Bristol, bogs and ba(aaaah)ths!

Today Andy and I have done the Bristol Triangle Walk, devised by the Ramblers Association (some photos and the route can be found here). It's 18 miles long, a distance which filled me with some trepidation as the longest walks I've ever done in a day have been no more than 12-13 miles. I was quite nervous when I woke up this morning, especially as I know perfectly well that Andy is about 10 times fitter than I am currently!

It actually turned out to be a good idea to do an urban walk today as although pavements are harder on the legs, the torrential rain that drenched Bristol yesterday meant that where we did turn on to a footpath, they were often sodden and once I swear we were actually walking through a shallow temporary stream! The route was a bit mad in places, wanting us nearly to walk in circles - and a Bristol A-Z came in very handy for navigation. In fact the only mistake we made (I think) was right at the very end, when I confidently said we could cut 100m through a private residence, only to discover we couldn't. Since it had been an uphill 100m at the end of climbing from the River Avon up to the Clifton Suspension Bridge, I was kicking myself (and would have almost forgiven Andy if he'd joined in). It is important that the team listen to my navigational suggestions I think, but only so they can then do the opposite! I'm invariably wrong....

I had written in my unnecessarily colourful training plan a time of seven hours in which to complete the 18 miles, forgetting that I was going walking with Andy - who had no such ideas in his head! Make no mistake, our eventual finishing time counts for me, not him, as he could have done it lots faster - he kept having to patiently wait for me to catch up, as I spent most of the walk floundering around in his wake panting like a asthmatic steam engine. I had just aimed to finish, not do it in (personal) record breaking time - but having him constantly reminding me of what pace we have to achieve on the real thing meant I went faster than I ever have, at least for the first half. In total it took us just over five hours to finish without any real stops - meaning we were walking at roughly 3.5 miles an hour on average. I am totally knackered now - delighted that Andy helped to shave two hours off the time I'd projected, but ouch - my muscles! (Hooray for a lovely hot bath on my return to my house, is all I can say.) The knowledge that in July we'll have to do four times the distance at pretty constantly high speeds and up bigger hills will definitely be motivating me to try and push myself out of my comfort zone in my training sessions I think... or else I'll still be wandering out of Petersfield as Andy crosses the finish line!