Black Mountains, bogginess and (near) brushes with death...

Yesterday Diana and I went out training in the Black Mountains. We had decided to go over to Wales a) in order to attempt some hills and b) because we were having a manicure each in Chepstow! We set off bright and early, but despite leaving at 8.45 am we didn't start walking until noon - a combination of the manicure being very relaxing and the Black Mountains being further away than we thought! I'm sure we were the walkers with the nicest nails up in the hills though...

We began our walk with immediate hard work - climbing up to a cairn, which we could just about see in the rolling cloud that intermittently shielded the summit. Unfortunately my back has been playing up this week, partly because I had a difficult spinal tap done on Monday, and it didn't take too kindly to the strain I was putting it under, so I had to pause more often than I would have liked. I'm very aware I need to improve my speed up hills, as currently even without back injuries I'm something of a tortoise! Three-quarters of the way up I think if someone had offered to magically fly me home I would have seriously considered agreeing, but I realised it was all worth it when we finally reached the first summit. The view was amazing! Diana was very intrigued when she spotted something that looked like a crashed light aircraft in the valley on the other side, but I was more concerned by how high up we were and how windy it suddenly seemed. I haven't done any proper hillwalking for about 10 years, and thought I'd grown out of my childhood dislike of heights. Turns out I haven't completely! I was trying to suppress twinges of fear as we set off along the ridge. Diana's assurances that it had been lots windier when she and her mum climbed their Scottish munroe helped a bit, as well as thinking to myself that although my jumper was very baggy it was hardly going to turn me into a human kite and sweep me down into the valley! Gradually I forgot to be worried and concentrated on admiring the view, in between making sure I didn't fall over my feet.

The ground underfoot on the mountain was very weird - we think it must have been peat. It looked like very black mud but although feet did sink into it slightly, it was really springy and not at all sticky. It did make walking down slopes more like skiing, as every now and again you would slide as it was so loose! Here is a picture of the odd path, along with the nice nails(!):

(I think my facial expression also shows just how barmy hillwalking can make you. Or maybe I just can't take a good picture...) Anyway, whilst the soil was interesting to walk on, it definitely wasn't easy. There was no way we could have sped over it unless we wanted broken ankles! As it was, we picked our way along the ridge for an hour or so, which was rather cold, blowy and wet. At first I was excited about my first experience of walking through a cloud, but soon realised that it does make for a rather damp and viewless expedition! So, we were quite pleased to find the path down. It wasn't peat, but it was covered in loose rocks which meant that my descent was to the tune of gentle whoops of surprise as every now and again I nearly lost my footing! I think I've forgotten to warn the team that I do tend to make odd noises on walks, especially when concentrating. Oh well, they'll have to put up with it!

Back on solid (for solid, read extremely muddy) ground, we wound our way through fields and lanes on the way back to the car. We had heard a dog barking from some distance off and I remember hoping that it was locked up. However, as we climbed a hill towards an isolated farmhouse, said dog suddenly appeared and crouched right in the middle of the road, looking decidedly threatening. We came to a halt, both rather unnerved, and debated what to do. I'm no great fan of dogs I don't know, having been bitten on two separate occasions in the past, once by a similar border collie working dog. Diana bravely volunteered to take a few steps towards it, but it still didn't look friendly. When I walked forward as well it suddenly started snarling ferociously and dashed at us. It took everything not to turn tail and run - but previous bad experience had taught me that running just makes a dog used to herding sheep chase you! Instead we turned around and swiftly walked away, praying it wouldn't follow. Luckily it didn't, but it did mean we had to retrace our steps for half a mile to a footpath. Jokingly I remarked that it would be ironic if that way was also blocked by a dog - I couldn't believe it when it turned out to be the case! We crossed a cattle grid towards some buildings and all of a sudden THREE dogs pelted out, also barking madly. Given our previous bad experience, we had no desire to try and walk past them, so re-crossed the cattle grid and considered our options. By now it was half past four, and we really needed to get back, so a huge detour was not an option, especially as my back was giving up slightly. We were just attempting to phone for a taxi and trying not to think about how much it would cost when a car drove out of the gliding club by which we were standing. Diana flagged it down and luckily the man inside agreed to drive us past the original Hound of the Baskervilles. Thank goodness for knights in shining armour!

