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...

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.

Walking On, Walking On Broken Sunglasses

The Hardcore Four with added sun.

We were given the good news this week that we had reached 19th in the top 20 teams on the Trailwalker fundraising leaderboard. There are well over 500 teams competing so we were really pleased to see our name up there.

We'd like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone who has sponsored us, or played in our pub quiz, you are all great people!

If you haven't sponsored us but would like to, there is still time. You can reach our fundraising page using the button on the top right of the web page (not shown on mobile), or you can use this link.

This week we planned to hike between checkpoint 2 (Hilltop Farm) and checkpoint 6 (Botolphs). Support team Gem & Anna were going to look after us for the second time, on the three checkpoints in between. So we all met in Cocking Hill car park at 8am.

Opps, those sunglasses won't last long.

The sun was out and so everyone decided to get their sunglasses on as we were getting ready. Unfortunately for Gubbs he found that his sunglasses had broken with one of the arms missing. Cue a walk with unprotected eyes squinting all day - great!

We set off on the way to Littleton Farm on stage three and the discussion turned to breakfast. Julie had the best breakfast for long lasting energy of the team; a banana and porridge. Gubbs had a bowl of bran flakes, Josh had a bowl of THREE Weetabix, and Jo had Belvita Breakfast biscuits, which the rest of us all suggested was not enough for a walking breakfast!

Erm...where's the path?

While we walked along we spotted a number of marathon mile markers and arrows pointing towards the start of our journey. We hadn't seen any runners yet so we presumed that the race may not have started yet. As we neared the end we had a call from Gem to say they had gathered a crowd to clap us in to the checkpoint! The checkpoint on the day, which is a field usually closed to cars, was open for a marathon relay checkpoint.

Prior to getting there we had to cross a field of rapeseed though and this is where the path closed in on us.

Ready for a run Anna?

The weather, although sunny and very clear, was also very windy in the exposed sections of the course.  We spotted a downed tree on the route and we were worried we may fly off in some gusts of wind.

At the checkpoint Gem and Anna were telling us that they started stretching when people were looking at them wondering where their runner is!

We set off on stage four towards Houghton, where instead of meeting Gem & Anna at the checkpoint we'd meet them nearer Amberley for a rest up on the edge of a field.

Do they know something we don't??

In this section we came into contact with a number of the marathon runners. Many friendly folk who were saying/shouting/wheezing 'Morning' to us as we walked by. With so many running past Gubbs mentioned that he was reminded of a Monty Python scene.

We left the runners at the Roman Villa path and carried on towards Houghton, with Josh informing us all that today he was wearing his thermals rather than the PJ bottoms of last week, under his hiking trousers, after a rummage in the loft. We wouldn't want him feeling too comfy in the later stages of Trailwalker.

We met Gem & Anna for lunch where a variety of foods came out and so did Gem & Anna's nice and refreshing slices of orange, as well as some chocolate fingers! What a treat!

After a 25 minute break, with the support team shouting at us with every 5 minutes that had passed, we got up and set off again on to stage 5 to Washington.

We had the full force of the wind up at the top of the hills as we were at maximum exposure, but the views were clear and great.

Towards the end of the stage you reach a fork where you can carry straight on towards the A24 or go off towards the left which will take you to Washington avoiding the A24. The team had not walked this section before with Gubbs walking it with Gem and fellow support team members Tracy & Peter back in February, and Jo & Julie with Support Crew Jeff in April, so there was some debate over the correct path here as in the instructions it says to avoid the A24. We headed straight though as the checkpoint is just prior to the A24 so we believe the instruction is to stop people skipping the checkpoint and taking a short cut.

Today though, to add to the confusion, we did cross the A24 to the small car park where Gem & Anna were waiting, as we walked up to the car park they put on the car stereo with some selected tunes for the team.

Our top support team for the day

As we bopped our heads along to Tom Jones and Michael Jackson we were also offered a surprise treat by the support team, YumYums and Almond Twists from a bakery they had visited earlier in the day.

Morale was high and one stage to go for the day!

We crossed the A24 again back towards the checkpoint and followed the path to the posh boarding school mentioned in last week's blog.

We climbed the path to Chanctonbury Hill which seemed to last forever on this day and when we reached the top the wind was up again as we actually had to fight it to stay in a straight line. Luckily for most of the way it was behind us.

By Chanctonbury Ring we spotted a bike pannier sitting on the path. We weren't too surprised that it's owner hadn't notice it fall off as the wind would shield any noise. A little further along the path we saw a cyclist on the path coming towards us with one pannier...a-ha...

He asked us if we saw his missing pannier and of course we pointed him towards it for which he was very grateful and we were pleased to see it reunited with it's owner!

