Hardcore Four's Final Thoughts

With the Trailwalker event now passed, and having had time to reflect on the pain that was inflicted in those 31 hours and 26 minutes, we decided to put together the team's final thoughts. We hope you enjoy:

Jo
Well, I can't actually believe its over, and we all made it to the finish! It still feels like a dream!

Trailwalker has definitely been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life! I've really enjoyed all the training over the past 6 months, spending time with my mum, Gubbs, Gem and Josh has been a real pleasure, and I've loved being out in the countryside every weekend, exercising in the fresh air and taking in the beautiful views on the south downs. It's just a shame we didn't get the same sunny weather we've had on most of our training walks on the actual day.


The rain and mud were awful, energy sapping, and in places, really demoralising. However, on reflection, I still enjoyed taking part and the whole experience of trailwalker. The event was really well organised and the Gurkhas and volunteers really made a difference to me, with their cheerful smiles and words of encouragement on the way round the course.

I had some real low points on the way. I think there were four times when I was really ready to quit, all occurring from checkpoint 7 onwards. I remember walking along just sobbing because I was in so much pain towards the end. I really wouldn't have made it without the support of my amazing team members and support crew. I can't describe how incredibly proud I am of my fellow Hardcore Four members. The strength, bravery and determination they all showed to ensure we finished the course as a team of four was unbelievable! We made it guys!

Gubbs, you were so patient and encouraging when the team members really needed you, you really helped to hold the team together and kept smiling the whole way.
Mum, you were so strong and resilient, I couldn't have made it through if I didn't have you there. Your song made me laugh! I think you are such an amazing woman!
Josh, you were so brave. Seeing how much you were hurting from your injuries broke my heart, but you were so determined to keep going, it was inspirational!
Gem, I'm sorry you never got to take part in the actual event with us, I missed having you there, but you'll always be a part of hardcore four, and you made an awesome support crew member!

And I can't ever thank our support crew enough for everything they did for us. They had to deal with some really awful conditions, often spending hours waiting for us to arrive at checkpoints when we were really struggling. But seeing their smiling faces, and seeing how much thought and effort they put in to lifting our spirits at each checkpoint was amazing.  They played music, gave us treats, collected messages of support from friends and family, made bunting, gave us balloons and glow sticks for the night stages, came out and met us on the course to help us through the final miles to the next checkpoint, and just encouraged us the whole way. Dad, thank you for making it to nearly every checkpoint and seeing us through, and for giving me higs when I was struggling. Stewart thank you for being there for me, for the cuddles and for your late night messages (by the way as we all made it to the end I think this means that England beat Scotland!). Anna, Tracy and Peter, thank you guys so much!

For anyone reading this who is considering whether to do trailwalker, I would say definintely do it. It's an incredible experience and it will show you just how strong you can be, and how sheer will power and the support of those that love you can get you through anything! Things I would recommend are really good walking boots, walking poles were invaluable for all the trenching through the mud, and train train train, it's easy to underestimate how much something like this will take its toll on your body.

One final thought, pain is only temporary, but the achievement will last forever!

Julie

MUD!!! I knew it would be muddy, but I think that was beyond the call of duty!!

What a tremendous experience, so tough, but so worth it! Our team HARDCORE FOUR really lived up to our name, we were all so amazing and a terrific team. At some points I don't know how we all kept going, but keep going we did.

Thank you team, it was so fantastic to finish as a team of four. HARDCORE!!

Whenever I hear "Why, why, why Delilah?", I'll think of us.

Also we showed some great teamwork when things weren't going so well, for example when my Camelbak was leaking Jo offered me to share hers, and when Josh's knee was bad over stage 6, Gubbs carried Josh's backpack to lighten the load.

Thank you to our support crews who were absolutely terrific and put in so much effort, from video clips of friends and family to motivate us in the tough times and music and bunting decorated with encouraging words and photos. They were there at every stage come what may, with encouragement and smiles.

Thank you to all our sponsors who have been fantastic too and helped us raise lots more than our original target.

Thank you also to the Gurkhas who were there at every checkpoint and along the route to encourage and make sure everyone was safe.

A once in a lifetime experience, and I mean ONCE!!

Gubbs
I think it is fair to say that Trailwalker took over my life just a little bit this year! I like to throw myself into a challenge and so became boarderline obsessed by it! I can only apologise to friends and family who I may have annoyed in the past 6 months!

I have particularly enjoyed the Trailwalker community on Twitter and Facebook. I think I will miss fellow teams we have got to know over all this time, but I am glad we got to meet a couple of them on the day itself.

Setting off on the challenge itself was emotional for me, because when signing up I was going to do this with my wife, Gem, and she was not able to complete this with us, which she was gutted about.

That said, I am happy we managed to find a replacement in Josh, who was already a good pal of mine and I'm so happy that he managed to finish through gritted teeth. He had some serious will power that he seemed to be able to tap in to when things got really tough.

