We did it!
Andy, Deb, James and I (joined by our inspiration to do the walk, Kev Clarke) completed our 20 mile sponsored walk to Ashgate Hospice and back on Tuesday 2nd June. Our various timing apps recorded between 20.7 and 21.6 miles – for those that remembered to a) set them going and b) set them going again after pausing them when we stopped😬.
Setting off at 8:02 (James was late!!), we thought the weather would hold for a while but we were very much mistaken. The waterproof tops were out by the time we were passing Barlborough Costa and we got it full pelt until Staveley. Drenched and with trenchfoot for those of us with trainers, we soldiered on and had mainly dried out by the time we turned onto Ashgate Road!!
After a juice stop and a brief look around the day centre where people usually have their first introduction and interaction with the hospice, we waved our goodbyes to start the journey home, when it briefly started raining again!
We decided on the scenic route back as a break from the roads and traffic, so had a wonderful flat-ish walk along Chesterfield canal to Staveley with mini-milk’s at Hollingwood Hub.
The forecast rain around 1-2pm never came, so as we started our ascent up Mastin Moor, the glorious sunshine made it quite a hard slog.
Arriving back here at around 3:20pm, we were delighted to have completed the walk in under 7 hours 30 minutes (we’d planned for 8-9 hours).
After an evening of baths, massage guns, ibruprofen and lots of rest/couldn’t walk anyway, we were all pleasantly surprised at how well we all felt on Wednesday.
The current fundraising total stands at £1,270 (including Gift Aid) raised in online donations, and our collecting buckets will be going back next week so we should have a final total soon. Thank you to everyone who sponsored us, left us messages of support on Facebook, cheered us on and horn honked when we really needed it on the way back – we are truly grateful as are Ashgate Hospice. Theres still time to support us if you are able – click here.
