A game of two halves

I don't really know where to start. I guess the beginning is a good place. The people in the know at Ultra Challenge (the organisation we are walking with in 2 weeks time (oh crikey!!) said that by four weeks before the walk we should have done 30km in two consecutive days. Hmm. Well, I've thought about it, honestly I have, but finding two days when I can just toddle off for 5 or 6 hours was proving a little difficult to say the least. So, with just under three weeks to go, which let's be honest, is probably close enough to four weeks as to make no difference, I set aside two days this week to do my 30km x 2.

For those of you who know me, and to be honest, by this stage of the game the only people bothering to read my blog are people who know me, you know that when someone tells me to do 30km I think that I should do a bit more, just to be on the safe side. What's wrong with me!?  Anyway, I checked the weather forecast on Monday and there was no day without rain, so I picked Wednesday and Thursday which seemed as good a days as any.

On Wednesday, the forecast was good for the morning so I thought I'd make an early start. Well, that was the plan but it didn't happen. So at 9.30am, off I toddled, planning to do 19 miles which is just over 30km. Somehow, when I'm walking, I seem to have a rethink and before I'd been going even half an hour, I'd decided to walk 20 miles. I love to challenge myself!

Clouds or clouds of smoke? The best part of the day!

Now, it turns out that when I walked with Ian two weeks ago, he had mentioned his desire to walk from Lincoln to home and when we checked the route and the distance is was only 24.5 miles across country. So I thought to shake things up a bit I'd walk towards Lincoln, do 10 miles and then turn around and walk back. Sounds easy right? Wrong. Let me tell you why.

Recently we have had pretty torrential rain at times, so very soon into the walk I realised the paths were a bit of a mud bath. Thankfully I'd worn my waterproof walking shoes but if you remember back to the early days of my training, these are the very same shoes that absolutely killed my feet on my 26.3 mile hike and I had to stop training for weeks. However, that was mainly on tarmac, hence the purchase of my new snazzy trainers, and this route was cross country mainly so I figured the waterproof babies would be ok.

Early on, I had no idea it would get so much worse

The paths I was familiar with were fine, and very soon I made it to Sturton-le-Steeple and onto North Leverton (of Windmill fame, I've told you about that before). Every now and then I stopped to put my raincoat on, and take it off, and put it on again...very annoying! But the drizzle stopped for a long while so off went the coat and I trudged on.

I went through villages I didn't know, and along footpaths I wasn't at all familiar with and as I kept going, the paths got worse. Not just the long, and very overgrown grass, or the nettles which stung me to pieces (why oh why do I wear cropped leggings), or even the deep puddles at the kissing gates which were unavoidable. Nope, not all that...individually. But put it all together, along with mud, rabbit holes and uneven paths that were potential ankle breakers, and I was very soon becoming more than a little fed up. The sky was darkening again and after 6.75 miles I spent 15 minutes looking for a path that was impossible to find because it was so overgrown.

Nettles are my enemy!

A nice bit!

No trains ahoy!

 I was more than upset by this stage, and although I found yet another stile without all the steps and could possibly have gone further, I looked ahead at the mass of long grass and the distinct lack of footpath and I decided to be sensible (I know, not like me at all) and turn back. Although this was by far my best option, it meant doing all I'd already done all over again. Nightmare.  This was fast turning into the worst walk of my life and as Linda said to me the following day, if I could get through this walk, I could do anything.

Where are my feet?

In the puddles!

At 11 miles, which felt like 111, I stopped for a sit and a snack and was sorely tempted never to get up again. I sat there for a fair while and then figured, with nine miles to go, I had to get moving. It wasn't easy!

Eventually I got back to almost home and thought it best to go on familiar paths which usually would be very easily negotiated. What was I thinking? All of them were so caked in mud and full of puddles and of course, at one point I slipped in the mud and landed with a very ungainly bump on my backside, which of course, was then caked in mud. I won't repeat what I said at that point but it definitely wasn't ladylike. And then, as if the day couldn't get any worse, it started raining. Unbelievable! 

Rain incoming

I picked myself up and carried on, and it was at that point I decided whatever was going to happen on Thursday, it would happen on roads, no more paths for me thank you very much! I started wiggling hither and thither, just to get the distance in and with a sigh of relief I finally fell through the front door, covered in mud, nettle stings, sweat and rain, to the awaiting arms of Dan and my friend Jan, and a well deserved cuppa.

This would have been a nice view in sunshine ;)

And so to day two. I can't stress enough the difference between these two days. As horrid as day 1 was, day 2 was a joy! Having decided to stick to roads I set off in my very comfy trainers which was just as well because a couple of my toes were a little sore from my footwear the day before. I made good progress quickly, finding roads much easier than footpaths, even good ones.

You will notice the lack of photos from this route because lovely as it was, it rained for almost the whole day and everything looked pretty...grey!  Needless to say, the route was lovely, though I did take umbrage with a bus and a twat in a car who thought it would be fun to pass me very closely while driving through a puddle. Not amused. Still, rain doesn't bother me, nor does getting wet, though my beautiful new trainers don't look very sparkly anymore!

This would also have been a good view with sunshine

Although this was a 20 mile walk, and a lovely one, there's very little to tell you except that Linda was walking at the same time 140 miles away and we were messaging almost all day which helped make the day pass in a flash. As did a half hour phone call with my friend Carole who patiently sat in ASDA car park in Watford while I wittered on.

This looked like a skull at first, and then looked like George Michael! Can you see it?

So, 20 miles done two days in a row. 40 miles is 2/3s of the total route, and although I can't claim to have climbed any hills, at least I am getting the distance in. Now, for the next two weeks I'm going to take it a bit easier and hopefully the toes will have recovered by then. 

Meanwhile, we have raised an extraordinary amount of money between us as a team, almost £18,000 at time of posting and I am so proud of everyone, Ruth, Linda and Gordy, as well as Paul who won't be able to walk on the day but who is seeing us over the line. 

And, most importantly, today is Amy's birthday. She has a nice day planned and is off to the theatre this evening. I just pray that she has a healthy year ahead, and life can get back on track for her. She so deserves it.

And so, next stop, London to Brighton, where Amy and Issy, amongst others, will meet us when we fall over the line. The excitement is building, bring it on!