Jo & Julie were always strong characters in training, very rarely showing weakness, and so I knew that they'd be there, finishing it with us at the end. You guys did fantastically and can be very proud.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to our support crew members (in order of appearance!): Jeff, Stewart, Gem, Anna, Tracy, Peter. It was support that was very much needed by all the team, and each support member brought their own strengths (and treats!) that were very much appreciated. Thanks also for all the waiting around, the surprises and special treats, and effort made for the message boards, video messages, bunting, glow sticks, etc. Thanks to those outside the support crew who were involved in the making of these too.

Thanks to our sponsors - like Julie said, you by far exceeded our expectations, so thank you!

Finally I'd like to say a big thank you to the organisers who did a fantastic job, considering the issues! Also to the Gurkhas and volunteers at each checkpoint - you always raised a smile :)

For anyone looking to do this in the future I have four tips:
1) do the training miles (over the course if possible)
2) train in all weathers (you never know what you'll get)
3) keep eating and drinking, even when the stomach doesn't want any more!
4) it's just one foot in front of another, take it one step at a time.

My final thought..."Pain might be temporary, but it bloody hurts at the time."

Josh
Trailwalker is one of the hardest physical and mental challenges I have ever put myself through. Slowly stage by stage parts of my body began to give up and there were various moments when I thought I wasn't going to make it but the support of Gubbs, Jo and Julie (The Team), support crew and phone calls from home kept me going, somehow although I'm still not sure how I did it, I crossed the finish line and we did it as a complete team.

Without that support and encouragement I would never of made and I cannot thank everyone enough who was involved, crossing that finish line was the best feeling ever and I don't regret signing up one bit (All though more then 6 weeks notice would of been nice Gubbs).

Would I do it again? Well its Trailwalker + 3 days at the point of writing this and I still cant walk like a normal person, but you know what, I think I would do it again. Call me stupid but the achievement and emotions felt for completing the challenge were fantastic.

Convincing anyone else to do it with me? Well that may be the biggest challenge. What do we reckon team?

The Weekend We Walked 100km Part 3

...continued from Part 2 (if you haven't read Part 2 yet, check it out here).

Off on our way out of CP9

We said our good byes to everyone for now and headed up the hill from Kingston. To keep themselves going, Julie and Jo came over all philosophical and tried to think of some inspirational quotes to keep the team going forwards.  Julie decided that our moto should now be...

'Pain is only temporary, but the achievement lasts forever'.


They shouted this back to the boys to give them an extra incentive to carry on up the big hill. Then disaster struck... Josh's other knee (the right one) gave way. He was swearing at himself. Not now, why now...

There were no more support crew checkpoints to pull out (though I doubt it even crossed his mind), and there was no way he'd turn back. It was just a case of getting through it.

Jo and Julie were in fine form (i.e. just had to keep powering on otherwise they would collapse in a heap and give up!) and were laying down some decent pace in front of Gubbs and Josh. They were getting cold when stopping so they headed on to a point where they had some shelter from the wind while they waited for the boys to catch up.

Once we were at the top of the hill we knew the worst of the stage was over and we made a good time into checkpoint 10 where we were met with a group of cheering Gurkhas supplying squash and crisps!

Josh spotted an ambulance and so went over to get his other knee bandaged up. When he returned the team downed their last energy shot of the day with a chaser of mini eggs supplied by Julie and set out on the very last stage of Trailwalker UK 2012... up another hill...

We took it nice and slow, Josh's knees allowed him to only have one gear now, but that was fine, we were going to make it to the finish before the 4pm cut off we had been warned about at the previous checkpoint.

Nearly there...

We met a couple of teams on the way in, one - the Walkie Talkies had knee injuries also so while Gubbs was Ice spraying Josh he offered it around the group. It turned out that one of this team went to school with Gem, small world ay!

At the car park at the end of the footpath part of the stage, Jo and Julie came across the sorry sight of two members of another team lying on the floor in agony.  They managed to get themselves to their feet again, but were bent in two with the pain in their knees and feet.  Jo offered them some of her pain killers, but they said they were already topped up to the max.  Julie overheard one of them mention that they wish they had brought walking poles with them.  The sight of two grown men, in agony, staggering hand in hand towards the final stage of this epic adventure brought tears to her eyes.  Julie asked the guy with no poles if he'd like to borrow one of hers to the finish.  His face lit up like a beacon and he gratefully accepted.  Jo and Julie gave guys some encouraging words and told them that they only had around another 20 minutes to walk until they reached the finish.  We didn't find out the name of this team, but we were very pleased to see them hobble across the finish line behind us a little while later.

Victory is ours!

We reached the start of the race course to much delight. This was now a time of getting the job done. As we came closer the emotion was high. Josh had a final spurt of energy to get himself closer to that finish line, which took the rest of us all by surprise. The 500m to the finish line sign had to be the best sight we had ever seen in our lives!! The bagpipes started up and so did the tears in the eyes. Jo was pleased to see that her father-in-law and his wife had made a suprise journey and were waiting at the finish line along with the rest of the support crew, friends and family

We made the line and fell into loved ones embraces. There wasn't a dry eye at that finish line.

