Re. Hydration

We had a busy weekend so only time for a short walk yesterday afternoon (7 miles), which was mainly for testing out our new 'hydration' kits.

During the longer walks we've been doing we worked out that we really weren't drinking as much as we should be and thought that it was probably because of the hassle of getting the bottle from the rucksack, drinking whilst not tripping over, then putting the bottle back in the rucksack and trying to maintain a steady walking rhythm at the same time. In July we will need to drink a lot more than we are now so we decided to try out drinking tubes. Sam favoured the normal drinking bottle with tube attachment: the bottles sit in the side pockets of the rucksack and the tube attaches to the bottle cap then goes up over the shoulder and through loops on the straps. On the plus side, one bottle can contain water and the other isotonic drink but, on the downside the drinking tube needs swapping over at some point during a section.

I opted for the bladder type of hydration system. This is a large plastic sack which can be filled or part-filled with drink and slides into a purpose built pouch inside the rucksack. Then the drinking tube goes out through a purpose built hole in the shoulder strap and clips onto the front of the rucksack. The bladder can take up to 2 litres which means that it will only need to be refilled at every other checkpoint but I will need to make sure I drink isotonic drinks at the checkpoints if I am only drinking water en route. On the walk yesterday we each got through nearly a litre of drink in little under 2 hours which is about the recommended intake.

They both worked well and we are very pleased with them.

Today we took advantage of a day off work and the spring heatwave to do a bit of cross-training... 13 miles on the bikes... first ride of the year so we took it a bit easy. The plan is to get out for short rides a couple of evenings a week because weekends will be largely taken up with walking.

Going the Extra Mile

Yesterday (Sunday 18th March) we set out to walk stages 3 & 4 of the Trailwalker route, there and back again... a total of 22 miles. We parked at the Cocking Hill car park (very close to Checkpoint 2), loaded up our rucksacks and set out about 9am in glorious sunshine.

One aim of the walk was to try out the walking poles, kindly loaned by Gelly who is currently not walking due to her broken toe. I started out with them, trudging up the hill. Having fully intended to try them out for a whole stage, I was utterly fed up with them within a quarter of a mile and clipped them in to the ready made parts of the rucksack. More of a distraction than anything else I thought, I will be walking without poles... another decision made! Sam had never considered them as an option, and my opinion only served to reinforce that view!

Apart from the initial (long) uphill bit, stage 3 was fairly flat and we made good time for the first couple of hours (despite it being quite muddy in places), arriving at and passing Checkpoint 3 with a minimum of fuss.

Everywhere we looked there was a lovely view and a mile or so into stage 4 we stopped for a bite to eat on a grassy bank, 2 radio masts behind us and in front of us looking out over the Solent to the eastern end of the Isle of Wight (couldn't take a picture as it was straight into the sun!).

We got to Checkpoint 4 and hadn't quite gone 11 miles so we carried on walking a short way into stage 5 to make sure that we'd have walked 22 miles by the time we got back to the car... as it turned out it wasn't necessary. The return journey started with a long, steep climb and was our slowest mile of the whole walk (23 minutes). Approaching the radio masts for the second time we lost concentration for a little while and went the wrong way... we soon realised we weren't recognising our surroundings, consulted the map and turned around. 10 minutes later we were back to a junction where we should have turned and got back on track, having walked about a mile more than we should have done!!

When we got back to the car, we had walked 23.31 miles and we certainly felt it... there is still a lot more work to be done to be fully prepared for this challenge!

The route is here but it hasn't calculated the average pace properly for some reason. Our unplanned diversion can be clearly seen!

Climbing the Leaderboard

Last week we were 18th on the top 20 fundraising teams (out of 550).

This week we are 15th!! Thank you again to everyone who has helped to make this happen.

The Magnificent Seven

Today was the first day when all of the team and crew got together for the first time. Rachel, Sam and I walked 10 miles; Alex, Pauline and Sandie walked a couple of miles, and Geraldine cycled 8 miles (still nursing her broken toe). Then we all met up for a pub lunch and a bit of a chat, at the Queens Head in Burley, in the middle of the New Forest.

It was a beautiful, sunny, spring day... t-shirt weather. The 10 mile walk was not particularly demanding, being quite flat, but was very enjoyable, mostly through forest and scrubland. We had New Forest ponies for company from time to time but, despite Rachel's best efforts, they weren't very friendly!

Alex, Pauline and Sandie (aka The Support Crew) used their 2 mile amble to start some planning of their own, and over lunch we discussed their ideas and some of our own. Everyone now has a much clearer idea of what this challenge entails, and their role in it. Also, Rachel seemed pleased with the completion of 1/6 distance in a good time on her first training walk.

As we were starting our tenth mile, we were delighted to find that the locals had been out, preparing the way for us, including putting up signs warning motorists to watch out for us! We were having a lot of trouble trying to take a photo of all 3 of us plus the sign, so were grateful when a helpful passing motorist stopped and offered to take the photo... he seems to have done a reasonable job!

The route for the 10 miles is here.

We've half planned another get-together for sometime in April, date to be confirmed.

Top 20!

Way to go Blister Sisters' friends and relatives... we are 18th on the Fundraising Leaderboard. There are 550 teams and we are 18th... that is impressive!!

Anonymous

We are grateful to all of our donors so far, but a particularly huge thank you for the two £100 'Anonymous' donations... that is extraordinarily generous.