77 Gates and 25 Stiles Later

Hold the front page, we did it! We hit several of those notorious (metaphorical) walls, and Andrea hit several (real) large boulders when she slipped over, but in spite of bruises, aching backs, painful hips and agonising toes, we got to the end. There were no less than 77 gates to manoeuvre and 25 painful stiles to cross. They are an absolute killer when your legs are aching and you have to literally lift your foot over the stile! Worst of all were the (infinite number of) steps at Monkton Combe. After walking 25 miles, any number of steps are bad news, but this is a long and steep flight. It most definitely wasn't made any easier by the 4 'sweepers' who had caught up with us as we were the last walkers. As I struggled up those steps I could hear them behind me like the Black Riders - very intimidating!

The last few hundred metres flew by as we walked with our arms around each other and singing our tribute song "Islands in the Stream"! Andrea hated this song before Heather and I treated her to our unique rendition, but after we had spent the day singing our way through the alphabet she could do no more than join in with this song! Next Year's challenge? X Factor of course.

At the final checkpoint, we were greeted by Rik clutching a very welcome glass of bubbly which helped to numb those aches and pains! At the start of the walk we had achieved 83% of our fundraising target and watched it increase as we walked on, which was a huge encouragement and thank you to everyone who cheered us on. As I write this our fundraising is now at a wonderful 130%, which makes every little ache worthwhile.

This has been a great experience and writing this blog has been fun too, but never again will I be stupid enough to intentionally walk 26.7 miles.

So this is The Last Post. Da Da. Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da. (See what I mean about the singing?).

12 hours to go

Like all great athletes we have been preparing today by eating plenty of carbs like pasta, cake, biscuits and more cake, and have been relaxing and focusing on the task ahead. We focused by spending the day on a canal boat, and here we are looking very stylish in out ME T shirts:

 

Notice that Andrea is less stylish than Heather and I as we only had 2 T shirts with us today.

We picked up the boat at Staverton and by lunch time we had got as far as Semmington, about 2 miles away - I hope we get further tomorrow! We have also become obsessed by checking out the amount raised on our Just Giving , which incidentally is currently at 83%! I wonder if we can get to the illusive 100% by tomorrow morning.



Catching Up

Oh we have so much to catch up on! It's only 3 days to go to The Big Walk and I haven't told you about the last 3 'small' walks. I bet you've really missed my updates!

Well, 2 weeks ago we had a practise run (practise walk?) of 18 miles. That's not a typo, we really did walk 18 miles, and I didn't even ask for sponsorship for that walk! We started at Andrea's house and when we found ourselves in Bath, the penny suddenly dropped. "We've just walked from your house into Bath! We could go shopping now...". But showing true dedication we continued through Bath and back towards Bradford along the canal. The decision not to stop and shop really had nothing to do with our stylish walking clothes. But 18 miles was a killer. My hip was so painful by the time we reached Avoncliff that we called a taxi to take us home, and both of us became quite anxious about the prospect of walking a further 8 miles for the actual event. However, we've started this and it wouldn't be a challenge if it wasn't... a challenge!

Our next foray was a short 2 mile evening walk from Freshford to Norton St Phillip, during gales so strong that the map was whipped from my hand leading me to gallop across a field to retrieve it. I really didn't want to be lost in the wilds of Wiltshire (or even Somerset!).

Then things got very exciting because the organisers of the Bath Beat sent out the final route instructions. There are so many abbreviations you need to be a coding genius to follow the route, but it does leave little room for error. So we tried out the last 4 miles from Combe Hay to Ralph Allen school. This is along a disused canal where the old locks are still visible. The combination of a sunny spring day and the beautiful landscape made this walk pure joy. This photo doesn't really demonstrate the charm of this section of the walk, but unfortunately it does demonstrate the dumpiness of me (pointing to a lock)!

Our final walk was last night when we revisited the section from Bathford through Sally in the Woods. Last time we walked this section it was muddy and slippery underfoot and we found ourselves scrambling down a long bank to the path, however this time, with the detailed instructions we found the correct route, and the lack of mud following a spell of good weather made a huge difference to the time it took us.

So, 3 days to go. It's too late to worry about it now. But I would like 3 dry days please, and on Saturday please can we have a dry but cool day? And just one last request. No lurgies. The world and his wife have had the flu over the last few months, and I haven't caught it yet....

