The long way home, the importance of giving, and dude where's my car?

The blog of many titles...

And none as detailed as Neil's, read that one for a proper account of events!

The long way home

Neil had decided we needed a long distance walk that took in some night walking, ideal preparation for the big day, he managed to rope me and Steve in and set the route.  The route chosen was from the Force 4 Head Office in Gloucester to Neil's house in Bristol.  Neil had approximated a distance of 31miles, but would confirm nearer the day.
A double booking on my part meant that I had to go to a wedding on the Saturday, so it was decided that it would be for the best that I try to complete about 3/4 of the route and drive home.
The day arrived, Friday 22nd, we decided to leave at 4 in the afternoon, Neil had worked out on the OS website that it would be roughly 19 miles to where I'd left my car, and him and Steve would have about an 11 mile walk after that.  We estimated I'd be at the car at about 12.00 midnight and I'd be home in time for a sleep before having to leave for the wedding at 10.00am.

Work being work, we left an hour later than planned, but with Steve now with us we were confident of making a good time.
The biggest problem about doing a walk for the first time, is that if the signs are poorly placed and indeed sparse it's very hard to keep a rythm.  Your'e forever looking around for signs and you lose confidence in the way your'e going.  The first mile was one of those, and with heavy hearts after half an hour we realised we'd made very little progress, in fact we'd pretty much rejoined the road we'd started on!  Heads down for fear of being spotted by our work colleagues we plowed on up the road, this time picking up the correct path.

The importance of giving

It was the first time I'd met fellow team mate and Neil's best friend Steve.  I was immediately struck by his passion for not just the event but for the reason we're all doing the event.  Not for personal glory or a sense of satisfaction, but raising money for an exceptional charity who in turn will actually make a difference to peoples lives.  It was a bit of an eye opener for me, and it's great to hear people talk about things with such passion.  So along with a bit more training my focus will now firmly be fixed on raising money.

Dude where's my car?

It wasn't an easy walk this one, lots of the trails were overgrown, a few were pretty muddy, and we only had a vague idea of where we were heading.  So progress wasn't perhaps as quick as it should have been.  That said there were some glorious sites along the way, the general landscapes were stunning, but I was most impressed with the ridiculously large houses.

At one point we had to knock on the door of a house, conceding defeat that we had no idea where we were  on the map.  Thankfully the game keeper managed to steer us in the right direction, and as we left him with his roaring fire and mystery blonde I feared we'd really taken a wrong turn somewhere!

Eventually we picked up the Monarchs Way, a trail that spans over 600 miles along the country, and was the escape route used by King Charles ii.  Although i've no idea how they managed to record his route, Neil suggested he'd left stickers along the way.  I must admit once we'd picked up this trail at about 9.30pm I thought it was going to be an easy walk back to the car.  Little did I know...

As my estimated times of arrival gradually grew later I feared i'd never make the wedding party, Jo would certainly kick my ass and i'd be a write off for the rest of the weekend.  Thats the odd thing about walking for so long, you go through real mental highs & lows along the route.  It's very important to stay positive, and Fruit pastilles go a long way towards that.

Walking in the dark is an experience, one that I particularly enjoyed, it focuses your mind on following the path and little else.  Neil had arranged some Silva Headlights for us to use, and I was the first to try it out, mainly because I was too excited.  The beam is excellent, clear focused and bright.  Although you do have to remember to dip it, and avoid pointing it into peoples eyes, not cool.
The other very important thing to remember is spare batteries, our head torches had dimmed dramatically after a few hours use, and fearful they may not see us through to the car we ended up swapping who used theirs and when.

My 1.00am deadline came and went, and I feared it'd be day break by the time we got back to my car, however Chipping Sodbury eventually came into view, and we knew the car could be no more than a couple of hours away once we'd got to the railway tracks the other side of Chipping Sodbury.

Once on the railway bridge Neil knew the way, having completed this walk only a few weeks previous.  It was probably just as well because the route was very dark, very muddy and very over grown!  2 hours passed, and at 4.00am I spotted the Church where my car was parked.

At 4.10am I got back to my car.  4 hours late, but back!  Now for the 1 hour 40 minute drive back to my house.  Loz

The Really Big One!

