As part of the £125 Stowe Challenge I have decided to take on the Isle of Wight challenge in May. 

The Challenge: Isle of Wight Ultra Challenge.

I am walking around the Isle of Wight on the 2nd and 3rd May.  Its a 65mile walk/105km/138,000 steps challenge over two days (approx. my house to Gatwick airport in 2 days!!!!!) This should take about 15 hours a day of walking including rest stop.

It turns out that the Isle of Wight is not as flat as I first assumed and has the same amount of incline as the Yorkshire three peaks challenge (1960m of hills/steps to climb)

I hadn't intended to walk this challenge on my own but a friend pulled out once I had signed up so the challenge has become an real mental battle too.  As there is a strong possibility I will spend 30 hours walking this challenge on my own.  I'm not a big fan of my own company and love being part of a team so this solitary walk will be a bit of a shock to the system.

To train and complete this walk I will have walked about 300 miles and have dedicate at least 250 hours of my life to getting fit enough to participate.  Not easy as a working mum but I am giving it my all so getting up at 5:20 and heading to the gym a few times a week along with planning complicated training walks with friends. 

I am incredibly grateful to all friends and  incredible family members who are supporting me with this challenge, from child care, lifts, mental support, offering great ideas for play lists and keeping me company on training walks and donating towards the cause..

Why Stowe:

I've always been a passionate supporter of Stowe as it was where we last took Grandma Lewis for a day out and where our kids enjoy safe outdoor freedom. 

However working at Stowe has been a real eye opener to the enormous costs associated with saving our local meadowlands, preserving trees, conserving, improving accessibility and restoring the gardens. 

On top of all the amazing day to day work the team carries out in 2020 volunteers and staff are developing a gardening club that will offer skills training for children with special educational needs or disabilities (hoping to provide them with skills that could help them to secure jobs in the future), wellbeing support for local charities and a safe outside environment for our local community to enjoy.Giving participants much needed opportunities to thrive - for those of you who know me well this is very very close to my heart and may directly  support my family in the future 

I think people forget Stowe is a charity and needs support to provide gardens that can offer so much to those who visit.

So if you can please help me raise as much as possible to get keep these projects ....

Thank you in advance

Alaina xxx😍👍