Day 5: A day of prep

Well today we've stayed in Sheffield to prepare ourselves for the next 290ish miles. We are heading off at 9am tomorrow morning so wish us luck...

Day 4: Castleton to Sheffield

Well, today was our biggest day yet. After a few showers earlier on we where blessed with wonderful weather for the rest of the day. Walking up and down some gorgeous hills and mountain sides, making our way towards Sheffield. Our first stop off was in Bamford where we indulged ourselves with some pasties and clowdy lemonade from the local bakers aptly named, Bamford Bakery. After stuffing ourselfs we headed on back into the more green of areas. Not far away down a quaint little back road we stopped to admire the view of the peak district between the gap of two houses when the owner came out and invited us into his back conservatory to enjoy in full.
Before we knew it we where back in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the sun, the breeze and the tranquility of the surroundings. When heading through some fields our path lead us to a stream. Although there where a few rocks which allowed us to get part of the way over keeping our feet dry, with the weight in our bags we could not make the last leap so we resorted to tying our boots around our necks and going bare foot (check out the mind blowing, action packed video attached). After we where all across we sat on the bank on the other side, enjoying the sun and treating ourselves to a taste of the INCREADIBLE spanish beer, Estrella Damm before moving on.
Eventually we came out into the moors seperating Sheffield and the High Peaks. Travelling to the higher areas of the moors we found ourselves next to the greatest bench in the world with the most perfect view looking over the Peak District.
When nearing the very edge of Sheffield we stopped off at yet another pub (Norfolk arms) to congratulate ourselves on our efforts so far. Upon entering the pub we where approached by two men, Lawrance and James who were both keen to learn more about what we were doing and had done so far. After the £4 sting Isaac recieved for a bottle of Newky Brown, Lawrance kindly bought us all a drink. After a brief rest and devil stick session in the stunning beer garden while Megan tried and failed to warm herself up we headed on to Ecclesall in Sheffield.
We arrived at Megan's at just gone 9, just in time to digg into a lovely meal prepared by her loving mother. Yum Yum...

...Yum

Day 3: Hayfield to Castleton

Appologies to our millions of adoring fans for the lack of blog update yesterday. Unfortunately the phone with which we where taking photo's and video's was having problems and we where unable to send updates.
So, yesterday we made slow progress due to the heavy loads on our backs. We eventually made it to Hayfield and camped up in a wonderful campsite for free, due to a conveniently late arrival. Today we left with haste and headed south east before bearing due east. We ended up covering 4 mountains through torrential rain reaching a maximum height of 1749 feet. Heading across the mountains our boots became flooded, our trousers drenched and our jackets soaked through. Our spirits dampened by the rain, we rested on a mountain peak to take in the beautiful sights before us. Climbing painfully over stile after stile we continued. The weights on our backs pulling our bags down along with our morale as rest seemed to remain a distant pleasure. Eventually however we saw signs of nearing Castleton and we slowly manoeuvred our way down a wet and slippery slate slope. Eventually we arrived in Castleton where we managed to get a room above a pub (The Bulls Head) to allow ourselves to dry our soaking clothes and rest our bodies. Tomorrow we hope to end up in Sheffield and prepare for the next leg of the journey.
For now thank you for following us and watch this space.

Day 2: Broadbottom to Hayfield

Enjoying our first taste of high ground.


















... seconds before the sky fell.



















Isaac experiments with Megan's idea of using kitchen scouring pads as shoulder pads.


There will be no retreat when the feat affects the feet.

Day 1: Stockport to Broadbottom

Leaving Stockport

Isaac and Megan

Josh and Megan

After heading out into horrendous rain, but armed with waterproofs, we walked off towards the urban horizon of Manchester. After about an hour we began to enjoy a bit of greenery in our surroundings. A further hour and we were well on the Trans Pennine Trail. At this point the weather was playing with us, the sun coming out just long enough to entice us out of our waterproofs before ducking behind a nice, big raincloud again. Eventually, however, the sky stopped leaking on us and we managed to zip our trousers down to shorts and stayed warm and dry for the rest of the day. About one third of way into today's walk we came across a plum tree from which we retrieved several tasty plums. After scoffing them down we headed off again ...sort of. Using my expert navigation skills, (that, may I point out, with the assistance of my dad, never failed me last year), I managed to get us a bit lost. After speaking to a lovely man, who sold us some nice, cold cans of Coke, we decided on our best route from there. A few miles later and we arrived in a small village called Broadbottom. By this point we felt as if our legs were made of rock and that our 30 kg bags had doubled in weight so we set up camp in a perfect, little campsite just outside of the village. After setting up our tents and tending to our very sore feet and muscles we tucked into our warmed meals. Our weary spirits raised by the warmth, food and luck, (with the change in the weather), we called it a night. Now, relaxed in our beds, we aim to rest our bodies for the walk tomorrow.

Distance covered today: Approx. 14.5 miles (including backtracking).
Weather: Poor to start but turning dry and warm later.

and we walk

 Well this is it the beginning of Hike for MND 2009. We have spent the morning in Manchester, packing, unpacking and repacking our bags. We have finally decided on suitable pack orders and after adding a further 5kg to my previously 26kg bag its going to be an interesting start heading out into the heavy downpour outside. 

 We aim to achieve around 12 miles a day from here to Sheffield to ease us into the walking pace with 31KG on our backs. 

Now we walk...

                      ...INTO THE WILD

                           

Good luck from the lil-sis

Weigh in time

Prescott has decided to join the party

This is how much we each weigh with our bags on

Leaving tomorrow

Well Myself and Isaac have met up in london and are tomorrow heading off to Manchester where we are meeting Megan and preparing for our hike the following day.

Keep Even More Up To Date

Well we are almost there now. Tomorrow we shall be meeting in Stockport, Manchester for our last night under a solid roof for almost a month.

To bring you up to date on what has been happening, the last few days I have been ill will whatever flu or bug is going around at the moment that is NOT related to pigs. However, I am very much on the mend now and looking forward to getting out into the open.

Although I will be trying to keep this blog up to date as much as possible, I may not always have time or battery power to access my e-mails from my phone. However, will be updating my Twitter account hopefully at least twice a day via text. Add me on Twitter to follow us, my Twitter account is: joshforwood

Look forward to hearing your replies on the blog.

Regards

Josh

The route as planned

Well here it is, our planned rout. Standing at 328miles

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Josh

A quick thanks

I'd just like to say a quick thanks to everyone who has voted so far on our donations page. With three weeks to go before we set off on the hike, we have already managed to reach 11% of our target.

Thanks again to everyone who has so far donated, and please keep them coming for this very needing cause.

Thanks

Josh

Its all about image...

This year, with thanks to my co-walker Isaac, we have a logo. Let us know what you think.