Lawrence, Steve & myself set off from my office in Nailsworth at 5pm on Friday afternoon, an hour later than we had hoped for. We had been checking the weather forecast throughout the day and thankfully the rain that had been falling all week was due to clear away by the time we were going to leave. With calls of "good luck", "you must be mad" and "are we likely to see you again on Monday morning?" ringing in our ears from my collegues we headed up into the woodland opposite. So far so good. However, 20 minutes in, we must have inadvertantly taken a wrong turn as, rather than finding ourselves heading towards where we intended to cross the A46, we found ourselves coming back into Nailsworth about half a mile from our departure point. Oh well, the whole walk was about covering distance so we decided that this little navigational cock-up was actually a good thing.
We were soon into a good rhythm and made pretty reasonable progress, despite some pretty steep hills and a lot of mud.
The countryside in South Gloucestershire & the Cotswolds is stunning and we were deep in the heart of it. Quaint Cotswold stone cottages nestled in valleys, woodland and pastures with sheep and cattle grazing covered the hillsides, and the sky was a windswept vista of grey clouds with the occasional break to let the almost forgotten sun shine through.
 A good portion of our route was going to be along the Monarchs Way, King Charles II's escape route after being defeated in the Battle of Worcester in 1651. We wanted to get onto this path before nightfall as it is quite well marked so would make navigation in the dark a bit easier. As the evening drew on, we must have made better progress than we thought as we ended up totally lost. After much studying of the map and scratching of heads, we came to the conclusion to do something that men would never normally do - ask for directions!! We were outside a beautiful old gate house next to some very ornate wrought iron gates. We could see a roaring log fire ablaze inside and a knock at the door was answered by a chap who was the head gamekeeper of the large estate we were inadvertantly on. He pointed out where we were on the map and it turned out the reason we were lost was that we had been going so well, we were much further on than we had thought and had missed a path we should have taken. It didn't matter though as we were able to join the path further south than originally planned.

As the evening drew on we made it onto the Monarchs Way and we carried on through a valley called Knights Valley. It could easily be used as a setting for a medieval film as it was very easy to imagine it with an army of Knights marching through or medieval peasants toiling on the land. Naturally, this led to us having a period of quotes from Monty Pythons' Hunt For The Holy Grail.
Brave Sir Lawrence of Whitley was the first to don his trusty head torch of light as we descended into the woods of doom on our quest for.....

Sorry, getting a bit carried away so back to the story.
As the sun started to set we knew we still had a long slog ahead of us but our spirits were high despite our ETA slipping further back. It seems that the mileage distance I had calculated from the Ordnance Survey website was somewhat different to our actual mileage whilst walking.

It's all your fault we're here Steve!

Sunset

We were all suffering from mild backache and our feet were starting to ache a little. But thankfully our legs were fine. The training over the last few months is obviously paying off as previously just 10miles or so would have meant aching legs.
Throughout the hours of darkness we plodded on relentlessly with a short break to consume the assorted snacks we had bought along. Dried fruit, snack bars, honey roasted cashews (very popular!) and even bombay mix to add a little spice to the evening.
Both Lawrence & I had brand new head torches. However, the batteries that came with them seemed to fail for both of us at the same time. Steve had forgotton his head torch altogether, so to conserve battery power, we tried to use one light between us, where possible. We didn't want to be left in total darkness. Valuable lesson learnt - carry a spare set of batteries.

Being watched!

Steve

Finally we arrived at the village of Doynton, several hours later than expected, where Lawrence had left his car the night before. After a brief goodbye, he jumped in his car & headed off home as he had a wedding to go to the next day. Steve and I sat in the village bus shelter contemplating what our options were. The next bus was due in about 5 hours time and the nearest train station was 10 miles (16km) away. After eating some more fruit and nuts we set off to walk another 10 miles.
After an uneventful walk in the very early morning sunshine Steve & I finally arrived at Keynsham Station at 7.40am, 14 hours & 45 minutes after setting off. Our total mileage was 36.5 miles (59km) which is over half of the Trailwalker distance.
Although we didn't make it all the way to Bristol, as originally intended, we were very pleased with what we had achieved. Despite the aching feet and backs our legs were fine. And anyway on the actual Trailwalker there will be more frequent stops at the checkpoints for drinks, food, changes of socks/footwear and even the promise of a massage at 2 of them! Sounds like I'm making the Trailwalker sound like a stroll in the park. It's obviously not, it's a pretty tough event, but after last nights walk we're much more confident that we will get through it and hopefully in our target time of 24 hours.
Neil

The Big One!

