On July 8^th, after months of planning, fundraising for Macmillan Cancer Support Mighty Hike and a slight attempt at training, Georgie, Faith and Oliver of LoveLove Films were finally faced with the challenge of hiking a marathon of 23.5 miles across the Jurassic Coast.

The Macmillan Mighty Hike looked to be extremely challenging and it didn’t disappoint! Anyone that knows the LoveLove Films team knows that we are not the most athletic team in the world and are partial to a great amount of cake and biscuits. However, we all managed it – despite a few hiccups including Georgie falling down multiple rabbit holes.

The Mighty Hike was across mixed terrain, steep inclines and descents, with stunning sights across Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove, Corfe Castle and Ringstead Bay.

We began our day at 7am, arriving at Weymouth for our 8:30am start. We were tired, excited and very nervous about walking such a long distance with the weather forecast showing 23 degrees. We met up with LoveLove friend and client Arran of MyKoolBox, who became our history teacher/tour guide for the day.

The team ready to go!

A warm up consisted of Zumba (much to the boys’ delights) and when 8:30am struck, we were off! The first leg between Weymouth and Ringstead was approximately 5 miles and was enjoyable, not too many inclines and descents and before we knew it we were at our first rest break.

Zumba warm up – Oliver feeling slightly awkward

The rest break was well organised with plenty of snacks and drink stations available, and most importantly, none of the team had started complaining yet! We knew the next leg of the hike would be slightly more challenging as we started to hear rumours about the dreaded hills!

By the time we made it to the lunch stop, we had successfully climbed three of these dreaded hills, and oh boy were they challenging – we definitely underestimated how steep they would be. Lunch was a very welcome stop, with plenty of seats and buffet food on hand for us to enjoy.

After lunch we felt very refreshed, at least until we turned a corner and saw a hill not too dissimilar to how I imagine Mount Everest looks from afar – with multiple green ants staggering their way up it. The hill was a blur, and took what felt like the best part of 6 days to climb. The sense of relief when we reached the top was amazing, but it didn’t last long when we saw the equally bad descent, which looked like the best way to get down it would be to abseil down.

What a mighty hike! – The dreaded hill AKA Mount Everest

Nevertheless, we soldiered on despite the pain all over our bodies. The hills were relentless over the next few miles and this was definitely the hardest part of the hike. The hills never ended and each mile felt like a marathon in itself. 7 miles later, after what felt like a lifetime, we finally saw the next rest stop. It felt like a mirage at first but it was definitely real – unless I imagined all the pastries, sweets and crisps.

The final 6-mile stretch was flatter towards the end, which was a welcome relief. This, however, was when the team started to complain most. “Ouch, my feet hurt” became the LoveLove slogan for a few hours and our MD Georgie developed a limp and had to steal Arran’s walking stick, looking more and more like Gandalf by the second.

Finally, we saw it; the end. Macmillan flags, cheering families, a table full of fizz and the amazing smell of hot food. The compere called out our names as we crossed the line and we felt such a sense of relief. We were given medals too which was the icing on the cake, and as you all know, we at LoveLove love cake!

Finally finished the mighty hike – flaunting our medals

It may take a few days to get back to normal, but what a challenge we can say we completed. We’d like to thank everyone who kindly donated and a big shout out to David, Sandra, Jo and Sunny who waited over 5 hours for us at the finish line (we were a bit over ambitious with our timings). It was for a great cause and despite the challenge; we all had a great day!

To Donate:

https://www.justgiving.com/companyteams/lovelovefilms

If you’d like to find out more about what Macmillan do, visit their website:

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/