This year to date

So far it has been Cannock Chase, The Wrekin, the canals between Rugeley and Stafford and one trip out to the Roaches when it looked like Spring was on it's way (ha).  I should be doing longer distances by now (20 miles scheduled for next weekend), but the weather isn't helping.

New toy

I got a new GPS unit.  Bigger screen (for my failing eyes) and the full 1:50,000 OS map for Great Britain (my precious).

Gluttons for Punishment

Yes we're back in the K2B again this year.  By the looks of it we may already be down to just 3 walkers as some people come back to their senses

2012

Yes I've been a little lax in updating.  The graph above is the distance registered by my GPS in each month for each walk I had it with me (usually an hour or more).  You'll notice the build up to the K2B in early May, then a decline.  I don't know what happened in August, unless it was work taking out some of my weekends.

The weather might also have had something to do with it:

That was from early June in the Malverns.  Probably.  With that visibility it could have been anywhere!  Twice on that walk my GPS showed we'd managed to turn 180 degrees and were going back where we'd came.

Keswick To Barrow 2012

Distance: 40 miles (allegedly)
Time: 13 hours, 15
Average Speed: 4.86 km/h (3.02 mph)

We set off from our B&B in Windermere at a little after 5am: myself, Mike Roberts and Steve Eyles, with Chris Bradshaw as our support.  Mike and I are old hands, but it was Steve's and Chris' first K2B.

It was about 35-40 minutes to reach the top of Thirlmere and then another 15 minutes to reach the dropping off point.  You can't expect to get 2400 or so people to the start line without some waiting involved and the K2B committee have made it as smooth as possible.  Chris took a quick team photo and then the three of us queued for the start.  We went through at 0607, with about 1870 people having gone through ahead of us.  This included three young women and a black labrador all dressed as bees.

The skies were clear, so it was a cold start.  There was evidence of previous rain but there wasn't to be a single drop that day, possibly a first for my attempts.  We were wearing the waterproofs anyway, just for the warmth.  A brisk walk to Thirlmere soon warmed us up.  As usual it was flat calm at that time of the morning and Helvelyn was reflected beautifully in the water.

Mike had been off work ill for much of the training period and although recovered wasn't quite fighting fit so he fell behind.  Steve and I hit much the same pace so we kept together.

After Thirlmere we hit Dunmail Raise and the sun finally found its way over the hill tops, raising the temperature.  I found myself having to take of the waterproof and shove it into the backpack, out came the hat at the same time.  I was now wearing just a t-shirt on top, not cold at all.  Steve had got ahead of me while I adjusted my kit, but I caught up with him as we reached the edge of Grasmere.  I phoned Chris at the 1 mile to the checkpoint sign to let him know we were coming.

We picked up supplies from Chris and he asked about Mike.  Steve said he was ahead of us, I said behind.  After grabbing a drink I lost sight of Steve, so unwilling to stay to long I set off again.  Steve caught up with me at the top of Red Back, which we had warning him about.  He said he was glad it was over, I said that we still had to get down the other side.  Descending punishes the parts of your feet that had been given a rest on the ascent, you also face the choice of a slow controlled descent or a mad dash.

The checkpoint at Elterwater marks the one-third stage.  I grabbed two drinks at this checkpoint, and eavesdropped on somebody having a good strop at a hapless official.  I couldn't work out what the actual complaint was, and I'm pretty sure the official was none the wiser.  Steve had already set off, so I followed him.  Other than a few glimpses over the next half-hour that was the last I saw of him until the end!  He'd obviously trained well.

I plodded on.  In a lay-by on the main road down to Coniston there was an ice cream van.  I resisted the temptation for an actual ice cream but got a cold drink from his freezer.  Not long after it was the stony track up the hill and another steep descent down to Monk Coniston.  There I met up with Chris who said he hadn't seen Steve.  Mike had been only ten minutes behind us at Grasmere, he'd started out of breath but had recovered and got his pace back.

