to walk 180 miles for Combat Stress

[Asteria]

I'm fully aware that this isn't an AIBU, but this gets more traffic and I need some advice please...

I'm planning to do the Famous Highland Drove Walk in June, which starts in Skye and ends near Perth. The route passes through 7 mountain ranges is about 180 miles long and is absolutely stunning (despite the high tendency for horizontal rain and midgies!!).

The charity that I'm raising money for is Combat Stress - an incredibly worthy cause I'm sure that you will agree - and I'm wondering if anyone out there has any handy hints for getting really good sponsorship/kit donations? I visited my local Army kit place and they quoted well over £500 for good tent/stove/rucksack etc, even with a good discount. At that sort of price, before I have even thought about everything else I will need, I may as well just hand over a cheque to the charity and not bother walking - which rather defeats the object. Plus I am currently on a ridiculously low income and cannot afford to bankrupt myself for anyone, no matter how worthy.
I will be roughing it as I want to be able to push at least 25/30 miles a day and accommodation is scarce along the route. I'm probably going it alone too so will have to carry everything myself, which will obviously mean that every ounce counts.
I'm also cutting all alcohol, bread/pasta, sugar and quitting smoking between now and then to hopefully shift an ounce or two from my arse - which would probably get me stuck in a mountain pass (like Pooh Bear in the Rabbit hole) if I did the walk in my current state!!
I apologise for not providing ample fodder for a bun fight and for shoving this in an entirely inappropriate place, but there is no way in this lifetime that I am going to join a Ramblers forum

Oh and if anyone fancies 5 days of torture then do pm me!

Wow! That's seriously hard core!

Don't take this the wrong way but have you ever done anything like this before? I ask because you're planning on doing a marathon a day, yet you're planning to cut out pasta in preparation. Pasta is full of carbs, something you're going to need a lot of.

And it's not enough to give up smoking - you need to start training VERY seriously and from your post it sounds like you're new to this. Sorry if you're not.

You need to work on both your cardio-vascular fitness and your core strength. Don't underestimate how hard it is to carry weight if you're not used to it.

To be honest this is a huge undertaking and you might be better off doing it next year.

I am a little out of shape admittedly but don't worry - I'm not a completely ditsy twit! I'm only cutting out the crap for Lent because I have a gained a bit of extra padding over the last couple of months. I will be back on it as soon as lent is over and I have lost a bit of my insulation...

I did the Caledonian Challenge a couple of years ago - 52 miles in 24 hours crossing similar terrain - and it was tough but not horrendously so. This walk will be tough but I'm not too worried about it. I walk (at tabbing pace) for at least 60mins a day as a matter of course anyway (the joys of having a dog!) and have stepped that up to 3 hours with at least an hour of rowing in the evening. Over the winter months I go beating on the Grouse Moors, which involves fastpace walking through very deep heather and uneven ground for up to 7 hours. I grew up in this sort of terrain (my family have a remote hill farm in Scotland) - also the walk goes through the mountains not over them as it was one that cattle was driven along. I'm by no means a sedentary person with a silly whim of an idea to raise money!

The only thing that I really am naive about is the equipment needed - I'm more of a bell tent and bunting camper nowadays, although I have slept out in Bivvy bags in the snow before. I just need ideas of how to get as much money as possible and the names of companies that might be worth approaching for sponsorship/equipment

Put out a shout to your local paper, both for sponsorship and to borrow kit.

I've just looked up how much it would cost to lend you my excellent tent, and blow me I'd rather sponsor you than pay the postage!

OK! My profuse apologies - your post made it sound like you had no idea what you were in for and I was a bit concerned!! You sound in great shape - 3 hours tabbing a day plus an hour of rowing - you nutter!

"Tabbing" - are you ex army by any chance?!

Have you tried Karrimor? A British backpack company - they might be interested in helping out. Also have you thought of trying your local TA / army cadets place? They might be up for lending you stuff for such a worthy cause.

Will rack my brains...

not Army myself - but do have a very green family/friends and 5 years of Army WAG under my belt... Afraid I couldn't think of an appropriate term for my silly pace of walking without making it sound like I was one of those wierdos that do the fast wiggle walking....

I have Army friends who I plan to and [fluttery eyelashes emoticon] for ration packs etc - it's just that their stuff is not all that lightweight and most of them seem to avoid recreational camping like the plague so lightweight tents etc are thin on the ground. I did entertain the idea of a hammoc/tarp setup but the trees are not so easy to find in those parts...

