Well...it doesn't look THAT far from here!

The South Downs from Leith Hill Tower

As I think I may have said before, the whole Trailwalker UK Challenge is simply a matter of perspective. It's not that it is so long with hills that are so high...it's just that we're too close to it.

From the top of the Leith Hill tower you can virtually see the full extent of the South Downs route, and it looks quite small and insignificant - although it is 27 miles away!

Trailwalker UK is "...a walk in the Park" - Official!

So it was that on Friday, April 1st 2011, the South Downs officially became a 'National Park'. Therefore, despite all previous claims that our participation in the 2011 Trailwalker UK Challenge, was going to be just that - a challenge - people will now be able to respond, quite literally, that it is no more than "...a walk in the park"!

Sayings such as this often get mis-used over time, however, when you look up the meaning of the phrase - anywhere - it is consistently used to mean something that is deemed to be "EASY"!

However, when you look at the picture above, whether it is easy or not it is quite stunning, and is worthy of its new found status.

Whether it was wise to confer this status on the Downs on the 1st of April is another matter. April Fools Day is obviously notorious for spoof news items, however I would like to state on the record - especially to certain members of my family that I did NOT find either of the following "stories" funny!

First there was IKEA's move into 'pet furniture'.....

The second related to Facebook's changes to their 'Filter' options...

Facebook to add baby and wedding filter option

April 1, 2011 9:45 AM

Recognising the fact that many people are bored by their friends continually talking about certain topics on Facebook, bosses will today introduce a 'baby and wedding filter'.

A recent survey of 10,000 Facebook users found that it was updates about newly born babies and upcoming weddings which most irked users and put them off logging in more.

As a result, engineers set about creating a system which automatically scans all status updates and uses an algorithm to identify the offending ones talking about babies and wedding.

While users previous had the option of blocking a user from appearing in on their page altogether, this option (which will appear in Account Settings) will only block those status updates relating to weddings or babies.

The option is due to go live at midday today. A later update to the baby and wedding filter will see Facebook automatically identify people who upload an image of their child as a profile images and instantly block them for you.

A spokesperson for Facebook said: "It became apparent that many users were getting annoyed by logging into Facebook only to see a page full of updates about babies making cute faces or wedding day dilemmas.

"While things like having a baby or getting married are big events for people, many find it hard to recognise that not all of their friends will be as bothered about whether little Johnny just rolled over or the style of seating covers as they are.

"However, at the same time these friends can be otherwise interesting people, so you may not want to block them entirely from appearing in your stream, just when they go on about certain things.

"As for people who upload a picture of their child as a profile picture, well there is no helping them."

Not at all funny...!

Apologies, I may be prone to a little exaggeration

There have been some comments of late that have questioned both the accuracy and validity of some of the posts on this blog. The basis for such criticism being built on the flimsy, albeit accurate, notion that the individuals making them have more experience of the issues than I.

Seemingly, it appears that if you have done something "once", you are considered more knowing, more knowledgeable and more of any expert than someone like me who has, "only" done something that I would say was "broadly equivalent".

So for example, by this logic somebody who has actually climbed up to the base camp on Everest (Yes, they really have!), would be considered by some, to be more of an expert on the subject of 'Everest', than I, even though I can demonstrate that I have climbed an equivalent height! (albeit not in one go, not at altitude, not moving in a constantly upward direction, and not...well, to be honest NOT in too many ways to mention).

However, if doing something "once" allows one the right to comment as an expert, then this opens up a whole range of topics for me to write, as an expert, about.

Thinking about it, cooking, cleaning, ironing would all be valid subjects....OK, OK cooking would be a valid subject, as I'm sure I've done that at least once in my life - as long as the use of a microwave doesn't nullify the use of the word "cooking", and I don't see how it could.

So, being a humble sort of a guy (hah!) I suppose that I stand corrected. However, this is only because I consider that if I 'stand' corrected, then it must be quite difficult to be 'prone' to exaggeration, for which I presume that I would have to be lying down?

And finally...on this subject, I always remember that my father used to say "I've told you a million times not to exaggerate", although strangely he didn't say that to me when we played golf the other weekend. (I'm sure he was thinking "I should have told him a million times not to under-estimate", but whatever the expression he still beat me...at golf that is).

Having for so long told me "a million times" not to exaggerate, imagine my surprise to have received an email from him yesterday, defining the number "one billion"!

How's that for inflation?

But to finish this rambling with hard facts consider his email...

"...A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A. - A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

B. - A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

C. - A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

D. - A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.

BUT

E. - A billion Pounds ago was only 13 hours and 12 minutes, at the rate our government is raising money through taxes!

As they say in Westminster - "KERCHING!!!"

Making a mountain out of a molehill?

For those who have completed the Trailwalker Challenge previously there will be no doubt as to both the degree of difficulty as well as the fact (as I have previously stated) that the South Downs is NOT FLAT!

