26/05/2012 Training in the Akamas Forest - Cyprus

Now just because you're going on holiday, doesn't mean you can skip the Trailwalker training schedule I told myself. A holiday in Cyprus and staying right on the edge of the Akamas Forest offers a wealth of training opportunities in a place I've visited on several occasions over the years. The only issue was that this training would have to be done solo as my wife Kate having been dragged on a 10 miler last year informed me "Never again" and my in-laws having been dragged up what we now call "Andrew's Mountain" three years ago (more on that later) were somewhat reluctant to join me again and opted to stay by the pool.

Andrew's Mountain in the middle seen from the villa.

This left a few logistical issues to deal with. Firstly, before working out how far to plan, I'd need to work out how much water I'll drink to ensure I can get back without becoming dehydrated in temperatures pushing 30 degrees. My Camelbak is a 3 Litre and I can carry an extra bottle so planned for 4 hours. The second issue was the midday sun, from past experience, not something to be out in here and conform to the 'Mad Dog and Englishmen' stereotype. I decided I'd do two walks, one setting off early and returning by 11am and then a second setting off around 2pm to avoid the worst of the heat and test my recovery powers.

The picnic area at Smigies

Up at 6:45am (an ungodly hour in anyone's dictionary but on holiday it should be illegal) I was on the trail at 7:05am. My plan was to walk from our villa, into the Akamas and reach what we call Andrew's Mountain. 

The real name for this hill is Pano Vahines a flat-topped hill at 370m above sea level. The story behind its alternative naming is that three years ago, I dragged my father-in-law Andrew and his partner Helen out for a little stroll. After taking a the wrong path (the maps aren't good here) we ended up climbing upwards from near sea-level along a zig-zagging goat trail. About half-way up, Andrew informed me he suffered from vertigo and froze.

Faced with calling in the helicopters we managed to inch our way upwards with him looking at his feet and me on the outside of the trail stopping him looking down. While he was a nervous wreck at the top and drenche din sweat - he did it and since then we've renamed it in his honour.

This chap didn't make it across

This time however, my plan was to take the widely used route behind the mountain and a route which would take me about 10km to the summit and the same back again. The bonus of setting off early is the serene peace of the place around you - nobody about and nature just beginning to stir onto life. I was soon past the popular picnic area at Smigies and along the trail past the Fire Lookout Tower. The one thing to be wary of in the Akamas is snakes. There are 8 different species from memory and most are harmless but the one that is potentially deadly is the Blunt-nosed Viper. Up until last year, I'd never seen a snake in the Akamas until a 6ft long black snake crossed the trail infront of me and my wife so I am constantly scanning the trail ahead these days.

Looking northwest from the top of Andrew's Mountain

The dusty trail winds in and out and up and down and most of the time the summit is in view but seemingly not getting any closer. The air was starting to warm up rapidly and the white dust of the trail reflected the heat and light making shades essential to avoid 'snowblindess'. 

One useful hint I've picked up is to blow back the water in the Camelbak once you've had a sip - this avoids the water in the tube becoming tepid and keeps the contents of the Camelbak cold even after four hours in the heat.

Eventually I reached a familiar section of road leading to the base of the mountain and was soon hiking to the summit. 

Reaching the top at just under my 2hr target, I decided to down a banana and an Alpen bar while taking in the view and looking down at the goat trail below the cliff - perhaps I'll get chance to drag my wife up it before this holiday is out.

Grasshopper Island

A quick check to see how much water was left in the Camelbak found it was about half-way and I was soon off on the return leg of the walk back to the villa. The whole time I passed one Cypriot in a pick-up and a couple sat at one of the benches at the Smigies picnic site and that was it managing to get back to the villa by my 11am target time completing the 19.3km with 496m of climb in 3hrs 47mins. 
Returning back to the villa for a cooling swim and a bite to eat, I noticed I'd rubbed up a blister on my right heel - not somewhere I'd previously had a problem with so dropped a blister plaster on it and taped my feet up (having decided not to bother in the morning). The right calf was feeling tight again and no attempts at stretching seemed to relieve it which didn't bode well for the afternoons walk. 