The job was done, we had walked 100km and all we needed to do now was to walk up two steps to have some pictures taken. I think we could just about manage that!

Our finish time was 31 hours and 26 minutes. Just a shade over the 30 hours originally set, but we didn't care, it was about finishing the challenge. We didn't sleep or anything! All those hours were for walking. Minus the 4.5 hours that were spent at the checkpoints altogether, so 26 hours and 56 minutes of walking. Wow.

Julie & Jo sign the support crew up for next year.

Lots of hugs given around, popped opened a bottle of champers and then there was just one last thing to do... Eat some Gurkha curry!! Best part of the day by far! That's when we met the Blister Sisters who had come in just after us. Another team we had met prior to the event via twitter. Such a sociable event this! Then it was home to our beds via our baths.

So that's it. The last walk of the Hardcore Four that you, the reader, will have to endure.

Team with support crew
minus night support Tracy & Peter

If you have been a regular reader, thank you for sticking with us. If you are a sponsor, thank you for sponsoring, your donations have made this easier to do, believe it or not! It also goes to a great cause don't forget. Additional thanks need to go to the people who called, messaged, text and tweeted us throughout the event - that really helped, thank you.

Also thank you to Oxfam, the Gurkha Welfare Trust, the Queen's Gurkha Signals and the volunteers who made the event what it was.

But biggest thanks go to our long suffering support crew! Without you guys we would not have been able to complete it... and we would have also needed bigger backpacks.

The Weekend We Walked 100km Part 2

...continued from Part 1 (if you haven't read Part 1 yet, check it out here).

It was at this point in the journey that Julie decided enough was enough and she needed to change into her second pair of walking shoes. Her boots had been causing her significant pain in her little toes for the past few stages and she really couldn't take it anymore. Blisters were starting to form! Help! She taped up her feet even further and swapped shoes. Her feet immediately felt a lot better in these as they were much roomier. No doubt her feet had started to swell from the continuous walking.

The muddy stretch into CP5

Starting stage 5 we were discussing about how the weather had changed and how peaceful it was on the Downs at this moment. The views were much clearer and we were given views that we were more used to from training walks. It was still VERY muddy though. Saying that, we were used to avoiding mud and puddles and now it had become the norm to wade through given our limited options.

The mud coming into checkpoint 5 was probably the worst of all the checkpoints. You could probably slide through it like skating. We couldn't imagine how difficult this would be for the runners today. As Josh said, you'd go backwards with each step. This was also another point for Josh to perform a comedy fall.

Anna & Gem at CP5

We entered checkpoint five where Jeff and Gem met us at the check in tent. Gem was telling us all about being towed in by a tractor and being assisted by a very hunky soldier. I'm sure he didn't mind helping out Gem and Anna too much...


At this checkpoint the support had the gazebo up, with bunting made by Gem and her friend Nat with inspirational messages and also pictures from our training walks. Ah happier days, when the walks were shorter and the weather was generally better! Thanks guys! Jo took the opportunity to use the pop up tent to get changed, part of her half way point plan. The change of clothes immediately brought comfort and warmth.

Motivational bunting

We also got our surprises here. Josh and Gubbs got message boards from friends and family from home, while Jo and Julie got video messages via Jeff's iPad, and email messages of support from friends and family. A great morale boost there, thanks.


This was half way and also the checkpoint to put on our head torches and reflective gear as darkness was quickly descending on us.


At the start of this next stage Julie shared her Hardcore Four song with the rest of the group.


To the music of Tom Jones - "Delilah":

Why, Why, Why, are we doing this??

Time to get reflective!

Why, Why, Why, are we doing this??

This is why we're called the Hardcore Four

So P**S OFF rain, we just cannot take any more!

And she also gave us the different options to substitute for rain - pain, mud, etc.

As the darkness fell, the mist also started to close in around the team. Often at points it was difficult to work out where you were going as the light from the headtorches just got lost in the fog. Then, out of the misty gloom we saw the dark shadows of the trees of Chanctonbury Ring. Julie had done some research on this ancient landmark on the internet, coming across stories of witchcraft and ghosts. The team took the opportunity to lift spirits, and possibly scare a nearby team or two by making 'Woooooooooooo' noises in the dark!

After the long climb up to near Chanctonbury Ring, Josh was having some real trouble with his left knee. It was aggravated when sliding around on the mud just before the checkpoint and now it was painful. We slowed the pace right down to enable him to be as comfortable as possible. He wasn't happy, worried that this may put him out of the event. Gubbs got out his iPod in an attempt to change Josh's focus and increase morale. First song on, Highway to Hell - AC/DC. Pretty well summed it up.

A trail of Trailwalkers

Jo was also starting to have trouble with her ankle, which had swollen up and started to bruise.  Limited as to what she could do to help ease the pain, Jo stuck a trusty Compeed blister plaster on it and crossed her fingers. If they could work for blisters, surely they might be able to heal bruised ankles, right??...

