Half Distance

Yesterday, half of Blister Sisters walked half of the Trailwalker distance. 31.8 miles in 3 loops of 10.6 miles each, stopping at the car for 20 minutes between each loop for a change of socks/boots and some food.

The countryside was in full bloom... everywhere green and lush after all the rain. It was lovely walking weather... a mixture of sunshine and cloud, a good temperature and not wet... what a treat to not need waterproofs!

It was still pretty muddy in places so we needed gaiters, but otherwise the conditions couldn't really have been better... note to Mother Nature - same again on 14/15 July please!!

The first loop went smoothly enough, just over 3 hours to do 10.6 miles which is a very good pace. No aches or pains. Halfway through the second loop, however, I started to feel nauseous. Not chronically so, but enough to make it all very much more challenging. I made sure I kept sipping water constantly and trudged on to the next break. As soon as I stopped moving and sat down I started to feel better. I ate some pasta and half a lemon flavoured energy bar, drank more drink and we both changed our socks again (it's amazing how nice this simple thing is!) before setting off on the 3rd and final loop. The first 2 miles were fine but then the nausea came on again and stayed for most of the next 3 hours until we finished... very difficult.

I am going to have to tackle this because it could prove to be a show-stopper on the event itself which is twice as far as the walk yesterday. I'm not sure I could have contemplated walking another 30 miles feeling like that. First stop... ask the pharmacist for advice about over the counter anti-sickness remedies.

Especially given my sickness, we were very pleased with completing almost 32 miles. Those 32 miles were more difficult than the first 32 miles will be on the day because we had to do it with less frequent breaks and no support crew to help, so we were having to do everything ourselves at the stops which meant we didn't really get to rest much. I can really see what past participants mean when they say they couldn't have completed it without the support crew... I suspect I couldn't either!

Despite the lows, there were also some highs on the walk. Strolling past some cows with massive horns was one of them... we had to assume they were friendly as they were loose on a public footpath, but they really looked like they could do you damage if they chose to. There were impressive!

The watch battery ran out halfway round the final loop but the route is here.