A walk to REMEMBER

Jen Lowthrop set herself a life-changing, epic challenge

- RUTH ADDICOTT

Clambering across giant boulders, up a steep scree path, Jen Lowthrop stood on the top of Scafell Pike in the Lake District and could barely see due to the fog in front of her. 'Suddenly, the clouds lifted and I had 360-degree views over the mountains and lakes below, and I thought, "That's what this walking thing is all about," the 38-year-old says.

Twelve months earlier, Jen struggled to walk up a steep hill without getting out of breath, let alone Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain. After a serious car accident, a skiing accident and breaking her wrist while ice skating, she had suffered pain in her back, shoulders, hips and knees for years.

Nothing was diagnosed, but the pain wouldn't go away and she was desperate to do something about it. 'I'm quite accident-prone. I've broken quite a few bones over the years, and I would wake up in the morning and creak,' Jen remembers. Sitting at a desk all day was making it worse and, juggling two businesses, as well as her role as chair of the Peak District National Park Foundation, she was on the brink of burnout.

Born and raised in Matlock, on the edge of the Peak District, Jen loved the national park, and wanted to encourage more people to experience the benefits of physical and mental well-being. So she set herself a challenge - to hike 1,000 miles across all 10 of England's young national parks in 10 weeks, covering Northumberland, the North York Moors, the Yorkshire Dales, the Lake District, the Broads, the South Downs, the New Forest, Dartmoor, Exmoor and the Peak District. She called it 'A Walk in the Parks'.