The west side of the island looking south to Seacaves

Setting off for the Akamas again at 2pm was a little harder but once again I headed towards Smigies via a different route and my plan this time was to head to the coast path and go South. This is a route I have not been on since I was on holiday here 7 years ago and was joined by Red Leader as we inadvisably took a hire car along this route built for four-wheel-drives and mountain goats only and I'd forgotten the twists and turns as the road winds in and out of the mountainside, descending to a low point before climbing all the way back up. While the view across this side of the island is spectacular, you have the feeling of going nowhere fast thanks to the constant twists in the road.

Here come the goats - let the staring commence

My plan was to walk for 2hrs or about 10km and then turn and head back. As the road climbed to the top again I came to a junction in the road and realising that I could get back to Smigies a different way, I decided to risk the unknown and take the different path. I was quickly met by herd after herd of goats who regarded me with instant suspicion and froze dead in their tracks. As I continued to approach, panic ensued as the goats realised I was still coming towards them despite their best efforts to stare me out. Scrambling up the sides of the trail, the goats parted in front of me obviously terrified they would end up as some sort of kebab.

Welcome to the Wild West - Hunting Prohibited

This was obviously a more popular route than the twists and turns of the coast road as first quad-bikes and then hired hatchbacks came trundling past me leaving me wondering how it was we didn;t find this road 7 years ago and instead endured the twist, turns and cavernous potholes of the coast road in our humble hire car. This was also backed up by the route being 2km shorter on the way back than it was going thanks to the twists being ironed out getting me back to the villa well ahead of schedule after the reduced 16km walk with 412m of climb in 3hrs 13minutes


The days total stands in at 35.3km, 908m of climb and 7hrs of walking which was a pleasing total in the heat and good preparation should we by some miracle have a proper July for a change. 

Things learned from this hot walk:
1. Water consumption was about 50% higher needing about 650ml-700ml per hour
2. Blowing water back down the tube of your Camelbak keeps it refreshing
3. Factor 50 does the job nicely - no sunburn after 7 hours in the sun
4. Feet sweat - a lot - definitely change those socks
5. A change of underwear is advisable - must look at wicking pants!

19/05/2012 - Plains, Trams and Watery Fields

Lee and Polly were off to the Yorkshie Dales this weekend for a friends birthday - but no doubt they would be getting some miles in. It was left to Mark and Martin to hit the trails locally this weekend. 

The weather forecast wasn't looking great for Saturday. Mark had planned two routes depending on the weather, one on the Clwydian Range (not great in poor weather) and another on the Peckforton Range in Cheshire (not great in poor weather - but better than being exposed on the Welsh mountains). Both walks were anticipated to be 7hours of walking (excluding breaks). We opted for the Peckofrton Range as the forecast was showing rain into mid-morning and the 34km planned route was logged into the Garmin.

Driving through persistent drizzle on the way to rendezvous at The Pheasant, did not bode well for today's walk. Mark had fully filled his 3Litre Camelbak and thrown in two bottles of Lucozade Sport for good measure, a handful of Clif Bars, a tuna and cucumber sandwich, two pairs of socks, a mid-layer fleece as well as all the usual navigational paraphinalia he carries - seldom had his pack weighed so much. In true F1 style, we agreed on a two stop strategy of not more than 10minutes to try and start preparing for being supported by our crew. The plan was to stop after 2.5 hours and 5 hours leaving us a 2 hour walk to the finish.

The Tramway from the bottom

We set off from the Pheasant at 9.10am and headed off for the trail which would take us to the now infamous Tramway (see our previous blog on this). Now Mark had yet to experience the Tramway. He had heard the tales of those who had gone before him and survived to tell the tale. "How hard can it be?" he asked himself having previously survived The Cloud cliff path and Shutlingsloe Hill. On approaching the bottom of the Tramway - he soon had his answer.

The vision of two parallel lines disappearing and curving upwards was enough to turn the legs to jelly even before we got started. Martin explained there was only one rule - no swearing on the way up. A few gulps of water and and a with a wry smile from Martin they set off. Mark was soon regretting tackling this early in the walk with a full backpack. The 'no swearing' rule was quickly broken and Mark was not even half way up before the burning sensation in the calves started. 


