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.

31/03/2012 - Training Walk #11 - Croker Strikes Back

The weather had certainly broken as we drove to Rushton Spencer this morning. A misty gloom with slight drizzle had descended and had us wondering what conditions may be like at the top of Croker Hill. Martin met us at the car park at the back of the Knot Inn which given he would be driving to Cambridge after our walk to pick his son up from University certainly showed commitment.

Approaching Golden Hill

We were heading up a route Lee and Mark had walked previously to the top of Croker Hill and then descending it and coming back a different way. On our previous outing, it had taken us 1hour and 50minutes to the top of Croker Hill so with that in mind we set off at a brisk pace. We found it a lot easier this time as the mist wasn't as bad as before, it had begun to clear and the route was familiar from a month ago.

The Cloud in er....cloud.

As we climbed steadily from the Dane Valley we could see other local hilltop landmarks coming into view. One of our regular favourites, The Cloud was shrouded with mist and as we looked around we could see The Roaches and Hen Cloud, somewhere we have yet to experience and agreed that it would have to be part of a future training walk at some point. As we cleared the top of Golden Hill heading for Croker Hill, we identified Tegg's Nose and Macclesfield Forest in the distance and thought that would be another good walk extension to have at some point.

The Roaches and Hen Cloud imposing in the distance

 We ascended Croker Hill and touched the gates to the BT tower after 1hour and 35minutes - a good 15minutes quicker than our previous attempt. At an average 5.0km/h we were pleased with this, so we broke out the energy bars and started our descent back and into unfamiliar territory.

As we descended through a field we came upon our first group of Scouts heading towards us, the first of many groups we would see as they navigated with map and compass. 

Croker Hill - we can see it this time!

 It was heartwarming to see so many kids doing this. Realising that Trailwalker has a minimum age of 18 we decided we couldn't recruit any of them for our 4th member and besides, they would probably only show us up.

The only slight confusion on the walk back was where a footpath ran through a farmyard and the farmer appeared to have done as much as possible to remove markers and make the route as uncomfortable as possible. Once off the Gritstone Trail,we ran out of the steady stream of Scouts and the path became very scenic, taking us up and downhill, through fields and woodland back towards Rushton Spencer.

We arrived back at the cars in 3hours and 50minutes, a good 30minutes faster than we had expected overall. A celebratory pint was called for in the Knot Inn, though Martin with the drive to Cambridge to follow restricted himself to a quick Coke. Salivating at the pies being served up, a plan was hatched for future, longer training walks where a small break might be in order - sorted.

Lee and Martin contemplate carrying on to Tegg's Nose

The total climb today was 497m which was less than was expected with a total distance of 17.88m at an average speed of 4.7km/h but at 27.8m/km this was one of our toughest yet. The stats for this walk are here.

Total team distance walked so far in training (not including some individual stuff by Lee and Martin) is 471km with 9521m of climb (Everest weighs in at 8850m) and we've been walking for 7 days 3hours and 28minutes.....and counting! There's still a long way to go - but we're happy with the way the training is going so far. Now, about that 4th member......