 

 





 

More Mud than a Turkish Bath

4 weeks to go. We had been warned that this section was muddy, but nothing could prepare us for this! Walking 4 miles from Norton St Phillip to Wellow took us over 2 hours! At one point my boots were being pulled off my feet by the weight of the mud stuck to them. We found ourselves clambering up banks and into the woods to avoid wading ankle deep in pools of mud along the tracks, and at other times clinging to the branches of the shrubs alongside the tracks to try to swing from one lesser muddy tussock of grass to the next. At this rate our 26 mile walk will take 13 hours, without any loo breaks, and worse, without any FOOD breaks.

However, we stopped for food on this walk at our favourite place to date: the Fox and Badger at Wellow. They weren't at all phased by the sight of our extremely muddy boots and clothes and the fish finger sandwich was a gastronomic delight!

So who needs to go to Turkey for a mud bath when you can go down the road to Wellow for a similar experience?

This is me either in Wellow or Dalamar, I can't tell them apart!

Taking a Break

5 weeks to go... and my hip gave up! After the last walk I was tempted to think  "ah well, we tried" and the temptation to stop was there, dangling in front of me. This could be the perfect excuse.

However, a trip to the doc, a week of rest, and several packs of Ibuproen, and we are back.

And so is the blog. Well if I have to suffer, so do you!

Slip Sliding Away (in the mud)

6 weeks to go

Whose idea was this? Walking 26 miles in 1 day is just not funny. Today we walked 14 miles, being the first 8 miles of the Bath Beat and the last 3 miles with a bit of joining up in the middle. It took us 6 hours to walk 14 miles so that means that we walk at a speed of just over 2 miles an hour. Now I know that sounds really slow, and I won't argue, but seriously, you should try it. Maybe we should do 'The Norfolk Beat' instead because Bath is really hilly; we had lots of steep uphill climbs and slippery downhill footpaths with tree roots and boulders. Where are the Health and Safety Inspectors in the woods? There are hundreds of trip hazards to keep them busy. And the stiles - there are so many to climb over. And our boots became like platforms from the 1970s with so much mud stuck to them.

Now that I'm home there are more hazards in the house. Like, who thought stairs were a good idea? My knees certainly don't.

But it was a great walk. The jelly babies, sandwiches, Hope & Anchor pub and the jaffa cakes were all very supportive. As was the knee bandage.

However, today was tough, and the thought of doing a further 12 miles is pretty daunting. The cake stops on the Bath Beat better not run out before we get to them! And great big thank yous to the lovely people who have donated to our Just Giving page. So now we really have to do this! Here's our Just Giving page (hint!).

We passed this quirky little holiday home on our route, Midford Castle. Nicholas Cage used to live here, and viewed from the air it looks like the Ace of Clubs!

Two Drowned Rats

7 weeks to go.

This morning Andrea suggested we postpone our 14 mile walk as the forecast was bad, but no I said, in 7 weeks time we'll have to walk the 26 miles regardless of the weather. How stupid am I? We tramped through wet woods in pouring rain, got lost, slid down muddy banks, got spooked by a wild boar/deer/jack russell, and when we finally found a pub for lunch I was ready to give up. My feet were squelching, I was soaked through, and my rucksack had pools of water in the bottom. These notes of our route were in my waterproof coat pocket; I could practically wring them out!

However, after a hot pot of tea and a jacket potato, then contorting myself to dry my feet under the hand drier in the ladies loos, and a change into Andrea's spare dry socks, we carried on. We are so dedicated to our cause (and we had a packet of Jaffa Cakes to consume: 2 each every 20 mins for the final 3 miles. And Andrea has the cheek to call me 'controlling'?!).

So we didn't manage the 14 miles as planned but we completed 10, which surely is still worthy of some support https://www.justgiving.com/helen-evans22/ !

The Two Tunnels

Not to be confused with The Two Towers.

Day 90. On Sunday we did this fabulous 12 mile circular route which goes along the Kennet and Avon Canal, through Bath (where we truly looked like a couple of namby pambies, as it was pretty busy with shoppers and tourists, while we marched through on a mission, wearing chunky walking boots, carrying rucksacks and using our 'nordic' walking sticks. Tres cool!). Then along the River Avon before turning onto the disused railway and through the two tunnels down to Monkton Combe and back to the canal.

It was a great route, but the tunnels were a bit dark and spooky. They are dimly lit, and the longer one has some fancy lighting and classical music piped into it. The music was an interesting combination of violins from the left hand speakers and a different piece from the right hand speakers.  It gave a truly unique sound when both speakers were within earshot!

