With the previous training walks taking place in very cold and icy conditions it was nice to set off in bright sunshine, enjoying the views over South Harting as we descended from check point 1 to the base of Beacon Hill.
At this point we surveyed the map and found that rather than following the South Downs Way around Beacon Hill the TrailWalker UK route decided to take us right over the top - hmm, cheers.
After a sit down at the top + some energy drinks, jelly babies and gentle heart massage we trekked on down a fairly steep incline, followed by a welcome level section, followed by another fairly steep walk up Treyford Hill past "Devil's Jumps" - a collection of Bronze Age burial grounds we were knowledgeably informed by John.
The track then meandered up and down through forests and arable land sparking some very intellectual conversation between Paul & Carl regarding crop rotation and the enclosure act.
Finally the track straightened for a gentle downhill, 4km stretch, that took us to the A286 and check point 2 - where we stopped for lunch before turning round and heading back.
The trek back was a struggle, Beacon and Treyford Hill on the way there along with the other undulations had been hard work - so doing it on the way back tired was even more effort, starting with the 4km stretch gently up hill - even Bev was spotted slightly out of breath at one point. We decided to follow the SDW way round Beacon Hill, rather than going over the summit, on the way back adding a fair distance to the trek but saving our knees!
All in all a hard walk that but it was good to get a feel for some of the more challenging terrain on the route - shows us what level of fitness and stamina we're going to need to do this. We were out for 6 hours , covering 14 miles (about 1/5th of the whole thing), and kept an average of 2.3 mph which isn't too bad. Good news is Tony's knee is still holding up too.
We're gonna head somewhere else next week, then attempt this walk again in two weeks as it's a good fitness builder + a chance to measure if we are actually getting fitter!
Date:
|
26 Feb 2012 10:38 am
|
|
Map:
|
||
Distance:
|
13.9 miles
|
|
Elapsed Time:
|
5:59:12
|
|
Avg Speed:
|
2.3 mph
|
|
Max Speed:
|
8.0 mph
|
|
Avg Pace:
|
25' 52" per mile
|
|
Min Altitude:
|
337 ft
|
|
Max Altitude:
|
850 ft
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment