Mayor Visit

Well, last night me and debbie attended a party in Birkenhead celebrating the return of 4 young people who just got back from Costa Rica, they had been away for 10 weeks and celebrated their return with a celebration party.

It was a great atmosphere, we got to meet the guys and the Lord Mayor aswel, it was a goood few hours, I won a T-shirt, and a mobile phone in the price raffle, we got loads pictures too, will upload them tomorrow.

Flights away

I have got the flight details for the trip away shown below, Its been quite tough recently getting everything sorted, there is loads to do and so little time. Especially sorting out train times and coach times, its hard work :(

First Aid

Well here's another picture from the week away with Raleigh, as part of our residential we completed a first aid course which we had to perform CPR on manikins and it was actually quite good, and interesting, here's a picture of our team. You cant really see, but there is two people at the back secretly holding the manikins up so they could join in the photo as well

Rock climbing in Llangollen

Well im on the way home, just spent the day in Llangollen, in Wales. We been upto quite a bit but i'll be brief because i'm on my mobile, we have been rock climbing on a 50ft rock face and then absailing down it! It was a realy good expierence, then we when gorge walking, and cliff jumping, we were on the top of quite high rocks and then we jumped into the water and swam bk out, will let you know the rest and upload pictures wen i get on the computer

So far...

Well I started fundraising last night to help cover the cost of the trip to Costa Rica with Raleigh International, and in the space of 30 minutes I managed to get over £50 in sponsorship money! That's a great start, and were doing the Wirral Coastal walk to help raise the money, we still have a bit to raise, but were definitely on our way!

Changes

Well the date of the three day residential in London has changed, so am waiting on an e-mail to confirm the new date, so for now, we can only wait

Wirral Costal Walk

As part of fund-raising and being physically fit for my trip in July; Me,Debbie and a few others will be doing the Coastal Walk this year. This is a 15 miles walk along the Wirral peninsula, Starting out at Seacombe ferry, and walking along the front through New brighton, leasowe, Meols and Hoylake, Finlay reaching the finish line in Thurstaton. This will be a great opportunity to raise some money for the expedition and a great chance to keep fit and have fun!

More Pictures

Heres what we climbed during the week away

This is me and Chris at the top

This is the view from the top


These pictures are from the weeks residential I did last week and are courtesy of Mary-Jane, Thanks!

Traveling Again

Well I'm off again, this time to West Sussex (basically the bottom of the UK) roughly 267 Miles from where I am now, this time its a challenge workshop This is a three-day residential session specifically for Costa Rica, where I will meet other ventures coming on the expedition, learn more about your overseas projects, basic outdoor living,medical and kit advice. Sounds Fun, I go next week...Wish me luck!

Suited and Booted!

Me and Debbie whent shopping yesterday to get some good walking boots and some waterproofs, well by luck we kind of got it all sorted within an hour and got Some realy good walking boots and some realy nice breathable, waterproof top and bottoms.
It was fairly cheap got all 3 for just over £50, so we were realy made up.

Home time!

We spent last night in our comfortable beds (well it was compared to our tents) and headed downstairs to a full cooked breakfast, which was good on the stomach after the food we made at our campsite with little power and small stoves.

Today would be our last day, so we spent most of the time talking about our past experiences over the last week and reflecting on whats happened, and what s going to happen, it has been a great experience and something that I will always remember, I've came away I think a little different person, there's some things that happened the last week, that's made my brain think about things more...I think that after today some of the things I've learnt will be put into practise, I can only wait, what I can say is my journeys began, its going full steam ahead, and I don't want it to end!

Day of rest

We awoke on Thursday morning, very cold, after spending the night outside the temperature was not what we had been used to, we woke at 8am again with our camp leader promptly waking us up as he had done all week.
We gathered our waterproofs and headed back to our lovely warm building we had spent the night before, it was such a relief when we got back, nice warm log fire, and food on the table when we arrived. It was great, Thursday would become our day our rest.

