Nearly there...

Yep, it's nearly here everyone. Very, very soon I will start to talk about something other than The Three Peaks. Thanking for sticking with me on this, believe me, I'm even starting to get bored of it now!

Have a strange mix of excitement and panic at the moment. Part of me however is more laid back than I think I should be. Having been so disappointed to miss out, and at such short notice as well, last time I think part of me hasn't quite registered that this is happening in just 4 days - I'm hoping this is maybe a good thing, not to get too stressed out by it.

Wrote my 'to do' and 'to pack' lists today and have started getting everything ready (see photo below). Have just compared it to last year's list here and I'm pleased to say that they are pretty similar, hopefully this is a good sign that I haven't forgotten anything....

I will of course update this blog once I've recovered from the challenge. I'm hoping to do some updates while I'm going along (well, between mountains) via Twitter, you can follow me at @AmysThreePeaks

It would be foolish of me not to give my fundraising page just one final push. I am doing this challenge as a personal challenge to me, and also to raise money for two very important charities The Princes' Trust and JDRF. I have entirely funded all the costs of the challenge (and last year's missed attempt) myself so every penny raised really is going to a good cause. As I write this I'm just £30 off my target, and I can't begin to tell you how much of a boost it will be to know I've reached my target by the day of the challenge, if you can help please click on the link..... http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Amys_3_Peaks_Challenge (and of course feel free to share it with friends and family!)

Thank you to everyone who has supported me both in sponsorship, coming for walks with me or just general moral support and encouragement, really couldn't have done it without you all. 

Day trip to Derbyshire

With two weeks to go, this weekend's walk was my last 'proper walk' before the challenge, I think I may have saved the best (and most difficult) for last!

The day started early, leaving Norwich at 545am for the long drive to Derbyshire for a day trip in the PEak District. Leaving in Norfolk which has a distinct lack of hills it was obvious from the landscape as soon as we arrived that this was going to be quite a different walk. We started off in Edale and climbed eventually to the top of Kinder Scout, the highest point in the peak district, before returning to Edale (with an unexpected detour!) via Jacob's Ladder, a total walk of just over 11.5 miles. The walk involved a fair bit of scrambling, hard work but worth it for the spectacular views once we got there! The weather wasn't great so the views were a little hazy, but the rain held off for most of the day so we were pretty lucky really.

For those that are interested in these things, the route can be seen here.

There were certainly points where I found it hard going, but I'm not expecting the challenge to be easy so I suppose that's ok. The point is I managed it so I hope I can manage the challenge. Not aching too much today, hopefully that's testament to the training I've been doing, rather than I'm going to suffer tomorrow instead! All in all though, with less than two weeks to go I feel pretty well prepared for the challenge, with a good sprinkling of nerves in for good measure!

Thanks to Gary and Rebecca for the company, navigation and driving for yesterday's walk!

With so little time to go before the challenge it would be a little remiss of me not to give my fundraising page a bit of a plug, only £100 off my target so if you are able to help me get there please click here!

Some pictures:

Nearly there....

With only three weeks to go until the challenge I took myself off for a training walk today from Reedham to Brundall, a total distance of 10.5 miles. A decent distance, and a walk that I've done several times before ( here and here for example). The walk takes me from Reedham Ferry alongside the river and through Cantley and Buckenham. There the route moves away from the river through to Strumpshaw and finally into Brundall.

This is a route that I usually enjoy, unfortunately however today I was disappointed. I've walked this path on several occasions and have noted, in this blog, how its appearance changes throughout the different seasons. Sadly today it was so overgrown that it was very difficult to walk. I was having to walk through weeds, grasses etc (I'm no expert on what they actually were!) up to my armpits - ok I'm short but still! If I hadn't been so familiar with the route I would have almost certainly turned back as there was no real way to determine where the oath actually was. Indeed, even I took a wrong turn and ended up doing a rather hairy ten minutes on a very narrow piece of ground between two reed beds. Although I can't name much of the vegetation I could identify the multitude of stinging nettles, and sadly my legs still show evidence of these.... I don't know whether the overgrowth on the path was due to the weather, the lack of recent walkers because of the weather, council cuts or a combination of the three but whatever it is I do hope it doesn't stay that way for long, it's such a lovely route it would be such a shame if it were lost.

I finished my walk in Brundall where I was given a fantastic home cooked Sunday roast dinner (thanks Mum!) the perfect end to a long walk!


(It has nothing to do with the rest of the walk but I also saw this rather funky (and large) caterpillar on my walk so wanted to share the photo!)