THE ÉOWYN CHALLENGE
JOURNEY THROUGH EARTH AND MIDDLE-EARTH
I started hosting Éowyn challenges in 2006 after discovering The Éowyn Challenge site. As of last year, the site was discontinued. The idea is to count steps/miles on Earth and convert them to Middle-earth miles, as calculated by Karen Fonstad in The Atlas of Middle-earth.
In 2012, when The Hobbit was released, we journeyed to the Lonely Mountain with Bilbo and Company. Several of our friends made it there and back again, going over 1000 miles between March, at the challenge’s start, and December 12th, when The Hobbit premiered.
It’s my personal goal to use several different kinds of self-propelled forward motion for every walk on this journey. There are 17 different walks. (See below.)
This journey of the Ring Bearer and his Companions was retold and rewalked by friends and travelers on earth in 2006 and every year since.
The journey begins every year on Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthdays, September 22nd. On KindSpring, Dassa Fleam of Buckland aka Dot (a distant relative of Samwise Gamgee on his Old Gaffer’s side) published Sam’s journal.
In 2019, I created this new page on under1000skies.org, Éowyn. It will have every milestone for every walk, eventually. For the first year’s journey, we started again with Bag End to Rivendell with Frodo.
These milestones also include “The Journal of Samwise Gamgee,” read to his daughter Elanor and passed down to all generations in the Shire and beyond. Dassa Fleam, Buckland’s ancestor, saved one of the few written copies Elanor made for her family.
The Éowyn Challenge site is gone now. I wrote the creator who directed me to Karen Fonstad’s son. I wrote to ask him whether we could reprint the tables his mother created before her death with the creators of the challenge. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a response.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
BAG END TO RIVENDELL (458 Miles)
Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and (at Crickhollow) Merry
Unfortunately, this page and the one for The Hobbit (below) are the only walks I saved from the site. Each of the 28 days of Frodo’s and Company’s journey is reproduced here with milestone graphics for each day.
RIVENDELL TO LOTHLÓRIEN (462 Miles)
The Fellowship of the Ring
LOTHLÓRIEN TO RAUROS (389 Miles)
The Fellowship of the Ring. Down the Anduin from Lothlorien to Rauros Falls.
The Breaking of the Fellowship
RAUROS TO ISENGARD: (355 Miles)
The Journey of Merry and Pippin
RAUROS TO ISENGARD: (470 Miles)
The Journey of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli
RAUROS TO MT. DOOM: (470 Miles)
The Journey of Frodo and Sam
ISENGARD TO MINAS TIRITH: (517 miles)
The Journey of Gandalf and Pippin
ISENGARD TO MINAS TIRITH: (786 Miles)
The Journey of Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli through Dunharrow and the Paths of the Dead
ISENGARD TO MINAS TIRITH: (578 Miles)
The Journey of Merry and the Rohirrim through Dunharrow and Edoras to Minas Tirith.
MINAS TIRITH TO THE MORANNON (138 Miles)
The Journey of Aragorn and the Host of 7000 to the Black Gate and the Battle of Morannon
THE MORANNON TO MINAS TIRITH: (120 Miles)
The Return Journey for Aragorn’s crowning
MINAS TIRITH TO HOBBITON (1625 MIles)
Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry
MINAS TIRITH TO ISENGARD (535 Miles)
ISENGARD TO RIVENDELL (693 Miles)
RIVENDELL TO BAG END (397 Miles)
Battle of Bywater
BAG END TO THE GREY HAVENS TO BAG END
The Last Journey of Frodo, with Sam and Sam’s Return Journey.
THE HOBBIT:
BAG END TO RIVENDELL (397 Miles)
The Journey of Bilbo and Company
RIVENDELL TO THE LONELY MOUNTAIN (570 Miles)
The Journey of Bilbo and Company. The Battle of Five Armies.
THE LONELY MOUNTAIN TO BAG END (967 Miles)
The Journey of Bilbo. Unofficial Walk (Not Listed on The Eowyn Challenge)
Bilbo hired a pony and returned home. This is all Tolkien ever said about it, really. Still, this uneventful journey is included, bringing the total to 18 walks through Middle-earth, each with a hundred or so milestones.
BACK TO EARTH AUTHOR NOTES
You’re welcome to join us on Kindspring.org at any time beginning on Hobbit Day each year for the current walk. There will be one going every year as long as I’m around to do so. And I hope that after that, this offering will be used for future groups of walkers. It’s a lot of fun, especially for all those who love Tolkien’s books.
You can also convert your workout to miles:
If you would like to follow and track your miles too, please feel free to use Sam’s Journal or the Milestone Markers I created to illustrate all 28 days for any non-commercial use. If you do, I’d really appreciate a mention or link back to these pages.
May your journey ahead be green and golden, and may you always have a warm and welcoming kitchen with a cozy fire, good food, and the cheers and hugs of dear friends saying, “We missed you so!” waiting for you when you return.
Created with love,
♥. Dassa Fleam of Buckland
Incidentally, if you love walking the real world too, you might enjoy this inspiring story:
Milestone 81: Sword Gate Pass
under1000skies 