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T
he ITEX Around The Island Walk is one of the The north coast completed, we came down off the high
largest fund rasing events in Jersey. Now in its 18th ground on to the beaches, the name of one of which was five
year, the walk has raised well over one million pounds for mile beach - it felt more like fifty five mile beach. Along the
local charities and 9,265 entrants have clocked up a total of west coast of the island it was mainly archetypical British sea
432,549 miles walked. The event takes in the entire 48.1 mile front; promenades, beach houses, oh and a sprinkling of old
coastline of the beautiful isle. German fortifications. Leaving some of the beaches, we came
13 Sqn, 42 Engr Regt was on exercise on Jersey to do some off them and straight up onto a cliff. Horrible, but you knew if
surveying of the war tunnels, harbour and to check the position you just kept going you would get there in the end. Eventually
of the island relative to mapping. The first two weeks consisted we arrived in St Helier, tired and feet aching, but crossing the
of completing technical training and gaining knowledge of the finishing line was awesome. We were cheered in by the public
local culture and people. Having the Sqn on the and given a professional sports massage, which
Island was creating a bit of a stir, everybody was superb. Nineteen of us finished the walk.
knew who you were and would come up and
“five mile
Some went off too fast and ran out of power,
ask you questions about the work you were
beach - it felt
some lost the soles of their boots.
under taking. The Sqn sent down a handful men It was a great day and a top challenge for
to St Helier with their buckets and Help for
more like fifty
everyone who entered. The main effort was for
Heroes wrist bands. One of the chaps sold his
five mile beach.”
13 Sqn to raise as much money as possible. In
own wrist band for twenty pounds and in the the past 18 years charity donations have been
two hours we spent in St Helier we raised solely dedicated to Jersey based charities, how-
around £3,500; but more was to come. ever, this year 13 Sqn were named a beneficiary.
The ITEX walk began at 0300hrs. Preparation for the event The enabled us to raise a total of £9274.26 which will be split
had consisted of a few warm up tabs and PT every morning at between Help for Heroes and The Army Benevolent Fund. A
0630hrs. Due to the early start of the walk we all prepared our feat we are all proud of.
feet and ate plenty of complex carbohydrates before getting our
heads down. We awoke at 0100hrs for breakfast - a big bowl
of porridge - before jumping aboard the mini buses and down
the hill to St Helier. We arrived at the ferry
terminal 40mins before the walk began.
There were a lot of civvies watching and
asking who we were. We were dressed in red
Army Benevolent Fund t-shirts and either
green or desert combat trousers and were
carrying bergens. We stood out a little! The ITEX Wal
Twenty seven of us were due to start, the
rest were driving wagons and helping at the
checkpoints. We waited for everyone to cross
the start line and then we began our walk.
We started off as a squad and blasted the first
stage of twelve miles, at a pace akin to that
of a something very fast with a bergen on its
back. At the first check point crisps and juice
were taken on board and running repairs
made to feet. From this point onwards we
spread out and went at our own pace. The
route headed up the east coast of the island
and round on to the north coast. The northern
coast consisted of cliffs and hundreds of
steps designed for 8ft tall people, not tired
walkers, who were cramping up. There was a
checkpoint at the 26 mile mark; a marathon
completed, only another 22.1 miles to go.
Great! The best stop was a church on the
north coast; it was full of homemade cakes
and squash. Good times! You could never
stop for long or you would not get going
again, as a few guys found out.
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