Jon's blog

Final total: £730

Jon — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 12:30:23 +0000

Having received a few more donations in the post in the last week, the final sponsorship total has reached £730. This is excellent news, and I’ve sent all the money off to the Red Cross today.

Thank you all.

Donations reach £705!

Jon — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 14:00:10 +0000

I can’t believe it – I’ve received more donations in the last few days, mainly from family who live further away. With their donations I’ve reach £705 as my running total and I still have one more promised cheque I’m waiting to come through the post! I’m overwhelmed that not only was my £500 goal reached but now the amount is over £700.

Thank you all, for your wonderful generosity; the British Red Cross is a good cause and I’m so proud of my family and friends for supporting me in this!

Article published on Red Cross blog!

Jon — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:31:14 +0000

Great news – after reading my blog, the British Red Cross asked me to write an article about my experiences during the “Beat the Brecons” challenge for their official blog.

They published it today, and as it’s the most recent blog it’s on the front page which is quite exciting!

Click here to read the article.

Some photos of the event

Jon — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:34:06 +0000

Here are some pictures of the event (one of each – I will add more as I get hold of them!)

Hiking in the Brecons

Canoeing on the river Wye

Mountain biking in the Brecons

Chilling out

Jon — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:39:50 +0000

Today I am chilling out, recovering from the action-packed weekend. Last night I had another bad night’s sleep with the pain in my ribs so I went to the doctor today who confirmed one of my lower ribs has a fracture. He’s given me some Co-Codamol so hopefully that will relieve the pain so I can sleep! I think that the high-octane activities over the weekend produced enough endorphins in my body to keep the pain at bay (as endorphins work as natural painkillers). So that goes to show you: if you are in physical pain and you don’t have any painkillers, put yourself through a gruelling activity and you will be right as rain!

On the way home

Jon — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:55:56 +0000

I’m on the way home, on the M4 in the Red Cross minibus and I can’t wait to get home to my family. It’s been a great weekend and a really extreme experience and all I want to do now is have a long warm shower and a few days R&R.

Will update my blog soon…

Mountain biking, mud and red bull!

Jon — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:13:52 +0000

Today was… WOW! Out of all the challenges, this was the hardest, roughest and most adrenaline-pumped. Hands down, this whole long weekend has been the most physically challenging experience of my life. And today was easily the most physically and mentally challenging…

We had a professional guide and also a support vehicle (following by road) and our guide took us on an interesting and difficult route as he felt we were competent enough as a group.

I thought I had done Mountain Biking before. No – I had simply cycled before. Today was truly mountain biking. We biked through the Brecon mountains and we encountered so many different types of terrain – and the terrain changed so fast. We encountered rocky roads (and these were big rocks!), rocky streams, muddy hills, ridiculously narrow grassy lanes, cesspits of stinking mud which we had to cross and mountainous dirt tracks. The views were awesome and the terrain constantly changing and often treacherous.

For most of the day I was nicknamed “Persil” because I had a brand new brilliant white t-shirt on which seemed to stay clean throughout most of the mud, water, marsh and goodness knows what else we put those bikes and our bodies through. But eventually my luck ran out and I went through a muddy marshy ditch at speed (whilst my fellow challengers waited and watched on the other side, having gone through themselves, one way or another), and my bike sank into the mud and I went flying into the cold stinking mud! No more “Persil” after that – I was filthy!

Thankfully, although my ribs really hurt at times today, the paracetamol I took on a couple of occasions kept the worst of it at bay so I could get through the event. However, going over the rocks took its toll!

I cannot describe all the experiences I had today on a 20-mile, 8 hour mountain bike trek, because you really had to be there to fully appreciate what we put ourselves through, but I have to say that I loved every minute of it and had a great time with a varied group of people who all pulled together to support each other, especially today when it was most needed. What I will say is: if you ever get the chance to do real mountain biking, do it!

