Time Flies... T-Minus 26 Days! (UK 24 Hour Three Peaks Challenge Countdown)

This time in four weeks I hope to be sat down in front of the telly box with a huge tub of chocolate fudge brownie flavoured Ben & Jerry's ice cream toasting a job well done rather than a commiserative 'I got knackered after one mountain and had to stop' prize.

Time really does fly. It only seems like yesterday I finished my degree and now with the trek insight, starting my Masters course is only just round the corner.

I have been looking forward to doing the UK 24 Hour Three Peaks Challenge for a long time. I would have liked to have done it earlier in the summer, but with uni it was diffcult to commit the time needed to train/fundraise.


With the money I have recieved and what I have been promised by others, I'm really close to the £550 fundraising mark I need to reach for Mind. If I can get there before I head off to Scotland on September 6th it would just be amazing. Mind's a fantastic charity who do such great work in helping people struggling with mental health problems. It is a cause very close to my own heart for reasons I shared in a Mind blog post back in March. Mental health is something I have had to deal with first hand and something I am still dealing with now. Thankfully I am most certainly on the up, feeling better and a hell of a lot more like myself than I have done for a long, long time. Hopefully, after spending over nine months (of a third spell) so far on anti-depressants, I'll be able to come off them in the not so distant future. 


Unfortunately not everyone is in my situation. I am lucky not just that I am feeling a lot better, but I was able to get treatment; both in regards to medication and CBT for both OCD and depression. Not everyone is so fortunate and that is why charities like Mind are so important in not just raising awareness, but supporting people in dire need of help. Your money, if you are able to donate anything at all, will not go to waste. It really is vital what they (Mind) provide to so many people.

On that note, I'd like to once again congratulate everyone behind the brilliant BBC Three two-part programme Extreme OCD Camp. It was great to see OCD portrayed in the 'right' way, rather than the misguided stereotypes other shows such as Channel 4's Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners reinforced. The six participants Imogen, Jack, Megan, Andrew, Olivia and Josh deserve so much credit for what they did. They deserve all the praise they've been getting! On a personal note, it was fantastic to recieve such positive feedback from some of the guys involved, as well as Pete the camp leader, about the reviews I wrote for Mind about the show. It was rather humbling, but it was extremely easy to write such positive reviews after they put together such a marvelous show.


If anyone's interested in reading my reviews:

Episode One: http://www.mind.org.uk/blog/9328_what_i_thought_of_extreme_ocd_camp
Episode Two: http://www.mind.org.uk/blog/9379_extreme_ocd_camp_episode_two


A few other shout outs:

From tomorrow I will be taking over the Making Mental Heath Positive Twitter account,
so please give them a follow. (Best to put my Twitter addiction to better use...)

(Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakingMentalHealthPositive)

Also I'd best not forget the OCD Action Youth Network saying as I'm a member of the panel (YAP)... So please give us a follow on Twitter as we look to increase awareness of the disorder amongst the younger generations.

So yeah, the next 26 days are now being classified as 'Three Peaks Extreme Training'. It's time to pull the old exercise bike from the shed I reckon.

If anyone would like to donate to my page you can find the link here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=Milkwasabadchoice&isTeam=true.

Any sort of donation would just be extremely appreciated. Thank you all so much to those who have already donated!

Here's the time frame of the walk:


Friday 6th September:

Meet at Chester and travel to Scotland for overnight accomodation in the Ben Nevis area.

Saturday 7th September:

7:30am: Begin ascent of Ben Nevis

12:45pm: Return to the minibus and head back down South to England to head to Scafell Pike.

6:45pm: Begin ascent of Scafell Pike. (Night walking!)

Sunday 8th September:

12am: Return to the minibus and head to Wales to climb Snowdon.

4am: Begin ascent of Snowdon (headtorches required!)

8:20am: Hope to have finished Snowdon and be having a celebratory breakfast!



Cheers everyone.

Matt.

 

Walk da' Walk (Update One)

Hello all.




*BLATANT PLUG ALERT WITH ADDED WEIRD FACIAL EXPRESSION*

Yes, the name of my blog has changed yet again. Why, no one asks? Well, it will no longer be a film blog (that latest long) and I will now use it for blatant plugging for the charity hike I am undertaking in the summer. Apologies in advance.

With just over four months to go until the hike I thought I'd best start doing some good ol' fundraising. Twitter, Facebook and begging are the methods I will be using most often to attempt to reach the goal of £550, which is going to be really tough. There is the possibility that me and a friend, who is doing a charity hike too, will be co-hosting a charity event later in the year, but that is yet to be determined. So, anyways...

It had been a rather wet and windy day in Cumbria...

This year it appears I will be on my own for the hike. My best friend Adam has joined me the last two years, whilst my brother and his fiancee kindly joined us last year to do the Hadrian's Wall Trek. I really enjoyed doing the treks the previous two years, albeit last years was spoilt by the horrible weather. Doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks was great the year before. The views were fantastic and despite being bitten to pieces, it was well worth it. I think this will be my last one for a while as I feel bad asking for money each year off of you lovely people. We've really appreciated the support over the past two years. One more big push would be greatly appreciated though! The UK 24 Hour Three Peaks Challenge is something I have wanted to do for a while and I'm really excited that I get the chance to do it for Mind. It's a fantastic cause and something that is very close to my own heart, so I'm chuffed that they are putting it on and I can't wait to get going with it.

Ben Nevis

The walk itself takes place between the 14th-16th June. The aim is to climb the biggest peak in each of Scotland, England and Wales inside 24 hours. I will be meeting the mini-bus at Chester Train Station on the Friday where we (the gang of us representing Mind) will all then head up to Scotland to spend the night ahead of attempted to hike up Ben Nevis the following morning. After completing the biggest of the three peaks we will then be heading South to Cumbria to climb Scafell Pike, which will have to be completed during the night. The final part of the challenge will see us head to Wales for a bright and early 4am (approximately) start to climb Snowdon, of which I have been told the views are spectacular. We are hoping to be finished for before 9am so we can have a nice celebratory breakfast and then head back to the train station. So yeah, the trek will consist of approximately 25 miles of hiking (11,000ft altogether), 3 countries and approximately 480 miles of driving in 24 hours. Good times!

This will get some plugging off of me over the coming months, so get ready for it. Any support would be great and I'd love you forever if you donated. Mind really is a fantastic charity who do an awful lot to help people who are suffering with mental health issues. Retweets on Twitter, shares on Facebook and so forth would be greatly appreciated as well. As you will see below I'm making the most out of the age of social networking. Please give my Facebook page a like and check out my fundraising page. I will also be filming the walk and any fundraisng events prior to the trek, so I will upload those to my YouTube page. If anyone has any ideas over ways I could fundraise then please let me know! So yeah, that's about it. I'm considering writing a piece for Mind closer to the time, but I might yet bottle that. Thank you for taking the time to read this and many thanks to those who have already donated/agreed to donate.



Fundraising Page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=Milkwasabadchoice&isTeam=true

(Yes, I did name my fundraising page after an Anchorman quote, and yes I do regret it.)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MattdoestheUKThreePeaksChallenge

YouTube: MattWatson91

Mind: http://www.mind.org.uk/

Thank you.

Matt.