The girls are still going and the end is in sight

Well there was definately a moment when i didnt think i would be writing this post but am so so proud of my sisters and cant believe how after all the pain and set backs they are still on track with their walk. I spoke to them today and they seem i great spirits although when i asked them how there legs were holding up they told me they had gone past the point of pain and that there legs were permanently covered in freeze spray. Not good but they are on the home stretch with only three days and approximately seventy miles to go.
I dont know about you but seventy miles seems like a feat in itself and thats before you add on the 300 they have nearlly completed over the last week and a half.

Well its been full steam ahead in essex as well as we all knuckle down with the fun day planning, this has been slightly hampered by my back injury following a car accident but my new motto has been slow and steady, something which i am sure karen and suzy are also working to by now, but as we all know slow and steady wins the race.

The fun day will be held at baddow recreational ground and millenium hall in chelmsford on saurday 30 june between 1200 and 1600, there will be loads going on with both the field and the hall being taken advantage of. The field will have all your favourites with bouncy castles, coco nut shires, face painters as well as hook the duck and lots of other fun day favourites, there will also be some independant crafters there setting up stalls selling their beautiful products. I think i will be parting with some money that day. We also have the hall in case the weather isnt so great were there will be a soft play area, arts and crafts and a messy play area.

We would love to see you all there and have as big a crowd as possible to cheer karen and suzy over the finish line.

I am aware that Chelmsford Weekly news are very kindly putting an article in the paper advertising the event for us, unfortunately they have forgotten to put on there how people can donate so for all those people if you wish to help us get to our target of £30,000 then you can donate either by handing it in to any essex police station marked for the attention of DC 3017 Bennett at Brentwood police station, by using the paypal donation button on this site or by contacting me by e mail on christine_bennett79@yahoo.co.uk for us to discuss other arrangements ot to provide you with an alternative postal address.

Again thanklyou to everyone for all your support it has kept karen and suzy going and kept them motivated in what can only be described as a huge task.

Speak to you all soon and i will post some pics of the fun day for those of you supporting from other parts of the uk.

a note from the intrepid two

Thank you all for all the support you have shown us over the last couple of days it has really kept us going. As some of you are probably aware we had to pay a little visit to A&E following in insect bite on Tuesday which has turned quite nasty.




All was not lost though as we did manage to entertain all the staff and other ill patients that were waiting to be seen as both me and Suzie decided to have a fit of giggles when we realised that yet again we had problems in opposite legs!!!



This concluded in the receptionist announcing that they had a right pair in reception and putting the mental health team on standby.



Suzie then proceeded to completely baffle the poor doctor when after giving her a thorough examination for Deep Vein Thromboses he confessed he was very confused and asked again how she had received these injuries? Her reply was to say we had been walking..............when asked where have you been walking she told him Barrow in Furness, cumbria. He proceeded to remove her shoes and socks and was in complete shock at the state of her feet untill she explained "oh don't worry they are just blister plasters" I think he thought she has some sort of skin dissorder!!! She then decided this was a good time to let him know we were walking to Chelmsford (I think the doctor at this point was loosing the will live), especially when she was told she could go, he then spotted the tube coming out of her rucksack!!! he questions what the tube was for to which she replied while smiling "oh don't worry about that thats for my water" I now think the doctor is receiving medication as he thought Suzie was on oxygen!!! All made for a very entertaining day.



We will be fine, and we complete this challenge.



All our Love Karen & Suzie

tears, A&E and infected legs

Well over the last couple of days things have been getting tougher and tougher for karen and suzy, they have obvioulsy tried to keep from us how much they were struggling. I was aware that there legs had been swelling up quite significantly every day and they have had to sleep with them elevated and cold compresses on and whilst this hasnt aleviated the problem it has ease it enough for them to ease the pain and continueing walking. Unfortunately this morning they woke in a lot of pain and none of the swelling had gone down making it difficult and painful for them to bend their legs. Thankkfully they thought with their heads and not their hurts and went to hospital. After several hours they were advised they needed to rest and elevate their legs as they had damaged all the soft tissue. Karen also found out that in the process of her walking shehad been bitten by something which had caused her leg to become quite badly infected. She is now on anti biotics four times a day and hopefully the pain will ease over the next 24 hours.

I recieved a very teary phone call from them both today were they felt so bad, as a family we are obvioulsy worried for them, i would love to go and see them but i am unable to drive at the minute as am suffering from whiplash following a car accident a couple of weeks ago. We have spoken to them and reassured them that they have to rest today and tomorrow. they have looked at their route and have told me that they will finish the walk and will still get to chelmsford on saturday as they had planned to.

We are so proud of them and wish them all the best, they are two of the strongest woman i know and they have worked so hard i think its times like this when we can all sit back and think about the size of this challenge and how tough it has been on them.

Thankyou for all those people that have sponsored them and donated, we have raised nearlly six thousand pounds, we obvioulsy have a huge way to go as our aim is £30.000. For any one that wants to donate there is a paypal link on the home page of this blog on the left hand side or contact me on my e mail which is christine_bennett79@yahoo.co.uk if you wish to donate trough bank transfer or by sending a cheque.