Thank you very much thisis - I might just take you up on that sponsorship

Wow, sounds fantastic. I second contacting local paper as a good start, recently my local community has sponsored two families to send their kids to America for life changing surgery. As well as plugging your just giving page to the paper and every email/face book contact you can organise balls, bbq's, bingo nights, dads v lads cricket games, bake sales, proceeds from doing Avon, auction of promises, ask your local pub to help out by letting you rattle a tin on a Friday night or asking if they will help by having a family day where the money you charge for going on the bounce castle/buying a hot dog/ face painting etc goes to your charity.

I second contacting Karrimor for sponsorship as you might get some kit donated.

Very exciting, keep us posted on your progress!

Thank you singingsands - I am setting up a justgiving page over the next few days, just waiting for the info pack from Combat Stress and dates, then I can go more public.

I have just spoken to a friend who is interested in coming with me if he can get time off work. He is a chef/forager so that's the food sorted - his little brother and my little brother ran Hadrian's Wall in 24 hours just before Christmas (bloody lunatics!) for charity.

I think you'd be able to get all the equipment you need far cheaper than you've been quoted. Freecycle/ebay are worth looking at. The only thing I wouldn't skimp on are the boots tbh.

Do you live anywhere near a Decathlon? They have some cheap, good quality light weight stuff

Alpkit are great too

Thanks for that tyler - I have boots and gaitors. I live in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales, good for my training but not so good for buying up stuff as the captive audiences make the prices of kit very high.

The midges would be my biggest worry

Heavy snow = 800 times as many midges

That is why I shall be sporting one ofthese sexy bits of kit at all times and covering myself in Avon's Skin so Soft - genius stuff!

This is such a worthy cause, I will definitely sponsor you. I do not post much on here but browse alot, so please post your justgiving page as soon as you can. Good luck

Thankyou mjp - I will keep posting as it progresses

Gaaaa! My pack arrived today - complete with an optomistically tight t-shirt with the Combat Stress logo stretched across my ample bosm emblazoned on the front!
I went for my last half bottle glass of alcohol and pancakes with an army friend this evening and her husband returned from work just in time to assure me that my feet would be "in tatters". Oh the joy...
As promised - my just giving page so you can sponsor my madness spread the word

I've got your fund raising started.

Good luck

Done, you loon!

Shit - now I really have to do it thank you SO much guys, terribly kind of you... If you are in the Edinburgh area (date to be confirmed) the night after I complete I plan to have an afterparty (this will mostly involve me sitting in a corner with my feet in a bucket of salty water) somewhere in the New Town area - if you can make it then I will buy you a

I think going to a local paper and asking for sponsorship + advertising for equipment loans would be a good idea. There maybe a local outdoor, long distance walking, climbing group who have members who can help.

£500 doesn't sound completely barmy. My 2nd hand light weight tent cost £200. I couldn't find an amazing deals on second hand ones as they don't come up that often. Light weight mat £60. Light weight stove £60. Down bag £90. Lightweight back pack £100... I decided what products I wanted and scoured web sites for the best offers. The really light weight stuff isn't cheap. Places like Go Outdoors and Decathlon don't seem to stock that standard, they seem to go as low as DofE recomended.

Depends on what you think you can carry, but all those extra 100g's add up on a long walk. Good luck and welcome to the world of weiging food rations and socks

Oh my lord! I have just had a look at my page - thank you so so so much. Incredibly generous of you both

Soups - I pinned down my friend's husband this evening (in the nicest possible way) and he has said that he will help me get some kit together to keep costs down. He has the stove that I wanted - which is £60 - and I'm going to flutter my eyelashes at another friend's hubby who might be able to get me stuff from the Infantry Training Centre up here. The Infantry seem to be far better at travelling light than the Cavalry - and sadly my family are all Cav!

I have my fundraising pack from Combat Stress now and they will do the local rag stuff for me - I'm going to do the paper here and a couple of papers that I will be stomping through the areas of.

Phew! I have just realised the enormity of what I am undertaking!

bumping this up for you

thanks Chazs. Today has been the day of it all really sinking in! To say that it is already having a mild laxative effect is an understatement (although that could have been my last junk food/pancake/prosecco binge last night!). My mother decided to amuse herself at my expense earlier by telling me how horrendously haunted the glens were. I'm not looking forward to Glen Coe as it is - I can't even drive through there without getting seriously spooked. If I get stuch in that area overnight it will probably turn into a Blair Witch Project type affair with me bursting out one end of the glan covered in snot and midgies!