Lambs-a-leaping

The path also takes you past some fields with grazing sheep and we noticed that some of the lambs were a-leaping around. We stopped a moment for a chuckle as they jumped over one another which was very amusing. Unfortunately we did not get a photo of such behaviour, rather just of them eyeing each other up very much like a pole vaulter prior to their vault...

We walked on past the pigs of last week and the whole team found their bladders weakening by the minute! We presume it must be all the fluid taken on throughout the day. We wonder how we'll be after another 15/16 hours!

That last section seemed to take ages and we were a fair bit slower than the same stage last week, although that was the first stage of the training last week to be fair.

We completed the 27 mile walk in 10 hours and 13 minutes.

The car back to Cocking was one full of sneezing and sniffing though as the whole team, apart from a luckily (for him!) immune Gubbs, had fits of hay fever! Must remember to take the anti-histamines earlier in the day next time!

Wild Navigating

Whilst Gem and Gubbs were on their anniversary weekend away, Saturday saw the turn of team members Julie and Jo, and support team member Jeff to have a go at completing Stage 5 of the trailwalker route, Houghton to Washington. Gem and Gubbs had completed this section previously with support team members Tracy and Peter so, as the team was split this weekend, it was the ideal opportunity for Julie and Jo to see what this part of the course entailed. It also gave Jeff the opportunity to experience some of the terrain and views that the Hardcore Four team will be experiencing in July, and also gave him a bit of of variety and a break from his cycling training for his upcoming Lands End to John O'Groats challenge!

As there is not a car park available at check point 4 (outside of the actual Trailwalker event), we parked at the nearby Amberley station and started the walk by heading on a short journey along the country lanes to the start of stage 5.

Jeff teaches Julie to map read

Now, it is not unfair to say that when it comes to directions, Julie is somewhat ‘navigationally-challenged’. It is also not unfair to say that Jo may have inherited this interesting quality from her mum! However, in order to nurture any directional skills that may be lurking in the back ground it was decided that Julie should be the chief navigator for this section of the walk. Jeff took the opportunity to use the walk as a kind of map reading/wilderness expert/Ray Mears-in-training lesson for the two main ladies in his life, passing on useful hints and tips that they could use on the day!

Things did not start out well when Jeff asked Julie to use the ordnance survey map to locate where they were currently standing, and in which direction they needed to travel. 'Orientate the map to the direction you need to go in' suggested Jeff helpfully, to which, rather than simply turning the map around in her hands, Julie decided to keep the map still and physically move herself around the map instead! After some rearranging of the map within the waterproof map cover – (which involved turning the map the right way up!), we located the route and began walking.

Support team member Jeff came along for the walk

The first section of this part of the course, as seems to be the case with most sections of the course immediately after check points, was uphill. Although the uphill section of this part of the course was no where near as long or as steep as some other section starts of the route we have experienced so far on our training walks (e.g. Gem’s nemesis Beacon Hill!). The climb was relatively long, gradual and undulating which gave Jeff the opportunity to teach Jo how to use her walking poles correctly. Apparently the most efficient way to use them is to plant each pole next to the foot remaining on the floor, where the other foot would have been, at about the mid-foot level, and to repeat this motion for each step taken. Although at first Jo struggled with the coordination of this, she soon ‘took it in her stride’ so to speak, and it did actually make the walking seem easier.

Using Amberley Castle as a land mark

The walk from this point was relatively straight, following the path and ignoring footpaths forking off the left and right, although this gave the opportunity to stop at regular intervals to check the map for any land marks we could see around us, in order to keep track of our progress and test our navigating skills. Even though both Julie and Jo found this a bit tricky to start out with, they found that if they thought about it hard enough, they were soon able to pick out copses, rivers, lakes, neighbouring hills, roads in the distance, and… sheep (although these could not be located on the map!!).

Waves of yellow flowers – spring is here!

This section of the walk really allowed us to see the change in the seasons since we began our training, and the oil seed rape fields that were green and bare in the winter months, were now bursting with waves of bright yellow flowers.

At this point of the walk we also learnt Julie’s new ‘Wild Navigation’ theory that ‘If there are puddles on one side of the path, then this means that… something, something, something’. After persuading Julie that she might need to expand this theory just slightly, she decided that ‘If there are puddles on one side of the path, then this side of the path is towards the south’. As the puddles were on the right side of the path and that was the direction of the sea, Julie decided that this was now a proven theory! Things got a little bit more complicated further on down the track though where a puddle covered the whole of the path!

Julie - The New Wild Navigation Expert

We also learnt Julie’s new International Signal for ‘Mind that Poo!’, which involves swirling your walking pole around in one direction above said pile of poo to warn walkers behind you not to step in it! Some of the other Trailwalker teams, who may be reading this blog, might just spot this signal in use during the event (handy for the night stages!).

