Salisbury Saunter

Today we were still missing Gelly due to her ongoing (but slowly improving) injury situation. However, Rachel was back in training after some intensive physio on her calf muscle.

Ruins of the 11th Century Cathedral

For a change of scenery we headed off to Salisbury today, planning on using Rachel's house as a base for 3 loops of approximately 5 miles each... just a little 'tapering' walk with only 2 weeks to go until Trailwalker. The first challenge was finding a parking space on a busy Salisbury Saturday Market Day! We finally set off walking about half past 9, heading out of Salisbury in a northwesterly direction towards Old Sarum. We had a mooch around Old Sarum for 10 minutes before heading back to Rachel's house via a different route.

The Old Mill, lunch venue 

After a change of boots and handfuls of chocolate covered raisins (yum!) we set off again, this time towards the southeast, to do 2 mini loops around the 'suburb' of Harnham. The second time around we stopped at the Old Mill for a pub lunch... luxury!  They must have known we were coming because they had laid on some entertainment in the form of Morris dancers!


The chip butty went down very well...we're carb-loading, it's allowed!!

Carbs with carbs!

Suitably refuelled we embarked on our 3rd and final loop of the day, to the northeast of Salisbury this time. Our guide for this loop was Rachel's friend Gus who we met up with just after 2 and set off immediately out of town. This part of the walk was the hilliest and actually turned out to be the longest section of the day. It was nearly full sunshine by this time so we were starting to feel pretty hot. At the top of the biggest hill we were treated to some cracking views back over Salisbury so it was well worth the effort getting up there.


By the end of the day we'd covered 17.33 miles, at a cracking pace... average moving pace of 16.25 minutes per mile. The (slightly confused) route is here.

Pollen Cloud

We had provisionally planned a monstrous 40 miler for yesterday, with exactly 3 weeks to go before Trailwalker.


Initially all four team members were fit and available for this final mammoth training trek but in the week leading up to it, both Rachel (calf muscle) and Gelly (ankle) were ruled out... preferring to start the event fully fit and slightly less well trained than better trained but nursing injuries... probably a wise decision.

The gorgeous Hampshire countryside, early morning.

This left just Sam & me to tackle the 40 on our own. We planned to walk 5 times round an 8 mile loop (which included a killer hill near the end), coming back to the car between each loop for a 'pit-stop'... fuel & footwear.

We set the alarm for early and crawled out of bed, somehow managing to be awake and walking by 06:19! It was pretty quiet around; in fact we saw absolutely nobody on the first 8 mile loop, hardly surprising that early on a Saturday morning. The car was still all on its lonesome in the car park and we had a super quick 10 minute break then set off, in the opposite direction, for loop 2.

Loop 2 was completed with minimum fuss and bother, and we stopped for 15 minutes at the end of that as it involved changing socks and boots as well as shovelling down a load more pasta salad. Loop 3 went much the same way, and included the very steep hill at the end, the photo doesn't really do it justice but it gives an idea.


Loop 4 started off well enough but about 2miles from the end things started to get interesting. We had just started crossing a large field towards West Wood and almost immediately we could see what looked like a dust cloud hovering over the field. We instantly knew what it was (grass pollen!) as we'd seen the same thing a couple of years ago, on the same field, on a bike ride... that time my eyes swelled up like golf balls within minutes and stayed that way for several days, despite overdosing on antihistamine. Having already dosed up on antihistamine and not wanting to interfere with our plans/schedule we ploughed on. 10 minutes later my eyes started itching and swelling and this time, for added fun, my throat decided to get really sore and feel like it was swelling up too... rather a concern. We were right out in the sticks at this point so kept walking (I could still breathe, obviously!) so that we were closer to civilisation should this get out of hand. When we got back to the car, my throat and eyes were still swollen (although fortunately not getting worse) and, to top it all I was developing a sizeable blister on my left heel. We'd done 32 miles, I didn't want to cross that field again and I didn't want to make the blister any worse with just 3 weeks to go so we decided to call it a day and head home.

When I got home I discovered a new development with the grass pollen allergy... a lovely rash on my torso, arms and neck.


It was a bit disappointing to have not completed the 40 miles, especially as we both still felt strong in the legs, but all in all we were still quite happy with 32 given the difficulties.

The battery on the Garmin watch gave out around halfway round the 4th loop, but here is the route anyway.

