Shelterbox challenged

The main thing I can say is the physical side of the challenge exceeded our expectations - I had sort of resolved to thinking that because it was a charity event they would "take it easy" on the competitors. But not a bit of it. We walked 34 miles in total during the weekend carrying insanely heavy loads (25kgs each) and 22 miles of that in one day on the Saturday. We did the latter in 9 hours 22 minutes. The winners amazingly, made the same course in 7 hours 10 minutes. They must have been jogging for quite a bit of it.

Throughout the grueling miles at pace across Dartmoor we each had our low moments - I think we all agreed it was harder than we had imagined. But our high spirits and teamwork got us through with a little help from a tin of salmon and a bottle of Glenfiddich. The final results are yet to be posted, but we were running in 19th place (out of 35) after day one, and we think we caught up a few places on day two.

I'm really proud to say we raised £1100 for such a great charity. And we learned a lot more about what it takes to deliver such survival boxes into the heart of a disaster zone in a rapid timeframe immediately when it's needed.

Whole hearted thanks goes out to all of you who helped us raise the money, it's a really worthwhile cause. If you are yet to donate & the guilt is getting to you, the website is still available here

The various limps & aches will fade away, but the memories will last...

On Monday, despite the aches and blister pains I walked into work (4 miles) just to stretch off my muscles. I felt fitter than I have for a long time - more vital. And since there is a rather alarming bulge under my t-shirt in the picture above I think it's high time more of these physically demanding activities made it more frequently into my calendar...