Adventure with Adam

My First Adventure – Cycling from London to Paris

By Leave a Comment

I joined the Army with the sole intention of deploying on operations and leading soldiers into combat. My opportunity to deploy on operations came in 2014 when I was deployed to Helmand Province in Afghanistan. In 2014, the large-scale combat operations the British Army had been conducting were coming to an end and the government was focused on withdrawing all of our forces as quickly as possible. This meant that rather than deploying as an infantry platoon commander, I deployed in a staff role which was mainly office based. I spent 4 months in the UK’s largest base, Camp Bastion and assisted with the withdrawal back to the UK.

This isn’t how I imagined the highlight of my career to be. I joined to be tested in the most challenging environment possible. To lead soldiers in combat. Instead, I was pushing a pen in a huge concrete building.

Don’t get me wrong. The work I did, needed to be done. It’s just not how I imagined my first deployment going.

When I have spoken to my colleagues and friends that have been in combat they tell me that I should be careful with what I wish for. That it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. I completely get this, however, I still had an urge to test myself. To escape from the desk and go on an adventure.

Whilst in Afghanistan I read the book ‘moods of future joys‘  by the adventurer, Alistair Humphreys. It is an autobiographical account of Alistair’s four-year cycle ride around the world. I was instantly hooked and spent the majority of my time in Camp Bastion, dreaming about escaping on a bicycle and travelling around the world by bike.

However, there were a few problems.

  1. I didn’t own a bike.
  2. I had a full-time job as an Officer in the British Army with limited free time.
  3. I hadn’t really cycled since I was at school.
  4. I had a Mrs at home that would probably not be happy that after four months away, I decided to spend my time off on a bicycle trip.

Once you return from military operations, you are given some time off to ‘rest and recuperate’. This is important if you have just been involved in highly kinetic combat operations. Not as much so if you have just been sat comfortably behind a desk.

I planned to spend this time on my own bicycle tour. Unfortunately, I didn’t have four years but only two weeks. Still, this would be sufficient to buy a bike and go on my first bicycle adventure.

The idea

Firstly, I had to buy a bike. After searching online for a cheap second-hand one, I bought what I thought would be a decent road bike. I knew very little about what was required for a long distance cycling trip. My cycling knowledge was based completely on what I had seen in the Tour de France and I thought a light bike, like the ones you see Bradley Wiggins on, would be ideal.

Next came the location. It was the 100th anniversary since the start of the Great War. I wanted to visit the war memorials in Belgium so I decided to set my route from London, through Belgium, Luxemburg and onwards to Paris.

Rather than just doing it for the sake of adventure, I decided to use my adventure to raise money for a charity. This would also help my Mrs to agree that it was a good idea. I chose to raise money for the military charity, SSAFA. I had seen the support and good work they have done for serving and ex-serving forces personnel so it felt like a great fit.

Training

I am certainly not what you would consider being a typical cyclist. I am much happier in the front row of a rugby scrum than I am in a super uncomfortable saddle and light carbon fibre frame. Rather than just setting off straight for France, I thought it would be best to train for this adventure. I spent most of my evenings in Afghanistan on the static exercise bike. Burning calories and getting used to time in the saddle. This is the best I could do until I could return home and buy my own bike.

My warm up event was a 100-mile cycle through the Yorkshire hills. From East Yorkshire to West Yorkshire. This was a gruelling day. I loved the views, the speed and the cheap, simple freedom that cycling had to offer but my bottom was sore and my back and hands were not used to spending so long in the same uncomfortable position. I had a long way to go.

Setting off

At the last minute, my good friend Ollie Bambrick decided to join me for the adventure. I was more than willing to head off alone but to have a companion to share this experience with was very much appreciated.

Rather than writing about this adventure here is the film I made shortly after returning. It’s a long one at 18 minutes. Enjoy!

Walking Home for Christmas

By 3 Comments

Walking with the wounded (WWTW) are a charity that raises funds to retrain and re-skill wounded veterans and support them in finding new careers outside the military. Over Christmas, they run a campaign called ‘Walking Home for Christmas’. People are encouraged to walk home from their place of work, in groups or as individuals, to raise money for the charity.

I heard about the campaign through a post on social media. At the time, I was based in Warminster, Wiltshire with my job in the Army. After a quick google search of the distance from Warminster to my home town of Beverley, I thought it would be an interesting challenge.

220 miles. Challenge set!

The walking route (roughly) from Wiltshire to Yorkshire.

Committing

Once I had created the just giving page and published my plans to the world through the medium of social media, there was no backing out. Not without looking like an absolute wally.

I wanted to make the adventure challenging. To feel nervous before setting off, not knowing that success was certain. My challenge was to complete 220 miles in 10 days carrying 30kg of warm kit, a cold weather sleeping bag and military rations and water. To increase the challenge and reduce costs, I was to wild camp each night. In an attempt to reduce the weight I was carrying, I decided not to take a tent, just a heavy military bivvy bag. 