9 Miles 6 Hours

This morning we set up camp, after getting up at 8am we had breakfast and walked to our camp site where we will be staying tonight. It took us a while, as some of the guys here have never been camping before, I had a little idea as I did a little when I was younger, but nothing can prepare you for the cold, it was freezing.
We left camp shortly after 10am, when we began our journey on a 9 mile long walk through the lovely countryside, it started of really well and we were all enjoying ourselves, it was cold so sometimes it was a little uncomfortable, but the thought of reaching Shuttlingsloe peak was enough for me to carry on.3 Hours had passed and we had been through farm land, streams, muddy pitches and Finlay got to the bottom of the peak, Looking up it was a fantastic site, clouds running through the top and nothing but fresh air all the way up!
It took us all a while to reach the top but it was worth it, 360 degree views around the Cheshire countryside was thrilling, we could see all around for miles and miles, we setup up a small camp here for an hour or so, while we ate and relaxed top take in the views.
Climbing down was the easy part but the 3 hour trek back wasn't, we took different route back and came through the most muddiest field I have ever seen, mud up to our knee's as we struggled getting through but it was fun to say the least.
By time we got back to camp it was about 6pm, so we quickly got our food on as we were so cold and wet, but it quickly became warm next to the huge fire we built to keep warm, after our dinner we settled down to sleep, it was so cold, the feeling was horrible but when we were properly wrapped up in out fleeces and sleeping bags, looking up at a clear sky filled with stars, clean fresh air and the wildlife was enough to keep me there.

First Aid, First Day

Well am sitting here in bed now writing in my diary abouts today's events (Tuesday) Today we successfully completed a days first aid course, It usually takes 3 days, but we managed to cram in into 1 day, which is useful as were going on our trek tomorrow, we learnt a lot of things, CPR, Recovery Position and what to do if someones burnt. It is all useful, as if were at the top of a mountain or trekking in the jungle abroad, its going to come in handy. Not much else to report we met all the staff as well, and we all got given sleeping bags to sleep in tonight, it's a bit cold, but the views make up for it, this is what I can see out of my window!

What a view

We arrived at our home for the next seven days shortly after 6pm, we had a little journey from the Maccelsfield Train station into the countryside, by our co-ordinator Eddie, whos there to keep us on track for the next 5 days.
We all got taxis into the scout camp as there was roughly 20 of us arriving at the same time, we went through hills, and dirt tracks and finaly saw our camp ahead of us,as we turned the corner the views across the country side was amazing!
We pulled into our camp, which was a converted farm house, capable for housing 20 young adventrous teenages for the week! It looked lovely, old brick, muddy courtyard and so much character.
We got inside, to be greated by a warm log fire in a cosy room with comfortable couches for us all to relax, there we chatted and got to know eachother for the first time, it was hard considering there was people from all over the U.K all with different accents speaking at the same time!

On the Train

I just arrived at the train station, and me and Debbie are waiting for the train to arrive so I can get on my way to Maccelsfield!
We have had been waiting for a bit, so we decided to get a coffee while we wait, and we also got to wait for Jaynes lads to come aswel, there's 4 of them to go too.
The train arrives ontime at 16.22 but the other lads still aint arrived, so me and Debbie go and wait for the train as if I miss it, the next train is an hour later, and thats going to make me late!
As I'm about to get on the train the lads come rushing through the gate, and quickly jump on the train as its almost leaving, I waved goodbye to Debbie, and we start the small journery to the edges of the Peak District were we beging our 5 day Resedential!

Scary

Well theres only 2 Full days left, I got my train tickets on Wednesday to Maccesfield trainstation, I don't have a clue where that is. I was a little upset yesterday, mainly because I don't know what to expect on Monday, it's a little scary getting a train to somewhere I never been, but I had some re-asurence from Debbie that it will all be okay, and we had a little chat to a member of another team who's going, that made me feel so much better. So i'm going to go the gym tonight Saturday and Sunday to get my energy levels up a bit, I know there's tough times ahead!