Although we had a struggle, the head torches behind us before we headed down to the checkpoint was a sight to behold, it's not everyday you can see such a sight and so it was a special one.

After a few more songs, ranging from Michael Jackson and Queen to Foo Fighters, we eventually found our way into Botolphs, another closed checkpoint to support crew.

Here Josh seeked help in the medical tent only to come out shortly after saying "I feel a lot better now - there are people in there passed out! I'm not so bad really!" I guess it provided some perspective.

A common sight of the weekend; Gurkhas pushing cars
out of muddy checkpoints!

We exited the checkpoint via the bog of the field and walked along the side of the river, equally boggy. Then we met night support crew Tracy and Peter at 1am in a petrol station in Upper Beeding. They were there without Jeff this time as he headed somewhere to catch some sleep before the next checkpoint. They had been waiting patiently there for hours ready for us to arrive. When we did eventually arrive we dealt with all our ailments and also picked up the glow sticks/rings that Tracy and Peter had supplied us. They even tied on the LED filled balloon onto Gubbs' backpack so he could be found in the dark!


Josh applied enough ibuprofen gel on his knee to put a small animal to sleep and also used Gubbs' knee strap to try and improve his situation.


Improve it did, we scaled the tough hill climb out of Upper Beeding without any issues and our stage 7 speed was looking good. Tackling this monster of a hill in the dark seemed to make it easier than when it had been scaled in training walks, possibly because you couldn't see how far away the top on the hill was! Going downhill was the only thing slowing us down a little with both Josh and Gubbs having some knee issues on the slopes.

The team entering CP7

We could see checkpoint 7 in the distance, lit up by a massive flood light. We could hear the beat of a drum as we approached too. Jo's plan for us all along had been to reach checkpoint 7, as she had heard from another team's blog that one of the Gurkha's had said, 'if you can make it to checkpoint 7 and get going again, you'll make it to the finish'.


Stopping for a quick break before the checkpoint we made conversation with a couple of lads in another team. They were telling us that they were going to have to call it a day as they were in so much pain. We were feeling relatively upbeat, we certainly weren't stopping now.


That's until we got to the car at the checkpoint with a plate of pasta. That's when the tiredness hit us. It was 4am. We all hit the wall. Jo's injuries were still causing her grief and we weren't in the best of shapes. Julie had taped her feet up so much that you could even see a square inch of skin any more! It was all tape and plaster!! Checkpoints now were becoming a place to sit and take the weight off your feet, which were getting more and more painful. There was less food being taken on with our stomachs really not wanting any more, and less stretching being done.


As darkness turned into light, we were not treated to a nice sun rise, just the grey got lighter. Not that we cared too much, we were cold and tired and would have done anything to the finish right now.

Almost there... CP8

The next stage was tough. We started worrying that we may not make some of the checkpoint closure times. We were going to finish this one way or another. We just wanted there to be some people left at Brighton Racecourse when we arrived that's all!!

We got into Jack & Jill to a wonderful welcome by the volunteers! A great bunch of people. We checked in and asked about the checkpoint closure times. One of the Gurkha's informed us that there would be some flexibility in the times today and so we weren't to worry.

CP8 Sock changing

Here Jo & Julie sorted out some new socks  and got a quick shoulder massage from support crew Jeff. Josh sorted out his undies (his undercarriage was getting very chaffed poor lad) and Gubbs just sat and stared into space.

We said goodbye to Tracy and Peter here. They weren't to see us at Brighton Racecourse as they were to head back home for sleep. They deserved it too staying up all night and morning waiting for us.

CP8 and knackered

We knew the next stage would be a killer. It goes on for what seems to be an eternity and when you are in pain it just doesn't help. Josh's injuries were getting the better of him and unfortunately that meant he slowed to keep the pain at bay. Gubbs was now suffering a lot more from chaffing and was desperate to get some new pants on at the next checkpoint!

Jo and Julie put on their MP3 players to give them a little extra motivation and it worked with Julie humming the Jackson 5 immediately!

As we neared the middle part of the stage we could see the windmill to mark checkpoint 9 in the distance. Though it was good to see it, it also looked sooooooo far away. One good thing was that the sun decided to make a long awaited appearance at this stage. At least it looked like the rain was gone for the time being.

About two thirds of the way through we had a stop and checked to see if Josh would be OK to go on. There was worry in the team and also from the support crew, who were keeping abreast of the situation, that he might be doing himself some real damage.

However, asking Josh whether he wanted to pull out was like a red rag to a bull, immediately after that and a fresh underwear change, Josh was in a different gear, determined to show everyone that he would finish this, pain or no pain.

We cracked on and met Jeff walking towards us about 40 minutes from the end of the stage and he offered a bag carrying service for the way into checkpoint 9! This was good news for Jo as her knee had started to become painful too, as she'd joined Josh and Gubbs' club! Although being a girl she shed a few tears at this point, while the boys took it like men! (Editorial note: This was Jo's text, not Gubbs' at the fear of being given some abuse!)

