Finalist with Newbie Blog Award!

I am very proud to say that my blog got me finalist in the Newbie Outdoor Blog Award.

Thank you to Shaun at Simply Hike for sorting out the award and the fantastic communication, my first ever trophy, and a very nice one at that!

My walk blog is probably going to wrap up now for summer and as the walk is over I feel it wouldn’t be worth me carrying on writing, but I might just pick it back up at a later date with a new adventure, so keeps your eyes out! Enjoy your summer everyone and thanks again for all the support, it has been an incredible journey.

Goodbye for now x

I got featured in the newspaper I did :)

Have a look for yourselves!  HERE

And so the walk is done.

You know what… missing Glastonbury, camping for nearly 6 weeks and wearing the same clothes day in day out has ALL been worth it. It has been a week since I completed the walk and I still feel very strange being inside so much and not on the road with the map and bag. I think I need a little more time before I can actually say wow well done Hannah you have walked over 400 miles. And all that money you guys donated! I truly feel so happy to be apart of the TWOWEEKS team and to say I walked for them, I know I keep going on about it and all the thank you’s and all the waffle but I feel so over the moon that little ol’ me walked all that way, it brings a tear to my eye 🙂

And so now back to reality, what to do with the rest of my life? All my energy for the last 6,7,8 months has been in planning the walk, the route, the training, eating well, learning about nature, how can I put all of this into practice and use it for the rest of my life?

Many things to think about, I think I could go walking some more perhaps? Who knows…

The last day!

Hello everyone! 

I tried to post last night but it failed and I was so tired. I have been feeling more and more tired as the last week has come to a close I think my mind is ready to stop. 

Today is my last and final day walking! My goodness I can’t believe it is over and I am actually saying it. What a journey…. 

I want to thank all the lovely people for their donations, their support, their genuine kindness, we humans can sometimes pull together and I really have felt blessed. 

A huge thank you goes to Karen for putting up with me yesterday and my madness! I have such belief in TWOWEEKS and the work that is being done. I am proud to walk for the charity, very very proud to be apart of it all. 

I think this walk is going to bring big changes to my life and I do feel like a calmer better person. I am ready for what is to come! I am the happiest I have ever been and I think it is because I have left go of my fears and also all that nature I’ve been surrounded by. Glorious! 

A huge thank you to the lovely ladies at The Old Bell for the lovely scallops and a little smile, that was a hard day so thank you. 

Here is to the last day and to the many more adventures to come! Today I walk from Harrow to Twickenham, my final destination, a final 11 miles. 

Thank you to everyone and of course any last donations, you know what to do! Click here. 

One last round of photos from the last few days of walking, I covered Bedford to Flitwick to Luton to St. Albans. 

See you on the other side! 

   
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   

And the sun is shining!

Good morning everyone!
So today is a wonderful day as the lovely Karen and Bob are joining me on route for a days walking. We are in Flitwick heading to Luton. We had a wonderful breakfast this morning… Eggs eggs eggs! 

We have a 10 mile walk ahead of us which will be nice, not too far for the newbies 😉 

So close to home it is incredible I don’t think it will set in until a few days after I’ve finished. I want to go on the adventure all over again, I am going to miss walking so so much. I just have found such a happiness in walking. Everyday I look forward to walking. It’s an incredible thing and there will be so many more adventures to come! 

The last few days have been pretty similar just getting the miles done, the roads are busier, there is less nature for me to immerse myself in, it is just a different experience altogether. I mean there are so many people! And no one says hello to me anymore. I will miss the happy villages, the quiet peaceful soundless skies. I feel finally at one with myself. Glorious!

Karen and are are getting ready in our beautiful manor hotel, and off we go! 

   
    
    
    
    
    
   

Good morning

A few stories to share after a little slacking on the blogging. 

So I’m now walking alone and have been for the last two days which has been nice, my bag has been getting to me a bit as I load up on food it is just such a lump! I haven’t had a day off since last Thursday so Sunday I will rest I believe. 

So the last week has been magical we’ve had such a wonderful time, lots of sun, lots of laughing and just getting those miles done! Meeting just a whole bunch a beautiful people welllll only one small hiccup, there has to be one! 

So we decided to do a few public footpaths one day, you know… Cut the miles down. We were following the path exactly and we came across an amazing, what looked like unused airstrip. We played aeroplanes as you do and then followed the path through a farmers farm, which I’ve done before with no hassle. But then we reached a point where we weren’t sure where the path went and we’re doing some map reading and suddenly two shot gun fires are fired over in our direction. 50 metres away! The noise! The fear struck through my soul. I thought this is it this is the end of me. Not even going to make it to the end of the walk! Ha. 

But no it was fine, it was either the farmer warning us to F off his land, a warning that there was a microlight coming in for landing. Or who knows. Someone sure had the grump with us. But what an adrenalin rush that was! 

Apart from that everything is going swimmingly. I am now in Chelveston, in a very cosy clean sort of apartment style B and B which is very nice. Great owners. A huge thank you for putting me up! 

A couple of days and I will be in Bedford and then Karen and Bob join me. I am getting closer to the end and all those people who I know sercretly didn’t believe in me, well I think I might actually make it! Just watch these little legs GO. 

   
                                                     

Why I am doing the walk in the first place

So my recent blog posts have been mainly about my journey on route but I wanted to post something a little different today. I wanted to talk about what the cause of this whole walk is all about. 
The charity, which you should all know by now is called TWOWEEKS, it is a small not for profit charity which started off by allowing professional medics to go and volunteer abroad for just two weeks. As medics find it difficult to commit to long durations of holiday time TWOWEEKS wanted to cater for this and not disrupt their work time. 

