18.... ....14.3.... ....150

I went on a walk today. 


Last night I packed up my rucksack with everything.  That's it - everything that I planned to take on TGOC 2012 with me.  I weighed it and no matter how many ways I hung it from the luggage scales it was HEAVY - 18kg!


18 is just a number after all so I thought it best to test the number on the trail.  So I got my walking machine pal Den out of his box, dusted him off and we headed into the East Anglian countryside once more.  Day one on the challenge for me will be at worst a 15-miler so I thought I had better do a bit of a comparison.  I roughed out a circular route from Kirtling which was about that - 14.3 miles if you are interested.


At 0730h I picked Den up and we drove to our start point, parking just outside some houses in Kirtling village itself, wanting for a better spot to leave car, but the side of the road it had to be.  It was cold, and the wind didn't make it any better.


I forgot to take any pics on the first section of this walk, but I managed to drag the camera out of its pouch as we entered some paddocks.  Here is an uninteresting shot, but it is a shot of where we walked nonetheless.

Some paddocks not far from Kirtling

My pack felt very heavy on my shoulders, and my back was protesting.  Not a good sign, but I persevered.


The paddocks finally allowed us to squeeze from their grip and we popped out into the open.  Den was sporting a very nice bobble hat which he assured me was keeping him very warm.  It's one of those hats that is so wrong, it was swinging back to being right again.  A real hum-dinger.

Bobbles, and a Spyder

My pack was still feeling heavy, and not all that comfortable.  I made some adjustments, and it instantly felt better.  I forgot about it for a while, which was a better sign.  
Some shenanigans with OFFICIAL PATH EXTINGUISHMENTS got our goats up a wee bit - as is increasingly typical with the footpaths round our way.  The signs only seem to be obvious on the side from which we are NOT approaching!  Nevertheless a quick alteration to our route allowed the new footpath to spit us out onto the road about half a mile back from our intended point.  Cussing the now extended road section, and moaning about the failed promise of wild animals (see photo below) we marched on regardless through the lanes until the little green sign showed us back to the field margins, and on to Back Street where we stopped for an early bite to eat, and a brew.

Wild Animal?

Me having tea.

If I have a favourite place to walk in East Anglia, it has to be the narrow hedgerow-lined avenues.  Wooded either side, and leafy underfoot at this time of year - lovely.
Shortly after we set off, we agreed to make a note of the wild camping opportunities that we came across during the day.  These little avenues offered the greatest opportunity, and we knew that in summer we would be able to nip into the spinneys and copses to camp unnoticed by passers by.  In total, we counted six great spots in fourteen miles, plus a couple of questionable pitches, which would go at a push.  Not a bad result and worth noting for those of you who live near the National Parks but want to try a long-distance walk somewhere completely different.  I recommend it thoroughly having done several myself.  So long as you are canny, considerate, covert and stealthy and are willing to hang around until dusk before you pitch, and can be away at dawn, all will be well.

One of those wood-lined paths, wildcamping opportunities aplenty.

We managed few wildlife encounters, with raptors leading the count, seconded by winter thrushes and then finches.  Several Buzzards, a couple of Kestrels, and a Sparrowhawk followed by countless Fieldfares and Redwings in the treetops.  The finches were mainly Goldfinches and they decorated the bare twigs like Christmas trinkets.  One such tree had its own female Bullfinch bauble.  Lovely.
A muntjac was the only mammalian offering of the day (other than the Grey Squirrel but I don't count those - I am a mammal snob, you see).


The pack became awkward again, and this time no amounts of adjustment would alleviate the discomfort.  Luckily we had reached the latter stages of our route and we had by now swapped the tacky dough of clay for grassy verge and back-road.  Much easier from a navigational point of view, it offered a glimpse at some of the more opulent properties that speckle the rural lanes of our county.

Another shot of our only real pause for relaxation.

I can summarise that my legs and feet were tickety-boo with forty pound on my back.  My shoulders weren't really as tender as I had expected, but my back felt compressed.  I put this down to the fact that I couldn't get the belt tight enough on the pack to stop it sliding down my hips.  The result was to transfer all of the weight onto my shoulders.  The straps are really good on the pack, so the shoulders were unharmed, but my back really felt it.  I'm not relishing the thought of a few days with so much weight bearing down on me.  My plan now is to get the pack weight down once more.  If any of you have any ideas I'd be grateful to hear your views on how you go about packing.

