Our 'Dorset 100' challenge is up-and-running again after the summer break, with Leg 9 taking place on Sunday 30 September. Several more hikes are planned before the year end to enable as many Scouts as possible to cover 100 miles during the centenary year.

Longham Scouts' 'Dorset 100' challenge is one of our Join-in-Centenary activities and the original target was to hike 100 kilometres during the centenary year. As many of the troop had already achieved this by early March, the Scouts decided to up the target to 100 miles which some successfully completed before the end of July.

The ‘Dorset 100' is a challenge we devised to celebrate 100 years of scouting. Recently all Scout groups were invited to organise challenges, activities and competitions based on the theme of 100. The ‘Dorset 100' is just that. Our scouts were attempting to hike 100 kilometres around Dorset in the 12 months leading up to 1 August 2007. The target has since been raised to 100 miles.

Clearly this is not a target most people would attempt to reach in one go, so to make it possible to complete, it is broken down into several stages. You may think this is crazy, hiking 100 miles without even seeking sponsorship - well simply, why not? We have done many hikes for many years for training, so why not give it more of a purpose?