Oxbow lakes & droughts

After walking the first four stages of the Trailwalker course quite extensively we decided to move on to stages 5 and beyond to see what scary hills and other delights were held in store for what will be the central part of the walk on the actual day.

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.

Our first attempt at the route started in glorious sunshine which let us enjoy the walk and also lift our spirits that this part of the trail won't be too bad on the day - especially if the weather is good.

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

Raves and Police Helicopters

Following on from the last blog the team pretty much took a break from training for one weekend - this was followed by Tony doing some training on one route, and John establishing the "John Challenge" - from QE Park to CheckPoint 2 and back.  He completed this 24 mile round trip in around 8 hours to set the bench mark for us all.

Paul attempted the "John Challenge" a week or so later and judging by his text messages when he reached the top of Beacon Hill thoroughly "enjoyed" it, especially the accumulation of blisters on his feet.

The Towis2 of Carl and Tony then decided to attempt CheckPoint 2 (Cocking Hill) to CheckPoint 4 (somewhere near Amberley!) - the plan being see how far we could get in around 4 hours and then turn around.  We'd then attempt the same route a week later to see how much we'd improved.

The route out of CheckPoint 2 starts with a long, steepish, climb (for a change) that saw a couple of "Pointy Moments" - obviously to admire the view, not in any way to catch our breath - before flattening out to a route that flirts with woodland.  The fact that this part of the walk wasn't too bad, along with the glorious weather and some fantastic views all around, made us feel that maybe the TrailWalker won't be that bad in places - if we can make it up a hill to be followed by a long fairly level stretch to catch our breath, speed up a bit, and enjoy the environment then it eases the pain.

After getting a bit lost by the directions as we descended toward CheckPoint 3 - the corn field mentioned doesn't seem to contain corn anymore and determining arable land from woodland in places seemed difficult.  But we made it to the CheckPoint in a reasonable time of two hours, and headed on.  Up another slope.

This ascent seemed steeper and shorter than the one out of the previous CheckPoint - and the surface quite "clayey" in places which, as we found out the following week, led to slippery conditions with the slightest bit of dampness.

After ascending for a while you enter the Slindon estate - there was a bench there just right for eating lunch (once we scared the current occupants off).

The Slindon estate takes you round the edge of a hill with fantastic views down to Chichester, Arundel and a square brick tower we still haven't worked out what or where it is.   After passing through a car park for a nearby Roman Villa - the path then takes a long slope up before becoming very "up and downey".   After reaching the top of steep downward slope we realised we'd been heading out for 4 hours and decided to turn round, probably 3 miles or so from the next CheckPoint - but we were shattered and didn't fancy having to come back up the slope!

We actually then made it back to CheckPoint 2 in 3 hours - so quicker than the outbound journey (even taking lunch break into account).

A week later, the Towis 2 became the Towis 3 with Paul joining us as we attempted the same route.  The weather couldn't have started more different with low clouds effecting the view and some light rain continuing from the night before.  As we walked on the weather cleared to a more comfortable temperature but some of the surface underfoot was slippy on some of the hills.  We made pretty much the same time to Check Point 3, 2 hours, then moved on.

This time we reached the point we had the week before and carried on ... at this point the track did become very steep and winding down hill, not helped by the wet surface, before turning into a gentle, long slope up hill around the edge of some woods.

As we headed up this slope we could hear loud music pulsating from the trees and expected, as we turned round a corner, to see a huge party in progress.  All we saw was four or five cars/vans parked in a field with the music deeply imbedded in the trees.  And as we walked on a Police Helicopter appeared and started circling the music.

We reached the A29, which is basically at the top of the final slope into CheckPoint 4, and sat and ate lunch - whilst being hovered over (twice) by the Police Helicopter who were obviously very suspicious of the chicken drumsticks Tony was handing round.  We obviously looked like potential rave goers - or maybe they were deciding whether to call for an air ambulance for us or not.

After lunch we decided against the walk down to the check point ("we'll only have to walk back up the hill") and headed back, helpfully guiding some OAP walkers towards the rave in the woods.  

We finished satisified that we'd walked nearly 4 miles further than last time, and for nearly 8 hours, so a good step up in training.