A busy CP9!

Heading into the checkpoint we could see some new faces here to welcome us, some surprises - Lucy, Josh's girlfriend, as well as Lilian and Steve, Gubbs' parents, all of whom were supposed to meet us at Brighton Racecourse by now if original plans were correct!

It was a nice surprise and a welcome boost to morale. To add to that, Gem and Anna were making bacon rolls! This was the checkpoint we wanted to get to. We knew that after that last killer stage we could finish this.

The racecourse was only 10km away... What could go wrong??

The final part - Part three can be read here.

The Weekend We Walked 100km Part 1

Well, this was it. We had been in training since the beginning of the year for this one weekend. Trailwalker weekend.

The distance doesn't look too bad like this...

It started with a trip to Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QECP) on Friday night to register for the event. Support crew Jeff and Julie met Gubbs, Jo and Josh at the park and they were joined by support crew Gem and Anna.

While on route we were already discussing the conditions that would await us on the course as we had been already made aware of the news from Trailwalker HQ that due to waterlogging, the conditions of two checkpoints (CP3 & CP4) were closed to support crew vehicles.

On arrival it was clear that the car parking at QECP had also been affected by the mud with long queues to the entrance. We decided to make our way down to the QECP visitor centre tarmac car park and walk up to the field instead.

Gem makes some friends

What' the plan Jo?

The welcome tent had a white board showing that a further checkpoint (6) was also closed to support crew now also. We rushed through registration, got our tracker tags and on to get a tasty pasta meal.

Then we were given our safety briefing, proceeded by a fantastic display by the Gurkha's marching band. They played some funky tunes too! The safety briefing had too many mentions of this being a race and participants being referred to as runners... er, yeah, not bloody likely!

Then it was off home to get some much needed sleep in our own beds rather than at the wet and muddy camp site provided. Not that it made much difference though, with most of the team not getting an ideal amount of sleep due to their excitement.

Returning to QECP on Saturday morning we were there for a 8am start with the first support crew car packed to the absolute brim. Josh's girlfriend Lucy joined Gem and first support crew Jeff and Stewart to see us off. It was an emotional moment for Gem and Gubbs with Gem having to pull out with a couple of months to go, she really wanted to be doing this with us.

The team and 1/2 the support crew

We said our last goodbyes and headed into the competitor pit where we met our Twitter friends The Red Harrows and Paul from Jon, Paul, Tom & Olly for a quick chat. It was nice to meet these guys face-to-face finally after many months of sharing tips, stories and banter.

The bagpipes set us off after a motivational speech by an officer of Queens Gurkha Signals (sorry did not catch the name), with the weather looking dry for the moment.


A moment we had been looking forward to for a long time. We walked along with The Red Harrows as the crowd entered the forest.


We knew that the first stage would not be too affected by the inevitable mud due to the number of metalled roads we'd be covering. The 8am crew were a big bunch though and it took some time before we had space to gain our normal stride.

We got through to CP1 Harting in 1 hour and 49 minutes, which was spot on with our plan. Jeff & Stewart, were in charge of support for the first few checkpoints and they kept us fed up with snacks and water, parked up next to our friends the Red Harrows.

The crowd on Beacon Hill

We set off on to stage two towards Hilltop Farm, Cocking after a 15minute break and as we did a light rain started.


We headed up Beacon hill, though this time very different from training due to the swarms of other Trailwalkers climbing at the same time. In those slippy conditions one faller could have taken out most the pack of trailing walkers!


At the top the rain got harder and the rain covers went on the bags. The paths were a lot muddier here, and were a sign of things to come. A little further along we had our first comedy faller of the day, Josh. Not satisfied with one, he managed to slip on his arse a second time in a space of 15 seconds. Poor Josh.


We walked down to the checkpoint with the rain not letting up. We could see the cars all parked at the edge of the field and it looked messy. On arrival we checked-in and found all kinds of vehicles slipping around in the mud, that's if they could even get going.

Josh and Gubbs went to one driver's aid and almost immediately regretted it when a spray of mud went up into their faces! Oh well, the driver was very pleased to get out. On to Jeff & Stewart where they had made up a makeshift shelter that did a great job of keeping us out of the rain, which was now getting heavier. Thunder sounded overhead too. This wasn't what we signed up for - the distance would be enough of a challenge on it's own thank you!


We had a tasty hot meal here for lunch and waited for the worst of the rain to pass before heading out onto stage three after a 38 minute stop.

Onwards to Littleton Farm and we reached the checkpoint after 1 hour and 50 mins. A quick stop here for a stretch, cup of tea and a toilet break before heading on to meet Jeff & Stewart by the car park on Bignor Hill due to the checkpoint being closed to support crew cars.  The rain really hammered it down as we approached too.

This was the last time we'd be seeing Stewart, who had also been a victim of a mud spraying too while helping Jeff out the second check point.

Jeff would be staying though to the next checkpoint as he was going to attempt to see us at as many checkpoints as possible.

