Friday 6^th of June saw our team of 5 whittled down to 4, merely an hour before departure, following the sad news of a serious health issue of the father one of the team members.

Following an excellent meal at the Three Tuns in Osmotherley, the team set out at 10pm in excellent weather conditions and high spirits. Apart from a few minor navigational hiccups on the part of Karl ‘I Can Read A Map Honest’ Lavery, the first 13 miles over the 5 large hills, (part of the Cleveland Hills range), passed without a hitch and we were greeted onto the crest of the 5^th, by the sight of the crimson wisps of the pre-dawn light upon the skyline. It was at this point that Michelle ‘Are There Any Big Hills’ Charlesworth, chose to re include Karl on her Christmas card list, (having struck him off repeatedly during the night for lying to her about the number of hills and their size)!

Being now up on the top of the moor, with clear skies, the mood was good and fuelled with Aunt Jenny’s secret recipe Flap Jack, not even the strong headwinds could dampen our mood. Progress for the next two hours was good. It was then we encountered the first of many problems. Following the exertions of climbing the 5 hills, a night deprived of sleep and the mind numbing monotony of the old railway section of the walk, Pippa ‘hit the wall’ and was struggling to put one foot in front of the other. This was handled with a sugar fix, hydration, slowing the pace for 15 minutes and filling the moorland air with the sound of rock music from the wireless speakers, (essential hiking equipment). Pippa was soon back on song and up to speed.

From here on in, the sleep deprivation, together with the endless monotony of the old railway line, followed by an unending landscape of heather, provided the ideal cocktail capable of making every minute feel like ten! A fact re-enforced every 15 minutes by Bob ‘the F Word Hudson’, who could not believe how far we had ‘not’ travelled. So now we have what is the ideal scene setter for what was to come.

Following a short break at 7 am, with 22 Miles under our belts, we had our first meet up with our support driver, Pippa’s husband Rupert, were we had a snack of yet more of Aunt Jenny’s flap jack and decided that with the weather being so good, we would lighten our bags of wet weather gear, (including, on Karl’s suggestion, our gaiters)!

Two miles of swamp and ‘deep’ peat bogs of Rosedale Moor, where, for every step forward, there were two to the side, hampered progress severely. Having spent an hour and a half successfully negotiating the swamp, we strode out confident in our abilities to tackle anything, at which point, Pippa ‘ Bog Hopper’ Oldfield, promptly sank to her knees in a peat bog, was unable to get out and was steadily sinking further, so had to be pulled out by a less than sympathetic Karl, who was eager to capture the moment with a photo! Bob and Michelle were also having mishaps as the peat paths proved to be a slippery and unsure footing. Trench foot seemed to be the order of the moment. Maybe ditching the gaiters wasn’t Karl’s best decision of the day.

At 9am, we met the support vehicle for a well-earned breakfast of a cold full English breakfast, rubber toast and hot tea. At this point the weather stated to turn so on went the wet weather gear. By 1230 hrs, the showers had morphed into torrential rain, making the going underfoot very slippery and the already sodden paths turn to streams and puddles and bogs of unknown depths. Michelle, having just changed her socks for the 3^rd time, promptly sank to her crutch in an innocuous puddle. Sadly, Bob and Karl were not in attendance to assist by way of photographic evidence.

From this point, the wind, torrential rain, very poor ground conditions, tiredness and muscle fatigue were all combining to slow us down severely and test the will of all, (apart from Rupert who was very encouraging and cheerful, not to mention warm and dry).

The final checkpoint, at the start of Fylingdale Moor, with 8 miles to go, the weather took a turn for the worse, Pippa, soaked and exhausted, had a melt-down, which we all decided warranted a BAFTA nomination. The empathy shown by her team, (or more to the point, lack of it), brought the dragon queen out in her and before we knew it, she was out of the car and striding out ahead of us, which is probably just as well, so we could not hear what she was saying about us.

Ground conditions were now very poor and after two and a half miles we arrived at a track junction, with the prospect of a river of clay for a path ahead or nice forestry tracks left and right. Michelle was pleading the case to use the nice tracks, (despite the 8 to 10 mile detour they would entail). Pippa’s response is not something we cannot commit to print, suffice to say, we promptly continued on the clay tracks! Progress was extremely slow, treacherous and arduous. Within half a mile, the clouds had descended to ground level and visibility was down to 50 yards and we had absolutely nothing to navigate by for over 2 miles other than a compass bearing and instinct. Bob continued to punctuate our lack of progress with Gordon Ramsey impersonations.

We got to a point where it was a straight line run in to the finish, so we felt it better for Bob to walk on to meet the support vehicle and I would walk Pippa and Michelle in, who were now working on will power alone. Karl decided that the climb from the last big drop into Wraggby Wood, was too much for them, so we took alternative path to the North, which had a much more gradual climb. All was going well until we passed through the last field, when we were repeatedly charged by a herd of Limousin Cattle, which we had to stand off at each charge. After about 400 yards of 4 charges and encirclements, they gave up and wandered off, leaving us to finally finish the walk, tired, relieved and feeling rather proud to have pulled each our through as a team. The moment only being topped by Bob’s wife, Joanne, sending him a text asking him to walk the dogs when he got home!!

For those of you who have supported our efforts for Yorkshire Cancer Research, a big heartfelt thank you.