Snowdon Trek 2013

Rewind 2 years....I personally have such fond memories of the trek we completed in 2011 (See previous Post HERE) I learnt so much, was on an emotional roller coaster and the trek gave me a focus and fundamentally having it to focus on got me through the tour we were in the middle of. I am so thankful for that, that tour was a dark place for me and my Little Trooper and the trek got us through.

It seemed only right we did it again and brought lots of you on the journey with us, I feel so emotional about it, so many people have registered and to think we will be sharing the path with friends old and new is so heartwarming.

Yes we are doing it to raise awareness of the charity and yes we hope to raise some pennies to enable us to run events throughout 2013 for Little Troopers but its more than that...its creating a community of people who all have something fundamental in common, people who without explanation understand, people who can relate. That's special.

The weekend in April is about achievement, community and cake!!! We have arranged drinks the night before the trek, cake at the bottom and a group meal after the trek, an opportunity to chat, share experiences but also celebrate what we are part of.

The journey since the first trek is mind blowing, My Daddy is a Soldier Adventures has been founded and registered as a charity, lots of Little Troopers have come to events and many emails have been cried at...there's so many of you out there pleased there is now something we can all dip into wherever we are based.

So 2013 is quite a milestone....6th April we visit the point where it all started and I REALLY can't wait!

(There is still some places to register to join us, email: fundraising@mydaddyisasoldieradventures.org for info pack and registration form)

What does the end mean?

I wanted to blog, from a not so functional point of view....

Back in October 2010 when Tony went to Afghanistan I was of course upset but thought Madison and I would be just fine...we'd done this so many times before so it would be fine...right?...Wrong! It was by far the hardest few weeks to begin with and Madison being 7 years old this time really struggled and turned into a child I wasn't sure I knew...why was she behaving like this? why was she so angry?

The trek was born out of searching and searching for coping strategies for Madison and failing... and it was if nothing else a great distraction in the beginning, it gave us a focus...then it completely absorbed us!!
From requesting kit, sending hundreds of emails...to all the press and of course our Daybreak appearence!! We were living and breathing this trek adventure...having friends involved and family coming forwards to help it gave us such a sense of community and belonging and all for a great cause too!

The practise trek in February was a turning point for me, I smiled which I hadn't done in a long time, I felt at ease and Madison and the girls had a ball...even though this was without a doubt one of the hardest weekends I have ever experienced the true achievement of doing that walk makes my eyes prick with tears a little..read about it here: http://mydaddyisasoldiertrek.blogspot.com/2011/02/practise-trek-5th-february-moel-siabod.html
The togetherness, the challenge, the distraction, the lack of phone or internet!, the change of scenery all of these things made it a weekend none of us will forget!!!

...now we had the trek to complete!

The planning, all the people involved, all the build up I felt so much pressure for it to be a success, what if the girls didn't want to do it? what if they didn't make it? was this a silly thing to do?
We did do it and it was really hard and we had to overcome many, many hurdles on that mountain... a few times I wanted to cry, I mean really sob...as we got to the top I felt a bit funny, thankfully my big brother was on the trek, he took my hand and my babys hand and got us to the top.
Then at the summit I was overwhelmed, we had done it! all these months, all this planning...and I so wish for that second Tony could have been there, that he could have experienced the feeling, that he could have given me a hug...I was with all these people but he was missing and I will always be a bit sad about that...he'd have loved it!

I will admit I had a mixture of emotions coming down the mountain, relief, exhaustion, sadness lots of things running through my head and I was very emotional when we filmed with ITV at the bottom in a Cafe giving the girls' their medals and showing them messages from their dads in Afghanistan...I think they caught a few of the tears but I tried to hold them in!!! Crying on TV is very uncool, this I have discovered...see: http://www.itv.com/daybreak/lifestyle/familiesandparenting/mydadsasoldier/

I absolutely loved doing the trek, I loved the challenge and I truely believe that it helped Madison deal with what we were faced with and I built and developed relationships that I knew I had and also ones I didnt know I had....it was a pleaure and it was also tough but I learnt alot...about myself, about being a forces family and about being a mummy.

I am thankful for everyone who was involved in everyway from supporting, to climbing the mountain, to shouting about what we were doing, to donating, to propping me up when it was too much!!!

And that is what the end means...it means many thank yous, it means looking back at what we achieved and its about seeing that setting a challenge really helped these forces children cope with having a parent in a war environment......who knows we may organise more adventures to bring more forces children with a daddy as a soldier together...

Would you be up for the challenge?!

Madison's daddy returns in a week or so from Afghanistan and Victoria's daddy next month. 

End of the trek chapter...