Lessons Learnt

Following on from the title of the previous support crew post, our second outing to look after our beloved walkers was a very different affair.  We'd spent a while working out what hadn't worked last time and deciding on the best ways to rectify it.  (Apologies that this post appears out of sequence, but I've only just got around to writing about the event - meanwhile, as you will have seen, some of our walkers have been out yet again for more training).

Packing the bus

Perhaps the most important innovation for the second support crew run was the use of giant plastic, stackable, boxes.  We can't really take credit for the idea - it was recommended during the preparation workshop by one of last year's teams.  It meant that, in contrast to our numerous assorted bags last time around, we had eight very organised containers. Each walker had their own personal kit box, packed by them, with all their essentials. We then had four more boxes containing:  cooking and cleaning equipment; pots, pans, crockery and cutlery; savoury/dried food; sweet food.  We also had our various cool-boxes containing drinks and fresh ingredients.

The contents for each of the boxes was agreed sometime in advance, so everyone then knew where to lay their hands on a specific item. One of the most useful aspects of this new approach is that it took much less time to unpack/pack the mini-bus at each stop. We could get everything out and ready to start preparing in a matter of minutes - a big contrast to the well-meaning shambles that we managed during our last training run.

Walkers at rest - first stop

Prior to our walkers arriving, we'd laid out rugs to keep their feet dry and then allocated each a chair next to their personal kit box.  Our makeshift kitchen (two gas rings this time - making all the difference) was ready to churn out a variety of meals after the walkers phoned in their orders a few minutes before arrival.

Another innovation was Becky's purchase of a new iPhone and obtaining a power splitter for the mini-bus to keep everything charged and running from the cigarette lighter socket. This meant for the vast majority of their walk, the support crew were able to find the walkers' location on our iPad - it really made a difference knowing where they were in relation to us at any point.  It helped us keep on time for things and, speaking personally, made me feel more connected to their experience.

We were also delighted to have our support crew up to full strength with the addition of Lottie.  She really made a difference, and for this walk we'd allocated different crew members different jobs.  Lotte's included timing every stop and this ensured everyone stayed focussed - of the five stops on the day, four lasted the allotted 20 minutes and only one ran over (for good reason) by an extra 3 minutes. Lotte's tracking also included projecting arrival times and the careful logging of each walker's food and liquid intake.

At the end of an eventful but rewarding day the crew agreed that our new found organisation had really made us much more effective at supporting our walkers.  A few minor tweaks and we will be ready to do it for real in July.

Postscript:

The only significant crisis during the day was that at one point, one of the support crew PUT THE PRINGLES AWAY INTO THE SWEET RATHER THAN SAVOURY FOOD BOX.

Now, I should confess that I might have developed a slight OCD perspective on the importance of packing these boxes in an orderly manner, but I'm sure you will agree with me that this would have been the thin end of the wedge.

IT WOULD HAVE STARTED WITH THE PRINGLES but, before you know it, our standards would have dropped irretrievably and we'd be STORING MARS BARS IN THE SAME BOX AS THE CUP-A-SOUPS and once that had happened, well, I can only imagine that we would be minutes away from complete anarchy. Soon enough I'd find A TUB OF MARGARINE STUFFED INSIDE A WELLY BOOT.  I shudder at the thought.

I'm not OCD about the boxes.  I'm NOT.  Well, maybe just a little bit ;-)

What a load of crop!

Today we went out locally on a short (16 miles) training walk, mainly to try out the loops (actually the same loop but in both directions) we will be using on our one and only 40 miler later in June. Today is exactly 5 weeks until Trailwalker and we started walking at exactly 10am, our start time for the event.

We set off into West Wood and out the back across the 'hayfever field' onto the track beyond, then tried out a new footpath which cut off the corner of the road down to Up Somborne. Everywhere was pretty overgrown but passable and the countryside was as green as I have ever seen it, not surprising given all the recent rain!

We made really good time for the first 5 miles, consistently less than 17 minutes per mile. Then we arrived at Ashley Glebe Farm. At this point the footpath goes straight across a big field and normally there is a vehicle width track through the middle of whatever is growing, but today we encountered shoulder high something (possibly rapeseed plants?) everywhere we looked, no way through. We knew where the footpath was supposed to be so set off to battle our way through, and a battle it truly was. The plants were all interconnected and very tough, it was a real energy drainer. I can feel a complaint to the council coming on! That one mile took over 26 minutes and the field probably only accounted for less than a quarter of it.