Step by gruelling step we climbed, the mud in between the sleepers slippery underfoot, the distance between the sleepers making it a further to reach than climbing steps and as we got further in, it began to fell like a ladder - Jacob's ladder perhaps, we're ascending to heaven, we must be dead - Mark began to hallucinate as the sound of his heartbeat pounded in his ears and Martin decided to film it so that it could be enjoyed posthumously by others who thought to attempt the Tramway.

The drizzle keeps on coming...

At last we reached the top, legs completely jellified and looked back down the track now looking more like a descent into Hell than a Stairway to Heaven. Other than that - we  can thoroughly recommend it! Gradually descending Bulkeley Hill with heartrate recovering we headed gradually down the back and round Bickerton Hill. 

As we began to climb towards the summit, we realised we'd taken a slight wrong turn and were meant to go down to the bottom again before taking a trail up the face. Retracing our steps we were soon looking up the face of Bickerton Hill but the marked path was nowhere to be found until we spotted what looked like a trail running straight up the face. 
"That must be it" we decided so started on upwards only to realise that this was probably a route cleared by badgers as the undergrowth soon closed in on us. With the Tramway only a recent memory, we found ourselves once again heading steeply upwards on not so much a trail as a stream bed carved out by rushing water. Eventually we returned to the trail at the top which took us round the top fo Bickerton Hill as the drizzle beagn to ease and we began to descend once more.

By the time we had reached the bottom of the hill we were bang on 2.5 hours and searched for a convenient perch for a pitstop. Martin managed to make a bus-stop magically appear so the opportunity was taken to take a load off, scoff a sandwich, Clif bar, down a bottle of Lucozade and change socks (well for Mark in anycase). All managed nicely in 10 minutes and we were off again pleased we could manage it in the allotted time.

Looking out from Raw Head

The quick re-fuel stood us in good stead for the ascent to Raw Head, the highest point on the Sandstone Trail and this was quickly dispatched as we headed back towards The Pheasant to mark the first half of the walk and bottom part of this 'figure-of-eight'. At 3hrs and 45minutes for the first half of the walk (the hilly bit) with a stop thrown in we were quite pleased with progress knowing the next half was out onto the Cheshire Plain and other than the ascent at the end should be quick. What we had failed to take into account however was that water runs downhill, off mountains and into fields.

The Cheshire Plain unfolds in front

Passing first Peckforton then Beeston Castle and over the Shropshire Union Canal, the Sandstone Trail  became a tad boggy underfoot. This was nothing compared to what was to come. The route took us off the Sandstone Trail on a public footpath towards the Eddisbury Way.

As we approached the point we would leave the Sandstone Trail, there was no sign of the footpath as the farmer had recenlty tilled the field. Nothing else for it but to plough on (pun intended) across the field gradually picking bits of it up on our trail shoes as we progressed and feeling steadily heavier with each step. Finally reaching the stile in the corner of the field we hopped over to find a field full of thigh deep (waist deep on Martin) wet grass and no desire line where the path should be. A quick glance at each other and across we went boldly going were others seemed to feared to have tread. At least the grass had cleaned the mud off the shoes and we expressed relief we had yet to remove our waterproof trousers. This was proving harder going than the hilly section.

Beeston Castle

Climbing over a stile-bridge-stile combination, Mark managed to slip and plant his left foot briefly into a pool of stagnant water - not pleasant but merely preparation for the next field. An electrified fence guided us along the boundary of the field until we reached a flooded section of ankle deep water. Nowhere to go other than over the electrified fence and round it. 

We soon found however that the field was perhaps more suitable for the growing of rice. With each step we found water deeper than our boots would permit and after several attempts at trying to find dryish spots, we decided to embrace our watery fate and just went for it. 

Once again we broke the 'no swearing' rule as we splashed through the flood knowing not even the miracle of GoreTex would be capable of preventing the inevitable squelchy trudge that would follow.