With 22 days left to go, Lawrence, Steve & myself are going for a big push tonight on the training. Despite the wind & rain, we will be walking from Nailsworth, cross country to Bristol. According to my planning on the 3 maps we'll be crossing, the distance is just over 33miles (53km), assuming we don't get lost which seems to have been a common theme with all of our recent training walks!!
Perhaps the biggest test will be navigating in the dark. It'll certainly be a good test of our new head torches.

Hoping to leave Nailsworth at about 4pm with an estimated arrival time at my house in Bristol of 3am. My bed will be very welcome then. Just hope I can get my boots off before I crawl under the duvet!
Neil

Steve & Seb in Paris

How nice of the French and English football teams to draw in the Euros and then both go through to the quarter finals, keeping alive l'entente cordiale and avoiding any unnecessary rivalry. Seb and I watched the England v Sweden game on Friday close to Bastille, before two days of walking in the forests and parks of Paris and its western suburbs.

la Defense business center skyline‏



View from Parc de St Cloud‏

On Saturday we started in Bois de Boulogne and headed west towards the Seine. We made sure we were covering enough distance by walking round the hippodrome at Longchamp rather than past it and then deciding to get lost in Parc de Saint Cloud, got to keep those kilometres ticking over.


We reached the palace of Versailles and circumnavigated the literally massive Grand Canal (adding an hour to our time)  after 9 hours of walking and three 10 minute breaks.


 


Meudon to Massy Palaiseau‏

On sunday we started in the forests of Meudon without any particular route in mind. Just as well because we got lost at least twice.

Meudon observatory‏

Steve in front of the castle‏

We finally decided to head towards Chateau de Sceaux and when we got lost for the last time gave up on that and found the nearest RER station. We missed the train by 30 seconds and rather than wait an hour continued walking to the better connnected station at Masy and took a train to Joel and Tanya's apartment in order to make it in time for the Holland v Portugal game. Another nine hour walk.

Sadly Holland haven't made it through to the quarters like France and England, but Rachel and hopefully Pui will keep the flag (sadly not orange) flying during the Trailwalker weekend next month. Less than a month to go but I'm feeling stronger and more confident with every walk and by the sounds of it the rest of the team are too. Thank you so much to everyone who has sponsored us so far, our totals are looking healthy but we haven't yet reached our target so if you're thinking of helping out please do it now.

Steve & Seb.

Whiteley Walks!

Having studied the training Plan that I should've been following for the last 16 weeks Saturday evening after the walk to the sea, it was clear that in order to have a chance of completing the Trailwalker i'd need to do more walking.
So with that firmly in mind Jo & I studied the walking map of where we live.

We decided to try and do 2 hours of walking in and around the coppices, woods and fields where we live. The sun was shining and within 10 minutes we had chanced upon whole new areas of Whiteley we didn't even know existed. We enjoyed walking through woodland and wild meadows, as well as a brand spanking new housing development with some rather large houses (especially for the developers we reckon!) After about an hour and a half we ended up in thick woodland, which I recognised from cycling. I was determined that I knew the way home and strode off with confidence. When, after 30 minutes, we ended up back at the beginning of our woodland route, we picked up a fire road and headed for home.
2 and a half hours later and we had clocked up about 7 miles. Not bad for a rest day!   Loz

Meon Valley Walk, dead ends, the sea-side & new boots

So i'd decided to do a solo mission on Saturday and attempt a decent walk of roughly 20 miles.  I'd ridden parts of the Meon Valley trail, a trail that runs through the picturesque contryside not far from where I live.  I'd never been to either final part of the trail and figured it would be as good a walk as any.  A quick google search and I found a map of the walk and it indicated a distance of 21.2 miles, perfect distance.  Click here for web page.

Jo dropped me off at the start of the trail at about 8.30am and I said i'd phone her in about 5-6 hours asking for a lift home if I couldn't find a path back to the house!  I started my Garmin and stood around in the car park waiting for it to find a signal, it didn't.  I cursed under my breath and decided to get moving hoping it would pick me up, it did about half a mile down the track.
It's also worth mentioning at this point that I was sporting a brand new pair of Salomon boots i'd purchased before my honeymoon.  Details of the boots here.
And new socks, details of which are here.

