I've gone and done it and created my entry for the 2011 TGO Challenge.
The hardest question was, "Why do you want to enter the TGO Challenge?". People who read my blog will know I'm not the most concise person on Earth so I reluctantly abbreviated it to:
"I've read TGO for a few years and in 2010 followed Phil Turner's online blog, listened to podcasts and felt jealous! Just want to experience Scotland more, meet more backpackers and enjoy it." Seems fair enough to me.
Phil's wasn't the only online blog I followed at the time, though it was the one I followed most consistently. I blame Darren for this as he listed a few entrants who were going to be blogging through the route and it got me completely addicted.
All this was just a matter of a couple of weeks after following the start of this years trail blazers on the Pacific Crest Trail, who started from the Mexican border in April, some of them then flip flopping the route because of the heavy and unusual snow fall this year. The PCT is a massive goal for me, has been for a few years now. So with the PCT excitement flooding my veins, and then the Scottish 2 weeker (as opposed to 4-5 monther) I thought, "I want a go at this".
Since then I've found many more people online through the network of blogs and Twitter; some blogs are still being updated with written and video reports, all making for inspiring (and often amusing) reading as the evenings creep in.
Just hope I get in!
That makes me blush - it's EXACTLY why I do what I do and it's great to read that someone has actually been inspired to give it a go.
ReplyDeleteYou'll love it, no matter if it rains every day and you miss Alan Sloman's cheese and wine party.
Cheers Phil, I know I take the mickey sometimes, but you guys have shown me a different way of approaching backpacking which I think should make it far more accessible for more people.
ReplyDeleteMay pass on the whisky though...
Fingers crossed you'll get picked. I always hate those why questions, my usual answer is..... Silence. I give it great thought in my head but never gave any thought to vocalising it. Sounds daft but I know the reasons in my head but just doesn't come out.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you can find inspiration from all those places. Social media is a wonderful layer to life.
It's a challenge I would love to do but just isn't justifiable or the right time in my life for me. It's just not practical for me to be away for 2 weeks. Maybe when @babybunten is older. We'll do it :D
So I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope I get to experience it and be inspired by your blog! :D
Thanks Mike! Who do I get instead of Kylie though?
ReplyDeleteTookie, As ever you are such a star! It's the hardest question to answer but without having seen Darren's post I probably wouldn't have considered it. I was firmly fixed on the PCT though!
I am sure that you'll get to do it at some point but if you can live vicariously through here (if I get in) and other blogs in the meantime then enjoy it that way :o) And she'll have grown up before you know it!!
I was beginning to wonder if you were actually going to apply. The TGO will be a nice gentle warm up for your much larger challenge of the PCT, then again depending on what route you devise it may not be so gentle.
ReplyDeleteStill undecided whether I am applying or not next year. My list of things I want to walk is becoming increasingly longer and I have to be 100% happy with a TGO route before I'll apply.
Hope you get in, you will fit in perfectly with the other nutters ;-)
Steve, I had to time my entry so I had the readies!
ReplyDeleteThe TGO would be just one of a series of things I do to equip myself mentally and physically for the PCT. But it would be fantastic to do in its own right.
Cheers
I was beginning to wonder if you were actually going to apply. The TGO will be a nice gentle warm up for your much larger challenge of the PCT, then again depending on what route you devise it may not be so gentle.
ReplyDeleteStill undecided whether I am applying or not next year. My list of things I want to walk is becoming increasingly longer and I have to be 100% happy with a TGO route before I'll apply.
Hope you get in, you will fit in perfectly with the other nutters ;-)
Cheers Phil, I know I take the mickey sometimes, but you guys have shown me a different way of approaching backpacking which I think should make it far more accessible for more people.
ReplyDeleteMay pass on the whisky though...