Virtual Hike: Walk the Underground
Monday 1 March 2021 - Tuesday 30 November 2021
Hike the length of all eleven London tube lines… virtually in your chosen challenge time!
Stay on track this year by joining Pilgrims Hospices unique, new Virtual Hike: Walk the Underground.
This epic challenge is open throughout 2021 and challenges you to walk the equivalent distance of all eleven of London’s famous underground tube lines (250 miles) and see if you can finish before the end of the year!
Do it your way by choosing when and where you walk and see your progress add up via our bespoke virtual tracker. From lunchtime strolls to weekend rambles, you’ll find plenty of encouragement and motivation with in-app achievements and digital milestone badges while earning your place in the Walk the Underground Hall of Fame.
It’s just the ticket to challenge yourself as well as learn about the rich 150+ year history of a service which sees over a billion passengers annually! No Oyster card needed this time!
Starting from, or near to, your own home, you’ll be able to track your progress, and everyone else’s, along a virtual tube line tracker, using the award-winning Pilgrims event App. Simply walk when and how often you can and see if you can complete the full 250- mile hike in your personally chosen time challenge time. You can even include the miles you do on a treadmill.
During this unprecedented time, it is more important than ever to make sure to stay active, exercise and feel connected to one another. Walking is good for us, both for our physical fitness and mental well-being, and you can join our friendly community of Pilgrims Hospice walkers in our friendly Pilgrims Hospices Walking and Hiking Facebook group.
It’s tough but achievable; with some training and determination you can conquer Virtual Hike: Walk the Underground. Why not complete parts of the distance with others from your household, support ‘bubble’ or socially-distanced friends to make the journey even more enjoyable.
Event information
- Virtual Hike: Walk the Underground entry: £5
Entry includes free event app tracking, digital milestone badges, walking achievements, fundraising support and access to active walking community group.
Virtual event tracking requires a free MapMyTracks account.
Choose your challenge time frame
The Virtual Hike: Walk the Underground gives you the freedom to walk as and when it fits your daily schedule. If you are a casual stroller, you might decide to complete the challenge before the end of the year, while a regular rambler might set themselves the test of hiking the 250 miles in 3 or 6 months… the beauty of this virtual event is that you decide your target. Simply tell us your chosen time frame in the entry form and we’ll support you in reaching your goal!
A brief history of the London Underground
The London Underground is a network of 11 subterranean train lines that criss-cross the capital, and has helped commuters, residents and tourists alike to navigate the sprawling city since the Victorian age. There are 270 tube stations, many of which were used as air-raid shelters during the Second World War.
The first trains began running in 1863 and, over the decades, the network has expanded into the system that exists today which sees more than 1.3 billion passengers annually. The individual lines differ in length greatly but come to a total of 250 miles. The full list of lines includes:
Bakerloo Line (14 miles), Central Line (36 miles), Circle Line (17 miles), District Line (26 miles), Hammersmith & City Line (16 miles), Jubilee Line (22 miles), Metropolitan Line (38 miles), Northern Line (23 miles), Piccadilly Line (43 miles), Victoria Line (13 miles) and Waterloo & City Line (2 miles).
How it works
To take part in Virtual Hike: Walk the Underground, simply enter via the ‘Register Now’ button at the top of this page. Once signed up, you’ll receive instructions on how to record your walking activities and track your progress along the virtual tube line tracker using the award-winning Pilgrims Event App for iOS and Android devices.
It’s free to download from the App Store and Google Play and, along with the free companion app MapMyTracks, will track your walking activities throughout the event and update your position along the tracker; so you can see exactly how far you’ve come and how far you have left until you reach the ‘end of the line‘. You can also like and comment on your teammate’s activities, earn Achievements, receive up-to-date event information and link your JustGiving page to see how your fundraising is going, all in one place.