After clearing what we hoped would be the worst of the fields and reaching the Eddisbury Way and concluding this must be better- because it has a name (though I won't share the string of expletives we called the preceeding footpath) we decided to at last have a well earned pit-stop after 5hrs and 45minutes. Again setting aside 10 minutes, Mark demolished his other sandwich, a Clif bar, downed another bottle of Lucozade Sport before changing his socks and retiring a fairly sodden pair to the backpack. It was also welcoming to ditch the waterproof coat and change the sweat-soaked T-Shirt (a big welcome relief). As Martin's change of socks were waiting at the car, the best he could do was tip the surplus water out of his boot and then we were off down the Eddisbury Way which was mildly better than the 'Footpath-now-known-as-a-string-of-expletives'.

Having damp feet and soaked boots raised the increased possiblity of blisters as the skin softened, but there was little choice than to press on. As we did so we came across several groups of DoE teams and not wishing to look like a pair of guys, who are walking this way because they've already done 25km and have soaked feet, we set about overhauling the whipper-snappers and by the time we came to climb Peckforton Hill, we had overhauled three of the teams. Feeling chuffed, we hit the hill with gusto and hit the magic 33.33km figure at 7hrs 20minutes - one-third of Trailwalker! Mulling over what time that might translate to over the 100km we hit the next obstacle, a series of stepped plateaus created with logs, each one seeming to get higher than the preceeding one. It was good to see after this length of walk we still had enough in us to climb and then we were descending through the grounds of Peckforton Castle and out of the gate.

Martin then reminded Mark we still had to go up through 'that field' and it dawned on Mark the climb wasn't yet over and worse still, the field had also just been tilled, meaning another long trudge over freshly turned soil. At last coming over the final hill and descending to The Pheasant, we realised how much our feet were aching and mulled the prospect of having to do it another two times to reach Trailwalker distance. As we reached the cars and began to deposit our gear, Martin removed his socks and wrung out a trickle of water from each and after a quick change into dry socks and trainers, we walked like a pair of gunslingers into the Saloon of the The Pheasant and downed a pint of Weetwood's finest. Never has a pint tasted so good or been drunk so eagerly (well except perhaps in Ice Cold in Alex).

The walk turned out to be 36.53km with 706m of climb in 8hrs 8minutes and thankfully we were blister free.

12/05/2012 - Training on The Roaches

Following a good evening walk on Wednesday where Mark, Martin and Lee were joined by Support Team member Simon (managing to shave 6minutes off their previous time), plans were made for Saturday's 6 hour walk to The Roaches and back.

The trig point on Gun Hill with The Roaches behind

Meeting up at 9am at the now infamous Knot Inn in Rushton Spencer, Mark, Lee and Martin set off into the unknown as none of us had ever taken this route before. Despite the apparent good weather for a change, it rapidly became clear that the Peak District had received more than its fair share of the recent heavy rainfall, fields had become boggy and thoughts turned to whether or not we should have donned boots instead of trail shoes but we persevered on the steady climb to the top of Gun Hill which seemed to pass very quickly.

To add to the boggy fields problem, we seemed to come across more and more electric cattle fences blocking our path with no convenient means of unhooking. We have developed a knack for dealing with these using our walking poles. While the shafts are aluminium the rubber handles keep us insulated allowing the wire to be lifted or pressed down allowing teammates to pass. Martin always seems all to willing to test this out and sacrifice himself for his teammates in this respect.

Hen Cloud getting closer

From the top of Gun Hill we descended to Tittesworth Reservoir, a place where Mark has brought his kids to feed the ducks on previous occasions but as this marked the low point and Hen Cloud was becoming ever more present we started our upward path. The plan was to go around the base of Hen Cloud and ascend from the far side, coming over the top and down towards The Roaches. As we crossed the ford near Upper Hulme, we lost all sign of the footpath we needed to take, no signs, no desire lines, no stiles and no gates. We retraced our steps and still nothing, so a quick examination of the map and we changed the plan to approach Hen Cloud from the front and walk round the base of the hill itself which meant walking back the way we had come.