The charity has grown rapidly over the last few years and now sends both medics and non medics out to South Africa all year long. Whe volunteering with TWOWEEKS you work closely with the kids, the teachers, schools, clinics to support as best as you can and also to allow you to really be apart of the project. TWOWEEKS sits very close to my heart as I have been out and worked on projects, seen the hard work that everyone puts in and I’ve seen the difference each TWOWEEKS volunteer makes during their time away from home. It is important to understand that when you are donating to my walk you are donating to an amazing and incredible cause and the money really does go to the people. 

The amazing women behind this charity put their whole everything into giving kids and their families as much support as they can to get them on the road to living a better life. This is all done out of choice, there is no salary or big promotion for those that run or involve themselves in TWOWEEKS. 
Here are a few snaps from the lovely Elly who is out in SA at the moment. 

  

  

  

   
   

You can donate through my Virgin Giving page here. 

Nearing the 300 mile mark…

Hello my lovely readers!

It has been a few days since I have updated you all on my adventure. I’ve been very busy meeting people and having lots of fun. And also moaning a lot about carrying my tortoise bag for what feels like a million miles. 

I’m still in very good spirit because of all the kind gestures from people along the way. Let me tell you what has been happening…

It started with the lovely ladies at Smeatons Lakes, they gave us a free night. Very kind of you thank you Lesley! We came across the place where they make British Sugar which was interesting and ate some tasty food served by a very kind young lady at The Ram in Newark. 

We walked through a rather lot of fields! And with my new found friends having a sniff, the cows, one actually licked my hand which I was very happy about. We came across an AMAZING poppy field, completely full of Poppies, it was such a beautiful site. One I will never forget. We laid in the grass, picked some flowers, ate some delicious food. 

The day before yesterday we were absolutely shattered and decided to stop after about 8 or 9 miles in a very nice pub in Hose called The Rose and Crown, the owner was very sweet and even allowed us to camp in her Paddock. So of course many beers and pizzas later we spent the night there. Which I do believe was a bird sanctuary and they all decided to tweet away at 4am. The beautiful croaky pigeon was amongst the team. And as you all know I love the sound of the wood pigeon. (Not). Very kind owners and we thank them for the free accommodation. X

I think yesterday might of been one of the best days we’ve had. Firstly we met Nigel. Now Nigel really is a one in a million. You just don’t come across people so kind as he is. A thank you from the bottom of our hearts. He firstly served us some tasty pork pies, the only place in Melton Mawbray to get pies. We had a great chat about life, the walk, the area etc. He then wrapped up some scones, all buttered and delicious, and he dropped off our food shopping to the camp site! Just such a warm soul and a lovely human being. Thank you Nig x

Last night was very enjoyable staying at Eye Kettleby Lakes, which might I add they gave to us for free!! A beautiful wooden restaurant and bar. Oh my goodness the showers were just incredible. They had that real wood sauna smell to them. Clean, tidy, just really kept well. A huge thank you to the owner of the land, a very gentle man and Craig and the bar lady. 

And thank you Kev for the £5 donation! 

Gosh I feel like I have waffled on a rather lot but I feel very humbled from all my experiences with other humans who pass me by along my journey. People stop by the road and ask if we need a ride, they come up to us and have a chat. I will remember each and ever special moment always. The first 3 weeks were magical and without my bag it was almost trainng for this last push. 

I hope you haven’t nodded off, but maybe my little post today will bring a smile to your face and cheer up your Monday. After all. Life is good, stay happy and keep walking! 

   
                                     

Today is the first day it has sunk in how far I’ve actually walked. I’ve walked from Edinburgh. I actually feel a bit emotional! I’ve wanted this walk to succeed so so much for so long. Like my whole being and soul was in this walk for such a long time and now I am actually so so close to achieving it. I mean of course I’ve still got a fair few miles to go but I’ve done the biggest chunk. And that is all thanks to my absolutely outstanding parents that I have. I mean they gave up their time, effort, money, everything to get me through and we did it! With no real major hiccups.

So really today I want to thank them and prove to them really that I can achieve this!!! And you guys can help by donating some more cash to TWOWEEKS and really keep me going 🙂 🙂 

Click here to donate. 
Amazing experience, amazingly kind people on route stopping and saying hello, keeping me going. Humans can be nice after all. 

Yesterday was a good day. Last night we have a hotel, oh my gosh, the first night in an actual bed for a month.  And there is a TV  🙂 
VERY HAPPY. 

Goooood morning!

Hello everyone and what a glorious morning it is. I’ve made it to Newark on Trent a very sweet little village/town. We are camping near a fishery which is very beautiful. This morning I got up for a wee and the Ducks were sat chilling in the sun the lake was so still and beautiful, it really was a delight after all this walking to see such a peaceful scene. 

Today is a rest day! Wahey! I think we are going to head into Lincoln to get a few bits and bobs and just relax and not walk too much! 

The pigeon is singing his darn song again right next to my head which is always a pleasure. He has the strangest tweet it’s like a deep croaky old man singing the same song over and over. All the wood pigeons sing the same song! It’s not like the beautiful black birds and blue tits that are all tweet tweet cute happy tweets. No no. If you’ve heard it you’ll know what I mean… 

A few snaps of yesterday 🙂 enjoy! Only a few weeks and I shall be home and it will all be over.