Three Hundred

It's pretty obvious that I have reached another huge milestone. 300 miles ... crikey! I am really pleased to have got this far and it's far from over but I really do appreciate all the help and support that you have given me over the past three hundred miles. Of course this is all done with a man who means so much to me firmly in my mind, Jim. As I write this I am listening to one of his favourite artists, Steven Wilson. I know he would be over the moon to know that we are here this far through the challenge. Please do give generously to Jim's chosen charity The Rainbow Trust using the link below to support families with seriously or terminally ill children through some of the toughest situations. Thank you for your support and enjoy this round up.
To give to the Rainbow Trust please use this link: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/500mileschallenge

Beachy Head + Seven Sisters
When I came back from America I was keen to crack on with my challenge as time really is running out. You may think, "Oh but there is plenty of time before the end of the year!" when actually this is possibly one of the busiest times for me. Mum came up with the idea of walking from Beachy Head along the Seven Sisters Cliffs, I looked it up and I saw that it wouldn't be massively far but it would a fantastic walk from a scenery point of view. Sure enough it was, it was probably one of the best walks I have done this year.  The weather was fantastic and you could see quite far out to sea. The chalk cliffs snaked along the shoreline, rising and falling every now and again. As you approach Birling Gap you get a great snapshot of the cliffs and the path ahead. Strolling along the tops of the cliffs, ascending and descending frequently was a great way to get re-inspired with walking after the enormity of the challenge had hit home. Patriotism swept over me throughout the journey, having just got back from America, this was a real kick of Great Britain. We may be a small island, but we sure have some fantastic places to visit and there is no place like this island of ours. Before I get into a full blown rant about I why I love England, I will say that if you ever have any friends from overseas, then do take them down to see this place. On the final rise I was met by mum and dad and we headed back to the car.
What a fantastic walk.

Walk Total: 7.0

Dad insisted I had my photo taken ... Dad's huh!

God save the Queen

Kingston to Weybridge
Miles. I need miles ... Who's he?! I digress, I need them and lots of them. I joined up with my old friend The Thames and walked from Kingston to Weybridge. Sadly theres not really much to report about this walk apart from a certain King's palace which was passed. I wasn't in the mood for a great adventure and I wanted something simple and not too big. Setting off from Kingston I told myself to go at a reasonable pace and not over do it too much. Needless to say I bombed it down to Hampton Court Palace, took a few snaps of Old Henry's place and then went on my way. Every now and then you would encounter the groups of rowers being snarled at, STROKE ... STROKE ...STROKE. Many young people being pushed to their limit ... •sigh• welcome to middle class Surrey, where kids are no longer kids but drilled to perform and achieve their master's bidding. Nevertheless a very stale 9.9 miles.

Walk Total: 9.9 miles

Wotton - Leith Hill Loop
I'm running out of local walks to do but I spied this one on the map, and asked Mum if she wanted to join me. I knew it would be under 10 miles and the climb up Leith Hill wouldn't be too strenuous so she agreed. We parked at the church at Wotton and then ambled up through the tiny hamlets on the approach up to Leith Hill (the highest point in Surrey). We walked through a lot of forested areas and it was really quite pleasant strolling through the trees and seeing these stereotypical English villages. We took the gentlest route up Leith Hill and when we finished I was astonished that we had climbed nearly 1000 ft because it certainly didn't feel like we had. If you don't like steep climbs I would highly recommend this route. From here we descended down the much steeper side of Leith Hill to Coldharbour the route from here on in was incredibly straightforward. Straight down the path through the forestry to Wotton. It was a great walk and Mum was rather chuffed that she'd done it.

Walk Total: 8.4 miles

Kingston - Richmond Loop
Another day off, another walk! With a busy week ahead I didn't want to do anything too major so I spied a route from Kingston along old Thamesy through to Richmond and back through the park fighting any deer that crossed my path. From the centre of Kingston along the Thames path avoiding cyclists along the way. As much as I slagged it off earlier I do like walking along the Thames, a lot of people all over the world would love to have the chance to walk along one of the most historic rivers in the world. You feel that history when you see the places you pass, and the buildings you see. I was careful at Teddington lock not to catch rabies as one of the signs said. Don't panic! It was a sign saying that any foreign animals should be declared to prevent the spread of disease. There were stronger border checks there than when I passed through Heathrow a couple of weeks ago! Anyway I left the Thames just before Richmond and headed up a very steep hill to the Park. Richmond park was a myriad of paths and I only went slightly wrong. Sadly I didn't encounter any deer today but nevertheless it was nice to walk through a completely different environment. All too quickly we headed back into the hustle and bustle of Kingston.

Walk total: 8.5

OVERALL TOTAL 303.3

Please do not forget I am doing this for charity, I am walking 500 miles for the Rainbow Trust Children's Charity who support young people with serious and terminal illnesses and their families at the most difficult of times. To donate follow this link: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/500mileschallenge