If you choose to do this route too, bear in mind that once you are on the disused railway track there is nowhere to eat. We were foraging for edible fungi by the time we found a pub, having walked 11 miles on nothing but a bowl of cereal, a couple of toffees, a twix, and a Satsuma...

... And Many Facial Tics

Day 85. First of all I must say Hola and Salut to my international audience! I'm so excited to think that someone other than my family has found my blog!

Onto the business of the blog: today I joined the Winsley Walkers again and realised how much fitter I've become. I used to struggle to keep up with these seasoned walkers, but today I was striding out in front and even got to look at the view instead of concentrating on my feet.

This was a really beautiful walk through villages and valleys. We spotted rabbits, sheep, donkeys, shetland ponies and golfers. We crossed a stream through a field, the more observant of us choosing the old bridge, while the others waded through a bog. Lunch was in a lovely old pub where the food was good but the welcome was chilly; the landlady rolled her eyes so often I began to wonder if she had a facial tic.

You might recognise the village; it's used in quite a lot of films and TV programmes including Wolf Hall which is  TV at its best!

Who lives in a house like this?

Day 80(?) I think it's day 80 but to be honest, I've lost the plot. I just know its been a lot of walks. And what's worse is that Phileas Fogg managed to get around the whole world in 80 days and I've only just managed to get around Bradford on Avon which is really depressing. Mind you, he took a hot air balloon which is a bit kinder on the feet and knees.

So who lives in this house then? (Get me a bandage for my hand: I seem to be turning into Keith Lemon. Or possibly Lloyd Grossman. Two of the most irritating TV personalities on British TV). We stopped for a biscuit in Freshford today and across the valley was this huge mansion of a house. It's a beautiful building as you can see and would have had lovely views when it was built.

But then this popped up!

How on earth did the farmer get planning permission for his barn when its right below that huge house? Can't be an MP living there then!

We did 10 miles today and another clear, dry day. I really hope we're not using up all our good weather luck too early, so when we have the really long walks in March it will be torrential storms and gales. Can you imagine walking for 11 hours in horrible British weather? Surely that's worth a bit of sponsorship (bulldozer hint - see the link on the right!).

Going slightly mad

Day 76, I guess it must be. I'm losing track a bit.

This was a Wednesday and so I decided to go for a brisk hour, just anywhere within walking distance. Wanting to avoid those fast roads, I walked into and around Trowbridge, in the dark, on my own, without a dog. Which looks a bit odd really. It looked even odder due to my head gear. The house was lovely and cosy when I left so I didn't pick up my woolly hat. Flippin heck, did I regret that? My ears were about to fall off with frostbite it was so cold. And then I remembered the masterclass I was given at Christmas on the many transformations for a buff! Did you know, it can be a scarf, a headband, a muffler, a balaclava, and even .... a hat?!

Of course, as a seasoned walker, I had my multifuntional headgear with me, so turned it inside out, twisted an end and, hey presto, a little hat! But I knew it looked ridiculous, so whenever anyone was anywhere near me, I would whip off the hat quick; I didn't want to look too much like the local mad woman, did I? But when I got home I caught sight of myself in the mirror, and all that hat removing and replacing had not done good things to my hair. The local madwoman was staring right back at me from my mirror! Should have worn it as a balaclava and gone the whole nine yards!

Freezing but Gorgeous (scenery, not me!)

Day 73

We were back to our usual route around Bradford today so there were no lorries speeding past to whisk off my bobble hat in their wake. And neither did I have to take in the delightful smell of diesel fumes. But most of all, it was the most beautiful wintery day. Look at these pics. I mean, we are lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world (Trowbridge aside), and on a frosty morning it is just gorgeous! In Freshford we walked past a water fountain that was splashing onto the grass and as the water froze it created these little icy flowers. Amazing. Not so amazing was being followed by the recycling lorry which seemed to stalk us all through Freshford and Limpley Stoke. Maybe the bin men couldn't get enough of the sight of two middle aged women wrapped up like polar explorers!

Pelvic Floor Exercises

Day 70

Some days I am just daft. I rushed home from work today to walk 5 miles before cooking tea for the family. It was blooming freezing and I was wrapped up like Edmund Hillary/Sherpa Tenzing/Prince Harry on a trek to the North Pole. But the worst part was that I got as far as North Bradley (so not quite as far as Harry) and needed the loo. So I marched for the next hour exercising more muscles than just my legs! I must now have a pelvic floor of steel. How did Harry cope? Did they show that on the tele?

 Harry's just spotted the loo

And it was an awful walk. At that time of day everyone was rushing home; when a lorry went past my bobble hat flew off in its wake so had to go scrabbling around in the undergrowth to retrieve it. It was a great look.