15th April 2011 and the 'My daddy is a soldier trek 2011' adventure comes to a close for the girlies..... and us!! Months of hard work, planning and fundraising came together when we visited Help for Heroes HQ to hand in the total donations.

The final totals were:

£4988.79p donated to Help for Heroes, check out this link to see how that money is spent: http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/how_we_spend.html The girls received a medal and certificate for their efforts and many memories to take away!!

£500 was donated to HomeFront Forces http://www.homefrontforces.org/ this will help the 'Your Family' page to be launched, Madison is patron of this charity and we are so excited for when the site is functioning and children with a parent deployed will have a communication tool!

BFBS Radio came down and chatted to the girlies and were excited to hear the progress as they have followed the journey from the beginning!
Hear the piece here:
http://www.bfbs.com/news/uk/three-forces-children-complete-snowden-trek-charity-46735.html

A massive thank you to each and every single person that donated, you made these amounts what they were...a truely amazing experience, amazing amounts raised and amazing the support we all received.

THANK YOU to all involved, Lots of love The Little Trekkers xxxx

Post trek media.....

Trek complete and the press requests came flooding in from people wanting to know how the girls did, it is so fabulous how people have connected with the little girls and their story and this adventure they have been on over the last 3 months or so....and so the journey continues....

Isabella has been very busy!!!!

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/8913455.Girl__seven__tackles_Snowden/

http://www.spirefm.co.uk/news/review.php?article=385345

with also an interview with Garrison FM.

Madison and Victoria did a live phone interview with BFBS Radio which broadcast all over the world...even Afghanistan so hopefully the daddys managed to listen live!!!

Camberley News and Mail also followed up on the story they had covered in the training stages...

Donations continue to come in and we will be presenting the money back to Help for Heroes in April, the girls can not wait!!!

ITV London cover trek day

After doing quite a bit of media to raise awareness of the trek and also the situation forces children are often in we have learnt alot about the industry! some good....some bad...

Sally Rourke at ITV is truely a pleasure to work with and when she asked to cover the trek we didn't hesitate, we now have some clips of film that we will treasure forever and to have the day documented is really special so a big thank you to Sally for coming and joining us...and for carrying the camera up and down the mountain!!!

Heres the clips and some pics of the filming on the day....

http://www.itv.com/london/snowdon-challenge74922/ Main Trek Day piece

http://www.itv.com/london/sally-survives-snowdon41928/ Out Takes

Sally filming at the summit

With Linda, Victoria mummy

More summit filming with the girlies

Finally on the way down and I can confirm that is the camera NOT baby Jesus...

A great experience and a new dimension added to trekking when you are talking and filming and trekking!!!
Thanks again Sally from the whole trekking team xxx

Follow Sally on Twitter: @sallyrourkeitv

They did it!!! Mission trek...COMPLETE

A whirlwind of a week ended with us heading north to Snowdonia...I can confirm it's a long way!!!
We had so much kit but figured more kit meant more warmth?! It had been a glorious day down south on Friday but as we made it further into Wales so the weather got worse, wetter and more windy...'Oh no mummy, its going to be like the practice trek' Madison squealed!
Arriving at http://www.cabancysgu-gerlan.co.uk/ our bunkhouse for the weekend we all (20 of us!) got together, checked kit, drank beer and discussed the following day.....praying the weather would brighten up!
Three very excited girlies and a room of bunk beds proves for an interesting nights sleep but we all dropped off with alarms set for 6.15am......

Up bright and early, first thing we did was look out the window...yup it was still raining...  kit all present and correct, the girls did some early morning prep filming with ITV London while we all packed daysacks and sorted packed lunches and we were off!!!!!!!!

The mountain was about 20minutes drive from the bunkhouse, the closer we got the tighter Madisons grip got on my hand...she whispered 'Mummy my tummy feels funny' suddenly it dawned on me...this was a massive step into the unknown for these girls and they were only 7 yet prepared to do this and be guided by us and safe in the knowledge they would be fine. I too had a few butterflies...3 hard, long months of organisation and preparation from many people had bought us to this day, this mountain...so many people had supported the trek and so many people had donated...I prayed all would go to plan.

After a slight hiccup in that our car managed to get seperated from the other 4 cars which resulted in us sitting in the wrong car park thinking...this is NOT right we must be in the wrong place!!! Crisis diverted we made our way to the right car park!!!

The team gathered, a few photos and prep talk from trek leader then we were off heading for the Snowdon Summit...

The girls would be trekking the Llanberis Snowdon path all the way to the summit...in the wind and rain. Spirits were high as we set off and we made good time to the half way house...we stopped for a drink and food but Madison had other ideas...she was tired and could see how far they still had to go..this is when she decided she'd had enough and wanted to go back....she'd decided the wind was going to blow her off the mountain and this wasn't a risk she wanted to take!!!!

