Cars, cows and cattle grids

Not wishing to be too outdone by Diana and Robyn (see below for their Christmas exploits) today I've been out walking on the South Downs Way itself, where the Trailwalker event will take place in July. It was partly a test for myself as well as a way of training, as we (my sister, Dad and I) had planned a 12 mile walk from Amberley to Steyning in West Sussex (some of the route and pics can be found here: http://www.southdownsway.co.uk/sdw_amberley_cocking.html) . Since I'm probably the least experienced walker on the team - though not a total novice - and definitely the least fit, then I'd said to myself that if I struggled to complete the day then I would stand aside and let someone else take my place on Team Aching, as I would patently be unable to keep up with team training walks (starting at upwards of 17 miles)!


Today was a perfect day for walking - really sunny, mild and clear, so the promise of a brilliant view was a great incentive to get up the first hill after being dropped off by our honorary support team (thanks Mum). Whilst I'm fairly happy and can keep a reasonable pace up on the flat, hills are where I really struggle at the moment (and why do they always seem to appear the second you leave the car behind?!) Watched by several dozen cows having lunch, we finally reached the top to see the expected stunning panorama of countryside laid out before us - thought I'd better take the time to appreciate it now, as I'm guessing there won't be time in July!

To my relief, the next 4 miles were along a ridge, which made walking very easy. It was after lunch when we decided to take a slight detour to avoid a field of yet more cows. I'm not very graceful at the best of times and the sight of me skidding over a cattle-grid to escape them would probably have fitted into a Buster Keaton film, if it had been intentional... This detour taught me a valuable lesson - don't, DON'T leave the trail! We were somewhat sheepish when the field we had chosen instead ran out, and having to scramble over barbed wire does not a happy Jenni make!

Still, it was downhill, so I couldn't be too grumpy. But downhill tends to lead to more uphill on long walks - and it took rather more willpower to scramble to the top of the next incline. I'm developing a distraction technique based around the 14 times table - I have to think so hard about maths that I can't concentrate on my legs hurting :) Again, the work we put in climbing the hill paid off, as we could see all the way to the North Downs on one side and the sea on the other - I think it'll be dark when we do that bit in the summer so I tried to memorise it now!

My aim for the second half of the walk was to try and keep a steady pace going and not slow down because I was tired, and I think I managed it, so I felt I'd achieved something. We turned on to a road to walk down to the finish in Steyning, but half way we heard a car behind us - our support team had arrived just in time to rescue us from the rain - huzzah.

Conclusion - the South Downs Way is really pretty (which will hopefully be at least some motivation to keep going in July - to see more views!), and I wasn't totally knackered after 12 miles - I still felt I could have comfortably kept going for a while longer. I think my training is definitely going to have to concentrate on improving my hill-climbing skills though - and maybe ameliorating my levels of gracefulness when encountering cattle grids!

P.S. The reason for cars being in the title was because I've finally been insured on Mum's Focus, so the first test of the day for me was driving to the start of the walk, and making sure I remembered where the biting point was :) If the car is still in one piece and so am I, I'm putting a tick in the 'success' box for the day!