Date: 1 Apr 2012 9:16 am

Distance: 16.2 miles

Elapsed Time: 6:34:10

Avg. Speed: 2.5 mph

Max. Speed: 3.7 mph

Avg. Pace: 24' 16" per mile

Date: 8 Apr 2012 8:59 am

Distance: 19.9 miles

Elapsed Time: 7:57:15

Avg. Speed: 2.5 mph

Max. Speed: 5.5 mph

Avg. Pace: 23' 59" per mile

Green Insoles

Rock

With the Towis 4 down to the Towis 2 due to birthday celebrations in Edinburgh and the ongoing continuation of a fading football career, Carl and Tony decided to tackle the evil Beacon Hill of a couple weeks back - a good judge of how fitness and knee mending is getting on.

The check point 1 car park was packed Sunday morning, mainly due to a "walking group" assembling (that tried to sign me up) and a woman doing a survey on the South Downs, asking if I'd used public transport that day (whilst leaning against my car) and if I felt having trips to the South Downs Way was an environmentally friendly way to spend the day (again, leaning against my car, which is best described as "not very environmentally friendly").

Seagulls (honest!)

In the past few weeks I've had pain in the side of my calves, so on the advice of the Cotswold Outdoor shop had bought some "Superfeet green insoles".  As we trekked our way from the car park to Beacon Hill it became apparent they were working - usually the pain comes early and then eases, but today there was no pain.  One of those "if only I'd have bought these a year ago" moments.

For me, going up Beacon Hill was a lot easier than last time - I stopped halfway up to momentarily catch my breath, then made it to the top without feeling the need to collapse and lean on a fence post whilst trying desperately to breathe.  Tony too made better pace up the hill, so the general mood at the summit (!) was better than last time.  Jelly babies were still eaten with the same gusto as before.

Log

We then headed on at what seemed like a quicker pace, enjoying the ever warming day.   There were still a few pointy moments, as we surveyed "stopped to survey the scene", but felt a lot easier than last time.

The route climbs up and down some hills, then through some woods, before opening out into a 4 or 5km "straight" through some open fields with stunning views to the south down to the coast and Goodwood Race course, and to the north to a big hill that we really need to find out the name of.  Previously we had stopped for lunch at the turn round point, a car park by an A road, this time we decided to stop on some logs to enjoy the views and practice our ornithology - "oh look, a bird".  Much more preferable to the car park.

Along the way we also saw two or three other groups possibly training for the TrailWalker - groups of four.  We need some kind of flag to say we're training so we can recognise each other.  One team looked way to keen though, wandering past at a fair old speed with nothing but camel paks whilst we trundled along with rucksacks, sticks and packed lunches!

Upon reaching the halfway stage we checked our time and saw we had completed it around 10/11 minutes quicker than last time - good to know we had improved, though the exact same time wouldn't have been a problem.

Heading back we stopped again at the log for lunch part two, then began feeling the effort as we struggled up a couple of the slopey bits - especially the evil hill/field before Beacon Hill which strained our tired bodies.  But the return leg took abut 15 minutes less than before, so even more good news, and I also felt a lot better after it all with my "for goodness shakes" shake refuelling me and my green insoles making the whole walk more comfortable.

So another 14 odd miles completed, 25 minutes quicker than last time.  Next couple of weeks will be drabs of the team again, or individual efforts, then hopefully as a team we can tackle checkpoint 2 to checkpoint 3 early April - another stage that starts with a hill!!

Date:		11 Mar 2012 10:36 am
Distance:		13.9 miles
Elapsed Time:		5:35:56 (5:59:12 before)
Avg Speed:		2.5 mph (2.3 before)

Walking in a winter wonderland

Snow and a gate

The original plan was three of us to do a walk this weekend whilst John resurrected his football "career" (think all those middle aged ex-players playing in Legends games, spending most of their energy sucking their guts in for 90 minutes).  Then with Paul called to "soccer dad" duty it was down to two.  Overnight rain + prospect of it raining all day Tony took the sensible solution of going to the gym rather than risking his knee on the slippy upslopes and downslopes of the South Downs Way.  So it was just me then.

Snow (honest!)

After a detailed weather analysis out my window, yep it was pissing down, I decided to head to QE Country Park to take the opportunity to check out my water proofs ( I believe it rained throughout the trailwalker last year!), try out the MapMyHike iPhone app and generally have an opportunity to build my fitness as last week showed it was pretty bad.