Obviously after a cuddle and a reassuring hand she carried on and the other 2 girlies were off on their way too...it was a long slog we had tears and lots of 'I can't carry on' but they made it to the bridge which was the next place to stop and catch a breather...visability was getting worse and the rain just wouldn't stop...

All the girls found their pace and did so well considering the conditions, slowly the summit was getting closer and people were passing saying 'only 15 minutes to go' as we approached my legs were hurting and it was so steep, chocolate was needed for energy and determination to get up the mountain and for Madison to not see me upset, this was such a challenge for all of us.









Finally the summit was becoming a reality we found an area just below and all waited until the group was together to reach the summit, we had a sandwich and put on loads of extra warm kit, it was so cold and you really couldn't see anything it was all white. Whilst reaching the summit we even had a sleet storm!

All together we headed up the final section to the summit, about 1.15pm 3 hours after we set off.. banners in hand and cameras at the ready, we all whooped and smiled and here writing this blog I have a tear, WE MADE IT and the girls were so so happy their screams of joy melted my heart and will stay with me forever. What an achievement.

We needed to now get down, it was cold and the girlies were starting to feel it with their hands like blocks of ice we needed to get moving, the weather had got worse as the morning had gone on and coming down we could really see evidene of this. It was definatey quicker coming down and the girls had great fun running and playing...plus a few falls!! collecting stones, chasing Jack, Isabellas dog, telling everyone they met what they were doing....I knew we were making memories right there...this experience would stay with all of us forever.

Feet now tired and sore in places, very wet...infact soaked through, stiff legs setting in we were very pleased to reach the bottom at roughly 3.20pm and heading straight to Petes Eats in Llanberis...tea and cake awaited :-)

The girls were presented with some surprises from the Daddys in Afghanistan in the form of a video for Madison and an audio clip for Victoria and all with a medal and certificate, I shed a few tears...suddenly I felt a wave of emotion...we had done it...they had done it and right now at 7years old I don't think they have any idea what they have achieved and quite how many people they have touched and inspired with their story but one day they will look back and smile.

The strength the girls showed over the weekend was something else and I'm bursting with pride to have been a part of this.

I thank every one person who has donated, everyone who has supported, everyone who has been a part of the 'My daddy is a Soldier Trek 2011' because 3 little girls who do have soldiers for daddys just did something amazing and for such a great cause, I'm just privileged one is my daughter.

Louise xxxxx

Trek Leaders Post - The challenge on the horizon!

As I sit here at my desk in Manchester there are threats of snow in the Highlands and the cold wind was blowing from the north into my eyes on my way into work this morning. In 72 hours we will hopefully be making our way up towards Snowdon summit and achieving the goal of the 'My Daddy is a Soldier Trek 2011' - to make it to the top and back down again - safely.

 

After our training walk, I cannot believe the weather could be any worse - but the motto of my days in the scouts always reminds me 'be prepared'. I'm pretty sure we are. The kit performs beyond expectations, and more importantly the 'Little Trekkers' have put their all into being ready for this challenge and I'm proud of them.

 

People are set to join us from all walks of life on Saturday and at the present count there could be as many as 25 people on the trail alongside us - which will be amazing, and logistically challenging at the same time I'm sure.

 

Still, all that remains is to do the food shopping, get to North Wales in good time, and keep our fingers crossed that there is no snow on the day, as that may present another challenge altogether.

 

Wish us luck! And thankyou for all the donations so far. Mark x

 

 

 

See below rough schedule for Saturday for the trek should you be in the area!

 

Saturday

Breakfast 7.15

Leave bunkhouse 8.00

Park in Llanberis main carpark 8.30

Depart for trek 9.00

Aim for summit at 12.30

photos at summit then packed lunch 13.00

Depart for descent 13.15

Aim to arrive back at carpark Llanberis 16.15

Tea to be arranged at local pub (hopefully)

The Little Trekkers and lots of trek fun!!! Channel 5 News

What a week was had for The Little Trekkers....Daybreak (which we will cover later) Channel 5 News and cbbc Newsround,the word about the trek is really getting round and this has helped donations in such a positive way...at the time of writing they have raised £2677.18 for Help for Heroes which is amazing!

Do see below the Channel 5 News piece...apologies for recording but this isn't available online!

Trek T-Shirts

Thank you so much to all at Splash Logo http://www.splashlogo.co.uk/ for the amazing T-shirts they have provided for all the children and adults!!!

And thank you to a Little Trekker for modelling the t-shirt so well!!!!

