It started as an amusing suggestion: “How fun would it be to walk to Scotland?!” Oh how we laughed…

Somehow this moment of stupidity transformed into an actual plan and far too quickly spiraled into a set challenge. As soon as sponsorship began to roll in, we couldn’t back out.

“Training?” People asked us.

“Nah” we responded, “We’ll be fine. Just 15 miles or so a day – no problem.”

No problem? Fast forward two months to the two of us gasping for air as we scurried on hands and knees up the side of a mountain. No problem? I beg to differ…

We had started out optimistic, beginning our 400 mile journey on June 9th from Bath train station. Laden with rucksacks packed to the brim, we set off along the Cotswolds Way, covering just 12 miles. By day 2 we realised that carrying our lives on our backs had a severe downside and that the bags were not only preventing us from walking at a decent speed, but also causing our bodies to suffer a series of bruises, blisters, cuts and aches, none of which were helped by all of the hills we seemed to be hiking up (England, it appears, is on one giant slope which we seemed to be constantly climbing. Typical.)

After speaking to a pub landlord that evening (and discovering that landlords are the wise owls of the walking world), we decided to ditch the bags, finding a way to transport them from A to B so that we only had ourselves to worry about. Things definitely became much simpler from there on out and we were able to fully appreciate the beauty of Jane Austen country. The views we saw were stunning and at points it seemed as though we had walked straight onto a film set. (Although we were still puffing, panting and dripping with sweat. Two flustered girls on the verge of collapse? Mr Darcy eat your heart out…)

Before we knew it, our time in the Cotswolds had come to an end. Just over 100 miles down with 300 left to cover, we felt in much need of a break. Fortunately, my Aunt and Uncle’s house is in a prime position in Derby, close to where the next leg of our walk was due to begin. There we had a brilliant evening of being overfed, with a hot shower and washing machine close to hand. Bliss.

The next day, rested and refreshed with family in tow, we started the next segment of our trek, finding ourselves at the start of the Pennine Way. After a pleasant day of walking and exploring, we bade farewell to the family and were once again alone with just our little tent and a field of sheep for company. After being spoilt rotten over the previous 24 hours, a field of animal poo was quite a come down.

Ah well, onwards and upwards.

Upwards ended up being about right, for just a few days later we found ourselves desperately grappling at the side of a slope leading us up to Kinder Scout; the highest point in the Peak District. Halfway up I braved a look down.

Bugger.

Reaching the top, we were keen to see the views all around but unfortunately, we found ourselves standing in a huge cloud that had settled over the peak. Inevitably, this burst and we were left battling wind and rain as we made our way along the rocky ledge, passing the path we should have taken up to the top, which looked an awful lot safer than our frantic scramble (learning to correctly read a map was also a part of the training we did not do. Ah the beauty of hindsight…)

After a few days in the lower region of the Pennines, we moved up to an area near to the Three Peaks. Not quite ready to climb all three mountains, we took a stab at Pen-y-Gehnt; the first of the three standing at 694m.

Two heart attacks later and we had made it to the top, fortunately with clear enough skies to see the surroundings. Although we had enough energy to climb down and walk back to our campsite, I cannot imagine how so many people manage to climb all three mountains consecutively.

“Challenging” I think they call it.

Pah! Absolute nutters seems more fitting.

Following this we moved up to Haltwhistle, right alongside Hadrian’s Wall, where were spent a fantastic few days walking the Wall and seeing the excavations taking place. Before we knew it, we were spending our last night under canvas; after 4 weeks in a tent, a hostel bed was much needed in Scotland! That being said, our tent treated us very well, withstanding wind and rain and keeping us nice and snug (sometimes a little too snug; on more than one occasion we woke up either kicking each other or in a position that can only be described as borderline spooning. Interesting.)

The final stage of our trip was spent in Edinburgh, roaming the streets, seeing the sights and spending what little money we had left on new clothes (not surprisingly, ours had turned into something resembling filthy rags).

Feet destroyed and covered in a whole array of bruises, but a 35 day walk down with 400 miles successfully completed. So far we have raised £611 for Marie Curie, with at least another £100 still on its way. Overall then, with any luck we will have raised about £750 in total, nearly doubling our initial target, for which we cannot thank everyone enough for their support.

As for now, all we need is our beds. It seems that, oddly, despite leaving the countryside over a week ago, the smell of farmyard still lingers.

Ah Mother Nature… Isn’t she lovely?

Slightly hazy and suffering a tad from a few too many nights out, I currently find myself holed up in my room in my brand new Exeter University digs. After moving in on Sunday, my room is beginning to look a little more homely (i.e. taken on the form of a bomb site) and I’m starting to settle in nicely. The last few weeks have been a complete whirlwind so it seems bizarre that I’m finally here.

About 7 weeks ago, I began another, slightly shorter, travel adventure around Europe. This trip was not a solo feat, but something I did with a life-long friend, which made it a completely different experience to my longer trip around the Far East. Travelling with a companion really can go either way – you come back ready to tear each others’ throats out or you survive the 24hr a day company and find yourselves as close as ever. Fortunately we were the latter. Aided by a common love of cities, sightseeing and drinking in the afternoon,we had a brilliant time.

