My 90 Mile Hike at Home

 

On January 11th I began travelling the distance of Hadrian's Wall...from my living room.
Years ago I had planned an actual, in-person, trek of Hadrian's Wall. However, those who had initially said they were going to do it with me, all dropped, out one by one, and left me alone which would be an unsafe journey. After that, I never had another opportunity to complete the challenge...until now.

I have taken part in multiple other virtual distance events, raising money for a range of charities including Born Free and Saving the Survivors, so obviously the internet often advertises different events to me and at the start of the year I came upon The Conqueror Events Series who provided me that opportunity I needed. 

There are multiple reasons I decided to sign up to their 90 miles (145 km) Hadrian's Wall Virtual Challenge but the most important is that I am using this as a fundraising event to try and raise funds and awareness for an amazing animal rescue shelter in Serbia. Click here to view my Just Giving and read more.

To give a quick background on the shelter, based in Kragujevac, Serbia, it is called Vucjack Shelter and has been ran by Dejan Gacic for over 20 years. They have rescued, provided medical attention, fed and sheltered the growing number of stray dogs who are abandoned, discarded, starved and abused from the surrounding areas.
Dejan never turns an animal away and as of October 1st 2020 the shelter is the home to over 900 dogs, 130 cats, 13 wolves, 2 fox and 1 jackal. (The video shown above is from 2018 so numbers etc are outdated). 

Following life at the shelter online show photos and videos of happy animals being cared for by wonderful people, but in tough conditions. With the global pandemic and a harsh winter here, donations are needed more than ever. With so many animals and a lot of work, I wanted to raise some funds to contribute to the staggering costs they incur from food and vets fees to building of new winter shelters, rent for the home where the very ill animals are housed and way more.
I urge you to check out their website Vucjakshelter.org as well as their social media pages Instagram.com/vucjakshelter to get a true look into life at Vucjak Shelter. You can sponsor individual dogs, sign up to a monthly donation via their Patreon or give one-off donations to help them keep running.

As of writing this (January 26th) I am currently 50.6 miles into the total 90 miles! Along the way, I am able to view my surroundings on the street view map, receive 'postcards' from certain interesting sites along the wall and at every 20% marker they donate toward the planting of a tree - they have helped plant 450,000 trees since August 2020 which is so cool. 
I mentioned that I am doing this all from my living room, without the help of a treadmill or bike, while fighting against arthritis, asthma and back pain issues. After putting on 4 stone in 18 months, making all my ailments way worse I had to take action and get my body back to some sort of fitness. Going for walks outside like we used to isn't an option, I've tried using a cross trainer and I couldn't take to it but, after looking into options, bought a mini rebounder and it has been such a great purchase! Low impact on my joints as well as lots of fun. From running, jogging, walking, jumping and everything in between I've managed to work out for around an hour a day minus 3 this whole month. My fitness tracker converts my efforts into miles and I post them on my 'The Conqueror' app, tada!



If you'd also like to take part in one of their virtual distance challenges, click here! They have a range of events, based all over the world, starting from 21 miles ranging all the way up to 2,280 miles. After I've completed this one I'm hoping to join the 'Ring Road' in Iceland which is 828 miles...a bit of a step up from 90 haha!
Once I do reach the finish line at Bowness-on-Solway and my medal has arrived (yep, you get a fancy medal too!) I will be sure to write another blog post to bring my challenge to a conclusion, as well as show off the rest of my postcards and hopefully update on the status of my fundraising.

No matter how many events I do take part in or even organize I always struggle to raise money despite succeeding in the challenge/event. I am an unpopular loner with no friends, I don't work therefore have no colleagues and the charities I strive to help are always for animals, often lesser-known which seems to put people off. Therefore, this will be my last. My family and I regularly contribute in many ways to multiple organizations and that will continue but I will no longer be asking for sponsorship etc. 
That being said if you are able to spare the odd pound, please please consider supporting my efforts for this super special shelter. Again, my Just Giving page can be found here >  https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/hallow90miles < and I am more appreciative than you will ever know if you decide to be so kind as to donate. Thank you and thanks to those who have already sponsored. 

Until next time...