On arriving as QE CP it was good to see I wasn't the only mad person as cyclists covered from head to toe in mud loaded their bikes into vans, more set off, and dog walkers were scurrying around under umbrellas.  There didn't seem to be too many hikers around though.

Once kitted up I decided to head to check point 1, the plan being to walk quickly up hills and then slow down/recover on down slopes in an effort to build up my fitness.  On my own it meant I wasn't speeding up/slowing down the rest of the team.  I planned on heading towards CP 1 for an hour and a half before turning round and coming back.

After the usual groan from calfs of "what are you doing?" up the slope out of the park my legs settled down as I nodded to other people out and about enjoying the rain, walking their dogs and fiddling with their umbrellas.  Checking my average speed I was going around 3.1 mph which was good, over the past few weeks we've averaged 2.7 and 2.3 so it's good I can up the pace - the section isn't particularly daunting but it is up/down/up/down, just no evil hills like Beacon Hill to navigate.

About 2/3rd of the way along the temperature dropped and sleet started to fall so I decided to turn back as the clouds were looking a bit ominous.  Within about 10 minutes of turning back snow began to fall, quite heavy at time, but no threat of it settling and snowing me in on the Downs for the night!  When I eventually got back to my car the temperature had dropped from 8 degrees to 2 degrees.

In general though it was a good walk - near enough 7 miles in around 2hr 14 mins.  I also got to try out my new "for goodness shakes" recovery drink.  I'm a wreck and generally feel rubbish the day after training - in the past I have used protein bars and they've worked - so I'll see tomorrow if the shake is any good.

The MapMyHike app was a bit disappointing though - it tried to save my route, failed, I then pressed "re-try" and the app crashed - so my route is not saved, but details were saved in a "workout" section.  Think I'll stick with the Motion-X GPS app we've used up until now.

Details:

Distance: 6.95 miles
Time: 2h 13min 33 sec
Avg speed: 3.1mph

Cocking Hill

After a week's break from "group" training Carl, John, Paul, Tony and pacemaker Bev set off to tackle stage 2 of the TrailWalker UK route - checkpoint 1 (South Harting) to checkpoint 2 (Cocking).

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:		View on 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

Was gonna be QE CP to Check Point 2 ....

The plan this week was to go from Queen Elizabeth Country Park to Check Point 2 but, due to let's say "logistical issues" (Paul was late and Carl hadn't bothered checking where Check Point 2 actually was) it turned into a walk from QE CP to Check Point 1 and back.

Not as cold and icy as last week and also at least gave Tony the chance to check his knee out on the first part of what will be the TrailWalker UK route ... and also a chance for pace-setter Bev to show that she can out walk the lot of us.  Good news again that Tony's knee is holding up and we're all walking at a pretty comfortable pace that should see us doing the whole walk in around 24 hours.

Paul does look way too comfortable as a rambler in the photo though - he'll have his trousers tucked into his socks next time.  John's been relegated to reserve navigator, if only he'd have not used the paper map and went for the iPhone option too ....

Stats:

Date: 12 Feb 2012 10:39am
Distance: 11.46 miles
Elapsed Time: 4:16:03
Avg. Speed: 2.7mph

Next up in a couple of weeks we'll attempt Check Point 1 to Check Point 2 and back - pretty much the same distance - just to check out the route and also build up fitness.  Next week is a free for all due to socialising and resurrecting football careers.

First Team Walk & First Check Point

First Team Walk

Sunday 5th February saw the four of us do our first walk as a team.  We met at a snowy Queen Elizabeth County Park and walked the 9km loop starting and ending at the car park.  This gave us a chance to see the pace we all walked at and, more importantly, see how Tony and his knee got on - rehabilitating his knee after two nasty injuries was the spark for us to enter the trailwalker.


QE Park to South Harting (Check Point 1)


After lunch out of the car boot Tony decided to give his knee a rest while Paul, John and Carl walked the first stage of the Trailwalker to get a feel for the route and see where the first check point was situated.

Walk stats:

Date: 5 Feb 2012 1:21pm
Distance: 5.82 miles
Elapsed Time: 2:09:01
Avg. Speed: 2.7 mph
Max. Speed: 4.6 mph
Avg. Pace: 22' 09" per mile

GPS Motion X Map