This week I
watched the very first showing of Love her Wild: Women End2End Relay Film.
What is the Love her Wild: Women End2End Relay: The film
celebrates the journey and the people, that walked from Land’s End to John O’
Groats, in a relay of over 2000km, uniting women of all ages and backgrounds
from across the UK.
Last summer the all women relay team hiked the length of the UK, over 74 days in aid of The Woodland Trust, raising £14k as they went. 699 women joined the relay team and helped carry that baton across our beautiful countryside.
The film shows how the relay worked on the ground and highlights a few of the walkers and their stories along the way.
I was part of this mega event last summer and loved being a member of this unique, all female team. Every walker had their own reason for taking part. A place to find friendship and connections, a time to find adventure and enjoy walking in the hills, a space to grieve and heal, a day to reflect and create balance or an event to focus on your physical and mental health.
Every morning the baton was handed over to a new group of walkers, the group then followed the pre planned route, walked all day between 6-10 hours. Logging some serious amount of steps as they went.
The power of the event was in essence it’s simplicity – you register, you turn up and you walk. Everyone was welcome and all encouraged. It was a day to tap into the outdoor sisterhood.
Behind the scenes you can see it was a very different story, the event was a huge undertaking, years in the planning, days spent on maps to create the route and then hours managing the walkers on the lead up and during the event. The event was a massive project and came to life through a life-long dream, a monumental amount of hard work and a guiding hand by mother nature!
The event was run by Love her Wild (LHW), headed by Bex Brand. LHW is a community for woman to come together through events and activities across the UK. This was an event 3 years in the making and had weathered the storm of covid and multiple lockdowns.
What is clear is that event may be over but the ripple effect it had on the participants will continue to work it’s magic as they sign up for more events, get out in nature more and inspire others along the way.
It is an easy watch, beautiful footage and will inspire you to take your next step outdoors. You can’t help but be impressed with support and passion of all those involved!
Here are the 10 reasons I loved being part of the UK ReIay Event.
1 It was a new and unique experience: to look forward to and a chance to give my inner adventurer the opportunity to get back out on the hills. I was part of Day 18 on Sunday 3rd July, 2023 -the route was from Sandford to Easton-in-Gordano (Bristol).
2 Time away from everyday routine: gave me a chance to inject fresh energy into my life and have a mini adventure. On our relay day, we were chased by moody cows, got lost, waded through bogs, ate giant scones, scrambled up gullies and found a beautiful old train station. Not your average day!
3 Meet new people:
I met my team at 8 am in a random pub car park in the middle of no-where, we chatted away all day, it was easy company and you could get involved as much as you want.
4 Give yourself the time: to flourish and recharge your internal batteries: Spending time outside always make my heart sing. Thank you Sue Sharp for leading us on our Bristol Adventure.
5 Connect with like-minded people: The event acts as a natural filter, it attracts like-minded women that have energy, passion and desire to walk outside in all weathers for hours on end. Most of our group had signed up on their own – Don’t worry about being on your own!
6 Build up your resilience: Expect the unexpected – rain, sleet, sunshine, moody cows, long lost routes, wild wee’s, wet feet, dried up river beds, bogs, unexplored paths, overgrown trails, glorious views, fairy grottos, shady steep forests and of course sore feet, dodgy knees and cranky hips.
7 Give yourself time to revel in your fabulousness: Embrace that warm feeling after you have finished, had a shower and sat down with a cuppa – store that feeling, put it in your adventure treasure box and bring it out next time you are having a rubbish day.
8 What a perfect fitness goal: To cover our 16mile route it took us 8 hrs 20 mins, that worked out as 40,000 steps. The event gave me a perfect reason to get fit and get some practice miles under my belt.
9 I always love the day after an event: You have the time to process everything that happened, enjoy the after-glow of being proud of yourself and bank all the memories. I stuck our finish line photo on my fridge so I could see us all every day. It’s a little visual cue to remind me of what I can do if I put my mind to it.
10 Celebrate:
that you are part of a team of 600+ Women’s Relay Team walking across the UK and raising money for charity. We are a walking example to inspire other women to take action and get involved.
Nothing beats the power of women all working and walking together.
Thank you to Bex Brand and the Team for bringing us altogether.
Happy Adventuring.
#We2e #loveherwilduk #end2end #hikingadventures #womenssport #womeninsport
The Relay event was sponsored by The North Face, Ellis Brigham, Mountain
Sports, Royal Air Force and Komoot