We set off to Houghton which was another checkpoint closed to support crew and we could tell why on arrival. The puddles in the field were huge and maybe some of the muddiest paths so far.

We continued along the trail to meet new support team Gem and Anna waiting for us on High Titten, joined by Jeff. They had the car stereo on loud which was apparently being enjoyed by many of the other teams going by.

CP 4 makeshift shelter 

They even had time to make us a hot meal here with all that air guitar; a nice pasta meal to keep us carb-ed up.


Josh and Gubbs took the time to do their first sock change of the day, Jo and Julie having been more regular with their changes already. Apparently the stink under the shelter was something else, the boys didn't seem to think so...


Leaving this checkpoint we headed onto stage 5 knowing we were a bit behind our schedule. The conditions meant that plans had pretty much gone out the window.


It was just about finishing it now.

See Part 2 here...

5 Funky Llamas, 2 Hardcore 4-ers, 3 Sleeping Ponies, 2 Leaping Walkers, and a bit of climbing through some beach-side trees!

With Gubbs away at (another!) stag do, and Julie carrying out a 12 mile loop closer to home, remaining team members Josh and Jo decided to put in one last training walk, taking advantage of the 'winding down' recommended in the training guide in terms of distance. 

As both Josh and Jo suffer from hayfever, they decided a walk near the coast might be in order to avoid all of the pollen in the fields closer in-land, so they decided on a 5 mile loop at Lepe Country Park in the New Forest.  5 miles now seems like a stroll in the park compared to recent training walks (I did say we were taking advantage of the 'winding down' part!!).

On arriving at the car park next to the beach, Jo and Josh were met with a view of around 1800 yachts, sailing the Solent for the annual Round The Island boat race. This is one of the largest yacht races in the world, starting and finishing in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, so it was quite a sight to behold. The race is 63.3 miles long, coincidently almost exactly the same distance that we will be walking in Trailwalker in a few weeks time!!!

The walk route started from the car park and took us along the footpath next to the shore line. The wind was blowing quite a gail, which was good news for the sailors, but not such good news for Jo's hat which had to be removed within a few feet of starting the walk and safely placed in her rucksack for fear that it would be blown away without ever getting to experience the full trailwalker experience!

The instructions for the walk at this point gave two options, one for high tide and one for low tide. Noting that the tide was well and truly in, Jo carefully read the instructions through and instructed Josh that they should follow the footpath on to the beach and continue along here until they reached a road. It wasn't until they'd been walking for 15 minutes or so, and on noticing that the area of the beach not covered by the sea seemed to be getting smaller and smaller, that Jo realised she had been following the low tide instructions rather than the high tide intructions!! Oops! (No doubt this will get a laugh from support crew member Jeff!!).

On realising her mistake, Jo alerted Josh, but as we are coming to realise after his few team training walks so far, nothing seems to phase Josh, so rather than turn around, Josh decided that they should continue along the beach and see where they got to! This did mean that they had to climb through quite a few trees and marshy areas at some points when the shore line ran very thin, but eventually they made it to the road and headed in land in to farm land and away from the blowing wind.

The break from the wind gave Josh and Jo a chance to chat more about the up and coming trailwalker event, which seems to have snuck up ever so quickly in the last few weeks!  They talked about the food, enduring the challenge, and the effect that a few energy shots could have in the later stages of the trek!  It also gave the two team members a bit more time to get to know a bit more about each other, having only met each other once before Josh bravely stepped in to take the place of Gem in the Hardcore Four team.

The route at this point of the walk, passed a field containing some newly shawn llamas.  Jo and Josh were pleased to see that their owner had completely shaved their bodies, but had left them with some funky haircuts, obviously so they still looked cool to their llama friends in the next door field!.

Josh jumping puddle.
It was bigger than it looks in the photo! 

The route then took the two walkers through a copse which got a little boggy in places, and then further in to more fields. At this point, the pathway became very boggy and flooded and in one part was nearly impassable due to the huge puddles that covered the footpath and the surrounding field area. Jo carefully picked her way through this bit, leaping here and there to reach drier parts of land.  Josh however, decided that this obstacle needed a different approach in the form of a long running jump directly over the puddle obstructing the pathway. He went back a good 10-15 feet in preparation for his run up, ran as fast as he could and lept in to the air like a gazelle... and made it (sort of!!)!

At this point Josh and Jo were pleased to find that they were now approaching the end of the route - we could get used to these nice little 5 milers! They passed through a field of New Forest ponies with their foals, who were sleeplily laying on the grass chilling in the sunshine while their mothers kept an eye out for strange leeping walkers!

We soon found ourselves back at the car, completing the 5 miles in 1 hour 22 minutes. Now its time to bring on the real thing!!!

The Last Team Training Hike

This weekend we planned our last full team walk, dropping the mileage by almost half of last week's 31 miles. We also fancied a change of scenery after the recent weeks on the Trailwalker route, so we settled on the medieval route of the Pilgrims Trail, a route that takes walkers from Winchester to Portsmouth, and if you are really keen, on to it's final destination of Mont St Michel in Normandy.

