19/07/2012 - Trailwalker 2012 (Part 3)

"He was probably just joking" Polly suggested. "No, he wasn't. He was serious, Simon wouldn't joke about something like that". So it meant instead of a 3.5 hour hike unsupported we were going to be more like 6 hours. We had enough food and water to take us to Checkpoint 4. Water would be on hand to re-fill at least and we'd have to grab what we could from the Admin Tents.

Chalky, muddy, gooey, sludgy - mess.

Of concern though was that Mark had planned sock changes on even numbered Checkpoints. Martin had yet to change at all and was looking forward to a change at Checkpoint 4 which he'd now have to extend to Checkpoint 5. None of us had brought spare socks with us on this basis. To make matters worse, the thunder was continuing and the rain when it fell was torrential.

The trail had worsened further in the recent rain which fell while we were at Checkpoint 2 and parts of the path had become completely submerged. This started to cause a few bottlenecks as walkers headed for the only dry bit available and on some occasions meant an already well-trodden diversion off the trail into a field or woodland.


 

More ominous black clouds

The chalky nature of the soil on the South Downs make it extremely slippery once it gets wet. It is unlike any of the mud we'd trained in and we have trained in some serious mud but chalk is something we don't have in in the north-west of England. 

The walk to Checkpoint 3 was becoming a trudge thorough muddy fields with an alternating "rain on - rain off" pattern. 

Its the sun! Break out the Factor 50!

Eventually  as we got closer to Checkpoint 3, the sun started to come out and once again the waterproof clothing started to be removed, this time in the full belief that was it, the rain had gone and now the sun was coming out.

Entering Checkpoint 3 we decided to grab some hot drinks and sat/lay on the grass for a rest in the sunshine. For the first time since the start, we were greeted by Paul from Jon Paul Tom and Olly who were also making decent progress. We had managed Stage 3 in 1hr and 32mins, 9minutes faster than scheduled and with their being little else to do, we set off for Checkpoint 4 after 10 minutes.

Now some mist.

As we climbed up the hill from Checkpoint 3, we bumped into the Mental Orientals, one of the teams who had come on Gurkha training and were in the 6am starters just as once again, the heavens opened and this time - it really let rip. 

The path became a running torrent of milky coloured water carving its way downwards like a raging serpent and as we ascended, the rain intensified to the point where we thought we now knew what a stair-rod looked like. 



As we walked, we were caught up by a lone walker whose team were a little way back and he informed us he'd done it last year and despite the long period of rain they had then - this was far, far worse. He advised us to just keep thinking about the next Checkpoint and visualise yourself on that podium and we would make it to the finish. We drew some comfort from this advice and plodded on.

Somewhere in the mist between CP3 and CP4

The rain continued and things seemed to get colder. Whether they were actually getting colder or whether it was the effect of the cold, clammy sweaty interior of our waterproofs upon which we had placed such high expectations only to find the words of the Brixham Badgers ringing in my ears - "Waterproof is a relative term". 

It became questionable as to whether it was worth bothering with waterproofs at all. Lee hadn't bothered with waterproof trousers on the basis they took as quick to dry as they did to get wet but what was clear is that the conditions were sapping our enthusiasm. 

This was no longer fun and was becoming more of an ordeal made worse by knowing we wouldn't see the Support Crew at Checkpoint 4 and we all now needed socks and clothing changes. Descending into Checkpoint 4  after 1hour 45minutes we were greeted firstly by a lone Gurkha doing his best to scrape the path clear of mud with a piece of 2"x 2" rather unsuccessfully. We were then greeted almost knowingly by probably some of the most enthusiastic Oxfam volunteers we'd met so far whooping, hollering and high-fiving on the way in. 

The place was a mess though. Water was now standing on the surface and everywhere we walked with our hot teas and coffees, water just squelched out. Mark ventured over to the water truck to refill his Camelbak not sure whether or not he was actually filling it with diesel or unleaded but was beyond caring at this point. With a 14minute stop done we decided to get out of Dodge and head off towards Checkpoint 5 where at least we could look forward to some hot food and dry clothes.

As we left Checkpoint 4 we noted a number of Support Teams were meeting up with the walkers in lanes and lay-bys - if only we'd thought of that. Conversation had now subsided, even Martin, the one we can always rely on to lift our spirits with a bit of humour was quiet, a sign that things weren't good. 

Ascending to the top of Stage 5

The trek over the top of Checkpoint 5 seemed to be an endless trudge over the top. There was no view due to the misty shroud that had engulfed us, just the path in front  which seemed to go on monotonously disappearing into the mist. 

Trying not to look at the Garmin to see how much further to the Checkpoint was difficult as everyone knows "a watched pot doesn't boil" and each time we did, we'd not progressed as far as we thought.




We had become walking automatons and this was an early low point for the team. Knowing that we were battering our schedule we agreed we'd have a decent stop at Checkpoint 5 to reinvigorate ourselves. Eventually the walkie-talkies burst into life - "Red Harrows, Red Harrows - how are you doing guys?". We gave our ETA and list of requests, hot food, clothes changes, sock changes and re-taping and before much longer after 2hours and 18minutes and 10hrs 19minutes overall, we reached the halfway point anda s usual, Ted at the end of the last 400m to the Checkpoint. "Be careful" he advised, "it's not pretty down this last bit". He wasn't wrong. 

The muddy slope down into Checkpoint 5

This last section of path is one we had done in training  when we covered Stages 6 and 7 and we remembered it then as being bad wondering what it might be like after a 1000 pairs of boots. 

The mud was beyond ankle deep and everyone was walking along the edge clinging to the fence. Once into the Checkpoint, we had to negotiate a muddy slope where our Support Crew informed us they had seen many a walker go over.


Reaching the Team gazebo, Mark  dropped into a chair and looked up at the concern in Kate's face and said "I'm not sure I can go on hun".

To be continued......