Make life a great adventure with #walk1000miles
Walking 1000 miles is a huge adventure however you do it – and how you do it is up to you. However you do, get ready for your ambitions in life to level up.
AFTER 202 DAYS of sweat and toil, #walk1000miles challenger John Gaynor stood at the top of a summit called Mt Katahdin and sipped from a mini bottle of whisky.
The 65-year-old wasn’t just celebrating reaching the top of this 5269ft peak – he was also drinking to the 2194.3 miles he’d taken to get there, for Katahdin marked the end of John’s journey along North America’s Appalachian Trail.
He camped, he carried his own gear (his tent even had an unwelcome visit from some skunks!), and his amazing achievement shows how walking can enable you to go on the most incredible life adventures.
And John’s not the only one. Sixty-two-year-old Steve Tilley is dedicating a year of his life to walking more around the coastline of England and Wales. It’s a journey that has taken him from the dramatic folds of the Pembrokeshire coast to the wild shorelines of Northumberland… and even gave him a chance encounter with Timmy Mallett!
#Walk1000miles enables you to fulfil dreams you never thought possible. Take Jeanie Butler, who walked the 477mile Camino Frances in France and Spain with her 15-year-old son. #Walk1000miles gave her the stamina to do it. “I would never have been able to manage it otherwise. Three miles a day makes your dreams come true.”
Then there’s Erica Mann, who spent 23 days tackling the 280-mile Pennine Way, reaching one of the trail’s iconic spots – High Cup Nick – on her 70th birthday. She credits #walk1000miles with lifting her ambitions. “Without it I would never have dreamt of taking on the biggest challenge of my life.”
And Amanda Tracie Garratt, who made it her own by taking six months off work to walk at least five miles in all 48 English counties. She did it in her own way and in her own time, and the adventure was so
‘#Walk1000miles enables you to fulfil dreams you never thought possible’
rewarding she’s dreaming up an even more fiendish way of cracking the 1000 in 2023.
Thousands of challengers are using #walk1000miles to pursue their dreams. But not everyone has the time to walk a huge long distance trail. We do, however, all have a front door, where every 1000 mile journey begins, and beyond which lies a world we don’t know nearly as well as we think we do.
One of the great joys for many who take on the challenge is discovering that where they live is far more beautiful and interesting than they ever realised. They find paths they never knew existed, woodland they’d never explored, seasonal changes they were always too busy to notice. Simply by leaving the house each day, they find themselves on an exhilarating journey where they’re pursuing a goal while enlightening their soul.
Imagine sitting round the Christmas dinner table at the end of the year and casually informing your family that you’ve spent 2023 walking the distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats. And you’ll know that in 2024 you can do it again, because with 12 months of walking under your belt, that body of yours is now a super-trim, horizon-widening striding machine.
Your most exciting, wholesome and gratifying life experiences are yet to come. No one is too old, out of shape or unfit to take on this lifechanging challenge. Sign up to #walk1000miles and make 2023 the best adventure of your life.