In our training to date along the South Downs we have climbed over 12,000 feet, over the course of 117km. However, this is still seen by many as simply going for a bit of a walk across some hills.

Now, if we had said that we had walked over 70 miles and had then scaled Everest, then people would sit up and take notice. Preposterous? Well maybe, but consider this.

Whilst the summit of Everest is over 29,000 feet high, it actually sits on a plateau that is over 18,000 feet above sea level. Therefore, if you are climbing from base camp to the summit, then you have a little over 11,500 to ascend.

Therefore, having "climbed" 12,574 feet so far on the South Downs, the two feats (as opposed to feet) seem very comparable to me, especially as we didn't have any Sherpas!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Fifth Team Training Walk - Trailwalker UK route completed!

And so, at 2.15pm today we finally completed all of the 11 stages of the Trailwalker UK route!

Now when I say "...completed all", I don't mean that we completed them all "today". In fact we completed stages 7 - 10 inclusive. 30.5km in 6hrs 15mins.

We started off just before 8am at the Devil's Dyke pub...

...before traversing the Devil's Dyke itself, a huge valley cut into the downs...

...Before climbing the hill past Pyecombe Golf Club...

...on up passed the Jack & Jill Windmills...

...and over the hills and (relatively) far away.

Once again, in the manner of the sun shining on the righteous, we had great weather! Not too hot, not too cold and most importantly no rain!

Having completed the walk, and with the overall distance still only being a little shy of a third of the length of the overall challenge, I can report that these four stages were too bad. Not too bad that is if you didn't have to walk 40 miles to get to the start of them, and not too bad if you didn't have to walk them in total darkness. Which we didn't! But...which we will have to on 16th July.

The prize for the worst hill on this section of the walk goes to...Castle Hill, just after Checkpoint 9, at Kingston near Lewes. Very steep!

And then just before 2pm Brighton Racecourse came into view and 15 minutes later we saw the sight that we will all want to see on 17th July...

...the FINISH LINE!!!

Training Walk 5 - Map & details

It has taken us 5 team training walks to complete all over the stages of the course, although we did repeat Stages 3 & 4 on our fourth walk.

So far we have completed 117.6km in 22hrs and 15mins - so far maintaining an 18 hour completion pace - but on current form, our ability to keep that going as we increase our distances above 20 miles, remains in doubt!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The end is in sight!

As the weekend fast approaches and my personal work-life 'balance-ometer' struggles as to where it should be pointing, the end of Trailwalker UK challenge is most definitely in sight.

[The 'balance-ometer' issue results from attending work-related, charity fund-raising events, that even if they hadn't have been (work-related) I would still have wanted to attend. e.g. International Women's day fundraiser at the magnificent London Guildhall in aid of the charity Refuge & the Comedy Store event in aid of initiatives to reduce youth gun crime - so should I classify them as 'work', 'life' or both?]

We have raised nearly £2,300, with at least another £500 pledged, before we start to consider 'events' to boost the total further toasted our (current) £3,500 target. 

In addition we will complete the course this weekend, and hope to cross the finish line some time around 2pm on Sunday afternoon.

Admittedly, this weekend's "completion", will only be at the end of a 31km walk, but...it will mean that we will have completed every stage or the challenge in our training so far.

As they say, the 5 P's are 'fundamental as anything'* when looking to achieve success - Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. Although, not so good if you've got a lisp or speech impediment!

This final point [albeit not unusual for me in that it is somewhat contrived!] reminds me of the man who went to see his doctor and advised him that he couldn't pronounce his "Th's" or his "F's", to which the doctor replied, "Well, you can't say fairer than that!"

[* NB the reference to the excellent fundraising achievements of our fellow Trailwalker participants 'Funda-Mental As Anything']

Less average, more typical...

It has been a few days since my last blog, but what a few days! The world and its inhabitants are certainly being tested, whether from responses to democratic uprisings against oppression in the Middle East, or the horrific impact of earthquakes, tsunamis and (potential) nuclear disaster in Japan!

Whilst life must go, it doesn't always feel right to make humorous or flippant remarks in blogs when many thousands are suffering so terribly. 

So I shall continue, not without feeling, not without compassion, but with hope that normality (whatever that means for people) can return at the earliest possible opportunity!

(Continuing, in the style of Top Gear...) ...Anyway, my last blog highlighted the ideal Trailwalker participant, and it seems rather fitting to follow this up with reference to piece of research from National Geographic that possibly was as detailed and comprehensive as mine was.

The research aimed not to identify the "ideal", but rather the "typical" world citizen. 

I have previously referred to the fact that with 1 in 5 of the world's population being Chinese I was not sure which of my American cousin's family (of five) was actually the "one", but have a strong suspicion that it is actually 史蒂夫...well National Geographic's research goes a step further and even shows us what 史蒂夫 looks like!

Watch their short video below...

http://bit.ly/h98Nhv