It was a sunny, but chilly start in the car park at the foot of St. Catherine's Hill, just south of Winchester, at 7:30. We set off on our planned 16 miles walking through a valley named the Plague Pits to a crossing that took us over the M3, and then on to Twyford Down. We became quickly aware that the paths were to be wet and muddy. This was not a good day to ditch the gaiters, but ditched them we did.

This early part of the walk covered some of the same route that Jo & Julie did on their walk back in early March, where they experienced a range of all weathers. Today though we were thankful it was just sun with the occasional cloud cover.

We skirted around Hockley Golf course on to our first checkpoint destination today, Owslebury, a village that sits not only on the Pilgrim's Trail, but also the Monarch's Way (a 615 mile footpath that approximates the escape route to Shoreham taken by King Charles II in 1651 after being defeated in the Battle of Worcester), and also a Roman Road that works its' way to Portchester, which we were also to walk along for some distance today. It can also boast at being the highest village in Hampshire.

Here we met support crew Gem & Anna on the lawn in front of the medieval church for some snacks and stretches. On the menu today was Gem's pecan chocolate brownies and peanut butter fudge, very tasty.

Erm...which way?

After a short break we set out again, through the grounds of the church and on to a field that was home to a motocross track. This was a navigation test, as the instructions for the route did not specify a direction and so we crossed straight over said motocross track, which involved climbing to the top of the incline. With no sign of the path at the top, Gubbs remembered that he had a map as well as the instructions, which showed the path quite clearly that we should have followed the edge of the field. Opps, so we headed to the edge and that's when we saw the Bull watching us.

He was sitting down so we felt comfort that we'd have a little notice if it had decided to take offence of our presence. Also we were right by a fence we could leap over if push came to shove...

Turns out we weren't as interesting for him as he was for us and we left the field through the electric fence in the corner. Josh decided to jump over fence not realising there was a handle to open it up without the need for such athleticism.

Watch out for the caged animal

We survived the bull run and Josh decided to tell us about the time he peed on a electric fence, unintentionally of course (well the peeing bit was intentional, the on the electric fence bit not so much). He described it as painful. Ouch.

Shortly afterwards we entered a copse that was surrounded by a large fence and gates. It looked like something from Jurassic park. Julie begged the question, what are they keeping in... We luckily didn't find out as we made it out in one piece on the other side without seeing a single T-Rex.

Hardcore Four coming in to land

We then crossed over a field which happened to have a wind sock at one end of it. Yes, that's right, in-between the crop, there was a grass airfield. Lucky for us not in use while we were crossing it.

The paths became narrower and narrower and we got the feeling that perhaps this isn't a well travelled route. With plenty of scratches we made our way through. We did get a little lost on the way to Bishop's Waltham though. Crossing over another field - we were learning that open fields were not our best friend for keeping on route. We did find our way however with just a little extra distance.

Bacon rolls coming up

Gem & Anna were making bacon rolls and were asking us for a number of ETAs (after each one past). They had already had their own rolls and they were starting to get peckish. This was now a race against the hunger of our support team. If we were much longer we'd have to go without!

I am happy to report that we did make it and lunch was served up. The menu today was bacon rolls, potato salad, boiled eggs and chicken bites... as well as more of the treats from the first checkpoint.

With topped up stomachs, we set off on our final 6 miles of the day. Hay fever was taking it's toll again with a couple of the team suffering the effects of being through all these fields.

The final part of the walk was completed without the navigational issues of earlier. We finished the route in 100 acre wood near Wickham. No sign of Winnie-the-Pooh or Tigger though, but there were a number of groups of heavily laden DofE students, and families enjoying in the woods today, and most importantly our support crew which signalled the end of our walk.

We completed the walk in 7 hours 1 minute covering just under 17 miles. Next time the whole team will be together will be in three weeks on Trailwalker weekend. Looking forward to it.

A Fathers Day Yomp

This week was the big one, the longest we'd go before the Trailwalker event itself, 31 miles - half the Trailwalker distance.

We all met in Queen Elizabeth Country Park, at the start of Trailwalker, at 7:30 Sunday morning. Today we would be walking the first 5 stages of the route to Washington. We completed a 27 mile walk last week so this was only going to be another 4 miles.

Support today was led by Jeff, who was to have his first taste of the support crewing. He brought with him an abundant supply of meals, snacks, energy bars and rehydrating tablets, along with a gas canister for the cooker we weren't able to use last week because, em..., we didn't have any gas to run it on.

Gem would be riding shotgun with Jeff for the day to aid in the support, and also as it turns out provide that paparazzi feel that any good walk should have.

With feet all taped up, support car packed to the limit, and team in good spirits we headed into the country park for our first of the 31 miles. Today was Fathers day and it gave us some great weather.

We left the boundary of the country park as we discussed food for the event day and Julie informed us that her brother Keith, a Major in the Royal Marines, had been able to provide her with a number of ration packs, each with a 24 hour supply of meals and snacks, for which we are very grateful! If it can fuel an army then it's more than good enough for us! It doesn't look like we'll be going hungry on the day.


