South Wiltshire historian walking 100km for Gurkha Welfare Trust
Guy Walters is walking the South Downs non-stop
Last updated 12th Sep 2023
A historian from the Chalke Valley is walking the South Downs in aid of the Salisbury based Gurkha Welfare Trust (GWT).
Guy Walters is taking on the 100km Trailwalker challenge on 22nd-24th September and is aiming to raise £1,200 for the charity.
Walkers take on the challenge in groups of four, with each member of the group needing to raise £300 to reach the £1,200 figure.
Guy’s wife, Annabel Venning, has family involvement with the Gurkha’s stretching back over 200 years.
She was set to join Guy on the challenge but broke her toe on a kitchen stool, meaning she isn’t able to take part – although she will be meeting Guy and his group at the 10km checkpoints with fresh socks and whatever is needed.
Guy says he’s looking forward to the camaraderie with over 1000 people are set to take part in the event, but he told us what he feels the biggest challenge will be:
“Blisters are my enemy. I suspect this is what I'm going to be fighting against. Yeah, I think I'm going to be fit enough to do all the hills and what not. But those blisters are going to be bad. They're going to be really bad.”
The walk starts at 6am and Guy is aiming to complete the 100km by midnight.
“I mean that is very cocky, very cocky indeed. Annabelle and I the other day did a 26 mile walk in about 6 hours. 15. So I thought, well, that's just under half. So we should be able to do it in about 18 hours.”
Guy feels that living in the Chalke Valley has given him a great training location to be prepared for the South Downs.
“Every time we walk a dog, you’ve got to go up a hill. So you know, I feel that that's been pretty good training living here.”
Annabel added that while the Wiltshire countryside is challenging, they’re dwarfed in comparison by Nepal’s geography:
“Of course, they're not really a patch on the hills in Nepal.
“When you go tracking in Nepal and you see these kids walking to school 6 miles up and down, you know, basically the Himalayas, then it really makes the the Wiltshire Hills look like molehills.”
Annabel explained to us how GWT would benefit from the funding raised from the challenge.
She told us that a lot of people in Nepal live in remote locations, which can take several days to reach by foot.
“Every pound raised goes a very long way,” Annabel said, “it's everything from building Schools, earthquake proof schools, earthquake proof homes, clean water is a major area of fundraising for the trust.
“There's so much support for communities out there goes on, you know, education, medical pensions, you name it, they're involved.”
We can support Guy’s challenge here.