He dropped us at his house, which wasn't far from where Diana's car was parked, so we quickly wandered back, sadly without the time for a hot chocolate in the pub next door. But at least we arrived back in Bristol without being savaged, blown off a hill or abducted by a dodgy gliding enthusiast! All in all, we walked 25,500 steps, climbed about 1000m and covered roughly 10 miles - not so impressive distance-wise but given the terrain hard enough work for four and a half hours!

Malverns, Take 2

This will be a quick post because it's late and I'm tired.

But you do still get pictures :-)

On Saturday I was back at the Malverns, doing the same walk that we did as part of our Christmas Training. My running and walking must be paying off because it was a lot easier this time. The weather was amazing too, clear blue sky and bright sunshine. But freezing cold...














There were a lot of paragliders up there, doing the fun activity of throwing themselves off hills attached to just a kite with a few bits of string...


















And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Counted 21 up there at one point...

It's Worth It

This...

…is what makes running at 8 o’clock in the morning three times a week worthwhile. I love this view - the big open fields and clear sky. Pretty amazing sunrise. And it’s different every morning.

Anyways, thought I would share. There’s been a few mornings where the sun has been shining and I’ve wished I had my camera with me to take a photo. I’ve put more photos up on our flickr site, take a look.

:-)

Training in Amazing Scotland

As Jenni said in her post 'Railways, Rambling and Ruminating' I ran off to Scotland with the car last week. But you'll be pleased to hear that training didn't stop for me, it just changed slightly, mainly due to the addition of snow.

The week got off to an amazing start with some skiing at Glenshee. I was relieved to find that after a year of not skiing I could still get down a slope without too many (major) incidents. Even the Scottish weather managed to remain fairly good and for most of the time I could see more than 3 feet in front of me!!!


Wednesday was set to be a day of pure sunshine (I didn't believe it either), so I set off with the intention of climbing some munros in the Lochnagar area which included, Cac Carn Beag and Cuidhe Crom. A member of the Trailwalker support crew (my mum) was also attempting this munro mission although somehow I ended up carrying everything... However, I guess I'm the one who needs the exersize so I didn't mind really. We had a bit of an exciting journey to the car park at the start of the climb. A deer jumped right out in front of the car (don't worry we didn't hit it)! A little further along the road we found loads of deer:


As we approached Lochnagar we could see the beautiful snow covered peaks of the munros and wondered how far we'd get with climbing them. We had a lot of winter weather gear with us but snowy conditions are pretty dangerous for climbing and I've only ever climbed munros in summer when snow isn't an issue. But the snow did give me the chance to get some arty photos:


Footprints marked the path quite nicely for us and we got all the way up to the top of the first 'munro' Meikle Pap. Unfortunately, although this mountain is tall enough to be a munro, it isn't classed as one since you climb it on the way to the higher munro Cac Carn Beag. It was quite a struggle just getting up this smaller mountain because of the crazy winds that were blowing near the top (see video below). The other munros would be reached by climbing a ridge...


...but unfortunately the wind was too strong and it would have been too dangerous. I was pretty disappointed but it gives me an excuse to go back to this amazing part of Scotland again.



The journey back down the munro was... er... interesting. The wind had blown all trace of footprints away and snow completely covered everything. So we carefully set off hoping we wouldn't disappear in the snow. You may laugh at this but on several (hundred) occasions our feet and most of our legs disappeared under the snow. The tops of the heather could just be seen poking out so we knew we couldn't disappear completely and I decided the only thing to do was run for it. Moving quicker over the snow kind of stopped me sinking into it quite so much (and gave quite a lot of amusement to anyone watching). The other exciting thing about the descent was seeing a white hare.

That was the main part of the training although I also climbed a smaller hill in the Bennachie range which wasn't exactly as challenging as a munro but it was a lovely walk.

