The Big Day - Part 2

CP3

Checkpoint 3 was closed to support crews because it was a bog, in keeping with most of the course.

Stages 3 and 4 are relatively short so not seeing our support crew at CP3 was not too bad. We wasted little time at the checkpoint, just dibbing in and getting on our way again. Traipsing through mud was becoming rather old hat by this time, it was a rare and welcome surprise to get a dry bit of track or road. Also it was raining on and off (but mostly on) for the whole of this part of the walk.

Particularly muddy section

We were generally comfortable in our wet weather clothes but keeping feet dry was just about impossible, the mud was over the tops of our boots in places. CP 4 was in a field by a river, and getting in and out of it involved wading through ankle deep water. So we changed our socks and boots but 5 minutes into stage 5 they were soaked through again. The majority of the walk was done with wet feet and it's a miracle we didn't get more blisters between us.  We knew it would be muddy, but we thought there would also be dry sections.. in reality about 80% of the course was muddy to a greater or lesser extent.

Rachel in the mud near CP4

We dibbed into CP4 at 7 minutes past 7 and set off again about 30 minutes later. Our plans for 20 minute stops went right out of the window because we needed the extra time to tend to our feet in the wet conditions. The support crew were superb but even they could not really make the checkpoints relaxing... it was frantic foot repair every time. Stage 5 is the second longest single stage on the course, it starts off alongside the river so, of course, it was very muddy! Then we had a welcome stretch of road up, up and away onto the Downs again... why are they called Downs, when there is so much Up? Walking stage 5 was very rewarding because we knew that when we reached CP5 we would be at the halfway point of the challenge.

The final approach to checkpoint 5 was bad. It was dark (dib in time 22:39) and there is a 400m stretch of footpath which was ankle deep in thick mud. In normal circumstances it would take about 5 minutes to walk, but in the mud it took about 20 minutes and we all nearly fell so many times. We collapsed into the gazebo in relief when we finally got there and, once we'd removed footwear, tucked into some hot pasta with chilli... just what the doctor ordered! Due to the weather-enforced closure of checkpoint 6 we would not be seeing the support crew again until CP7... according to the schedule that was over 4 hours away... a depressing thought.

To be continued...