After that, the remaining few miles back to the car was a breeze. We had a bit of food and a change of socks and boots and then set off again on the same loop in the opposite direction. We'd already decided to circumnavigate the offensive field on the return trip but had a difference of opinion about which way to do so. I favoured anti-clockwise and that is the way we went... wrong decision! After about 10 minutes of walking the field and hedge merged into one and there was no way through. So we turned round, went back and set off again clockwise... much better... smooth track right round to where we could rejoin the footpath on the far side of the field. As it turns out, it would have been quicker (although not easier) to plough through.

Part of the route took us up a very steep hill, about in the centre of this picture, off to the right of the road. When we do the 40 miles, we will have to go up this 3 times, the last time after 39 miles... that will be a test!

The rest of the walk was incident-free and we got back to the car after 5 hours of walking and 16.21 miles covered. The route is here, the attempted detour round the blocked footpath field can be clearly seen!

5 6 7 8 9

Yesterday was our second, and final, dry run with the full complement of 4 walkers and 4 support crew. The aim of the game was to start from CP4 (Houghton), where we finished the last dry run, and finish at CP9 (Kingston Hollow).

After a fair few emails, phone calls and general conversations we arranged to meet up at 07:30, load up the minibus and set off by 08:00. By 08:15 we were trundling down the M27 with Pauline at the wheel and much frivolity in the back.

By 09:45 we were walking. We waved goodbye to the Support Crew and set off towards the bridge and the challenges beyond, firstly the High Titten road and the climb up to Rackham Hill. Actually, on fresh legs, this wasn't too bad! We couldn't use the actual checkpoint so we arranged to meet up with the support crew at Washington car park on the east side of the A24. When we got there they had set up some picnic blankets, 4 chairs and our personal kit boxes, under the shade of some trees. We were served egg and/or bacon sandwiches to order and had our drink bladders filled up by the crew, leaving us free to change our socks and boots as required. It was fabulous! 20 minutes later, feeling very buoyed up we set off again with renewed vigour, up another hill of course. The first stage (aka Stage 5) is here.

Super speedy sheep shearing

As we'd used an alternative checkpoint we missed out a short section of the Trailwalker route, joining it again just before Chanctonbury Ring. We saw some sheep-shearing along the way... impressive stuff, so quick! Most of this stage is downhill so we made good time from Chanctonbury down to Botolphs but again, we couldn't use the actual checkpoint so instead opted for a noisy but convenient car park just off the A283. We had a tiny crisis of navigational confidence on the approach resulting in a 5 minute wild goose chase, but we were soon back on track and it really served to confirm that walking the actual route is really valuable. This was another smooth stop comprising a variety of foods, new socks and boots and replenished drinks. The section is here.


We set off again, uphill of course, towards Beeding Hill, once again rejoining the actual route after the detour to the alternative checkpoint. The next stage took us to Devils' Dyke, a place with quite outstanding scenery all around. In order to have those views of course, it needs to be high up... more hills! Here are Rachel, Sam and Gelly trudging up one lovely incline towards the Devils' Dyke pub... sadly we weren't actually going to be stopping there, instead we trudged on by and met up with our support crew at a very dusty Summer Down car park. Section 7 is here.

The routine was getting well-honed by this time and we were soon off again, heading for Jack and Jill Windmills, only just over an hour's walk away. We arrived at Jack and Jill windmills to the usual set up and 'Alex burgers'... veggie or beef as per one's preference. We knew we needed to stock up on energy for stage 9, the longest on the route, with notoriously difficult navigation near the end. The stage 8 route is here.

The skies had clouded over but still didn't look threatening so we set off in our normal walking gear. Oh dear. The first hour was ok, it was easy terrain, flat and grassy and we made good time. Then it started to rain... only a little at first but slowly and steadily getting worse and worse. Our clothes got steadily wetter, our feet got steadily wetter, we got steadily colder and more and more fed up. We did negotiate the tricky section at the end of the stage with relative ease which was the one high point in a grim 90 minutes. As we walked across the checkpoint 9 field towards where our support crew were picking us up at the gate, we saw them flashing the headlights on & off like a beacon shining through the gloom, it was most encouraging. They also had the heating turned up to max in the bus and braved the weather to come into the field and cheer us on for the last few yards... top marks to our crew! Stage 9 is here.

After a quick change into dry clothes and scoffing of snacks and drinks we set off for home. This involved an amazing reverse along a narrow, twisty, downhill track onto a proper road, no mean feat in a vehicle about the same width as the track and with a ditch all down one side, in the dark and in driving rain. Pauline (chief driver) remained calm throughout, despite a number of backseat drivers.

One more long (40 mile) walk planned for 3 weeks time, then the real thing will be upon us!