Real life
Jen Lowthrop set herself a life-changing, epic challenge
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 wellbeing. So she set herself a challenge – to hike 1,000 miles across all 10 of England’s 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’.
Averaging a half-marathon a day, Jen knew she would have to improve her body to do it – and hoped to raise £10,000 in the process. ‘My dad, Nigel, was a big hiker, but I’m not a particularly sporty person. I’m more of a trier,’ Jen admits. ‘My main concern was not finishing and letting people down, especially those who had donated. I was worried I’d twist an ankle or just generally be unfit.’
Jen saw a physio, improved her diet and took up Pilates. Then, accompanied by her three-year-old rescue dog, Cookie, she started to build up the miles – walking four to five miles, then six to seven miles, and eventually nine to 10 miles a day. Two weeks before she was due to leave, she did 35 miles over two days – and couldn’t walk for a week due to blisters. ‘I thought, how am I going to manage 10 weeks if I can’t manage two days in a row?’ she recalls.
Spurred on by family, friends and sponsors, Jen set off on her epic challenge in August 2023, carrying a 12kg backpack with Cook
