About
The Ridgeway Ramblers is a team of four ladies, all under 40, who will be participating in the UK Oxfam Trailwalker 2008. It takes place on 19/20 July across the South Downs Way. It isn't a stroll - the route isn't flat, we'll be walking through the night and we have to complete the route as a team, passing through each checkpoint together, in under 30 hours.
The aim is to raise an awful lot of money for both Oxfam and for the Gurkha Welfare Trust. The blog is an account of how we're doing, in terms of both training and fundraising.
Blog
That's all folks!
We're done. The fund raising closed last week. We didn't make the £20K target we set ourselves, although it wasn't for want of trying. £18,500 will just have to do.
Next year holds who-knows-what. With the financial markets doing a good impression of a crash, who can say what we'll all be doing come January, never mind July 2009.
If you've read this, thank you. And if ever the idea of Trailwalker pops into your head, I urge you to go for it. You won't regret it!
Huge Apologies
I found out that Guchi, who kindly came along as support for our training walk out on the trail all the way back in June suffered horribly for her generosity. After two weeks' sick leave and two months' general illness, it transpires that she is allergic to rapeseed pollen. And of course the rapeseed flowers were out there in their golden glory along the South Downs. Oops. Guchi - HUGE APOLOGIES. We thought our blisters and aches were bad, but at least they healed up quickly. Oooops.
Bizarrely enough
I found my blue hat with the snowflake on it at the weekend. It was in a bag that I hadn't used since I was in Japan.
What happens next?
A month on from Trailwalker (to the day, please note), it all seems like a very long time ago. We put so much preparation in, the actual event itself was, comparatively, a small proportion of the whole project. So, a quick update.
- Rachael is still waiting for three toenails to drop off, but is planning to run a marathon next year.
- Anna is spending most of August on holiday, reclaiming time with her two kids and enjoying the weather. She also plans to run a marathon next year.
- Stephanie has started her new job in Canary Wharf and her nose is firmly to the grindstone. When she comes up for air, she'll doubtless have a new challenge in mind.
- Me? I'm back to the Red Sea next week for some more diving. Next year, I hope to do the Fastnet Race. Dry land is fun, but the sea holds a lot of appeal too.
That said, Anna and I have been throwing around the idea of doing the Three Peaks. We just need to get a team together...
Sunday 20th July - Stages 10 and 11 - to the Finish Line, and beyond?
The final two legs of the walk combined come to about 11.5km, but each felt as long as each individual leg we’d done before. Stage 10 has a vicious hill, but sleep deprivation ensured that the “one-leg-in-front-of-another” routine was more than adequate to get us through. We had a close encounter with a field of cows, which at just gone 5am were hoping to be milked, before a very brief sojourn at CP10. And then it was the final leg.
Stage 11 purports to be 5.8km long, however, it felt as though we’d walked for miles and miles before the object of our hearts’ desire, the “1km to go” sign appeared. We caught glimpses of the grandstand at Brighton Racecourse, the finish line, all along this stage, appearing tantalisingly close at one moment, then disappearing from view the next. And finally, we were there – quite literally on the home straight. A quick debate as to whether we should sprint across the line was terminated when we realised we simply couldn’t run. And finally, we did it. We crossed the line together as a team in 24 hours and 42 minutes.
Stages 8 and 9 - the hours of darkness and insanity
CP7 has a reputation with Trailwalkers – although the Gurkhas lay on a hot meal (more pasta!) this is also the stage at which a large proportion of those who withdraw from the event do so. With this in mind, we focused our efforts on eating, putting on warm clothes, sorting out torches and hi-vis vests and getting back on our way before we could succumb to any moments of weakness. Stage 8 felt quite swift, probably due to the novelty of walking in the dark. Stage 9, however, had been our bête noire since a training walk on the route in early June, when we had covered much of the ground but found ourselves going in circles round the Old Racecourse. It had subsequently become apparent that poorly written directions were to blame, and indeed, the route had been altered slightly for the event. This alteration made the stage 12.5km long and these were, for the Ridgeway team, the longest hours of the entire event. Tiredness gave way to disorientation. Disorientation was displaced by (mild) hysteria, which was in turn replaced by straightforward exhaustion. We couldn’t sing songs, because we couldn’t remember the words (imagine if you will, four weedy voices singing “Always look on the bright side of life” and trailing away after that single line); jokes weren’t an option, however dark the humour. My enduring memory of this stage is of concentrating on “left foot, right foot” and repeating the process on and on. Finally, over three hours after setting off on the stage, we arrived at CP9. This was the final checkpoint at which we were able to meet up with the Support Crew, so we made the most of hot soup, new socks and the opportunity to ditch our head torches as dawn was just about breaking.
Saturday 19th July - Trailwalker Stage 7 - From Dusk to CP7
Fortunately, we were greeted not just by the Support Crew at CP6 but by some people who boosted our morale by miles – René and Dan turned up with all four of Anna and Rachael’s children, and Mark and Oliver were there to cheer on Katya. (It should be pointed out that Mark had walked Trailwalker 2007 and was the inspiration for the Ridgeway team signing up – rather surprisingly, everyone was polite to him inspite of their weary limbs). Before we knew it, we were back on the trail, once again along the riverbank before a brief stint through the suburban streets of Upper Beeding. We were all rather taken aback to witness another Trailwalker team coming out of a pub called the Rising Sun – not one of the scheduled rest breaks, but each to their own! Knowing that the sun would set during this stage we were keen to make good speed, and took the long and steep Beeding Hill in our stride. Light was fading as we continued on our way and by the time we arrived at CP7, just after 10pm, darkness had taken over.