The terrain of the walk was very similar to the parts of the South Downs i've walked in the past, which is ideal for a practice walk.  I kept a very quick pace, one I don't think i'd be keen to replicate in the final walk, but I think as I was on my own I wanted to get back ASAP.
I'd made the decision the evening before to purchase an audio book to listen to on my iPhone, I went with the Radio broadcast of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.  I'd thoroughly recommend it, especially as each part (4parts) was roughly an hour long, perfect chunks to tick off as I went.

After 7 miles it became clear where I was and that there was no way this walk was 21.2 miles long, it then dawned on me that it probably was if I went all the way to the end and back again.  I started to consider my options, I certainly wanted to get to the end, but wasn't certain where I'd come out.  I was pretty confident though I could find a route to Titchfield and then onto the sea.
At roughly 11 miles I came to the end of the route, and it was simply that, I was confronted with 10ft high chicken wire fencing in front of me and to the right, and to the left was a train track!
I about turned and found a cut through I've used in the past on my bike, it dissects the local vineyard!  Unfortunately this brings you out onto a road, and although a fairly quiet road, there is no pavement.  A mile of car dodging started as I tried to get to another trail I knew of.
Fortunately I survived, although I did have to leap into the hedge row on 2 occasions.

This trail would keep me off the road for a couple of miles and get me across the motorway, I did know it wouldn't get me to the sea.  So a quick phone call to Jo asking if she could find me a route was made.  A phone call back 10 minutes later saying there was a good 4.7 mile trail from the church we got married to Hill Head on the sea front.  Perfect.

The route down to the waterfront was pretty wet, as this picture of the trail proves!  Fortunately the boots are waterproof!

As a man who has worked in the marine trade for about a decade now, it wasn't long before I could smell the sea, and the Mr Whippy Van.  And after 5 hours and 18 miles I'd reached my destination:

The new boots and socks were a resounding success, my feet weren't in pain and on closer inspection when I got home, no blisters!  Remarkable.  Only down side, was heat rash on my ankles and tops of my feet.  I'm putting it down to not being able to change socks, and the fact I didn't stop for a break!  Loz

My Once Perfect Feet.

My sister, who qualified as a chiropodist, used to tell me that I had perfect text book feet. Something I've always been very proud of!
But ever since I've been training for Trailwalker I've constantly had assorted blisters, all in different stages of healing, my left big toe nail is a grim shade of black and, according to my sister, it will fall off in due course and will regrow as a gnarled and rough replacement of its former self.
I've also started to wipe my feet in surgical spirit every evening in an attempt to toughen up the skin.
A sad loss to the world of Chiropody indeed!

A Reconnaissance Walk

Next week, Lawrence, Steve and myself are intending to walk from my offices in Nailsworth back to Bristol. By road it is 31miles (50km) but by linking together several footpaths we can walk it, although I estimate the distance walking will be closer to 40miles (65km).
We want to complete this for a few reasons. Firstly, it will be the longest distance we will have walked to date and it will stand us in good stead for the 100km Trailwalker event. Secondly, the last third of the walk will be in darkness (we're not leaving until late afternoon). Walking in the dark through the countryside will be a whole new experience and will be great preparation for walking overnight on Trailwalker.
I've studied the maps that cover our prospective route and have have found that we can follow the Monarchs Way for a large portion of our walk.

The Monarchs Way is actually a 615 mile (990km) long-distance footpath that roughly follows the escape route taken by King Charles II in 1651 after being defeated at the Battle of Worcester. It goes from Worcester, south towards Bristol and then south east through Somerset & Dorset eventually ending up in Shoreham-by-Sea where the king made his escape to France. In all it took King Charles 6 weeks to cover the route, but I only had a Saturday morning to check it out.
I wanted to familiarise myself with some of the route that we'll be walking when it's dark, especially where it crosses the M4, so I parked my car by Doynton Church and set off following the waymarks.
Once again I found myself in beautiful countryside despite the strong winds, grey sky and frequent rain showers. At one point I had a close encounter with 2 buzzards as they flew across a field at head height about 10m in front of me and later on I had a fright when a deer darted out of a hedgerow less than 2m in front of me. I'm not sure which of us was more startled!
After 7miles (11.3km) I reached Chipping Sodbury and after a quick sit down with a chocolate bar, I turned back. The return trip was less eventful for wildlife encounters, except in one field a herd of cows was gathered around the narrow gate. As I got to the gate they seemed pretty reluctant to move so I had to physically push one cow out of the way so I could open it! A truly moooving experience!
I was pleased I'd chosen to wear my leather walking boots today as several times I found my self upto my ankles in water or mud. At one point the path crossed a stream and there was no bridge. It was about 2m wide with no way of taking a run up. Thankfully after following the stream through some dense undergrowth for about 100m I found a spot where it was about 30cm narrower. I cleared it with an epic leap with only centimetres to spare. When we get there next week it'll be dark, so I'm pleased I found the alternative crossing in daylight.
All in all, today was a worth while reconnaissance for next week. It'll certainly reduce some of the navigational pressure. Let's hope it's not raining like it was today. So after 14miles (22.5km), it was back home for a shower and then out for my Nephews Stag afternoon/evening to get wet on the inside!