Me and my burden, er bergen?

Maybe I should post the gear list as I had it on this day?


At least I have 150 days left in which to get this right!

17!

That's my position on the standby list.  John Manning just wrote to me, he was glad I had been in touch.


Judging by general Challenger opinion (Thanks Dave, Alan etc...), I stand a very, very good chance of moving onto the participant list.


The delightful and fabulous Mrs M has given me the nod and I am going to continue planning, and hopefully, by 2012 I will know for sure.  This is one occasion where I am actually hoping not to be able to knock off three-score Wainwrights! 


The shoes are back on tomorrow for another walk in the East Anglian countryside, this time with my good pal Den.

1 in 420+

That's what I was.  

I found my fate today by both letter and a leak on the challenge forum.  Ok so not exactly a leak as it was a post from John Manning himself.  

I was one of the 420+ people to find out that I am on the standby list.

I had prepared myself for disappointment, expecting not to get on but I have to say I was strangely close to tears.  It was odd, I guess despite openly and outwardly readying myself for the possibility of a 'No' I already had book my place.  In truth, I fully EXPECTED to get on and not getting on was a complete surprise.  

I have lit the tinder of a few new friendships which I hoped to fuel in the coming months, which I can and will still do.  BUT I WANTED TO GET A 'YES'.

I had promised my wife, who really wasn't cherishing 2 weeks without me (although I would have thought she would have had the opposite reaction), that I would withdraw from the standby list.  But I just couldn't resist asking John 'Outdoors' Manning where I stand on that list, so that is what I have just done.  

I don't know what I will do with the number, I suppose it depends what number it turns out to be.

I do have a plan to finish off my round of Wainwrights - I should be able to do 62 in a year if I make a few concerted forays so that is what I plan to do with 2012.

But what if I am number 1, 2, 3......10, 11, 12 on the list?

178...

...days to go until TGO Challenge 2012.  


I am still waiting for the nod from John Manning who has recently posted on the challenge forum that the letters are out this week.  Less than 6 months to go now.


Spent this evening testing backpacking stoves and keep coming back to the old favourite of a little gas stove and my trangia 1l kettle.  


I am waiting on a delivery from Minibulldesign for one last go at an alcohol stove and I think that will decide it, finally, for me.


Still waiting for the letter of ACCEPTANCE to go thud.

204...

...days to go until TGO 2012.

The suspense is becoming difficult to bear.  It's great to read some of the accounts of 2011 which are popping up on Twitter and throughout the blogosphere, and if you haven't checked out http://www.doodlecat.com/ then I suggest you do right away.  What a smashing little TGOC portal it is.  It is currently serving as a great way to fill the time spent waiting for the nod from Mr J Manning at Challenge HQ.

I was trying to get a message to Mick/Gayle of Gayleybird Lejog & K2CW fame as it seems as though they walked almost exactly the same route as I have worked out for TGOC next year and I wondered about some of the do's and don'ts on the way.  If anyone can get a message to them, I would love for one of them to get in touch so I could pick their brains a wee bit.  Perhaps they have a twitter name or something?

Alan Sloman has been helpful on the first night's intended camp for me, citing Meallan Bhuidhe as a spot with good views, and a lot of deer!  He also suggested that the area near Pait Lodge might be a good and common spot to pitch, with the usual courtesy to be afforded to the occupants.

It's stuff like that that I obsess about when planning these sorts of trips.  Yet when I listen to, or read the things that the likes of Chris Townsend write / say about long journeys on foot, and the very flexible plans they make, letting the walk make the decisions etc, I am very envious.  I guess that I should obsess less about the detail, and just make sure that I cover a minimum distance each day to ensure that I don't take too long getting to the East coast.  I've got to get into that really long distance vibe.

I still can't stop thinking about it - it's a big thing for me, the longest walk - although probably not the most demanding - that I will have attempted by a factor of 2, and I am anxious and excited in equal measure.