The cliffs on Hen Cloud

Noting signs warning us that some paths were closed due to nesting Peregrine Falcons we wondered whether this would affect our plan but it didn't and they remained safely undisturbed in their nests. This route took us past Roaches Hall which looked a nice little place and we soon started our ascent to the top. Arriving at the top, we took in the view and the rugged beauty of this place and after 3hours of walking decided this would be a good spot for a a bite to eat so setting aside 10 minutes we tucked into sandwiches, Lucozade, peanuts and Polly's 'energy cake' which she had dispatched Lee with. After throwing in the now customary foot check for Mark, we were soon descending Hen Cloud and heading up The Roaches.

Climbers on The Roaches

The Roaches is a very popular with walkers and climbers alike and today was no exception as the trails and cliff faces were teeming with people. At one point we could see Lee eyeing up the climbers taking the 'vertical' route and pondering but we managed to drag him away before he could come up with another sadistic test for us.

We passed Doxey's Pool where legend has it a mermaid lives and entices victims into the depths of this 'bottomless' pool. Though no evidence existed today, we didn't linger too long and carried on to the trig point passing some interesting windswept and eroded rocks on the way.

No mermaid at Doxey's Pool today

Once passed the trig point we were again coming down and the route had been planned to take us through Lud's Church somewhere Martin and Lee had never been before and a place steeped in legend. The route was fairly arduous as the trail was boggy, fast flowing rainwater had eroded the peat to expose tree roots and high winds had brought trees down across the path making it heavy going. Dropping carefully into the chasm in the rock, we worked our way along the bottom, stopping to check on the geocache hidden there (a hobby of Mark's) and sign the logbook before working our way to the very muddy exit.

The Lud's Church chasm

Back on the trail which was in much better condition we worked our way back towards the end of The Roaches and along the boundary of Swythamley Hall and noted a number of large felled trees and wondered whether the recent Oxfordshire tornado had detoured this way. In the valley below we noted a building and reading the letters on the side identified th as the 'Wincle Brewery'. A detour was debated to the brewery but then we felt better of it as we we had pie and chips awaiting in the Knot Inn. It was at this 22km point Mark suddenly got an inconvenient twinge in his right calf but he managed to stretch it out.

We completed this 27.5km with 663m climb training walk in 6hrs 12minutes, a little longer than we had been looking for but put this down mainly to the conditions underfoot and negotiating the many electric fences.

05/05/2012 - Trailwalker Prep Session and Training on The South Downs - Pt2

Our plan following the Prep Session was to train on the Trailwalker route starting at Checkpoint 5 (Washington) to Checkpoint 7 (Devil's Dyke). Our logic behind this is that as we previously discussed in our blog, Stage 7 is arguably the hardest section of the trail with Stage 6 not far behind. It's likely that these stages will be done as we hit nightfall, we'll have already walked a long way and then we'll have to face the biggest climb on Trailwalker to the top of Truleigh Hill.

Mark was also taking the opportunity to test his Spot Messenger - a device which enables friends and family to track the team, and allows messages to be sent confirming all is OK or even issue an SOS (not that we're planning on using it) all by satellite where mobile signal is absent. In tracking mode it issues a location every ten minutes which should help the Support Team anticipate our arrival. The track can be seen here (well until we delete it anyway).
 

Chactonbury Hill

To do these stages presented somewhat of a logistical problem. Simon was going to walk stage 6 with us and then retire so he needed to leave a car near to Checkpoint 6. Mark, Lee and Polly drove to Devil's Dyke and arriving at the car park were blown away by the stunning view. It's a pity that it will be dark when we get here on Trailwalker. Leaving Lee's car in the car park, the gear was loaded onto Mark's and we headed for the Car Park near Checkpoint 5 collecting Simon on the way. This process took us nearly 2 hours. One thing we did note was the traffic congestion the closer we got to the coastal roads, it was Saturday and the out of town shopping parks were busy - this is likely to be worse in Summer so perhaps routes for the Support Team need to avoid.

Lee and Polly on the trail climbing Chactonbury Hi

Arriving at the car park at Washington on the East side of A24 presented a further small logistical problem. We had to cross over the A24 Dual Carriageway to find Checkpoint 5 but as this is actually in a field which is out of bounds during non-Trailwalker hiking we had to take a detour round it in order to reach the start of the route. This at least gave us a brief taste of the trails which given the recent rainfall were well churned up by hikers, horse riders and cyclists. We imagined what they would be like after a couple of thousand people had trudged it and decided it was probably a good argument for an earlier start.

