25/04/2012 - Training Walk #16 - A Wet and Muddy Evening Stroll and a Giant Leap for The Red Harrows

Tonight it was our fortnightly night walk, though perhaps evening walk is more of an accurate description given that since the clocks went forward and nights have started to shorten, the vast majority of this after-work-yomp is now in daylight and twilight with the last 10 minutes or so in darkness. We proposed to do the same route as our first night walk which takes us from near the Belle Mont Pub at the top of Frodsham, past the golf course, into Delamere Forest and back round the top of Frodsham along Beacon Hill.

Although it wasn't really dark, it was wet and boggy in places particularly as some of the paths are bridleways and our equine friends do like to cut these trails up in a big way. Our previous time for this walk was 2hrs and 57minutes and we weren't really expecting to beat this, but set off at a good early pace as the second half of this walk gets a bit tricky in the woodland and along the cliff edges so care is needed.

It was drizzling from the off so the first real chance to test our waterproof gear and backpack rain covers. Mark having broken in a pair of Merrel Ventilator Refuge Pro GTX (not fuel injected or turbo charged but do keep your feet dry) at the weekend opted to break in a new pair of Merrel Moab Mid GTX for this one and is happy to report they performed very well given they were immersed up to the ankle on several occasions.

You may recall the first time we did this walk, Mark made an attempt at a gate vault - something he hadn't done since he was knee-high to a grasshopper (not that he ever was) and given we were doing the same route and in celebration of the team achieving the revised fundraising target of £3,000 (more on this later), he decided to give it another go on the same gate - judge for yourself....

Triumphantly the team carried on towards Delamere with the pace still well above our previous walk. The drizzle stopped briefly and the clouds started to break and we began to convince ourselves that was our lot for the evening, though as we started the ascent into the woodland above Frodsham, the failing light combined with the breeze picking up and more drizzle making things a little difficult underfoot. We had decided to forego the headtorches as we convinced ourselves our night vision would see us to the finish which perhaps was a little over ambitious as the path began to deteriorate to 'bog' standard and Martin missed a tree root in the darkness causing a comedy sideways stumble, though the resultant injury to his hand was no laughing matter. Okay, it was a small scratch - we're blokes and prone to exaggeration but Martin assures us it hurt like hell (well a bit) and would need alchohol as an antidote.

Reaching the cars in 2hrs and 44 minutes (later corrected to 2hrs 47minutes by the Garmin), the team were pleased with the result and departed for the now traditional post walk Fish 'n' Chips and pint of real ale. The walk stats are here.

We are also delighted to report that we have reached our £3,000 fundraising target and we would like to thank our recent sponsors - Ben, Suzanne, Sarah, Jenny B, Hannah Freakes, Hilary, Martin Mowforth, Anonymous, another Sarah, Caroline, Adam and our fellow Trailwaker Team - The Dorset Dawdlers for helping us get through our target! We're delighted to have got this far so soon and it has exceeded our expections so we can now focus on the training which is great.

This weekend, Martin and Lee will be off for a 6hr, 27km walk in the Peckforton Hills while Mark is away at a wedding and Polly is stuck up North. Look forward to the blog chaps - hope it stays dry for you!

07/04/2012 - Training Walk #13 - Spoiling a Good Walk

With Lee and Polly in Scotland it was left to Mark and Martin for this week's training. The schedule demanded a 4.5 hour walk this week so a 23km route using another part of the Sandstone Trail was planned to get some distance in rather than elevation for a change.

Beeston Castle on its rocky perch

After an 8.30am meet up in the car park of the Shady Oak we set off to round Beeston Hill and upon closer examination were glad it was off-limits as the impressively steep cliffs that surround it would have had Lee attempting to ascend it had he been with us.

Leaving Beeston we headed across country where it was relatively soft underfoot from the heavy rainfall the night before, towards the town of Tarporley. It was market day in Tarporley so we looked a little out of place as we yomped up the main street with walking poles in hand before veering off down a side street to head back out into the countryside and into Portal Golf Club.

Tarporley High Street

Portal Golf Club is probably best described as fairly 'exclusive' and known to be frequented by many a footballer past and present. It seemed a little odd to have a public right of way across several fairways and much like Tarporley High Street, the golf course was busy with many a golfer on the tee, fairway and green as we cut through their play taking a direct line and trying to keep an eye for the odd mis-hit shot and trying not to upset too many of them.




Relieved we managed to survive the Golf Course we left the those spoiling a good walk and headed to the little village of Eaton to the sound of the drone of cars running round the nearby Oulton Park Race Circuit. Thankfully there are no public rights of way across Oulton Park and the thought of playing Frogger with racing cars didn't appeal in any case so we were left to admire the thatched properties in Eaton as we strolled through.

Portal Golf Club - Fore!

As we left Eaton and climbed upwards along Lighfoot Lane, the by now unmistakeable 'thwack' of a golf ball being struck nearby was a little startling as we then broke out once again into Portal Golf Club and ran the gauntlet of what turned out surprisingly to be a second course (apparently there are three!). 

Relieved to once again escape the 'Plus-fours' brigade we crossed the busy A49 and headed to Utkinton and once through the village soon picked up the Sandstone Trail to take us  back to Beeston.

The Sandstone Trail with Beeston in the background

By comparison to the public footpaths we had been on, the Sandstone Trail is more trafficked, the trail much better marked and stiles/gates are few  - much as we expect the South Downs Way to be. 

As we entered the fifth hour we began to contemplate our strategy for when we attempt the full 55km of the trail later in June as a pre-Trailwalker training walk. We agreed that 4hrs is probably the limit point where we would need a break, some food and probably change socks or boots or both so it's likely we'll divide it into 4 with 3 stops.



We returned to the Shady Oak for a quick pint completing the 23.35km walk in 4hrs 37minutes at an average pace of 5.1km/h which was to plan (for a change!). The stats are here.

Next weekend's walk will be Mark and Lee (assuming he's not cut-off by snow in Scotland) and the plan is to tackle the route we did in Training Walk #6 but this time in reverse, tackling the 200m ascent to The Cloud and then the gruelling 280m ascent to Croker Hill. We're hoping to shave an hour off our previous time so hopefully we'll have earned our pie and pint in the Knot Inn afterwards.