Herefordshire, hills and hiking

This weekend Andy and I have been on the annual Methsoc retreat, to Woolhope Cockshoot in Herefordshire. This meant we couldn't go off on a routemarch style 15 mile hike, but we did go out with everyone else for a Saturday afternoon 7 mile walk.

Tim (who took these photos) and Andy had planned the route, and we set off with Andy musing about whether he could make everyone do our Trailwalker pace. I was musing about how fast everyone would catch up and kill him if he did. After a slight mis-start (we walked up someone's drive rather than a footpath) we found the trail and squelched our way up on to a ridge, with really lovely views. Andy had settled for a normal person's quick walking pace and so we meandered along, basking in the amazing weather - it felt like April, not early February!

Despite some dismay when we couldn't find the promised picnic area (hazards of using a 15 year old map) we eventually found a banked field. I made the most of actually being allowed to sit down for lunch - on Andy's hikes it's always an activity done whilst moving! The views were stunning - looking all across to the Malverns, which the team are planning to walk on at some point in the future. After munching, we then set off - and to my dismay, Andy decided the path led down the side of the hill. Normally most heights don't bother me, but with one arm out of action and feeling off balance anyway, taking a path that probably hadn't existed properly for 5 years down the side of a 1 in 3 gradient with little to grab on to suddenly made me rather dizzy! Despite my croaking that we were all going to die (I'm optimistic in these situations) we did eventually make it down to the bottom in the 9 separate entire pieces we'd started off as.

The rest of the walk was really good fun - it was nice to be able to properly admire the surrounding countryside and stop for a drink in a pub. Being able to sit outside in short sleeves in February was a bit surreal! However I had great sympathy for one of our walkers when they got up again and discovered their legs had stiffened up - I'm getting to know that feeling very well! One big hill back up again later, we got back to the centre and scraped off all the mud, ready to resume being contemplative. I really enjoyed the weekend - good to remember that not all walking is intended to kill me :o) !

I am officially the most ridiculous human being ever...

Hmm. I never quite got to make the run of which I spoke in today's earlier blog - I have made the mistake of falling over whilst jogging (to get home to do laundry, not even to train!) and landing on my hand. So after 2 hours in A&E, I have a wrist and thumb in plaster :o( but they aren't sure if they are broken or not. Fingers very firmly crossed not. Silly silly silly Jenni. However, training shall continue, even if I won't be running for a few days yet! If anyone has a spare left arm I could borrow..........

Money, money, money

Further to Robyn's post below, I thought I'd jump up and down excitedly at the thought of the £110 people have kindly sponsored us so far! Here is some of what that £110 could buy for Oxfam (according to their website):

1830 school dinners for children, to help them concentrate and study better in school and give them a regular source of nourishment. I reckon that's enough to keep 366 children going for a week, or 7 children fed for a whole year.

It's more than enough to feed 5 children orphaned by AIDS in Malawi for 3 and a half months.

Or enough to pay 2 trainee teachers' salaries in Kenya for 5 weeks. Education gives people the skills to work their way out of poverty.

The Gurkha Welfare Trust could use £110 to:

Sponsor a veteran for 5 months

Provide basic food for 5 1/2 months

Not too shabby, eh? I guess to keep the sponsorship rolling in, I'd better keep training! I'm going for a run later - trying to improve on 2 miles in 26 minutes. Thanks to all of you who have sponsored us so far - it's much appreciated!

Fundraising Update Number 1!

WE'VE MADE IT PAST THE £100 MARK!!!

Over 1/15th of the way towards our fundraising target!!! Just wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has sponsored us so far. We really appreciate your support - and it's pretty awesome seeing the total rise nearer that target!!!

Random Musings...

I don't have much to report on the training front really other than the fact that it is continuing and I feel like I'm getting fitter which is definitely a good thing :-)

I changed the running every other day routine though because of my uni timetable so now I run Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and the plan is to try and do a long walk or longer run at the weekend.

