It might be an unbelievable-sounding achievement but unlike a marathon or extreme challenge, suffering plays no part in walking 1000 miles – because this is a challenge characterised by fun, not fatigue; pleasure, not punishment. So if it isn’t exhaustion, here’s what the experience of participants suggest you might be in for…
You might find something surprising – Vi Web found this amazing fossil of prehistoric fish Scheenstia mantelli on one of her walks.
You’ll eat more cake, and have earned it - like Jill Bradury who says “I’ve had more cake than I have had in years and enjoyed it AND lost a stone and a half in weight”.
You might discover a joie de vivre you’d quite forgotten - like Barry Plant, whose excitement he has a job containing.
You might start journal of walking memories, like Anna Bosatta’s beautiful little sketchbook.
You might make the school day a lot more exciting, like Rozyln Cardano from Glasgow who did it with a bunch of mum chums when the kids are in school: ‘We never used to walk, now we’re bagging Munros too. So grateful to the challenge for making me get up and out!’
You might see a lot more that makes you smile (like Nicola Clarke who’d never cheersed a cloud before).
You might develop medal-mania, like 1- AND 2000-mile completer Maria Gialousis!
You might do something you never thought you would, with the help of a fellow challenger – like Susie Carling, who climbed Bucken Pike with support from Rebecca and Richard: “I'd never gone in a group walk before nor had I ever claimed a trig point, so it was a day of delights for me. I love this group!”
You are very likely to something silly like hug a tree like Susan Elliott for one of our monthly mini-challenges…
You might find an even stranger hobby - like leaving crochet pints for strangers, as Paula Ryan-Donnelly found herself doing!
You might make a whole bunch of new friends on a meet-up, like Donna Lucas and her new 1000-miler pals did in Keswick.
You might get richer – like Gary Wright, who saved a pound a mile: “I’m a grand richer. But also richer in mind, body and soul” he says.
You might start a collection of delightful curios – like Gillian Snelgar’s stones with holes in: “Hag Stones, believed to have magical properties and is able to ward off witches and ne’er-do-wells!”
You might bump into a fellow challenger, and instantly make a friend - like Christine Henry did when she bumped into badge-wearing Deborah Williams at the Miner Statue, Teversal.
You might find you can get miles in in the most unexpected places – like Louisa Gibbs, who gets a lot of her miles on the deck of the cruise ship on which she works, sailing the world!