Moel Siabod - Practice Trek Photos

Some photos from the practice trek - 5th February 2011...a VERY hard challenge but these girls' are are made of strong stuff!



 Some of the team

and still they wear a smile :-) xx

Practice Trek - 5th February - Moel Siabod

We set off for North Wales after a busy day for the little trekkers, it was about a 5 hour journey but the excitement got them through it! We arrived at our home for the weekend http://glanaberhotel.co.uk/  can I take this moment to thank all at Glan Aber for making us so welcome and looking after us so well...if you are ever in this area do stay here...the breakfast alone is worth it!!!

Saturday we were all up bright and early in good spirits with the girls in all their donated walking gear and raring to go! Trek Leader Mark had the route and GPS at the ready...off we go!

The weather was horrendous as we set off but this was what we were here to do and we knew we had to get this under the girls belt so they would be ok for the real thing in 5 weeks knowing what to expect....nothing could have prepared us for what was to come....

The weather got worse but we carried on getting higher and the wind and rain getting worse, writing this blog my tummy did a flip remembering quite how bad it was! The girls all reached their mental brick wall...at different times thank goodness and we had tears from all three but we tried to motivate and remind why we doing this and they carried on, can I say at this point that you will NEVER comprehend how proud I am of all three of those girls and how they handled Saturdays trek.

The weather continued to get worse but we were at the point where we had to get to the top and drop down as retracing our steps would take longer....the rocks were slippery now and visability was bad with the rain feeling like needles in your cheeks. Our kit was really struggling and the girls had wet feet, cold, numb hands and red raw cheeks from the wind and rain...but still they carried on. As we were reaching the top dispair started to creep in 'are we anywhere close?!' 'should we really have attempted this?' silence because none of us could speak for concentrating and making sure the girls were ok. Victorias mummy pulled a muscle so was slightly behind but we all stayed tight and kept going...

Painc then set in, the wind at the top was so strong it was close to lifting the girls off their feet...I will admit now that I was scared it was like nothing I had experienced before and I served for 5 years in the British Army seeing active service!!! holding onto a fence we kept low and scrambled into a ring shelter, the girls were frightened now this was so far out their comfort zone, the spare kit was wet and all the kit we were wearing was sodden...the only way was down.

The first third of the desent was tough, the wind and rain didn't ease at all and I fell into a bog to waist height...the ice cold water took my breath away! My only focus was getting down...it was steep, wet, rocky, boggy and we had all seperated somewhat as we got tired but after an hour or so we reached a woods. This provided some respite from the wind and we could grab some chocolate for energy and continue down the mountain.

Finally after 6 hours...7 adults, 3 amazing 7 year old girls and a dog reached the bottom...wet, tired, emotional, sore but what an achievement WE DID IT!

Moel Siabod is a mountain in Snowdonia, North Wales, which sits isolated above the villages of Betws-y-Coed and Capel Curig. At 872m it is the highest peak in the Moelwynion mountain range. From the top of the mountain, it is reputedly possible to see 13 of the 14 highest peaks in Wales on a clear day without turning one's head. The words Moel Siabod translate from Welsh as Scabby Hill

Help for Heroes Visit and BBC Filming

Friday 4th February was a very exciting day for the trek girls! They were invited to go to the Help for Heroes office and meet the team...oh how they were spoilt! They were given the sweetest teddys and made to feel so welcome...they didn't want to leave

The Help for Heroes Office is an amazing place with every space on the walls covered in amazing pictures from fundraisers and volunteers, the people wear the biggest smiles ..... they can't wait to go back and present the final cheque! Thank you for having us H4H

I could have stayed and chatted all day but the gils had things to do...

BBC South were filming so off we went in search of a muddy path to film down, which we found! Isabella and Madison (Victoria had commitments at school) had a giggle laughing and playing and a few little interviews and the piece was a wrap!!

A little interview with Spire FM was also squeezed in http://www.spirefm.co.uk/news/review.php?article=357699 then it was off in the car to North Wales for the practise trek weekend!!! Phew what a day :-)

Trek leader update - training walk looms

In a couple of weeks we are meeting up for an important weekend training in North Wales. Hopefully if the weather stays good, we will try and walk up the mountain Moel Siabod near Capel Curig which has good views of Snowdon from the top and is an interesting walk for the girls without being and epic! Having recce'd the walk at the weekend it was very very cold, and there was still some snow high up on the hills (not a lot though!). Warm clothes will be a must for the team. During the weekend I hope to teach the girls a little about map reading, and being safe in the mountains as well as helping them get to the top. Done a pic I took yesterday to show the top too.

A short video introduction

A short introduction to the trek from Madison