The challenge runs continually until 31st December 2021 and all of your walking activities recorded via the Pilgrims Event App during this time will count towards your overall progress along the Walk the Underground tracker.
You can use any route you like in order to reach your mileage goal. Under the current conditions, we strongly suggest you follow government advice and plan routes that start and finish at your home to avoid any unnecessary travel. We would also ask that you do not use the virtual hike to stop at any of our hospice sites, even if you are passing by. The safety of patients and staff is paramount, and your participation in the event is the best means of showing your support.
So if you have some favourite routes around your local area, then please use those to do your virtual hike. You can break the mileage down into as many days/weeks/months as you need to throughout the event time frame. All that matters is you cover the distance.
Every participant will receive exclusive digital milestone ‘badges’ that can be shared as you complete milestones in your journey on social media and elsewhere to show your support for Pilgrims Hospices.
Please note: Only activities recorded using the Pilgrims Event App (MapMyTracks) AND with the activity type of ‘Walking’ and set as ‘Public’ will be included in your progress along the tracker in the app. If you wish to use Strava or another fitness app to record your walks, that’s fine, but remember to add those miles manually to the Pilgrims Event App so they count.
If you have any tracking or app-related questions, please email robert.grew@pilgrimshospices.org.
Raising sponsorship
We need your help to be there for people living with an incurable illness and encourage you to raise as much sponsorship as you can for your challenge!
While for many of us ‘doing our part’ during the current health crisis means social distancing, Pilgrims Hospices nurses and support staff are Still Here; Still Caring and are continuing to provide skilled and compassionate end-of-life care for people living with life-limiting illness across east Kent.
By doing your part for Pilgrims Hospices, you’ll truly be making a difference to the lives of our patients. Here’s how:
- £10 could pay for a patient’s meals for the day
- £25 could pay for an hour of specialist nursing care
- £30 could pay for our Community Team to hold a video consultation with a patient in their own home
- £45 could pay for a virtual counselling session for an individual coping with the loss of a loved one
- £90 could pay for all the medicine needed at one of our inpatient units over 24 hours
Show your support with the official Pilgrims Hospices technical t-shirt
The Pilgrims Hospices technical t-shirt is made of lightweight, breathable, sweat-wicking material that makes them comfortable to wear during walks, runs or to show your support at a Pilgrims event or your own fundraising activity.
What’s more, you’ll be letting everyone know that you’re supporting Pilgrims Hospices whilst wearing your t-shirt.
T-shirts are just £7 and available in sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL and XXXL.
App Achievements
Achievements are an exciting feature within the Pilgrims Event App. During Walk the Underground, as well as the digital milestone badges along the way, you can earn badges within the app for completing all kinds of Achievements.
The app will automatically recognise when you have achieved the criteria for any of the badges and add it to the ‘Achievements’ page within the ‘Profile’ area of the Pilgrims Event App, together with the date that you earned it!
Eg. Once you have recorded your first walk during an event, either by MapMyTracks recording or by a manual upload, you will earn the Off the Mark badge.
Full list of walking badges to achieve
- Off the Mark: Complete your first walk during this event.
- Trailblazer: Complete ten walks during this event.
- Walk in the Park: Complete a walk of at least 5 miles during this event.
- Off the Beaten Path: Complete a walk of at least 10 miles during this event.
- Finding your Stride: Cover at least 25% of the event distance.
- On the Right Track: Cover at least 50% of the event distance.
- On the Home Stretch: Cover at least 75% of the event distance.
- Finisher: Complete the full event distance and cross the finish line.
- Backyard Explorer: Log over 10 hours of walking during this event.
- Scrapbooker: Upload at least one photo during this event.
- Super Saturday: Log an activity on the first Saturday of this event.
- Hill Seeker: Climb the height of Ben Nevis (1345 m) during this event.
Resources
Location
Anywhere
Contact information
Email: robert.grew@pilgrimshospices.org
Contact name: Robert Grew
Phone: 07710 854029
