From Kent to Cape Wrath the K2CW - March 2010 - May 2010
The initial seed of a plan started to form when I was watching the weather forecast shortly after returning from John O’Groats last year. Whilst Mick was looking at the bottom left and top right and thinking “That’s a long way we just walked”, I was looking at the opposite two corners and cogs were starting to turn in my head.
For a while very little serious thought was given to the route, planning and logistics, other than to look at a map and try to decide where the bottom right hand corner lies (and if there’s an officially recognised answer which varies from our start point then I would rather not know!). With it proving a bit tricky to decide exactly where the south-east corner of Britain is, I decided it was our walk so it was our prerogative to pick the point that looked to be: (a) a reasonable contender for the ‘bottom right corner’ award; and (b) reasonably easy to get to; and (c) reasonably pleasant to walk from. The winner was St Margaret’s at Cliffe, just up the coast from Dover.
A few weeks back the planning finally began. As it had taken me a year to plan our LEJOG route, and with our planned start date only a handful of months away, it seemed like time was of the essence. As it turned out the planning was much simpler than LEJOG for various reasons (but that’s a subject for a different post). Last weekend I finished tweaking and declared that we have a route and an itinerary (which isn’t to say that there won’t be changes, but with one fifty-mile exception I’m reasonably happy with the route that we have). Read more on the blog In aid of Help For Heroes

Just Giving Page

Walking from the ice edge of Antarctica to the South Pole and back - November 2010
In November 2010, John Wilton-Davies and Justin Miles of Great Britain will attempt to become the first people to reach the South Pole and return, completely unsupported. No resupplies, no dog sleds, no kite skiing. Nothing. The longest unsupported polar journey in history. Join the PATRIOT CLUB & become a vital part of the expedition.

With the schools, we've taken the idea of our talks one stage further. We're talking with the education authority about using our expedition to bolster the national curriculm. Geography departments can use the expedition itself as a learning exercise, and our training and physical performance will be used by PE and Human Sciences students in an activity based learning programme, and we're trying to find a way to use the nutrition element in the GCSE catering course. I'm also getting involved with a couple of national campaigns to use our expedition to help to encourage participation in fitness activities across the UK, and to back the "athletes of tomorrow" programme.

Last Great Challenge Website

Let's Trek for Children - Jordan Desert Challenge - March 2010
We have registered with a Charity called "Let's Trek for Children" to take part in their Jordan Desert Challenge 2010. They organise various treks/expeditions throughout the world to raised funds for children's charities. The charities that this particular trek raises funds for are:- Barnardo's, Dreams Come True, Kith & Kids, MedEquip4Kids.

The Jordanian challenge is not just about the trek itself - we have to reach and maintain a standard of fitness and raise (and hope to exceed) £2500. The Trek itself involves starting at the lowest point on Earth, the Dead Sea. For 5 days, c. 100km, we trek across the Jordanian desert, across sand dunes, and rocky and undulating terrain, finishing in the ancient city of Petra.

We have various plans for our fundraising efforts. Firstly, there is personal sponsorship where friends and family can donate on-line at our registered web-page. Donations from tax payers are also subject to Gift Aid.

We have already run a "Guess the name of the Teddy Bear", have collected at a St Johnstone football game on 7th March, plan a silent auction towards the end of the year, and will run mini-quiz sheets throughout the year. I also plan to send letters out in the Autumn to all those who send us Christmas Cards to ask them to forego the cards and donate £1 (£1.28 with gift aid) to us instead. Last trek we raised £10,000 between the 3 of us (my sister joined us on that trek), which was a fabulous contribution. Estelle K Nicol and Joan Allan

Chairty Page

Tumaini Children Foundation
We are organising a Quiz Night on Wednesday 9th December and we were hoping you would be willing to donate a prize to our 'Guess the weight of the pack' (the expedition pack we will be taking with us to Kilimanjaro). ‘Tumaini’ is the Kiswahili word for ‘hope’. The Tumaini Children Foundation is a non profit organisation based in Usa River Tanzania. The organisation helps orphans, homeless and street children of the Arusha Region.

The Tumaini Children Foundation has recently relocated to a new home in Usa River, just 20 kilometres from Arusha. The Centre needs support to complete its move and furnish the new facility. Any sponsorship would be used to support the children, for example, school materials, clothes and sports equipment. Any money will go towards a laptop and/or the purchase of a cow. Three Poltair pupils and three ex-Poltair pupils are taking on a challenge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in February 2010. After visiting the orphanage, the expedition will begin in the Arusha National Park with a trek to Mount Meru. Having acclimatised for one week, the team will begin a journey to the highest place in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro.

The team needs to raise money for travel insurance, a Tanzanian visa, inoculations, tips and transport to the airport. Please will you help Tumaini Children Foundation and the Poltair Kilimanjaro Expedition by supporting us.

Helen Blackburn - Expedition Leader/Poltair School Outdoor Education

Poltair School Quiz Night

Hadrian's Haul - March/April 2010
We are walking the 84 miles of Hadrian's Wall in March/April 2010. We will be wild camping en route and carrying our food and beds with us all the way. We are hoping to complete the challenge in 4 days for the Help for Heroes charity. Cheers for taking the time to reply and offer help. Our training and progress diary is on our blog. Kind Regards Alan Laidler

Hadrian's Haul

Running LEJOG - April 2010
Hi everyone at Backpacking light recieved my new OMM Villain backpack really pleased with the product and superfast delivery. I will be using the backpack next April when I will be attempting to set a new WORLD RECORD for RUNNING from Lands End to John O'Groats solo and unassisted. Thats 900 miles in 15 days an average of 60miles each day. The term solo and unassisted means that I will be totally self sufficient for the duration of the event carrying everything I require in my rucksack. The only thing that I can be resupplied with each day is fresh water. Having the best lightweight yet durable equipment is paramount in order to complete such an extreme event so I will definately be using your fantastic company in the future. In aid of Help for Heroes and Firefighters Charity.

Running LEJOG

Glyde Around Britain - April 2010
The plan is to cycle around the Coast of Britain setting off in April 2010. The journey is around 4300 miles. I'm cycling unsupported - no van to carry the goodies, so I'm shopping around for the lightest kit that will do the job. In this blog I'll review the kit as I pick it up for the trip and blogging daily once underway.

Glyde Around Britain

Bill Dodds is cycling Japan end to end. 27 days from April 9, 2009 to May 5, 2009. Expect wonderful pictures, funny stories and a whole new viewpoint on life!

Chris Townsend falls with a foot in both camps. A customer and also a blogger who inspires many with his trip reports, experiences and knowledge. He's also a really nice guy, so we've decided to place him here. His website is certainly worth more than one cuppa!

Chris Townsend

Joy and Joffs website/bloggy thing. Cycle The Americas. "Whilst there is a clearly defined adventure cyclists’ route which stretches from the north of Alaska to the south of Patagonia, it seems that the route across from the east coast to the west coast of the USA does not traditionally form part of the transcontinental journey to Patagonia. It is partly for this reason that Joff wanted to undertake this particular route." The title we hope says it all. And we’re aiming to do the trip for the charity Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. A two year trip starting Spring 09.

Cycle The Americas