The path was nice and easy to follow (this is probably not a stage that is going to need too much referring to the map and instructions), and we carried along until eventually we passed the huge pile of dung, which had given support team member Peter his new nickname of ‘Dr Dung’ all those weeks ago. However luckily for us, the pile had compacted itself and lost it’s smell during that time, so thankfully it now resembled a big pile of compost rather than a huge mountain of steaming s**t!

Make sure you head the right way here to avoid disqualification! 

There are a few points nearing the end of the stage that you will need to keep an eye on the instructions to follow the correct forks in the path. Probably the most important of these is the fork that is signposted one way for ‘South Downs Way A24 crossing’ and the other for ‘South Downs Way Alternative route Avoiding A24’. The Trailwalker instructions state that any team that takes the A24 crossing path will be disqualified (as this is a shorter route) – so make sure you follow the sign for the path avoiding the A24!!!

Cooking ingredients at your fingertips!

Shortly after this sign, you start your decent down across fields and through wooded copses in towards Washington. On passing through one of these copses we were hit by the overwhelming smell of strong garlic.  On turning the corner we were met by a sea of Wild Garlic covering the banks on both sides of the path. Julie and Jeff, getting in to the ‘wild navigation’ spirit sampled a few small leaves… Jo decided to eat some mini eggs instead!! For any budding cooks out there, if you’re after some wild garlic for salads, pastas etc this would be the place to come. Julie and Jo had been at a farmers market earlier in the week where one stall was selling small bunches of wild garlic for £1.50 each, which is absurd considering you can forage some of your own for free!

At the end of this section of the walk, on trailwalker night we would stay on the near side of the A24, turning right in to private farmland. We didn’t fancy getting shot at by any angry farmers for trespassing on this occasion though, so we crossed the bridge over the A24 and followed the country side lanes and footpaths along a longer route to return to Washington car park where we had earlier left a car.

The total route was 7.3 miles (a breeze compared to recent training!) completed in just less than 3 hours (due to the many map reading and navigation stops!).

Peter really knows his sh*t!

This weekend saw the team each having their own training plans. Gem and Gubbs met up with support team members Tracy & Peter again for another walk over the Downs. This week we decided to go for stage five, this is Houghton to Washington, a 12.5km (just under 8 mile) section with a total of 280 metre ascent.

The first thing learnt was that the Trailwalker course check points do not necessarily have a car park by them when it isn't the actual event. We ended up parking up a relatively small distance from each check point, though it made navigation a little more interesting while trying to slip back on to course. For example, walking down a busy road for the first mile did not make for an exciting experience, however, when on route we were taken through some beautiful countryside providing us with some amazing views.

Before we hit the South Downs Way route we stumbled across a pub which had a historic link to the past.  It's sign above the door stated that Charles II had stopped there in 1651 after the battle of Worcester to take Ale. We decided against taking Ale this early on a Saturday morning and ploughed on.

In to the second mile we hit a pretty steep ascent. We approached Amberley Mount and to be honest we felt a little intimidated! This looked like a 45% incline! We powered on up safe in the knowledge that Gem's home made flapjack was waiting to be served up at the top. This was Gem's first attempt at the flapjack and we'll hope to see a plenty more of it on future walks!

Dr Dung investigates

As we carried on on the South Downs way we happened upon a large pile of steaming, freshly delivered manure. This is when Peter en-parted the rest of us with his rich manure knowledge! Apparently, according to the consistency, colour and content, this was most definitely horse manure. Gem promptly named Peter "Dr Dung" in response. It lead to commentary and reviews each time we passed similar piles. These are the kind of things we discuss on these walks! Last week we had the Stile Index this week the Dung Directory. What in the world will it be next week?

Gem & Gubbs navigating

The weather was perfect for the time of year, and such a contrast in temperature to the last Downs walk 3 weeks ago in the snow. When the sun was out it was definitely t-shirt weather. It also showed us how exposed you are up there to the sun which is something to think about in July in the heat of summer.

The Trailwalker guide suggests that for a team aiming to hit a total of 24 hours you should complete the course in 3 hours. We completed the route (including the small detours due to parking) in just under three hours which we were pretty happy about as we had a couple of short stops on the way.

Julie was training alone this week and she walked 12 miles which was two laps of her usual 6 training route from home. She then kept those muscles warm by dancing the night away at a Motown night!  Good effort Julie! She's pushing up the distance now, which the whole team will be looking to do also soon.

Finally, Party Jo's training this weekend consisted of walking around Clapham in her really high sparkly shoes, which must count for something right??