When do we find out if we are in again???

Be great to hear if any of you have any anxieties about the challenge, its planning, anticipation etc.

Bye for now.

Roman Around - A trip along Worsted Street

This is actually from a yomp I took with a few friends back in Spring 2011, I just discovered it in my drafts and thought you might like to see it.  Not strictly a TGO 2012 post, but probably of interest to some of you.


The skies were overcast as we sat there.  We were waiting at Addenbrooke's Bus Stop for a colleague to join us.  He never showed up.

The four of us stood up, adjusted our laces, straps and clothing before turning to the SouthEast and got going.  Out through the 'causeway of oversized homes and into the countryside.  A discreet gap in the hedgerow drew us through, away from the 'macadam and onto a grassy track flanked with myriad wild flowers and the associated invertebrates to boot.

We briefly entered Wandlebury's Northern tip before the new road embraced us again, if only for a short while.

A feathered friend stayed by us for a time, making occasional requests for just a little bit of bread that's all, no cheese. And the last bitter taste of civilisation came and went in the form of light industry, down a littered, potholed lane.  We reached the end of the lane and, there it was flanked by hedgerow - The Roman Road of Worsted Street.

I imagined myself thrown back centuries to a time when the Romans were laying the foundations of the track that would be under our feet for the rest of the day.  I pondered how many feet had marched where we were about to tread.  I could count myself among them, for I had walked this way many times before.

The 'road' which calls itself "Worsted Street" is thought to be a trackway which has been in existence and in continued use since pre-history.  It runs parallel to a 3 mile Anglo-Saxon earthwork known as Fleam Dyke which stretches from Fulbourn to Balsham (or vice versa).  We were in a place steeped in ancient heritage.

There are no challenges in the navigation of Worsted Street, for it is, by nature, utterly straight.  There are a couple of deviations, one such being the crossing of the A11 Dual Carriageway, and the other is the short section between the metalled Wort's Causeway and the brief encounter at Wandlebury.

I found myself tuning in and out of my surroundings on several occasions as I drifted into a bit of a daze, only to discover that I had gained a few score yards of distance between my pals who were being vastly more sociable than myself.  I wished I was alone for a brief moment.

To find ourselves seated by a man's final resting place having our lunch was more than a tad odd, but in reality there is no sign, or evidence, that I can unearth surrounding the actual origins of the place name of Mark's Grave.  Perhaps someone who read's this blog might offer some assistance on this.

As I sat chewing on my food, I learned that others had chosen to lunch at exactly the same spot as I.  An army of Black Ants were taking nips out of me.  I relocated.  Pals were smiling.
Despite the anchoring effect the lovely warm sunbeams were having on us, it was possible for us to get back to our feet and back on the trail.

I probably didn't mention that one of our gathering was with child, and into her second trimester - it occurred to me, not for the first time, that so many pregnant women take a languid approach to their gestation.  Avoidance of any effort, strenuous or otherwise, seems to befall many an expectant mother.  This often results in the "can you get my files out for me" or "I'm not allowed to lift that" utterings that I realise have begun to irritate me.  Pregnancy - the next reason to be provided with a blue parking badge?  To clarify, I have two young children of my own, so I am not being anti-child or anti-parent, just anti-lazy git.
Thankfully, my mum-to-be friend was of the non-lazy git type and didn't utter any of these complaints.

We were grasped briefly by a pang to bag a geocache, a pang so brief, we merely peered into the undergrowth before giving up.  The street of silver was now under our feet, having left the road of roman antiquity and a floating Buzzard keened above Howe Wood as if to draw us toward the closing of what had been a really terrific leg-stretch in the Cambs/Suffolk borders.

Have a look at www.frrfd.org.uk if you would like more information about this lovely, simple stroll in my backyard. Oh, and if you find out about Mark's Grave - let me know!

214

214 is a number with two significances for me:


1) 214 is the number of fells that Wainwright covered in his 7 pictorial guides.  A collection of fells I am doing my worst to ascend.


2) 214 is the number of days until TGO Challenge 2012


So that's it - I just thought I would share that with you.


Oh, and here is a picture of the splendid English Lake District looking, well, splendid.