Please share this blog with family and friends as i regularly update my sisters about how many hits we are getting , its a nice way of them knowing that even though they are far away from family and friends we are all thinking of them and care

three days of walking and seventy five mile later

So Karen and suzy have completed three days and seventy five miles which is amazing, its not been the easiest of starts with the first two days being up and down mountains in torrential rain (i guess this is what happens when you start in the lake district) lol
The walk has been tough so far not only physically but mentally as well, in the first two days they only came across two people whilst out walking, thankfully they have been really lucky with the bed and breakfasts they have been staying in and the owners have been on shoe drying duties, although to be fair think they offered before karen and suzy removed their boots. Hopefully they have recovered from the fumes.
Day three arrived and the sun came out unfortunately by this point the blisters had already arrived and suzy was struggling with her boots ( the boots she trained in fell apart one week before they were due to set off so she only had a week to break them in before they left).
Day three started with the girls swapping boots to try and ease the pain suzy was in, however after ten miles karens feet started to hurt, it was at this point they realised that suzys boots hurt karens right foor were as they hurt suzy left. The result was that they did the rest of the walk wearing odd boots. Well it was definately a connverstaion starter on their route. To add to all this the toe nails are starting to lift already so they are having to tape their toes every day, my heart really goes out to them as they have another eleven days of walking left. They will be walking 25 miles a day, some days more with only one day off next sunday. Thats a huge ten day walking for nearlly ten hours every day with no break, they are literally getting to their accomadation each evening eating having a shower and going to bed.
Below are a few pics of them over the first two days, the first one shows the grass that they had to get through in the pouring rain, they had over two miles of this, just what you need when your walking long distances. Then suzy having lunch at their make shift picnic spot trying to stay out of the rain

Its amazing what they are doing but the one thing that sometimes gets missed is that both karen and suzy are mums as well and each have three boys, none of this woulod be possible without the support of the rest of the family and the amazing attitude of their children who are not seeing their mums for two weeks. Thw hols family has go behind him, Suzys youngest son cameron who is the six years old like Isabella has decided that he wants to do a stall at the fun day, after some serious thought he has come up with " CAMERON THE MAGNIFICENT CAKE EATING BOY" he is going to sit at his table eating cake and is confinced that loads of people will give him money for isabella to watch him eating cake. He is already asking his dad and grandma to help him make his sign. Like all children he never forgets so i am fully expecting hom to turn up with his sign and to sit there all day with his cake, however i have asked him to go on the bouncy castle before the cake eating starts. Please all support them as they are doing so well and making so many sacrifices for my little girl, there is a paypal link on the home page of the blog if anyone wouold like to sponsor them or donate to the cause. We have £30,000 to raise and so far are at about £5,000 i really want to make sure the amount we raise from this walk really justifies the pain karen and suzy are both going through.

cant believe the walk starts tomorrow argghhhh

So the day is finally upon us after months and months of prepartation and long and difficult training sessions that have left both suzy and karen in quite a lot of pain with shin splints and hip problems they are at last going to set off in the morning... ...
Well the day started off with lots of excitement as we regressed to children with lots of text message thoughout the week which mainly comprised of how many sleeps they had left till they set off. I have to say my excitement started to turn to mild panick when i was filling up the car at the petrol station ( yes some of this was due to the rocketiing petrol prices at this rate we will all be walking).Out of the corner of my eye i noticed the headlines on the front page, yes its said "storms to hit the uk, 80mph winds and three months of rain to fall in the next three days. Not good this will be the three days they are walking through the lake district. Dont think any umbrella is going to help them with the weather thats coming in. Fingers crossed they will be fine and the weather man will have got it wrong. i am not holding my breath.

Well i guess this has made us all realise how much of a huge challenge this is and how its really important we all get behind them so that so that this huge challenge is worth the pain that they will go through. I am still finishing off the final details for the fun day and am still looking for some stall holders to add this something else to the event. So if any of you are keen crafters or are starting up your own business and wqnt o come along then please e mail. There will be no charge for stall holders but it is obvioulsy a charity event and we have a huge challenge of £30,000 to raise so all i ask is that if the day is succesful for you and you make lots of sales then you donate some money to the event.

The fun day will be help at baddow recreational ground in chelmsford between 1200 and 1600, the day will start with the little ones doing a sponsored toddle round the field before letting loose on the stalls bouncy castles and soft play. If any of you want to enter your child into the toddle then please e mail me and i will send you the sponsor form some are going to take part in fancy dress, i think isabella is going as a bee. Although its a toddle we are definately all inclusive , isabella will be doing it in her wheelchair and some tiny ones will be in baby walkers and prams. The day is all about fun and everyone feeling included. We have also hired the hall inside the hall there will be a soft play area ( which there is no charge for) and pen pencils messy play for the children to enjoy to give a sensory exploring area.

Would be great to see you all there any questions pop me an e mail on christine_bennett79@yahoo.co.uk

Isabellasfund teams up with Inspirecard chelmsford

Well i am very pleased to announce that we have been in talks with a lovely man by the name of tony who is trying to change the face of fundraising. he is the man behind simply fundraising and has more recently started up the chelmsford inspire card.
Inspire card is a great idea and is fully supported by chelmsford borough council, its a discount card for chelmsford retailers, unlike the taste card it doesnt just focus on restaurants although there are loads of restaurants and pubs included as well as days out health and beauty and everything in between. As a special offer tony has agreed to sell the card for half its normal retail value. All you need to do is put "isabellasfund" into the promo code and you will get the card for an amazing £34.95 and the best news of all ( for us anyway is that ten pound from each sale will come directly to isabella.)

To buy a card just log onto the website which is http://www.inspire.simplyfundraising.co.uk/.

As you can see this is a great deal as you will get discounts in 150 local businesses and independant retailers, with some companies offering a 25% discount for card holders its not difficult to see that it only take one use of the card and you have all ready made your money back, just imagine the amount of money that you could save over a twelve month period.