Pennine Way Charity Trek 2008

[spikey_richie]

Donation made

Come on guys, dig deep!

[drezha]

Cheers!

Housemate and myself went out for a hike the other day to test the gear we're using on the Pennine Way.

Also gave me an excuse to try out a few programs that were recommended to me by a mate (Huguins and Enblend) to make a panoramic view.

Here's the panoramic view (it's LARGE, hence the link)
http://www.rusmil.co.uk/gallery/Hiki...ent%20View.jpg

Quite impressed with it.

Here's the link to the gallery. There are more pics to add but not got them off our cameras yet.
http://www.rusmil.co.uk/gallery/index.php/Hiking

[spikey_richie]

That panoramic is awesome! What camera was it taken with?

[drezha]

A cheapo Pentax.
A Pentax Optio 330GS to be horribly exact (he says reading it off the camera!)
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/P330GS/P33A.HTM

I took a row of photos and then used Hugin and Enblend to blend the photos together.

It's actually really easy to do but the results are outstanding! I was shocked at easy it was. You can get another program to help find the control points to merge the photos but I seemed to manage fine.

Still buying kit for the walk! Bought myself some compression shorts Should help alleviate some of the pain walking can bring after a few days

[mitchellds]

cool pics !

[drezha]

Well I'm back and all's fine!

Pics to follow.

[Bender10]

Nice panoramic!

[spikey_richie]

Any wounds? Bruises?

[Nflight]

Blisters, callouses, Bee Stings, Poison Ivy, snake bites, etc.

I used to walk a lot when I was younger, I hiked the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania from New York to Maryland borders, about 250 or so miles. And I use to push myself to achieve great things like about 22 to 28 miles a day. I was in shape then, I hate to say what I look like now

I like the panoramic Pics they are delightful. I want to visit some day!

[drezha]

Nope, no wounds and no brusies.

All 268 miles later! Weather was lucky to us. First was so bloody windy there were times when me and Tom couldn't move or at a few scary times, we couldn't breathe it was that bad! Next day was the same but raining as well. I certainly felt like packing it in then as did Tom but we stayed at a house in Marsden (his GF's parents) and from then on we didn't look back. Rained once after that but we moved quick, got to our campsite and dried out in the local pub ;)

Hideously brown now. Well my arms and face...I wore trousers for the entire trip...Mostly the same pair until I chucked them out and ended the walk in my very comfy pair of combats.

Foggy day once or twice but they weren't bad. Worst of the foggy days was that it stopped the sweat evaporating so it was like walking in a jungle as it had rained overnight and at this point we were climbing the highest peak on the walk (893m) and that was quite nasty. And it also meant we didn't get a view from the top

Stayed in a fair amount of youth hostels. At some point we didn't have a choice really. One we had to stay in because the next village along had a horse fair so the campsites were filled with travellers and gypsies. Only one rough camp the entire walk. Might have made it cheaper if we'd done more though but technically it's illegal in the UK.

Saw some fantastic scenery. High Cup Nick was the most amazing thing ever. Just to be walking across this bleak moorland then suddenly the valley opens out and your stood at the top of this HUGE valley. Hadrian's Wall was also more impressive than the pictures I'd seen of it. Met some good people. Drank quite a bit (it was also my holiday as well!) and had some great pub food. And still managed to lose almost a stone (4.6Kg/10lbs).

Overall it was a most amazing experience and well worth the time, effort and money I spent on it.

Pics will be forthcoming.