relatively well. Good to hear from Rachel and Nat on our comments - always good to hear from you all.

 

Well here we are in St Ives, only 3 days in a but going well so far. Unfortunately we started late on day one, as the bus didn’t get us into Land’s End until about 1700, which meant that after having done all the posing for photos, sending postcards etc we didn’t set off until about 1800, so just as well that we have light until late! We were making slow progress to start with as the costal path is very tricky, some of it has fallen away into the sea! So we’ve sped things up now and we’re well on the way again.

The weather has been pretty grotty until today, the sea mist meant that we couldn’t see anything, but today at least, we woke up to beautiful sunshine…and was then met by the farmer who’s land we’d set up camp on the night before, thankfully he didn’t mind at all that we were there and wished us luck on our way.

Hope all’s well with you who are reading this. We’ll keep you updated as an when we can.

 

After months of planning the day is finally here, we’re off on our epic adventure. I’m not really sure what to expect. Having done a long distance path before I am certainly more apprehensive about what’s to come than Carlie is. We are both excited but my excitement is a bit more reserved than hers. Still there is no more we can do than walk, walk and walk. Even though we’ve been preparing for this for so long, there have been, of course, some elements we’ve neglected (buying a decent guide for the South West Coastal Path for one!) so our last day in Cardiff was a mad panic to get everything ready in time.

Our packs are heavier than I would have liked, but we’ve packed and re-packed and really got rid of as much excess as we can, I’m sure with time we’ll find what we need and don’t need and will be able to shed some weight.

Later today we board the train to Penzance, then a short bus ride will get us to our start point down in Land’s End, with luck some 70+ days later, we will arrive at the most northern point of Scotland. Wish us luck, especially with the weather. 

 

With only days to go we are finalising the route and packing and buying our last bits and bobs for the walk. We now have all the guide books for relevant sections for all the way. Sat here in Cardiff with the sun shining the prospect of walking for just over two months with no cares apart from getting to the end seems great. However the reality may well not be so great, what with the Met office telling us we’ve ‘had the best of the summer’! We’ve got plenty of warm kit and waterproofing everything – prepare for the worst and anything else is a bonus. I hope those of you who are checking this regularly enjoy our photos, blogs and route pages, we will try to update them as much as we can. Thank you all once again for all your help with the sponsorship, if you know anyone who’s still not sponsored us then please badger them into giving!

I’m sure I’ll write another entry before we head down on Monday to start our epic adventure. For now I must get back onto planning the route and packing.