Well, I’ve done it – it’s finished and I have the certificate, medal, bruises and mud to prove it and I raised over £600! I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who sponsored me and believed in me. I’d also like to thank the British Red Cross for providing us with top quality accommodation (along with first class mountain bikes – boy did they take a hammering), endless supplies of good food, water and Red Bull (oh, how I needed plenty of the latter today on those steep hills!) and for one hell of a life-changing experience.

And now I’m going to finish my beer and go to bed. I shall be walking like John Wayne for a few days as I’m so saddle-sore, but it was all worth it.

I will blog more once I am home and rested and will fill in the gaps in my account of this mad experience. I will also meet up with the other challengers soon and get hold of some photos so you can see what we went through on Friday and today. The photos I took on Friday I will upload on Monday night.

Nite nite Wales – tomorrow I shall be heading back home, woohoo!

River Wye

Jon — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:15:36 +0000

So today was the canoeing challenge. And what a fabulous day it was too. The weather was brilliant and I caught a bit of the sun. If only yesterday’s weather had been like today! My canoe partner (we were in two-man open canoes) was experienced and managed the rudder really well. It meant I did a lot of paddling as I was at the front, but that suited me as I’m rubbish at steering the canoe!

Despite a few very close shaves when we hit rocks and grounded a few times, we somehow managed to avoid capsizing and falling in! Quite a few of the other canoes went over, but we got through the whole trip in one piece. There was a photographer at one rough spot who was taking pictures which he publishes on his web site and charges a fee for. As none of us had a camera with, it was handy him taking photos. When I’m back home on a computer I trust, I will buy the full size photo from his web site (www.wyepics.co.uk), but in the interim have a look here:

http://www.wyepics.co.uk/photo3275469.html

To see all the challengers photographed today, go the the following address, and look at pictures IMG_2958 through to IMG_2986 (which is Matt and I).

http://www.wyepics.co.uk/portfolio66755.html

We ended at the Boat Inn pub in Hay-on-Wye where the crew met us to drive the canoes back to the training centre we’re staying at. That left us just enough time for a refreshing, cold pint of beer – oh how good that tasted!

Well, I’m going to chill out for a while now and then go to bed, ready for the final challenge tomorrow: the cycling. Apparently we have two professional local guides with us so it should be interesting!

Cracked rib!

Jon — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:13:33 +0000

After yesterday’s hike my rib was hurting a lot more – every breath I take causes pain and sleep last night was fitful. One of the Red Cross guys had a look and told me it’s most likely cracked. If it was just bruised (as I thought it was), it would not hurt so much on every intake of breath, apparently.

So not good news, but I’m going to take some pain killers and try to ignore the pain and get on with the canoeing today. It’s a cloudy, windy day and the forecast says there’s an 80% chance of rain, but we’re on the water anyway. As long as I don’t fall in to the Wye, I’m happy!

Will let you know how I get on today.

What an experience

Jon — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:06:59 +0000

Today’s hike was like nothing I have ever experienced. The hiking before lunch was pleasant, though really tough going over the rough terrain up to the first (and steepest) of the 3 peaks we were climbing. Once we conquered it, we stopped for lunch and I was feeling pretty good. The scenery was beautiful and I was loving the experience.

After lunch things were very different. As we scaled the next peak, the low-level cloud we entered was persistently moist, soaking our clothes. Added to that, the wind was very very strong and really biting. The further we hiked, the wetter and colder we got. When we had to stop to regroup, that for me was the worst, because the wind was SO strong and the moisture would not let up, so in no time my “waterproof” jacket was soaked right through and every part of me, my clothing and kit were saturated.

The actual hiking was great fun, but I must admit I felt miserable by 3pm as I was drenched through and through and still getting wetter and colder.

The peaks themselves were the most difficult terrain I have ever experienced. At times we were walking almost vertically, climbing over rocks – and the hardest part for me was going down the other side! As this was just as steep as the ascent, it made progress slow and hazardous (though the mountain sheep seemed to have no problem clinging to the edges overlooking huge ravines!)

All in all a great experience, but one I don’t intend to do again! I took quite a few photos before and just after lunch, but had to abandon any photography once the bad weather set in.

Canoeing tomorrow – can’t be worse…can it?!