Swapping Highland hills for gentler southern ones

I have swapped the wet, dreich weather of the Highlands for what I had hoped would be sunnier, warmer South Coast hills this weekend. ALthough having travelled all this way the weather forecast looks fairly uncertain.

Along with three friends we are preparing to take part in the Trailwalker 2010 challenge organised by Oxfam and the Gurkhas. This big event takes place every year and attract hundreds of teams. We will be walking 100km across the South Downs from near Petersfield to Brighton in under thirty hours. It's really like coming home as this is where I first learnt to love the outdoors, exploring the South Downs as a boy.

We set off at 7am tomorrow morning, walking all through the night, aiming to stoll across the finishing line at Brighton Racecourse by Sunday lunchtime. We are backed by two supprot crews who wiill be meeting us at checkpoints along route. I hope that my time spent with the club and on my own in the mountains around Lochaber will prove useful.

I am going to try some mobile blogging over the weekend so that you can see our progress along the route accompanied by a few photographs.