Ive finished! Ive walked 1200 miles in 7 weeks and 4 days! Ive walked along roads, through fields, along rivers, over moors and over mountains. Ive had all sorts of weather from scortching hot to bitterly cold, gale winds, fog, thunder and lightening, but on the whole I think Ive been very lucky with the weather! Its been very hard mentally and physically at times but also very enjoyable and life enhancing. The wildlife and scenery have been amazing and I was even lucky enough to see an otter and just yesterday a seal. I will continue with the blog during my recovery time in Orkney as I know some people are interested to see the amazing sights of these islands. My thanks to everyone that has followed my blog for your encouragement and your generous donations to Naomis House Childrens Hopsice. It gives me great pleasure to know my efforts will help to support such a worthy cause.


LEJOG - Lands End John O Groats

Thanks for visiting my blog... This expedition has been two months in the planning and training and will hopefully be two months in the execution. I will endeavour to entertain you with a few tales and interesting pictures of my trip as I travel the length of Great Britain in my Lejog challenge... so please call back and send me messages of support to boost my tired legs!

I am collecting sponsorship for Naomi's House childrens hospice. Naomis house provides support and respite care to people under the age of 18 who are unlikely to live in to adulthood. They have two facilities in Hampshire costing 45 million per year to run, serving sick children in seven counties. They are 93% funded by charitable donations.

You can sponsor my trek at http://www.justgiving.com/Malcolm-Woodford

Sunday 4 July 2010

The Neolithic village at Maes Howe dates from about 3000 BC and is one
of the best preserved examples for the period in the whole of Europe.
The houses were part subterranean with seemingly just the roof above
ground level for the most part. In the walls there are stone cot beds
which would have been filled with furs and a stone dresser for storage
and in the centre of the room a fir pit. How the roof was constucted
is not known but maybe it was wooden beams covered in felts. The
village of Maes Howe is so well preserved as it became buried only
becoming exposed in a great storm 150 years ago.

The stone ring at Brodgar is the third largest henge in the British
isles and dates from the Neotholic period between 2500 and 2000 BC.
The population of Orkney at the time is estimated to be around 5000
people and the stone circle was clearly very important to their
culture to invest such a large amount of effort in it's building.
Incredibly all this was achieved without any metal tools!

Thursday 1 July 2010

30 miles walking on Tuesday with a 4.30am start and I arrived at John O' Groats at 4pm. I stood at the signpost and bellowed my victory out to sea startling a few seagulls and tourists alike. What a fantastic feeling it was to reach the end and it wasn't long before i was sitting supping a beer and exchanging stories with some cyclists who'd just completed the same trip. The next people up at the signpost after me where a young couple who'd just completed the cycle ride and the guy had "marry me" put up on the sign... she was balling her eyes out and it was very nice to see.