Pond or path? You decide...

As we reached the southern side of the field, Chactonbury Hill came into view as we descended back to the A24 crossing the road using the public footpath through North Side Farm rather than being able to access the official Trailwalker road crossing and we were soon back on the official route, climbing the hill. The trail at this point was vehicle width, very chalky and full of flint. We could imagine the chalk becoming very slippery when wet (sounds like a good name for an album) and the uneven flint was felt with each footstep. The climb was steady and not particularly arduous and we were soon at the top and on the gradual gradient down again.

Taking note of where Checkpoint 6 will be we decided to take a 10minute break to simulate the stop, have a quick snack and Mark took the opportunity to change socks as well (well the simulation had to be accurate) while Lee timed the stop (yes - we trusted him with a clock!). The opportunity was taken to scoff a piece of Polly's 'Energy Cake' as well. 

The ten minutes over, we headed from Checkpoint 6 and crossed the River Adur where we said farewell to Simon (he counted us out and will count us all back in again) as he departed for his car and we trudged along the muddy path at the side of the river observing a large group of young swans gracefully swimming against the strong current.

Crossing the Rubicon, sorry, I mean Adur.

At near sea level, the River Adur marks the low point of the trail and weaving our way through Upper Beeding we found the track which would take us up to the top of Truleigh Hill - a 200m climb the biggest on Trailwalker. The track is quite straight and the initial section is the steepest part , this gradient starts to ease but just seems to prolong the climb to the top where the masts sit. The masts are a very useful landmark for gauging how much further it is to the top. Once at the top, unfortunately it's not downhill to Devil's Dyke. There are a series of rolling hills between you and Checkpoint 7. We passed the sign marking 'Fulking Escarpment' taking the opportunity to remark something similar as we went into the next climb.

Masts mark the top of Truleigh Hill - a good landmark

Polly noted a walker in the distance and set the team a target of overhauling this lone walker.  We seemed to gain ground on the uphill sections only to find this lone walker was running the downhills so we lost ground again. Eventually and only as we approached Checkpoint 7 did we eventually catch up only to find this was a fellow Trailwalker (The Champagne Chicks) who had already been walking most of the day on her own and had decided she would go to Checkpoint 8 before calling her boyfriend to pick her up! We bid her good luck as we turned at the National Trust Devil's Dyke sign and headed to the Car Park near the Devil's Dyke pub and managed to avoid the temptation of a quick pint before heading to our digs.

Devil's Dyke distant with rolling hills in between.

We completed the 23.36km in 4hrs 34minutes with a climb of 492m this was a good way ahead of the 5hrs we thought it would take us (mainly due to Polly 'Pace Setter' methinks). The stats for this walk are here.

It was great to finally experience the South Downs and the scenery we have seen so much of in photographs provided by other teams. We were amazed how far you can see inland to the North and out to sea in the South. It was well worth the effort to come down and do some of the course knowing the next time it will be the real deal. 



From hereon in, our training ramps up again as we add an hour to our long walk each week up to the event. Our next training walk takes us back to The Peak District and a route taking us from Rushton Spencer, over Gun Hill, down to Tittesworth Reservoir, up Hen Cloud, along The Roaches past Luds Church and back to Rushton Spencer. This 28km walk should give us nearly 700m of climb and hopefully great views if the weather is half decent.

05/05/2012 - Trailwalker Prep Session and Training on The South Downs - Pt1

This Saturday was the Oxfam Trailwalker Preparation Session at Queen Elizabeth Country Park. We had decided to book the 9.30am session to allow us time to get training for the first time on the South Downs Way afterward.

Martin had already decided it was too far to drive down and decided he'd rather stay and watch the footie. Lee knowing his issues with timekeeping had driven down the night before with Polly and Simon had stayed overnight in Banbury. Mark decided to drive the 200miles on the morning and arrived bright and early at the Visitor Centre at 8.30am and was shortly joined by Simon. No sign of Red Leader and Polly but theres was still plenty of time for him to make an entrance, though we weren't expecting it to be at 10:15am due to breakfast being served late and a 'navigational time issue'. Lets hope things are smoother the next time we come here!

