As with previous weeks the plan was to walk a trail one week, then try it again a week later to see how we'd improved fitness wise.
Stage 5 covers Houghton to Washington, at 12.5km it's one of the longer stages on the course - as with all the stages it seems to start and end with steep climbs - but the central part seems fairly level.
Parking at Amberley station, after a short walk along the main road we joined the South Downs Way and started a long, and steep at times, climb up a combination of roads, clay/gravel tracks and a hill.
Once at the top of the initial climb, the way pretty much levels out - to the north and south of the track the ground slopes away to provide views right down to give expansive views in all directions.
As we approached 3 hours of walking the track started sloping downward through fields, then into some woodland and then finally a tarmac road which led to the edge of the A24. Once again the Trailwalker instructions weren't great as it tells us not to cross the A24 at this point, so we re-traced our steps, found the path we were meant to take and eventually found the check point, a field next to a private school.
On checking the time for this 7.17 mile leg we found we'd done it in just under 3 hours, so within the target time for doing the whole walk in 24 hours, which was good news.
We continued on from the checkpoint through the grounds of the school, crossed the A24 on the flyover, and then found another slope upwards. On the cross section drawing on the Trailwalker instructions this looks a scary, steep climb, but in truth it was a long, not too steep, climb up through hills on a gravel track. Once at the top again we were afforded fantastic views in all directions as we headed to "Chanctonbury Ring" perched high in the South Downs. From here the track slopes gently down to the next check point but as we had been walking for around 4 hours we ate lunch then turned round.
As we headed back the skies got slowly greyer, to the north we could see black clouds and rain and prayed they would stay north. But as we as we got closer to Amberley the rain started and we switched to waterproofs just before a period of torrential rain and hail - proof that the weather can turn bad quick and be very nasty, hopefully this won't happen on the day. Views that had shown the River Arun meandering around Amberley on the way out were now non-existent due to the cloud.
The rain eased and we arrived wet but relieved at Amberley station. Just under 18 miles in 7 hours 20 minutes, so a good walk.
A week later we set out on the same route, this time the rain was already falling as we parked up - so this gave us a chance to check out our waterproofs, see how our boots coped with puddles, etc.
At the top of the hill the views were still good - with our expert geographical knowledge we're predicting an oxbox lake to form in the River Arun just north of Amberley in the next few thousand years, and from the looks of the fields the people of Sussex are now growing rice.
As we headed along the track the conditions couldn't have been more of a contrast to the previous week - the rolling views were gone and time was spent dodging the puddles scattered along the track.
We passed the couple of car parks situated along the route before reaching a cattle barn and decided to turn round due to the bad weather and the worry some waterproofs weren't as water proof as we hoped!
The walk back saw the rain ease a bit but it was still pretty grey and horrible as we arrived back at Amberley station. We'd only managed a 9.41 mile walk, but a good exercise for checking out waterproofs and new methods of blister prevention.
Next week we start at Washington and attempt to complete stages 6 and 7, getting all the way to Devil's Dyke (there's a pub!) - from the cross sections stage 7 looks another steep up hill.
Date: 22 Apr 2012 8:57 am
Distance: 17.8 miles
Elapsed Time: 7:24:11
Avg. Speed: 2.4 mph
Max. Speed: 5.7 mph
Avg. Pace: 24' 59" per mile
Date: 29 Apr 2012 8:59 am
Distance: 9.41 miles
Elapsed Time: 3:49:27
Avg. Speed: 2.5 mph
Max. Speed: 4.6 mph
Avg. Pace: 24' 22" per mile
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