So I felt pretty good about having done the walk, but it's not likely to be something I'll repeat. Living in a town makes it a bit tricky to find walks that avoid main roads. Maybe we should move somewhere more rural in the next 2 months so that I can go walking somewhere without main roads?

Walking to Scoland and Ireland

DAY 68

Today we walked to Scotland and Ireland and it only took us an hour and a half. We are such quick walkers these days, or we have really long legs, or we have seven league boots, or we are lying, or maybe it was Scotland and Ireland near North Bradley! No prizes for guessing correctly.

It was a bit of a rubbish walk in spite of that little quirky bit and we didn't even stop for a cuppa, although Chez Helen was quite nice at the end, sharing the last of the Christmas cake and looking out onto the garden. But on the whole I prefer the walks around Bradford to those around Trowbridge. This photo makes the best of a road that is really just a long walk with huge lorries hurtling past!

Scary cows!

DAY 61.

We've been so lucky with dry days for walking up until now. No doubt this will change and then we'll see how committed we are to our walking programme, but Andrea wasn't feeling well today and still soldiered on, so that's pretty impressive!

 

This was the view from above Avonliffe. If you look closely you can see the cafe by the bridge that has great toasted crumpets and stuff.

 

Today's drama was an unpleasant encounter with cows and dogs. In a contest, I think we preferred the earlier encounter with the electric fence!

 

The drama went like this: Our path to a gate was blocked by a herd of cows and while we were mustering courage to walk past them, we spotted a dog walker in the field, so decided to wait until they had passed through the gate. But no, the fates were frowning, because then another 2 dogs arrived, with owners, and then all 3 owners and dogs stopped in the field to chat. This is all fine and friendly, but we were already worried about walking past these cows, and now the dogs were bouncing around the cows and making them jumpy and nervous. Well, as a townie, this was just terrifying for me. If these cows decided to move en masse, then their only way to go was straight at us in the field just in front of them! Andrea had her walking stick at the ready to defend us, and I was staying right with her (I was actually staying with her stick, but that was attached to her, so...).

 

It wasn't pretty:

Us: "There's a sign on the gate saying that dogs should be on leads"

Dogwalker 1: "No, dogs shouldn't be on leads"

Dogwalker 2: "They're a different breed of cows"

Us: "Well I don't know about cows or dogs; I just know that I'm scared!"

 

The conversation then ended because we had reached the gate and made a swift exit before the frisky dogs and cows stampeded!

 

Next week we'll be taking a different route to avoid both cows (any/all breeds) and unfriendly dog walkers!

With the Winsley Walkers

DAY 60. I have been very happily invited to join the Winsley Walkers; a lovely group of ladies who get together once a month for a muddy walk and pub lunch. Its very civilised and I'm not sure if the mud is essential to the walk, but its always a feature.
We started off at Claverton and walked in a loop taking in Sham Castle and part of Ralph Allen's ingenious track that he built to transport the stone from the quarry at the top of the hill at Combe Down so that gravity would help to move stone down into Bath. I got very excited to see the original grooved tracks that remain on the long, straight, downhill route to the canal; 300 years old and they are still so clear to see!

I was  already fascinated by this picture of how the tracks had been at the time when Bath was being developed into the City that Jane Austen and I have come to know and love. Ralph Allen created a system of pulleys and tram like tracks to overcome the problem of getting large volumes of stone into Bath for the new houses that John Wood was designing and which is now synonymous with the City.

With the whole team

DAY 55. My gorgeous, fabulous, super duper daughter joined us today for our walk. (Yes, she was standing over me and made me write that!). I asked her to send me a photo of us on our walk and this is the one that she sent. We don't usually go walking in January wearing summer dresses and make-up, but my memory is not what it was...

The plan is for all 3 of us to do this marathon walk for ME and today Heather was able to join us. I tried to put a link in there but it failed, my IT skills are rubbish so I'll try it again another day. If you want to make a donation to support us, look up Katharine Cheston Just Giving. So, back to the walking. All went well with todays walk apart from lunch. Andrea and I ordered soup but it was DISGUSTING - beetroot, watercress, spinach and rocket. Now that I've written that down I can see that it was always going to be a bad choice, but it seemed like a comforting bowl of soup at the time. Fortunately Heather chose a large piece of tiffin so I was able to nick some of that, otherwise it was going to be another disastrous walk.

Nearly home and we spotted a whole flock of family members, although this photo doesn't really show up their true colours!