We couldn’t be prouder to announce a new charity partnership for KE Adventure with Mind Over Mountains. Set up in 2018, by adventurer Alex Staniforth, the charity offers mental health support through therapeutic outdoor experiences, ranging from one day hill-walks to weekend retreats in the company of coaches and counsellors.

Shortly after starting our partnership, Mind Over Mountains announced a charity challenge; a 20 mile one day hike around Ullswater. Always up for a challenge we sent three intrepid trekkers from the KE Adventure office to join 20 others for a testing day in the Lakeland fells. Below is KE's Digital Specialist Alasdair Boden's, account of the day: 

20 miles is no simple undertaking. Just shy of a marathon, our route along the Ullswater Way took us from Glenridding over the craggy undulating Eastern shores of England’s second longest lake to Pooley Bridge at the far end. The path then took us away from the lake and higher into the mountains before finishing back into Glenridding, luckily still within daylight!

Mustering at 0630 is never an energetic beginning, but starting at the crack of dawn under the beam of head torches is very atmospheric. Huddled together in a car park at the foot of Helvellyn, we met the rest of our group and the team of mountain leaders helping to keep us safe throughout the day. After a short introduction and safety briefing we were off, no time to waste!

I was joined by Rachel Farr, KE's Head of Marketing, and Kerrie Gosling, KE's Operations Assistant. None of us are new to challenges, with Rachel summiting Mount Toubkal earlier this year and Kerrie using this as training for the Langdale marathon. I myself had recently done the West Highland Way, which included long days. However on that occasion I hobbled across the finish line so this was still going to be a great challenge for all of us.

Heading out of the village and towards Patterdale, before turning east through open fields and past traditional Lakeland farmsteads, the only other early risers were the farmers and their dogs gathering the sheep in for autumn checks. Walking along as a small group everybody was very chatty. While we had set off as complete strangers it wasn’t long before the ice was broken and we all started to chat to one another, with a shared trepidation of what lay ahead.

The first leg was a picturesque trail along the rocky shores of Ullswater; with a little bit more sun and a good bit of imagination we could have been trekking along the Lycian Way in Turkey. Ok, so that might be a stretch, but it was a truly lovely walk with stunning views of the Lake District Mountains all around us and trees in autumnal garb.

The path stopped undulating with the final kilometres into Pooley Bridge offering a great early lunch stop at a little beach just before the top of the lake. The next leg would take us away from the Ullswater and into Lakeland farmland before going higher into the mountains, things were going to get tough!

Now 20kms in, our legs were starting to feel the strain and talk amongst the group moved onto what part of somebody’s body was starting to give up. Mine were my knees. Despite the niggles, the scenery and camaraderie (and the odd honesty box with cans of coke) kept us going. Soon enough we approached the final 10kms, but this was going to be the hardest 10km of the whole route.

We were now at the base of Gowbarrow Fell with the path taking us just under the summit of this mighty mountain. It was at this point somebody dared to suggest that 20 miles (32km) wasn’t enough and that if anybody fancied adding another mile on to the already rigorous challenge then we could take on the summit of Gowbarrow. It was not only an additional mile, but was also an additional 100+m of altitude with typical harsher summit weather to contend with. Possibly foolishly I joined the intrepid summiteers but it was worth the extra push. Looking down across the full length of Ullswater we could see all that we had already covered. We could also evidently see what we still had to cover, so we cracked on down the fell.

By this stage the weather had turned and the rain had really set in. The final stretch took us along the South Western edge of Ullswater and while we were in the final tired, drained phase of the challenge it was hard not to look at how beautiful the lake and surrounding scenery was.

Before long, after 20 (+1) miles and 9 hours of walking, the very welcoming sign of Glenridding hove into view. We subsequently crashed into the car park with a mixture of tiredness and exhilaration at completing a tough challenge. Needless to say we all slept well that night.

In total, as the challenge group, we raised over £5,350 for Mind Over Mountains. We were really humbled to have joined such a great group and had an amazing time. We would recommend looking to join their next Step Out Challenges. Incidentally, for anybody interested in the Ullswater Way, our sister company Mickledore include parts of the route in their North Lake itinerary, over a more relaxed 2 days walking.

Should you feel you could benefit from time and space to breathe, to refresh your mind and to receive help from one of Mind over Mountain’s qualified coaches and counsellors, then we recommend you join them, and other likeminded outdoors people, on one of their wellbeing walks or retreats. You’ll have a great day.

As for the partnership with KE Adventure and Mind Over Mountains, this is very much just the start of what we hope will become a great relationship and partnership.

Finally we just want to thank everybody at Mind Over Mountain for organising a superb event and to the volunteers and leaders on the day. These events can’t go on without that help and support. Thank you.