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I am a Radiographer from Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle and together with my eldest son, Robert, intend to walk the South Downs Way in under 42hrs. Well we both cracked the challange, below is a summary of our experience...thanks for reading. "Walking 100 miles of the South Downs Way within 42hrs was always going to be an arduous task so the correct preparation and planning was essential to give us any chance of achieving it.   As we were unsupported we each carried all necessary food and water, comprising 3Kg of tuna/onion/pasta, 3L of water, various supplements and homemade chocolate brownies and oatmeal cake.  The water was refilled at various points, usually farms, along the way.  In addition the walk included two night sessions so head torches and batteries were essential to complement map/compass/gps and usual walking kit. The plan was to break it down into 12 mile sections, so at an average walking pace of 3mph (checked by gps), this would become 4hr intervals.  At each 4hr point we would have a 15min break to eat, drink and tend to feet; as you can imagine tuna pasta every 4hrs is not an exciting prospect, but necessary given the task.  The intake of food was to become a problem for me a little later. I met Robert in London and we got the connecting train to Winchester for our revised start time of 1600hrs on the 12th May.  I had noticed Rob limping a little so I enquired; unknown to me he had attended ’Barts’ minor injuries unit the previous morning who confirmed a fractured right big toe (proximal phalanx), the product of a kick-a-round with his brother the previous Sunday.  Needless to say I was not impressed, but he agreed the pain was his to manage and he was happy to give it a go. The forecast was sunny, dry with clear skies which would hopefully help our navigation at night.  So after a quick photo at the ‘King Alfred’ statue in Winchester we proceeded east.   We arrived comfortably at the second stop at 24 miles at 0030hrs and applied a few running repairs to feet, declining the temptation of more tuna/past.  This had us inside the Queen Elizabeth Country Park for our first night section and almost 25% completed!  The pace was relentless and with the darkness and the wonderful nocturnal animals, quite magical.  The route through the park was well marked and we hammered out the miles making good time for the 0400 break.  The key to sound navigation is knowing where you are at all times on the ground in relation to your map; unbeknown to us early fatigue had crept in and we had slipped into an almost aimless automated style of walking meaning we had taken our eyes off the map!!  At 0300hrs we left a clearing and hit a road…where were we…no signposts and no road signs, any reference to the map made no sense.  The adrenalin kicked in as this was not a comfortable position when time is of the essence.  I took a lat/long reading on the gps, we were three miles north and one mile west of where we should be; we had made the most basic of navigational errors.  However this gave us the kick out of our perceived comfort zone and back to focus on the task in hand.  Getting back on track using the compass took us another hour but we felt a break of 30mins was required to re-focus…time was still on our side.  Tuna/pasta and Robs big toe followed before we moved onto the next phase at around 0430hrs. The sunrise was magical we witnessed the morning ritual of deer, fox and rabbits and ploughed our way eastwards following the white chalky pathway.  The lunchtime gastronomy  remained unchanged but unfortunately the feelings within the stomach had…the weak, sweaty, achy pre-amble that precedes sickness enveloped me for the next 6hrs…this could be a problem!     The endless pathways and bone dry conditions were now mostly behind us although the ups/downs seemed to be greater as we marched towards the 2nd night…we could not afford to take our eye off the ball this time!  We both changed to clean and dry clothes to support our focus.  Around midnight I resumed food, but only chocolate brownies and oatmeal cake, we had a plan for any remaining pasta!  The passing through of Alfriston at 0200hrs was uplifting…12 miles left!!  The previous 40miles had been hard for both of us but our time was good, the sky was clear with a ¾ moon and it was cold as we marched on to 7 sisters, Beechy Head and finally Eastbourne.  I decided to call Val at 0400hrs, tucked up in a Brighton Hotel, to pick us up at 0600hrs…this was 3hrs earlier than expected; needless to say she obliged.  The winding pathway towards the coast was soon eaten up as we skipped through 7 sisters and approached Beechy Head as sunrise hit us; this was the moment we’d chosen to despatch the remaining pasta into the English Channel, it dropped like a stone onto the chalk beech surely to be consumed by the scavenging gulls throughout the day…never again! The steep Beechy Head cliffs loomed out of the night at the dawning of this new day along with sobering paradoxical reminders of those less fortunate scattered along its cliff top; the slow decent was painful but rewarding.  Val met us on cue having taken just 38hrs for the walk…it had been a challenging but magical couple of days with Robert demonstrating an unflinching desire to see this through despite his injury.  That’s my boy!"

Andy 100miles DONE in 38hrs

Andy 100miles DONE in 38hrs

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