A Furness Academy Student’s Account of Training for the Keswick to Barrow Walk

40 gruelling miles, 8 blissful checkpoints, one anxious beginning and, hopefully, one triumphant finish. This adds together as one epic journey. But how do you tackle such a demanding challenge?

40 gruelling miles, 8 blissful checkpoints, one anxious beginning and, hopefully, one triumphant finish. This adds together as one epic journey. But how do you tackle such a demanding challenge?

Our determined team from Furness Academy have spent the last month walking around 4 miles each week. With journeys up to the Abbey and the Quarry, and pretty good weather each week, the walks seemed straightforward and effortless!

However, as a few of us found out a couple of weeks ago, the 40 miles we faced in May was going to be a lot tougher. The middle of February saw our group of will-minded K2Bers plan a training walk to Ulverston and back. A freezing Sunday morning around 10am brought a challenge in itself as we travelled up the coast road to Ulverston. Most of us thought we’d be home in time for dinner. However with many hours of long winding roads we managed to get into the town at around 3pm. With freezing cold fingers and throbbing feet we were most relieved to be at our destination, now we had to head home! With another couple hours of strolling and dragging our feet, we had made it to Barrow. The relief I felt knowing I didn’t have to walk anymore was wonderful. My feet were blistered up and sore and I was glad to be home in the warmth.

After that experience I have realised that it’s going to take a lot of training and determination to be able to finish the K2B. With some valuable support from our team leader, Miss Knagg and her dog, Hugo, the Furness academy K2B team should be trained up enough to do, hopefully, exceptionally well in the K2B challenge.

Let’s hope next week’s training will be helpful, and bring nice weather!