Last Saturday I managed to run 4 miles and just stopped for a few minutes half way. It was a really nice morning, cold but sunny and clear blue skies, good for running :-) And the path I found is very cool too. So I was pleased with how that went. I'll try to increase the time and distance as the weeks progress. The path wasn't circular but it has distances marked so I parked the car and picked a direction to run in, then just kept going until I got to the end of the path. But I was really surprised when I made it back to the car because I thought I had a while to go yet and felt I could have carried on running. Pretty cool :-)

Am also looking forward to meeting up with the rest of the team for some team training walks. Feel like I'm missing out on all the action up here in lovely Coventry and training together should be fun :-)

Anyways, the random musings title was there for a reason and although I've just been rambling, here are the random musings...

A marathon is 42.195km (26.22 miles (actually 26 miles and 385 yards!)) long.

This means we are walking the equivalent of 2.37 marathons in under 30 hours.

Which is quite far.

The world record time for a marathon is 2 hours, 4 minutes and 26 seconds which is held by Haile Gebrselassie.

Do you think Gebrselassie could finish Trailwalker in 4 hours, 54 minutes and 54 seconds? (It took me way too long to work this out for a maths student, in fact, it could well be wrong!!!)

It gives us an extra 25 hours, 5 minutes and 6 seconds.

I like thinking of it this way.

It makes it sound like it should be easy.

Yeah. Right.

Railways, rambling and ruminating

Yesterday, Andy and I went out on another longer training walk. Saturdays have seemed to smile on us weather-wise so far - it was a perfect day for walking, all sunny and clear. Since Diana has gone off on holiday to Scotland with the car, we needed a Bristol based walk, as public transport to the start of a hike can take aaaages, and so we decided to walk the Bristol to Bath Railway Path. This is a 15 mile tarmacked cycle track (although pedestrians are also welcome to use it).

We set off at 11 and managed to find the start of the path - the map in the leaflet I'd got was useless! I'm getting slightly better at keeping up Andy's pace, which I was pleased about. I think I managed to sustain keeping up with him for about 12 miles (even if some of that involved him getting ahead and then me jogging to catch up) before my muscles turned round and said 'no, sorry - we're not doing this anymore!' Jogging some actually helped as it uses slightly different muscles so in a way it's a break from the walking. The last 2-3 miles were done at a much slower pace - I think for the first 3 hours we were walking at over 4 miles an hour, though Andy may disagree. It averaged out as an overall speed of 3.75 miles an hour, which I wasn't too unhappy with.

On the other hand, the path is one of the easiest we've tackled yet, as it was totally flat - well, being on the former track of a railway, this isn't surprising! Still, it was good to get the chance to practice keeping pace with Monsieur Casey without having to worry about any inclines. I find it really difficult to match the length of his paces constantly, though I think we're taking the same number of steps on the whole. Apparently running will help me to extend my stride (mental note to add that to the list of reasons to go running!) It wasn't the most interesting path to walk, as lots of it is straight and in very urban areas (think many warehouses and much graffiti) but the path's planners have made an effort to make it pleasing; there are sculptures all along the route, like this 'Fish On Nose'. Don't ask me why the artist thought a fish on its nose would be good. It just exists. (Art and me = confusion!)

In other news, the thing I that have learnt from this walk is that I need to learn to eat on the move! I managed a Nutrigrain but Andy pointed out about 12 miles in that I really needed to consume more than that in order to keep going. Never in my life have I been told to eat more, so it will perhaps be something I won't mind practising on walks! For some reason I just lose my appetite whilst exercising - sitting at home I could happily consume anything you put in front of me. But doing a 100k walk I'm definitely going to have to learn to eat on the hoof without worrying I'll be sick, so best to get in training now(!)

Anyway, we finally got to the outskirts of Bath just before 3 and got the train home (amidst some grumpiness about just how much First Great Western overcharge). There was just time for Andy to observe that I was now walking like a croquet hoop/John Wayne (bah, damn you, stiff muscles) and for us both to dash home to clean up before rewarding ourselves with an evening cinema trip (I highly recommend 'In the Valley of Elah') and a cosy drink in the pub. A very good day methinks.