Supporting Epilepsy Action Blog

The St Basils Walk 2010

On Saturday 5th June I took part in the 26 mile walk for the St Basils charity, based in the Midlands:

“We provide supported accommodation for young people ages 16 to 25 and a range of support services including: prevention services; housing aid and advice; family mediation and mediators; peer educators; key workers, learning skills and work; advice and guidance on education employment and training; resettlement and floating support.”

This was an excellent walk in a part of the UK I’ve not spent much time in, and as a friend of mine does fundraising for the charity they suggested I give it a go.  With the Itex only two weeks after and for such an excellent charity, I corralled my brother in law Phil and walking buddy "Crazy Mike" - sorry Michael! - (minimum team number is 3) and signed up!

The walk started early on the Saturday morning at the Chipping Campden School – after a night camping locally in my brother-in-law’s new tepee - in beautiful early sunshine and a big fried breakfast!  About 120 teams took part in the 26 mile route, which encompassed parts of the Cotswold Way, Diamond Way and Gloucestershire Way.  Although the Cotswolds is pretty flat, the climbs when they come are sudden and steep, usually levelling off before a similarly steep descent.  Although there were a number of checkpoints on the route and good written directions (with helpful pictures), there were very few markers, which added the extra welcome challenge of map reading in an unfamiliar area.  Frequently on charity walks every possible turn is signposted which is obviously good planning, but does allow your brain to switch off.

As the event was sponsored by Cadburys, there was an ample supply of chocolate on the way around, along with water at every checkpoint, and we finished the walk in the early evening with another full meal at the school!  This could be the first time I’ve put weight on during a challenge!

Next year they are proposing a similar walk encompassing Cadir Idris in the Snowdonia area of North West Wales, and I’m looking forward to it!