We completed the first stage in record time, arriving on Harting Down in 1 hour and 45 minutes. We obviously had fire in our bellies, and it wasn't long before Jeff was dishing out lots of other treats for our bellies while Gem was snapping profusely, in between filling camalbaks of course!

So, on to our second stage of the day towards Hilltop Farm at Cocking.  The sun was shining so the sunglasses came out and for the first time in his relatively short Hardcore Four history, Josh took off his fleece! We had been ribbing him a bit last week about how he had kept his warm fleece on while we were walking in the warmth, but he shrugged it off. First he said how he couldn't really be bothered to take it off, then the explanation was that it would help him acclimatise to the heat of July when it hits us, but we'd take a guess that the first of the two was the truth.

It was also the first time Josh had been introduced to our 'old friend' (as Julie put it), Beacon Hill. When Josh approached he said "It's not so bad, I'm going to run up it". Yeah, yeah, sure you are Josh.

Well he didn't run up it, but he didn't hold back.  He was the first member of the team to scale the height and by some distance too. We've found on these past few training hikes that once Josh gets going, it's hard to stop his rhythm! He shoots off and you have to call him back for he is in some kind of trance that enables him to go at almost superhuman speeds, usually when going up hill.

We continued on our path, steaming past the Devil's Jumps, there was no stopping for them today, we had 31 mile to eat up.

As we approached the second checkpoint at Cocking we were told by a walker heading the other way, "There are a couple in the car park that would like me to ask you to hurry up!"

We were not late by any means, we were early, again in record time, completing the second stage in a little under 2 hours and 4 minutes.

The support team, which at Cocking was bolstered by night-shift support team Tracy & Peter, had readied us a picnic! We had the blanket out for stretching, with each of our boxes at the four corners together with a camping chair each! This was the life.

We were each handed a bowl of pasta for lunch which Jeff cooked up for us on the camping stove, and we tucked in enthusiastically.

Heading off on stage three with more fire in our bellies, Josh was commenting on how much more he felt he had to give in this walk as opposed to previous walks. A sentiment that would be shared through the rest of the team. The supply of food was doing us some real good.

Stage three to Littleton Farm is is pretty short one really, and we were in the field of rapeseed at the end of the stage before we knew it. This week it appeared that someone had driven over the path we took last week. The creeping rapeseed had been pushed down so we had a better path to walk down.

We arrived at checkpoint 3 in 1 hour and 40 minutes, again a good time, almost the same as when we did the same stage last week. We were greeted with bunting on a nearby hedge (though I don't think that was the support crew's doing this time...) and the picnic set up again. However, this time Gem shouted as we went to sit down, "No, those chairs aren't for you, take away the chairs, you'll stay too long!"

It was like Jim Bowen on Bullseye showing us what we could have won... the chairs were out for the waiting support team apparently. Oh well.

We again stretched and stocked up on food, water and treats, taking some for the road this time to save time at the checkpoint.

We headed out on to stage four towards Houghton and Julie supplied us all with an energy shot drink that we would take together later on this stage to give us that boost we'd need. Josh didn't read the script though and downed it before he had even left the checkpoint. He's still new bless him.

It did provide the rest of the team with some entertainment shortly after setting off again though as Josh was saying how much he was "more aware of everything", and how his aches had vanished.

Julie, what's in those shots?? Did you get them from a special pharmacist?

Anyway the rest of the team took theirs a little later and the conversation moved on to our favourite 70s and 80s TV shows, with Josh and Julie trading quotes.

We were at the next checkpoint and arrived after 2 hours and 23 minutes of walking. This wasn't the proper Trailwalker checkpoint, but a little higher up the route at a convenient stop of the support team.

It was also our second cooked meal of the day, with sausages and beans! Yum... who wouldn't like beans..?? Well Jo apparently, as she had another pasta meal instead. Jeff was offering all kinds of treats again and Gubbs had a second helping of sausages and beans, a move he would shortly regret when we commenced the walking again.

After leaving this checkpoint Gem would head off with Peter & Tracy to show them the checkpoints that they'd be responsible for on the day, meeting everyone at the end in Washington.

We started stage five with the sun beating down our our backs, as the food sloshed around in Gubbs' stomach.

That sun soon faded as a thin veil of cloud formed. Julie commented on how much she enjoyed being on the top of these hills at this kind of time, early evening. The number of people dwindles and its time you can enjoy the scenery, etc. in quiet.

The aches on the feet were intensifying now. We were all feeling great, apart from that though. Much better than the week before, even Gubbs was agreeing now his dinner had gone down a bit.

When we came into the car park at Washington we were greeted to cheers, music and medals thanks to our support team!

That was it, 31 miles done. We were very happy with ourselves. We felt we had more to give, and we did it well within the 12 and a half hours time we had set ourselves. Total time including breaks was 11 hours and 16 minutes.