Before I had set off on the road, I had managed to raise £660 for WWTW. My initial target was £750, so to almost be there was fantastic. 

The first few days

The first few days were probably the hardest. My back was pretty sore from carrying the weight and my feet had a couple of blisters between my toes. Nothing too serious though and this was to be expected.

Bearing set.

In an attempt to stay off the roads as much as possible, I set my compass to a hard bearing of 0700 mils to East Yorkshire. Taking the scenic route proved to be unsuccessful. After spending two hours trying to get through thick thorn bushes and rivers I decided to stick to the quicker, but boring and more dangerous roads that span the length of England.

I quickly got into the swing of things and walking became my routine. Walk, eat, sleep, repeat.

Motorways and darkness

My target was to complete at least 22 miles per day. Some days were more successful than others but I managed to achieve this target every day, regardless of how I felt. I didn’t finish most days until 9 pm. This meant I spent most of the time walking in darkness due to the short winter days. There is nothing worse than been tired, wet and hungry, walking down an A road into speeding traffic in the dark.

I listened to a shed load of System of the Down whilst walking in the dark. It gave me the courage (or stupidity) to walk headfirst into traffic and keep up the pace to get the miles done.

Motorways are horrible places. You can hear a busy motorway a good 5 miles before you arrive at it. Throughout the adventure, I used motorways as milestones to tick off along the route. I crossed 4 in total, the M4, M40, M6 and the M1. All are equally littered and disgustingly loud places. If you are ever to take a walk through England, avoid motorways when possible.

After walking along roads for 10 days you spot a lot of things that you wouldn’t notice when you are travelling at 60 mph in a car. Litter and roadkill are the most prominent and obvious things. I would, on average, see 3 dead animals a day. From badgers, foxes, cats, crows and even rats. Pretty grim.

Passing just one of the many busy Motorways on the adventure. The picture was taken using my Samsung phone.

Fundraising

Promoting your chosen cause for charity is more difficult than I appreciated. Especially when you have a full-time job and (only) have 343 Facebook friends and 127 followers on twitter to promote your fundraising page.

Initially, I felt bad asking people to donate to a charity, especially at Christmas time. But after seeing the generosity from friends and strangers, I felt that creating an opportunity for people to donate to WWTW was a good thing.

The amazing community at a picket in Grantham. They are campaigning to save their local hospital. They kindly filled my pockets with cakes and gave me soup.

Facebook turned out to be the most successful tool at promoting the charity and my progress. It would only take a couple of minutes a day to take a picture and send a quick update. My family appreciated knowing where I was, even if some of my friends were fed up of seeing me pop up in their new feed.

Daily fundraising totals  

Here is a breakdown of the donation progress, day by day:

Day One – £660

Day Two – £850

Day Three – £940

Day Four – £1000

Day Five – £1060

Day Six – £1239

Day Seven – £1524

Day Eight – £1696

Day Nine -£1911

Day Ten -£2026

Final amount £2363.72

Looking back at the progress by day makes me really happy that I didn’t decide to jack it in when it started getting tough at about the halfway point. The steady inflow of money was a huge source of morale whenever I stopped to check the fundraising page. To have raised this amount at Christmas time, for a walk through England was pretty amazing.

Wild camping in England is much easier than most people think.

Best bits from the journal

Throughout the adventure, I kept a journal. I logged how I was feeling (usually tired and sorry for myself) and the amount I had raised for WWTW. I also logged my mileage and the time. This helped to create a reference for each day. For example, I knew that I had to do 6 miles before 1200 in order to do 22 miles a day.

Here are my favourite entries from the journal:

Arrived at Chippenham – Sat in a tunnel – Could happily sleep here.

Pros: Dry, some light.

Cons: Busy, should do more miles.

Just had some teenage girls, gobbing in the tunnel – not sleeping here.

Good points – At £850! An old man at the Waitrose near Malmesbury gave me £5 towards the charity.

Bad points – It’s almost dark. I need to do at least 10 more miles. Cycling is much easier than walking. The pressure is a killer!

Walking on A roads at night is shit!

If I die it will be because of this.

Walking on A roads, in general, is shit!

I haven’t seen much of the Cotswolds due to the fog.  Just had a lovely sit down on a real toilet in a cafe.

I will do this, it’s not too hard. It’s just walking with a small child on my back. I have very tired legs.

Slept next to a river last night. I dipped my legs in for an ice bath. Too cold!

Paid £3 for a coke. Robbing gits.

Last night I slept by the canal – away from traffic but not civilisation. Somebody was shining a torch near me from the canal. I didn’t care, I just needed sleep.

When possible, I stayed away from the roads.

I want to get off the A roads of death.