I started the walk along the east side of Coniston and began the mental arithmetic to estimate my finish time.  I was thrown when I reached the 20 mile mark and spotted the lunch break stop without seeing the 1 mile to checkpoint warning.  Slightly clarified by the official who was having to explain to everyone that CP4 wasn't there this year, but was later on.  I was able to guess I wasn't going to beat my personal best time.  I had a quick sandwich, checked my feet, changed my socks and converted my trousers to shorts.  Then I set off before my muscles became convinced it was over.

Shortly afterwards I was passed by the bee girls and their bee dog.  They'd already passed me once or twice, but they always seemed to stop a long time at each checkpoint.  One of them remarked that I must be looking forward to a beer at the end.  Two, I said.  The first wasn't going to touch the sides.

The new home for CP4 was at Water Park at the bottom end of Coniston.  Somebody at the drinks point there had thought ahead as the was a water bowl for the dogs.  Apart from the bee dog, there must have been at least 5 other dogs including a husky.

I met Chris again at the Red Lion in Lowick, further back from the road than the usual meet up.  He'd missed Steve again, but as we were talking (and I was dumping my used socks and trouser leg ends), Mike came up.  I set off again, passing the bee girls, swiped at CP5 which had also moved this year (the community centre, not the church) and headed off for the long, slow slog up to Kirkby Moor.  Mike soon caught up, but said he'd got the the church only to be told he'd missed the checkpoint and had elected not to go back.  He was soon outpacing me.

I re-did my mental arithmetic.  With two thirds done I could just make 12 and a half hours if I picked up the pace.  But now, I could feel the blisters on my feet.  I tried to ignore them, but I knew they were going to get worse.

At the 30 mile sign I stopped to take a picture.  The bee girls were resting there and offered to take it for me while I posed by the sign.

I was through CP6 when Mike came up behind me.  He'd stopped for some crisps and I'd just gone straight through oblivious.  Soon he was outpacing me again.  Not long after my feet were in agony.  I made it to Marton and the next checkpoint.  I swiped, knocked back some water then headed straight for the First Aid point with Chris in tow.  I got tangled up trying to take the backpack of and had to sort that out before the nice St. Johns Ambulance lady could look at my feet.  A huge blister on each heel, each requiring two of the large white plasters.  After this patching up I set off as soon as I could, wanting to finish as quickly as I could.  I put on the IPod and went for a Rush live album.

The next few miles were just trudging along, trying to build up a pace and ignoring what was happening below the ankles.  You get a lot of encouragement from Marton, going through Dalton and into Barrow.  You need it.  At about 38.5 miles I passed a father and daughter struggling on.  The daughter was crying, but keeping going.

Coming up to the last mile I changed album.  Just like last year I put on Abbey Road as I was walking along Abbey Road.  Last year I started with Here Comes the Sun and had to skip a couple of tracks to finish on The End.  I didn't skip any this year, and I didn't finish on The End.  I didn't even finish on Her Majesty.  It had looped around to Something.

Chris, Mike and Steve had gone inside because they were Southern and through it was cold, so no photograph of me finishing.  There was a surprise however.  For completing seven walks you get:

For the past 48 hours I've been seeking a grant from the Ministry of Silly Walks, but I should have raised a bit over £300.

Ready to go

Less than 36 hours to go now. All packed bar the toothbrush. I'll be trying to tweet my progress via @smwkerofin as last year, but I don't expect much of a signal.

Nearly 30 miles

Saturday 28th April
Distance: 45.45 km (28.24 mi)
Time: 10 hours 12
Average speed: 4.46 km/h (2.77 mph)

This was the last scheduled training walk before the Keswick to Barrow on the 12th of May, reusing last year's 30 mile route.  I was out the house early and heading up the old railway line to Beaconside and Beacon Hill.  It was cold, but dry.  As it turned out, it was the driest it had been for weeks in terms of rainfall, but the ground was still muddy.  I wore my new lighter waterproof jacket not for its protection from water, but from the wind.

