Union Flag Walk 5

Cape Wrath to Land’s End

This latest expedition in the series of Union Flag Walks is our largest so far with an approximate distance of 1600 miles to cover. For this reason we have decided to do this expedition in two stages with the first stage being from Cape Wrath to Liverpool following the west coastline of the UK mainland where possible at a distance of 820 miles.

The walk will start on Monday 9th of July 2012 with the team travelling to Cape Wrath on the Saturday and Sunday 7th/8th of July 2012 and end on the 21st of July 2012.

The aim will be to take 14 walkers or more with some of the team being photographers from the Veterans In Focus Project http://www.veteransinaction.org.uk/veterans-in-focus-i-100.php   who will record the whole event with photos and video plus the VIA Support Team who will also walk at times.

Each day is broken into 6 Stages where veterans will walk in pairs so one pair for each of the 6 stages. Two of the 14 person team will join the VIA Support Team each day to rest weary feet and to get involved in how an expedition works behind the scenes. Each pair will walk between 10 and 15 miles per day enabling the team to cover between 60 to 90 miles per day.

Veterans will walk with a different partner every day so to enable relationships to build between the veterans and for them to support and learn from each other, this is where the real work of rebuilding the veterans confidence and self-esteem is done through personal achievement. More walkers can join at different stages throughout the expedition who are unable to do the complete event and walk with the main team and it would be fantastic if they could get sponsored to do so.

The Support Team will have two mini-buses to drop off and pick up the walkers plus one of the VIA Land Rovers which will carry camping equipment and walkers kit.

In all our past Union Flag Walks we have stayed in campsites throughout the walk but this time we want to make the experience even better by including wild camping in Scotland where it is easier to do so and skills will be taught by those from our Veterans In Wilderness Project http://www.veteransinaction.org.uk/veterans-in-wilderness-i-102.php

Each night demonstrations and lessons will be run on fire lighting techniques, preparing animals for cooking, shelter building and navigation techniques before sitting around our campfire and talking about the achievements of the day and a briefing for the next day.

VIA want to include two fundraising days into the walk where everyone involved will be expected to take part as part of the ALIVE Program. The first of these is the 14th of July where we will apply for a permit to fundraise in Glasgow or Edinburgh. The second date will be on Saturday 21st the last day of the walk, where we will apply for a permit for Manchester or Leeds.

When you do an event such as this the Veterans leave on a huge high, unfortunately when returning home Veterans can start to hit a low. It is VIA's responsibility to stop that happening and this can be done by getting them out with the team on fundraising events and get togethers to share experiences and photos from the event with the veterans they have experienced the walk with keeping the bonds strong and keeping each individual motivated.

The second part of the walk will start on Sunday 5th of August with the team travelling to the start point on Friday 3rd of August and hopefully if permit is granted fundraising in Liverpool on Saturday 4th of August.

This walk is a first for VIA as to date we have not done any events in Wales and with the Welsh Coastal Path opening this year it is a great opportunity for us and those veterans taking part.

The walk will start in Albert Dock, Liverpool and will then follow the Welsh Coastal Path where possible all the way around excluding Anglesey which we will do as a separate smaller event at a later date and the crossing over the Severn Bridge and into Bristol.

From there the team will walk through Somerset and join the South West Coastal Path at Minehead and follow this all the way to Land’s End. Having done the South West Coastal Path on our first Union Flag Walk from John o’ Groats to Land’s End we know from experience that this is a very difficult walk but is far outweighed by the scenery.

This part of the walk is 880.39 miles long with stunning coastal walks. With the mileage from the first part from Cape Wrath to Liverpool of 820.09 miles added to this the complete walk is 1,700.48 miles.

VIA aim to have 14 walkers or more for each part of the walk and if anyone wants to do both Stages they are more than welcome to do so. The benefit of the work VIA do and how we really start to change how individuals think about themselves is done by taking part on long events so doing both parts would be more beneficial.

As well as the 14 walkers there will also be the VIA Support Team plus some photographers who can also be walkers. We are looking at around 20 on each part of the walk if not a few more.

This is easily our longest walk to date and incredibly tough and we believe that with the Bushcraft and Wild Camping elements added in it will be an exciting and challenging event.

To display and download the information pack please click on the link: Information Pack

If you are interest in joining the expedition then please contact us at info@veteransinaction.org.uk or leave a message below.