The girl behind the bar is a hot red head.

I’ve found an old, derelict barn shed with some dry hay. There is some shelter above me. I’ve slept in much worse places.

Some people turned up at the barn at 1030pm. Was a bit scary. Stayed quiet and fell asleep. Just banged my head on a metal pole after going for a poo. Bloody hurts!

The save Grantham Hospital group gave me soup and cake. Made my day.

A kind man in Lincolnshire just stopped and gave me a pack of Worthers originals and Trebor xxx mints. He also donated £25 online. How kind.

One of the best wild camping spots I have ever found.

Lessons from the road

  • Fundraising is hard.
  • Doing an adventure for a charity gives you an extra bit of motivation.
  • Social media is an effective ‘tool’ for fundraising.
  • Picking a smaller charity that means something to you is important. WWTW would phone me daily for updates and arrange press. This was very helpful and increased my motivation. 
  • People are generous.
  • 99% of people are kind.
  • Walking is immersive due to the slowness.
  • Walking is much harder than cycling.
  • Walking on roads, especially busy ones, is horrible.
  • Walking alone can be boring but also at the same time liberating.
  • Pack light. I didn’t and ended up ditching some warm kit. Lighter is better.
  • You can survive with very little money. Water is nearly always available for free in the UK. As is electricity.
  • Not having enough portable charging was a pain. Use solar panels or another source of power in the future.
  • You don’t have to travel to far away lands for a real adventure.
  • Filming a walking adventure is difficult, especially when you are alone. I’m not sure if I will ever end up editing my footage.
  • Doing radio interviews had mixed success. I probably did a little too many. Some radio presenters are great at plugging the charity. Some are pants.
  • Printed local newspapers were successful at getting more donations.

The just giving page is still open and you can still donate. Your money would be going to a very good cause. You can find the page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Adam-Hugill1

Charity Adventures. A generous act or a free ride to somewhere exotic?

By Leave a Comment

The charity sector is trying harder and harder to get your cash and is becoming ever more competitive each year. Charities are constantly looking for inventive ways of attracting people to fundraise on their behalf. We have all seen requests on our facebook and twitter asking us to donate to one cause or another. Often people will be doing a 10km run, a marathon or an ironman. Some are doing a ‘tough mudder’ event or other military themed gruelling obstacle course.  People are quitting alcohol in January, raising money for Dogs in Dogtober and the month formally known as November is now an excuse for blokes to grow terrible facial hair.

Going on an adventure or completing a physical challenge for charity is becoming ever more popular. We see people climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, swimming the channel and even walking to the South Pole, all in aid of raising money for charity.

But is this a selfish act?

Before digging into that further, I have to admit that I am not completely innocent on this front. I have been one fo those on facebook, asking you to donate your hard earned cash in aid of various charities.

Adam’s charity adventures

I have so far completed two adventures for charity. In 2014 I completed a 650-mile cycle tour that started in London and went through Belgium, Luxembourg and France, finishing in Paris. I did this with my friend Ollie and raised £1677.93 for the military charity SSAFA. We did this unsupported and wild camped along the way to cut costs (here is a film I made about the adventure).

I completed my second adventure for charity in Dec 2016. I walked 220 miles, from Wiltshire to East Yorkshire in 10 days. Again this was unsupported, I carried all of my equipment and the sleeping bag that I required for the duration (including only two pairs of underpants). I did this mostly unaccompanied and slept in barns, woods and next to rivers along the way. My generous friends, family and the occasional stranger donated in total £2363.72 for the military charity Walking with the Wounded.

For me, the most important thing about the charity events I have done so far is that 100% of the money raised went to charity. I can not stress enough how important this was for me.

Freeloaders?

What really grinds my gears are these trips or events where people raise money and only a percentage of the money goes to the charity. Let’s use a Mt Kilimanjaro event I have found as an example.  This is an expedition that is pretty challenging and captures the donators attention. However, do the donators know that usually, only 50% of their money is going to the charity? The other 50% is paying for somebody’s free trip to Africa. 

Below are a couple of screenshots from https://www.discoveradventure.com/essential-information for the 11-day expedition to Mt Kilimanjaro in aid of MacMillan cancer support. 

This expedition is organised by a company called Discover Adventure and costs £5,100 (including the registration fee). Let’s, for argument’s sake, say that the individuals will pay the £550 registration fee out of their own pocket, so they have to raise £4,550 in order to be able to go on this expedition. Personally, I think this is pretty pricey and a tough target for the average person to raise for charity. With the correct drive and motivation, it is certainly achievable and I imagine that due to the number of places available that these expeditions do get filled. 

charity

The next screen shot is the payment plan for the expedition. The fundraiser has multiple options. There is the option shown at the bottom in the pink section to pay for the costs in full with 100% of the money going to the charity.

