Walk to Mordor Challenge

One of the tasks (read: mammoth challenges) I am undertaking as part of my 101/1001 challenge is the Walk to Mordor fitness routine that I stumbled across here. It combined my love of books and nerdery, maps, compiling data and my need to work on my fitness.

I've been reading up on the ways others have approached the challenge and I've decided that while I shall be following Frodo and Sam's path to Mount Doom, I shall not be following their mode of transport (clearly giant eagles are out of the question, but I also had no desire to horse riding or rowing for the requisite number of kilometres). I've decided that any measureable amount of movement shall count - I mean, there is a LOT of distance to cover here, I really need it to be at least slightly possible!

In addition to walking the journey, I shall be encouraging myself along the way by reading Lord of the Rings (something I have actually never read) in relative speed to my progress. Let's hope I find the cliffhangers proper motivation!

All up the above journey, from Hobbiton to Mordor is a total of 2838 km (*whimper*). I shall be logging my progress here on this page so please feel free to leave me kudos (may happen) or nudge me when I don't move (will definitely happen). I've broken the trip up into three parts, just for the sake of the maps.

Challenge Started: 16 / Sept / 2014

Challenge Completed:

Total distance to date: 796.57 km

PART ONE (Hobbiton to Lothlórien)

This Leg    Accumulated    Arrive at:                                                  Date Achieved

8                 8                         Arrive at Brandywine Bridge                    16/09/2014

6                 14                       Last view of Hobbiton                               17/09/2014

37               51                       First encounter with Black Rider               24/09/2014

44               101                     Farmer Maggot's House                             09/10/2014

11               112                     Buckleberry Ferry                                      13/10/2014

5                 117                     Crickhollow                                               14/10/2014

3                 120                     The Old Forest                                           15/10/2014

37               157                     Tom Bombadil's House                              22/10/2014

59               216                     Bree (The Dancing Pony)                           03/11/2014

61               277                     Midgwater Marshes                                    18/11/2014

89               366                     Foot of Weather Hills                                 7/12/2014

18               384                     Weathertop (The Watchtower of Amon)    10/12/2014

188             572                     The Last Bridge                                           13/01/15

56               628                     Stone Trolls                                                 21/01/15

92               720                     The Attack at the Ford!                               04/02/15

13               733                     Rivendell                                                     06/02/2015

13               746                     Ford of Bruinen                                           09/02/15

359             1105                   Hollin Ridge

95               1200                   Redhorn Pass

45               1245                   Warg Attack!

32               1277                   The Doors of Moria

66               1343                   YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

24               1367                    Frodo hears a creature and sees its eyes in the dark

1                 1368                    The Woods of Lothlórien

2                 1370                    Cross Nimrodel

7                 1377                    Cross the Silverlode

73               1450                    The peak of Cerin Amroth

22               1472                    Reach gates of Caras Galadan and Lothlórien

PART TWO (Lothlórien to Rauros)

This Leg    Accumulated    Arrive at:                                              Date Achieved

50               1522                   Sailing to Rauros Day 1

58               1580                   Sailing to Rauros Day 2

58               1638                   Sailing to Rauros Day 3

96               1734                   Sailing to Rauros Day 4

116             1850                   Sailing to Rauros Day 5

80               1930                   Sailing to Rauros Day 6

80               2010                   Sailing to Rauros Day 7

19               2029                   Sailing to Rauros Day 8

3                 2032                   Sailing to Rauros Day 9

64               2096                   Arrive at Rauros/Breaking of Fellowship

PART THREE (Rauros to Mount Doom)

This Leg    Accumulated    Arrive at:                                              Date Achieved

118             2214                   Gollum Captured

45               2259                   First view of Mordor

16               2275                   Enter heart of the Dead Marshes

77               2352                   Nazgûl spotted flying to Isengard

38               2390                   Sighting of The Black Gates

38               2428                   Reach northern edge of Ithlien

16               2444                   Found by Rangers. Battle and oliphaunt sighting

96               2540                   Led up path to Henneth Annûn

11               2551                   The White Bridge. Sam stops Frofo crossing

20               2571                   Opening to Shelob's Lair

261             2832                   Fight with Shelob. Frodo stung!

6                 2838                   The foot of Mount Doom.

MILESTONES

1% (29 km) reached on 19th September, 2014

5% (142 km) reached on

10% (284 km) reached on

15% (426 km) reached on

20% (568 km) reached on

25% (710 km) reached on

30% (852 km) reached on

35% (993 km) reached on

40% (1135 km) reached on

45% (1277 km) reached on

50% (1419 km) reached on

55% (1561 km) reached on

60% (1703 km) reached on

65% (1845 km) reached on

70% (1987 km) reached on

75% (2129 km) reached on

80% (2270 km) reached on

85% (2412 km) reached on

90% (2554 km) reached on

95% (2696 km) reached on

100% (2838 km) reached on

Resources:

• I this website for the distance between locations
• This website for the breakdown of the trip from Lothlórien to Rauros
• This website for the map bases and locations
• I used screencaps from the above to produce the gradual plotted journey - feel free to use with credit to the above.