Paris was our first destination. We spent our first day seeing the sights, getting lost on the metro and eating chocolate mousse without any spoons (being cheap sods we decided plastic ones were just too far out of our price range).

The following day we reverted back to being 5 year olds and headed to Disneyland. We were quite possibly the oldest people in the park who weren’t there supervising children, but nonetheless had a fantastic time.

Next on the hit list was Amsterdam. Amsterdam: the home of rasta streets, weed on tap and stag parties galore. Well worth the trip if only to visit the house of Anne Frank, though the rest of the area was somewhat disappointing. Walking past a cafe at noon to see that someone has vomited over everything pretty much sums up what kind of place it is. Appealing?…? Hmm.

Never again.

Berlin lifted our spirits however and we spent a good 3 nights in a large hostel just on the outskirts of the central city. We took a fantastic tour with a very enthusiastic guide on our first day, seeing the Holocaust Memorial and other famous landmarks, before heading back to the hostel for what turned out to be a very heavy night. Drinks were ludicrously cheap and just because we ordered double vodkas once, the bar staff kept giving them to us…and who were we to refuse? By the time happy hour was over we were three sheets to the wind and while this was the absolute worst time to think bout booking onward hostels, this is exactly what we did.

I use the term ‘hostel’ very loosely.

What we actually booked was a campsite which required us to stay in a tent. Were we prepared for this? Well, we had no sleeping bags, roll mats, or warm clothing…so I’m pretty sure we were not.

However, at the time our conversation (or what we remember of it) went something like this:

“Camping?”

“We can just sleep in our towels!”

“Ohhh it’ll be fun!”

“Something different!”

“Absolutely. Book it!”

And so we did (and then proceeded to fall off our bar stools and throw up. Pure class.)

We spent the next two days recovering from hangovers from hell but somehow survived the 10 hour train journey to Krakow, Poland. This is a stunning place with a great square that is buzzing with life 24 hours a day. Whilst here we took a day trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau, which was incredibly hard hitting but very good regardless and spent the rest of our time lazily exploring the area and buying bread off an elderly woman on the street who we affectionately nicknamed ‘crazy lady.’

All too soon we found ourselves back on the train, heading to Prague where we had our first healthy meal of the trip. Thanks to the inexpensive nature of bread (and the fact we stole it from restaurants/bars/cafes at every opportunity) our stomachs had near enough turned into a big ball of dough. Thankfully we found a restaurant which sold side dishes of boiled vegetables to which our tums gurgled with excitement and confusion. Vegetables? What were these things? Where was the bread? The carbs? The doughy goodness? The veggies were literally inhaled by the two of us and we made a vow: ‘no more bread.’

The next morning we had breakfast provided by the hostel. Huh. Bread. Well, if it’s free bread…

Two days later, we headed to Budapest and had the worst journey of our trip. Arriving at the station, we were smug in the knowledge that it was only 6pm and so we had tonnes of time in the evening to go out. Three hours later and we were still wandering the streets trying to find our hostel. By this point it was pitch black and pouring with rain and both of us were fully prepared to burst into tears and sleep on the streets if necessary. Fortunately we got a fit of the giggles instead, whacked out the phones and made the most of Google maps. We wouldn’t survive a day in the wilderness…

Things got better from there on out. Our hostel was a small converted apartment with only 8 of us staying there and Budapest itself was stunning. We spent our days walking through never ending streets and and our nights sitting in our apartment with bottles of wine, a packet of cards and two new found friends (one of whom was an expert at cooking scrambled eggs – always a bonus!)

Vienna was similarly beautiful and Salzburg? Salzburg was cold. Very very cold. Four layers, a scarf, two pairs of socks and two blankets later… it was still cold.

Never again will I book accommodation when half the bar is already in my belly.

That being said, technically it was fun. Not in the traditional sense of the word…but fun in its own unique way. The man who ran the site was a very friendly chap who took pity and gave us blankets and even made us breakfast and a hot cuppa the following morning. Off course by then we were blue but really, can’t complain (although let’ be honest, I always will).

Our final place on our whistle stop tour of Europe was Geneva where we spent our final few days relaxing, strolling and being shooed out of shops we weren’t wealthy enough to be in. Nothing beats the feeling you get when a guy rushes through the doors to guard his store as soon as you casually look in through his rose tinted windows. In all fairness we hadn’t washed in a few days – not his usual clientèle.

We got the distinct impression that Geneva’s locals did not like us one bit. Maybe it was because on our first night we were sat in a restaurant and accidently set a napkin on fire (and promptly threw it on the floor – admittedly not our best move) or maybe because when we went to Sunday mass in the cathedral, we had no money to put in the collection…Perhaps the disparaging looks were God’s way of telling us we’re going to hell? Who knows.

From Geneva, we took the train to Lille where we spent our very last evening before catching the Eurostar the following day. Just over three weeks’ travelling (and our entire budgets), gone in a flash.

And now? Now I’m penniless, lacking vital vitamins and already wearing slightly unclean clothes. Perhaps uni is just one long, very expensive, gap year?

Apart from the work thing.

Obviously…