The running order was Tom from Oxfam, followed by Gurkha Gopal and then Tony, Mark and Jo from the Brixham Badgers.

Tom is doing Trailwaker with a team himself and has been training on the course. He ran through training schedules, team roles and the support team role and then it was over to Gurkha Gopal .

There he was stood in combat gear, a little guy with a great smile and sense of humour but obviously as hard as nails. He explained that he'd done Trailwalker four times, three times in the UK and once in Australia. His fastest time was just over 11 hours and his slowest around 14hours though this year he doesn't have a team - yet.

He went on to explain how the Gurkha's approach this 'run' (a term he continued to use much to our amusement). He explained that they spend no more than 2 minutes at a checkpoint enough to charge themselves with fuel and change socks though he confessed he wears the same pair throughout often wearing a hole through them! This F1 style of pitstop was made more interesting when he added that their Support Team have to point their vehicle in the direction of the exit to ensure they make it to the next checkpoint before them! By all accounts they don't drink a great deal as he indicated the team go through about 30litres of water between them. For salt replacement, they use sliced apple sprinkled with salt.

He ran through the timings of the starts and the need to register on the Friday evening and that the Gurkha Cultural Event is a must attend to get into the spirit of Trailwalker. He did also say that while camping is available at the start this may not result in a decent nights sleep which is why the Gurkhas stay away. Interesting to note was that camping is available at Brighton Race Course from Saturday evening so the Support Team can set themselves a base.
 
Water is available at checkpoints to top up bottles and camelbaks though this may mean queueing so perhaps sticking with Plan A and carrying our own water is best advised. Sometimes food or chocolate bar treats are available at intermediate checkpoints along with hot/cold drinks and at checkpoint 7 there is a hot meal though he cautioned that a lot of people drop out here. This he put down to a combination of it being night, tiredness and then taking on board a meal so perhaps caution advised not to eat too much or linger too long. The Gurkhas will be there to applaud us in at each checkpoint and motivate us with the sound of the pipes at the finish line.

Next up were Tony, Mark and Jo of the Brixham Badgers. Like us they had lost a teammate in training and had to replace him and they stressed the importance of training on hills to prepare for Trailwalker. Their training adopted the '10% Rule' gradually increasing the distance each week in the run up to the event. Their plan was to build in time in the second half of the walk and gain encouragement from beating their plan which included blitzing the hill in the final stages.

The support team were very well organised. Each walker had their own box of clothing and gear. At each checkpoint, the walkers were greeted by the support team and lead to the vehicle where 4 chairs were arranged around a square blanket with their stuff infront. Pit stops were kept to a minimum 20-25mins with the exception of one afforded half way of nearly an hour because the team were well ahead of schedule. The Support Team used a flag mounted above the vehicle so it could easily be found at each checkpoint and this was handed to the team at the last checkpoint so the support team could see them coming and cheer them in at Brighton.

It was also interesting to note that Support Team members can walk down the trail to meet the walkers, take instructions and run back to the Support Team. They can also walk with the team up the trail from the checkpoint as a boost before turning round and coming back.

Last year they explained it rained for the first 10 hours and suggested that 'waterproof' is a relative term. Beyond the halfway stage two of their teammates started to suffer with knee and foot problems including monumental blisters and continued the rest of Trailwalker in pain which apparently was only eased with the use of walking poles. On the same subject, they recommended anticipating pain management and alternate between nurofen and paracetamol over the duration of the walk. Despite the adversity of injuries and bad weather, they managed to complete the walk in 27hours 53minutes raising £2,770.50 for Oxfam and The Gurkha Welfare Trust. To read their blog in full you can find it here.

The Prep Session ended and we agreed it had been a useful experience especially to listen to those who had been there and done it. One thing that doesn't really come out in blogs is the mental and emotional side of doing this as everyone expects physical pain. The Brixham Badgers managed to reduce a few members of the audience to tears as they described their highs and lows - we need to prepare for that. Thanks to Mark, Tony and Jo for putting it together and getting up at 5am to be there.

We headed for the cars for the next phase of the day - training on the Trailwalker Route at last.