After hanging up my boots in 1996, I entered my first Long Distance Walking Association (LDWA) walk event.

It was the Silver Jubilee Run by the West Lancashire Group.

The event was 27 miles, starting from Gisburn and finishing at Longridge.
I walked with my friend and finished in seven-and-a-half hours. Not bad for our first challenge walk.

A challenge event walk is a walk of 20 miles or more, with check points to visit around every five miles.

Challenge events have time limits to complete the walk and there are challenge walks every Saturday and Sunday, up and down the country.

It was after the first event that I joined the South Lancashire Group of the LDWA and I have never looked back.

LDWA groups have social walks every month with a different person leading the walk. I am once again leading in August.

Over Christmas, I lead a three-mile charity walk for hearing dogs for deaf people.

We had an attendance of 103 adults and children and around 50 dogs, raising £3,200 for charity.

I also take another group of walkers out once a month and I choose the route for them.

A member of the group named us after a weed at a nature reserve, The Hoary Ragwort Ramblers.

I keep the distance of these walks between six and 10 miles and over the last four years it has given some of them the confidence to go out there on their own into the great outdoors.

Since 1996, I have walked regularly most weekends in order to prepare myself for the annual 100-mile challenge event.

You have to walk week after week, month after month, up to 20 miles and beyond. Once you think your ready to walk the 100 miles, go for it.

One golden rule I was told on my first 100, and still stands today, is walk from check point to check point, not thinking of how many miles yet to walk until you are at the last check point. I

It is then that you begin to feel what you have achieved, even if your feet are sore.

This Spring Bank Holiday weekend it is based on the Skipton, North Yorkshire.

The 100 is a superb event, meeting fellow walkers, in some of the best areas in the country.

Click on the green video icon above right to watch the guide.

Next week: Steve Arkwright, of Lancashire Motors in Penwortham, shows you what to look for and what to avoid when buying a used car.

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Email: josie.hill@lep.co.uk or Call 01772 838104
Or write to: Josie Hill, Lancashire Evening Post Ltd, Oliver's Place, Fulwood, Preston, PR2 9ZA