Walking 1000 miles from Lands end to John O'Groats in aid of The Air Ambulance (starts april 7th 2024)

Friday 15 March 2024

first wild camp!

Another training walk this weekend preceded by this cracking wild camp spot in woodland! 
We have a crescent moon over us through the trees with Orion standing watch over us! 
And it's pretty warm tonight! Bonus

Monday 11 March 2024

Physical progress!

Posting a bit late, another training walk on Saturday took me to 208 miles walked in training, that's equivalent of reaching Bath on my trail!
(Between the green flags)
I've walked every last ounce of fat off of my legs now and muscle definition is pretty good! They will bulk up more as I progress north, full pack training has certainly been the right approach and no issues with the hip now! 😃
Spring is springing and we'll soon be following it north! Watching the same flowers blooming as we keep pace with the seasons change!
Beautiful!

Wednesday 6 March 2024

change of accommodation!

Having tried out the alpkit tent for a night I found it rather lacking in space with the central pole!
I didn't imagine something with that floor space not being hugely functional!
But sadly it is!
So going back to tried and tested I've replaced it with the new version of my old Vango helium 100 the Vango helium UL1.... 
Put it up for the first time tonight and it's so much more comfortable! A new version of old slippers if you like! 

Much happier with this tent 🙂
Smaller ground coverage will enable it to fit in those tight wild camp spots and knowing it's predecessor survived hurricane Bertha instills me with confidence! 

Less than a month before we head off to lands end ..... Exciting times 😁

Sunday 4 February 2024

The perfect poem before a trek

Going all the way by Charles Bukowski:-

If you’re going to try, go all the way.

Otherwise, don’t even start.

If you're going to try, go all the way.

This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives, jobs and maybe even your mind.

It could mean not eating for three or four days.

It could mean freezing on a park bench.

It could mean jail.

It could mean derision, mockery, isolation.

Isolation is the gift.

All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it.

And, you’ll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds.

And it will be better than anything else you can imagine.

If you’re going to try, go all the way.

There is no other feeling like that.

You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire.

DO IT. DO IT. DO IT. All the way

You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It’s the only good fight there is.

This poem shall accompany me like a good friend with a precious advice.

Wednesday 31 January 2024

First contact from the charity

 The Charity is aware of our endeavour!



Tuesday 30 January 2024

Our Charity!

 The Charity for our big walk north is the air ambulance service!

https://www.justgiving.com/page/andy-green-1706654338414?utm_campaign=lc_frp_share_transaction_fundraiser_page_launched&utm_content=364d2931-33eb-4794-9ed8-f89679b6644f&utm_medium=email&utm_source=postoffice&utm_term=1706654613166


Our first charity donation!!!

Many thanks to Sandy!
Donated £40 towards the charity.... And I've not even set it up yet!!!
Some lovely people in the world!

Monday 25 December 2023

How I plot the routes

I use memory map, the latest version, for plotting the route I go through a few stages....
1, a very rough route picking up any points of interest I fancy visiting.
2, I decide how many miles I want to walk each day (16 this time with a lot of wild camping)
3, I make the rough route more accurate so it can be followed on the app while I create the final route
4, finally I follow the second route plotting each twist and turn and working out wild camps/campsites even the odd hotel as I progress the final route.
4, the last bit of mapping is going through Google and Google Street view to locate shops and eateries on the route, handy for knowing how much food to carry on each stage!

Note
When it comes to printing the maps it's a bit of a pain that the latest version of memory map hasn't got printing available yet!
But you can easily transfer the route onto the old version that's free to download then print from your purchased maps,
Make sure when printing to choose landscape or portrait and to print both sides of each sheet to keep map weight down.... I generally print 1-50000 scale maps at 1-60000 to reduce size a bit more!

Routing

The route is now sorted and the maps printed, next job is plotting every resupply point/ cafe/pub/restaurant onto the maps..... Eyestrain here we come! 😵‍💫
This is an essential part of the planning, it enables me to have the best idea of how much food I need to be carrying day to day, keeping the pack weight down and hopefully not starving! 
I won't be in the Welsh borders at all this time thankfully, the scarcity of villages with existing pubs/shops should be a lot more accurate! 

accommodation

I'm going ultra light weight for this expedition!
1.1kg with an Alpkit Tarpstar 1 tent!

Thursday 14 December 2023

The three ways.....

Roll on April 2024
I'll be heading off on the golden trail!

Wednesday 22 November 2023

coming soon.....

The return to Jog.....

2024 🤞