At Beacon Hill I got a good view of the County Showground and all the traffic tailing back in both directions.  Not a day to use that route out of Stafford.  I continued on to Hopton Pools then on to the road.  I was planning to use the footpath past the Battle monument so I checked my GPS to confirm where it was and found it was still showing me back home, with an hourglass running.  A bit of cursing and exiting/restart later and it was working, although it had lost the track up to that point.  Thus the time information above is a guess, taken from last year's effort over the same route.

I'd found the footpath on the other side of the road before fixing the GPS  and continued past the monument for the Battle of Hopton Heath.  Not a big monument, but then I don't think it was a particularly big battle.

The path led through a large field with long, wet grass resulting in damp feet and damp trouser legs.  It was one of those fields where the stile I was aiming for wasn't visible from the start and not being well travelled there was no trail to follow.  So I just used the now-behaving GPS to keep me near the line until I could spot the yellow dots of the footpath sign on the far fence.  That stile looked pretty dilapidated, which would explain the bits of new aluminium gate nearby.  The next fence already had its gate installed. 

I descended the hill down to Salt and the Trent Valley, aiming for the Trent and Mersey canal.  The next bit was a steady and flat stroll along the often muddy tow path, heading for Haywood Junction.  When Weston came into view I could see the traffic backed up to the A51, obviously from the County Showground.

Past Haywood Junction I left the canal at Shugborough and headed for Cannock Chase along the Staffordshire Way. I went past the stepping stones along Sherbrook Valley  and at the little bridge where the Staffordshire Way leaves the valley I stopped for lunch.  I nearly had to share my rolls with a couple of large and friendly but hungry dogs.

I only stopped for ten minutes but as usual it was enough to trigger complaints from my legs and feet when I set of again.  It was a well travelled path I followed from there, picking up the Heart of England Way to the Visitor Centre and Marquis's Drive.  All along there I was checking the GPS, estimating how much distance I'd done that the GPS had missed and doing the mental arithmetic to work out what the total distance would be if I turned back at X, Y or Z.  In the end I decided to copy last year and at the top of Kitbag Hill I turned North to start looping back.

I went down to the other stepping stones, or in this case stepping slabs, and back via Fairoak Lodge and the Tackeroo caravan site.  Last year I'd exhausted my water and had to resupply here, but being much cooler I still had some.

At rifle range corner there was a party of 12 tired teenagers, boys and girls, with heavy packs and looking at a map.  They asked directions to Beaudesert and I waved in the general direction of the way I'd come.  Then they asked where they were and I consulted their map.  It was a laminated extract of the OS map for Cannock Chase with a thick red line marking what I guessed was their route.  I then had to point to the very edge of their map to where they were, nowhere near the thick red line.  "We're about half way" said one lad and I left before the recriminations over navigation began.

Passing my outward route I went up Brocton Field and Coppice Hill where I transferred my backup water into the camel pack thingy.  Heading downwards I began to suspect my footware.  It seemed I was feeling every stone in the path, walking on the softer verges rather than the stony track.  Things came to a head as I reached Milford Common.  Although I'd suspected that blisters had already formed, all of a sudden there was a pain in my left sole that slowed me right down.  I grabbed a soft drink from the fish and chip place at the common, then sat outside and eased my shoe and sock off my left foot.  There was a large blister on my heel which I could live with and another right on the sole that was causing the trouble.  I slapped a Compeed on it, hoped for the best and set off again.

It took a few minutes of limping but I was able to get back into my stride, although a little slower.  Facing a choice between the tarmac of the road route back home or the shorter, uneven canal route, I opted for the Staffs & Wocester tow path and a bit of will power to ignore the pain.  As usual I left the canal between Baswich Bridge and Radford Bank, whereupon it started to rain.  It was the heaviest rain all day, not quite enough for me to put up the hood on the waterproof.

Back on the streets it was a trudge back home, taking waits to cross the road as rest stops.

I had been wearing the shoes I planned to use for the actual walk, but now I'm not so sure.  I had thought they were in good condition but the insides have no give anymore.  I don't like the idea of getting a new pair so close to the big day.