How I did the Isle of Wight Challenge

Firstly, I would like to say a huge thank you for all your support and encouragement prior to my ‘little walk’.

It has been over a month since I undertook the 52km walk, walking half way around the Isle of Wight.

Two friends, my poor husband and I started early and at 7am on 4^th May the walk began! I was a little bit nervous as I was expecting to walk for over 17hrs and finish the walk after midnight.

In fact, the walk was lovely and less horrendous then I thought. It was a lot better than the Jurassic Coast Challenge I did the year before. The atmosphere on the walk was amazing and everyone we met was friendly and doing the walk for a charity, a challenge for themselves or, like me, doing it for both.

Scenery around the coastal path was amazing and as I have never been to this part of the island before it was good to explore.  The only big hill we had to climb was near The Needles and just before the 21km stop (boy, I was ready for a little sit down). When we got to the 21km stop, my husband worked out that we would finish the walk in day light. At the speed we were going, it would take us under 14hrs in total to reach the finish line.

I think I may have run most of the way as my two friends and husband are a lot taller than me.  I tried to keep up until the 36km mark, but after that I needed to go at my own pace as my hips had started to give in! In the end, the whole walk took us 12hrs and we were still in daylight when we finished!

By the end I had a huge blister on my right heel and since then I have lost two toenails, but we are already thinking about signing up for another one next year!!!

To date I have raised £635 for The Queen’s Nursing Institute, as well as promoting the work of the QNI and of community nurses in Britain.

Katharine Pepper, Queen’s Nurse

Check out Katharine’s previous blog.

If you would like to fundraise for us, please get in touch at mail@qni.org.uk.