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/ !