This option is great!

charity

However, if the fundraiser takes the other two options then only 50% of the raised money will to the charity. I personally think this is unacceptable.

Why is this an option?

In the perfect world, all of this money would be going to the charity. As a business model (and we have to remember that charities are businesses) I can completely understand why the charity does this. Receiving 50% of the raised money is better than receiving nothing at all. The charity also receives fantastic publicity for supporting a challenging event which will encourage more people to donate and complete their own events. It is a win-win.

My problem isn’t with the charity.

It’s with the fundraiser. 

Doing the “right” thing

Raising £4,550 is an incredible feat. On my last adventure, I raised half of that amount. Each morning I was doing daily radio updates on BBC Wiltshire and appeared in a number of local newspapers. It’s hard work promoting a charity as there are so many good causes and everybody is after your cash. These media appearances helped to raise about 30% the final total. The rest was donated by friends and family.

If I was to sign up for the fundraising option for the Mt Kilimanjaro expedition and raised the target of £4,550 for the charity, they would receive £2,275. That is less than the £2,363.72 I have just raised by walking through England!

If an individual has the drive and motivation and to raise £4,550 for charity then all of that money should go to THE CHARITY. Not pay for a free holiday to Africa or any other far-flung land. I love travelling for free as much as the next person but that is taking the piss.

My adventure cost me a total of about £100. That was around £10 a day for food (I had the occasional pub lunch and KFC). It was a fantastic experience and the UK is a great place to walk through. It shows that there is no need to go to Mt Kilimanjaro to raise £2300 for charity. You can raise that just from going for a walk from your own home.

Is adventure fundraising selfish?

I would have probably attempted the 220-mile walk regardless of if there was the charity incentive or not. I had been looking for a 10-14 day opportunity to do something cheap and challenging and then I saw the Walking home for Christmas campaign by Walking with the Wounded through Facebook and thought that sounded like the perfect idea.

Doing an adventure for charity adds an element of pressure to the whole experience. As soon as you promote the fundraising page you are suddenly tied into doing it. There is no backing out without looking like a wally.

Before I set off on the 220 mile walk it was the first time I was genuinely worried about my chances of completing an adventure. I had a strict time schedule with limited flexibility. If I had picked up a serious or even an annoying niggling injury I probably wouldn’t have completed it. Sure, walking 220 miles was far from comfortable, especially at the beginning, but by the end, I felt pretty fresh and could have happily continued on for a lot further.

walking home for christmas
Finishing the walking home for Christmas adventure. Joined by some fine men from the Yorkshire Regiment at the Humber Bridge.

Initially, when I set off on the walk I had a slight feeling that what I was doing was selfish. Walking 220 miles serves zero purpose to anybody. I could have driven the distance in four hours or caught the train. Instead of taking a much more sensible and quicker mode of modern transport, I was away from home for 10 days before Christmas, wandering around England like an amateur nomad. Christmas is a time where you are meant to spend time with your friends and family. It wasn’t really until one of the donators to my just giving page made a certain comment that I felt I was doing something worthwhile.

He said, “thank you for giving us the opportunity to donate”. 

This made me feel like my walk had a real purpose. I may not have been doing anything actual useful by walking but I certainly created an opportunity to donate and that was good enough for me.

There is something in all of us that wants to give to those less fortunate than ourselves. I have often found on my travels that those with the least, give the most.

Figures released by the British government in December 2016 show there are 167,109 registered charities in the UK that raise and spend £73.07 billion each year. This is a staggering amount of money that goes to some amazing causes all over the world.

Advice for other adventure fundraisers

If you are considering doing an adventure or challenge for charity go for it. Walking with the wounded were fantastic throughout my walk.  Each morning they phoned me to see how I was doing and to check on my progress. This lifted my spirits during some of the miserable, wet and cold days. They also arranged the media interviews with local TV, radio and print press.

If at any time I even considered quitting, the incentive of raising more money for charity pushed me on. In the journal I kept throughout the walk, I noted the amount that had been raised each time I stopped. When I first set off I had raised £660. Seeing that number slowly raise to the end total was magical.

My advice to a donator or to a would be expedition adventurer is to think about where the money is going. If a stranger is donating, thinking that their donation is going to the charity when in fact it is paying for the flights, accommodation, visas and other costs related to a big expedition, you should make sure you are fully honest about that on any fundraising page.

When I donate, I personally would rather my money went completely to the charity, rather than pay for you to have a free holiday. The charities are happy to have this system as some money and publicity is better than nothing at all. And not everybody can afford to go to Mt Kilimanjaro. However getting a donator to pay for your trip just doesn’t sit right. 

If you really want to go to Mt Kilimanjaro and raise a wod of cash for charity, save up for the trip and ensure all the money goes to charity. Or even better just go for a walk from your home through England or where ever else you may live.

In the end, you will feel much better for it.