From the sea to halfway and over the seas

Being the holidays and having not really done anything major since the Keswick to Barrow I thought it was about time to get something big done. I go away on holiday on Monday and I wanted to get past the halfway point before then so I needed something big. Something that has been on my list is finishing off the disussed railway line from Shoreham by Sea to Guildford. I had already done a good sizeable chunk as K2B prep but I wanted to get the rest of it done so the plan was to walk from Shoreham through to Christ's Hospital just outside of Horsham.
It felt quite strange starting a walk by the sea, you could smell the salt in the air a feel the wind pushing me North. Walking along the Adur Estuary I watched a few biplanes taking off from the sketchy grass run way at Shorham airport, one of the planes went through a big puddle as it was taking off but that didn't stop it on it's way. I followed the Adur up stream criss crossing it several times throughout the day. I was following the Downs Link path which felt like it was a motorway for walkers, no end in sight, plenty of people on it, people zooming up it and the occasional small child asking their parents if they were nearly there yet. Whilst most people peeled off, I was on the Downs Link for the long haul and I soon got myself into a very steady rhythm, like the lorries that always go at the steady 60 mph. Soon I was at Bramber, a quaint village with the ruined castle that I had seen along the banks of the Adur. From here it was a long and pretty boring slog to Henfield, at points it was pretty picturesque but when the hills behind Upper Beeding were out of sight it was under the trees all the way through the Henfield. I was surprised at how good I felt, 10 miles in and virtually no pain and my pace was consistent at around the 4mph mark. Not bad at all. After a very brief stop for lunch I carried on towards Partridge Green. The Downs Link had been pretty good, a nice path and fairly quite and then you hit Partridge Green where you have to walk along the edge of the main road through the village, it was only a short distance but it wasn't great. From here on I was lining up the stopping points before the end, all were pretty evenly spaced so I hit West Grinstead which was cool, it had it's old platforms in place and the downs link, true to the rail way, emerges from a tunnel and between the platforms. I felt like I should let some passengers off or something. Next stop, Copsale. The marker told me I had 1 +1/2 miles to go but when I got there I checked my tracker and it was in fact 2.2, don't always believe what you read on the signs! From Copsale I knew I only had one more stop before the end and I targeted a finish time of 3:55. It was 2:55 with just under four miles to go. I passed through the back of Southwater and then out the other side and only had about two miles left to go, would I make it?! I like a good time trial. I could see the buildings of Christ's Hospital in the distance and went for it and made it back bang on time.
20.1 miles ... The third longest walk I have ever done and I feel ... well actually ... pretty alright. No more Marton knee or dodgy toe. It's all good.
I knew that the total would bring me close to halfway but I had to check. So the current total is 252.5 Miles! WOHOO! Half Way! Closer to the end than to the start now!

Walk total 20.1 Miles
Overall Total 252.5

When I flew back from Norway in April, I spotted a very interesting looking lake over towards Kent and Sussex and thought it would be a cool place to go and walk around. Sure enough I got the map out and found that it was in fact Bewl Water and that there was a walk that went around the outside of the reservoir. Dad and I decided to go down and tackle it, from the air it looked really interesting. There were so many switch backs and fingers of land stretching out into the lake. You would think that being a lake it would be a pretty flat walk but actually there was a fair bit of undulation, why? Because the reservoir is not actually at sea level but a flooded valley. With that in mind the path then skirts the edge of the surrounding hills and through some very small villages. It was a very hot day and the sun was strong, thankfully there were quite a few trees to give us some relief. There were lots of families out and about enjoying the sunshine tackling the 13 mile route on their bikes, rather them than me on some of those hills. The constant switchbacking got tiring fairly quickly and come the finish we were rather glad to see the last of the inlets and walk on to the dam(n) wall and feel the breeze flowing across the lake. It was only when we were on the dam wall that you could really appreciate how high up we actually were. It was fairly tough in the heat but overall its a nice walk, a bit long for the odd stroll and you do get fed up with all the going in land and then out again.

Walk Total: 13.0

A couple of days after this I flew out to the United States to go and see my good friend Mark who I interned with up in Cumbria. I hadn't seen him for over a year so it was good to catch up with my main Cumbrian hiking partner. Mark was working in Estes Park, Colorado this summer so the mountains were much bigger than the ones we climbed in Cumbria the year before. So much so that the altitude we were starting at was around 7000 ft above sea level. Sadly we didn't get to do too much as Mark wasn't too well and I hadn't (acclimated for our American viewers) acclimatised to the altitude quick enough. What we did do was a short four mile walk to a place called Gem Lake. Gem Lake is a tiny lake about 1,000 ft above the bottom of the valley situated by some stunning rock formations and gorgeous pine forests. It was a steep climb up and the altitude combined with heat was pretty brutal, nevertheless it was a stunning walk with magnificent views across Estes Park and over to Longs Peak, a 14,000+ft peak. We made it up to the lake and saw the intriguing rock face behind it and decided to climb up it. We got almost to the top of it but the highest pinacle of rock was separated from us by a chasm that we couldn't get across sadly. That didn't matter we still had stunning views across the whole area. Afterwards we decided to descend via a more interesting route ... going down the front face of the rock. Mark and I have always liked a challenge and taken on some of Cumbria's more challenging paths so we were in our element. Our descent caused some intrigue back down at the lake as some people were intently watching our every move. "Come on man lets go" One chap said to his friend, "No man, just wait a minute. I'm watching these guys!" he replied "Oh great" I thought, an audience. It looked much, much worse than it actually was. When we got back to the lake I walked around to get some more pictures and the guy stopped us on our way round, congratulating us on our effort. His words were "What you guys did there was amazing". In true British fashion I said, "well it wasn't that hard really". As we left them they too went up the rock face inspired by what they had seen. Please don't panic we did advise them to take there time and gave them tips. It was a great walk in a totally foreign landscape, I would highly recommend the Rocky Mountains in Colorado if you get the chance!

Walk total: 4 Miles: Sadly there is no GPS trace of this walk  
Overall Total: 269.5 Miles 
Please do not forget I am doing this for charity, I am walking 500 miles for the Rainbow Trust Children's Charity who support young people with serious and terminal illnesses and their families at the most difficult of times. To donate follow this link: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/500mileschallenge

The face Mark and I climbed down ... really not that bad ...