Doynton Church

Doynton Church

Neil

1 Month To Go

Exactly one month to go until the big day!

Training for all of us goes on and on and on and on .......
But it'll be worth it in the end.

Thanks to everyone who has kindly donated so far. We're well on our way to meeting our fundraisng target.

Jubilee Weekend in London

On Friday evening I took a train eastbound from Bristol, whilst Steve took a train westbound from Canterbury and we eventually met up with Richard at Waterloo Station in London ready for our walk through our Capital City.
Richard had worked out a route that would take us west, from where he lives in Earlsfield, to meet up with the Thames and then we would walk back along the river. The ordnance survey map of London was understandably a mass of grey with a blue line snaking it's way across the middle of it. However there were several pockets of green along his chosen route which promised a varied days walking.

Pedestrian crossing Wimbledon style

At 7.30 in the morning, after some great bacon sandwiches, we set off under grey cloudy skies with light drizzle falling, which actually made for good walking conditions after the heat of the last few weeks.

Initially our route took us along the streets through Earlsfield and then into the leafier area of Wimbledon where we admired the large, palatial, luxury homes. Even the pedestrian crossings indicate a different style of life in the area!

Wimbledon Common

After passing close to the All England Tennis Club we came to Wimbledon Common which we crossed with no sightings of the elusive Wombles ( I believe that they may be nocturnal!).


Deer in Richmond Park



After crossing the busy A3 we were now in Richmond Park. This is the largest of the eight Royal Parks in London, covering about 2500acres. It is home to wild deer and we were lucky enough to see some lying in the bracken keeping a watchful eye on us. You wouldn't even realise you were in the heart of a major city.

When we emerged from the other side of the park we were actually in Richmond and had so far covered 8miles (13km) so we made a quick stop in a cafe to treat ourselves to a fruit smoothie and a cake each.

By now we had reached the Thames and were greeted with views across the river towards Twickenham Rugby Stadium and the countryside beyond. Apparently, on a really clear day you can see Windsor Castle on the horizon.
At Richmond Bridge we were pleased to stumble across the Queens Royal Barge which was being prepared for the Royal Jubilee Pageant due to take place with 1000 boats on the Thames the next day.


The Royal Barge



The Royal Barge





We followed the Thames River path along its southern shore through Kew, Barnes and on into Putney. The path is extremely popular with joggers, cyclists, walkers and people just out for a stroll & it certainly was today. We passed lots of boat houses, each belonging to a different rowing club. This is a very busy section of the Thames for this sport and everyone was clearly building up for a big weekend on the water for the Jubilee. In fact many of the 1000 assorted boats that had travelled here for the Jubilee Pageant were mustering on the river ready for the event.


Rowing Boats on the Thames

After a quick visit to Waitrose in Putney to buy some lunch, we sat in a park to eat it before continuing along the river. The path by now was normal urban pavement and we passed apartment block after apartment block. Many of them had union flags hanging from their balconies or bunting flying from the lamposts ready for the weekends celebrations. London was certainly gearing up for the party. Earlier we had seen many streets with flags and bunting stretched across them in readiness for street parties. Lets hope the weather would be OK for them.

Eventually the time came to turn back inland and we walked across Wandsworth Common to find ourselves back in Earlsfield with a total of exactly 23miles (37km) on the RunKeeper App on my phone with an average pace of 17.38mins/mile

No significant injuries were suffered apart from Steve getting a small blister from his new boots and the blister I still had from a few weeks back was a little uncomfortable later on in the walk. Overall we all felt the benefit of our previous walks as aching legs weren't an issue. Great news, maybe we are actually getting fitter after all. Still a long way to go though and time is ticking on!
Neil

Swan & Cygnets, Richmond Park

 

Our Route