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We are a team of 14 or so people from the UK planning to take on the Three Peaks Challenge on Sunday 8th August. Our chosen charity is Cancer Research UK
The team has been brought together by a mad idea of a nearly 40 year old, wine swigging, fag smoking hedonist who goes by the name of Arlene. We will be updating our dedicated website www.poundsforpeaks.co.uk please take the time to visit us and keep up to date on how the training is going!
The challenge is aimed at those people wishing to prove something to those around them or to themselves, the team itself is made up of a mix of experienced walkers and complete beginners.
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Blogs.....
9 Walkers plus Amanda's dog Higgins arrived for this walk. After a 2 1/2 hr car journey we all met up and got started about 10.30am.The walk was led by Amanda (which was her first walk).
We started off well and although it was a sunny dry day the wind was against us. From early on there was two distinct groups the "fast" and the "not so fast".
The climb up Jacobs Ladder was steep and hard going Angela made the mistake of standing still at one point and had a sudden blood rush from head to feet leaving her feeling faint. Not wanting to fall off the hill she decided to lay down. Kat suggested some dextrose tablets and water which sorted the problem!
By the time we got moving again we had lost sight of the main group but could see Lisa struggling on in the distance ( she had jet lag ). We finally caught up with Lisa and Amanda/ Higgins but the other walkers were not in sight. Kat and Angela decided it was best to stick with Amanda as she knew where she was going.....we think!. We had to negotiate boulders, peat bog's, at one point Angela decided to do the splits but recovered herself before falling over ...no thanks to the others who were doubled up laughing.
The views were spectacular, but at one point there were no other walkers to be seen for miles and we thought we were lost and would be spending the night on the moors with only one bottle of water a dry biscuit for rations. Angela had vision's of being rescued by a burly RAF man in his helicopter. Amanda assured us she knew the way and refused to turn back. She eventually led us to the descent which was a very steep hill and hard going on the knees, we tried going down on bum's but too painful (Grass burns thong's !!!). Higgin's decided enough was enough and made a run for it unfortunately he bumped into another dog and decided to "have a go" Amanda finally caught up with him and all was well but injured her hand in the process, The fast walkers reached the end 30mins earlier, Steve and Tim made a quick getaway. Luckily for us Ryan, Dean and Lorraine waited for us and met us at the bottom and directed us to the cars which saved us another mile walk.
We finished of the walk with some comfort food in a local pub yum yum.
Blog written by Angela/Kat while on Night shift.
[06/03/2010 18:53:51]
Walk 5
Saturday 6th March 2010When does a 7.5 mile walk turn into a 12.5 mile walk? When it’s led by Pathfinder aka she who climbed Kili!!!!
Location: Burton Dassett, Warwickshire.
We started off early 9.30am seeing as it was so local, our little group of 9 it would have been 11am but Damon and Sue turned up late and missed us and the sight of the map blowing out of Lisa D’s hands. The walk started off as it meant to carry on! Lisa D (she who climbed Kili) shall now be known as Pathfinder (Or as Tim so eloquently put “S**t Nav!” ;-)
The Hills were rolling hills and we were greeted with the baaing from wandering sheep, thinking we were getting in the way as a Landrover beeped loudly we jumped to the side to let it past, only to find he was calling the sheep for feeding time. A good 50 or so sheep “galloped” to have breakfast and an executive decision was taken on the path we would follow.
We walked through the hills over fields and styles for a good 2-3 hours; it was hard going in places. Kat decided early on she wasn’t up to the walk and fearful of holding the rest of group up offered to drop, the group wouldn’t hear of it and after a little bit of encouragement from the ever so gallant Steve, Kat was on her feet and raring to go. We won’t mention about her attempt to clean her boots in a slurry pool, wouldn’t be fair would it ;-) However, we all were soon swamped in mud trying to get over more styles.
Tim, Steve and Dean decided to run up one of the hills. Ryan who at the time was being gallant and encouraging some of us Girls, was later seen to be sprinting up another hill getting a fairly rapid pace on that may have even challenged “Speedy D’s ” efforts if he hadn’t of missed us by 5 minutes...
Eventually, we reached the crossroads and some bright spark decided we would turn right instead of left and go “round the block” through Fenny Compton, okay, it was a 4 mile block but a block all the same...this pushed some of our fitness levels to the limit. There was a mega ribbing session of Lisa’s navigational skills. However the speedy group text the slower group and said “Turn Left”. I said I’d go on ahead and see if I could judge how far we had to go and come back in the car if it was too far, however the car wasn’t needed it was only a mile and half to the Burton Dassett Country Park signs and while the group bringing up the rear was a little slower there was grit determination to finish the walk. On meeting up with the rest of group there were some pleasant surprises in store as we weren’t the 30 mins behind the first group but only 10-15 minutes!
So another 12.5 miles under our belts and everyone did brilliantly, the next scheduled walk is The Peak District led by new walker Amanda at the end of March.
Blogged by Arlene.
[07/02/2010 20:35:52]
Walk 4
I think I had put the fear of God into the group when I mentioned that we were going to do the Wrekin. An imposing 1300ft tall peak in Shropshire.We met in a pub car park at 10am. The ‘peak’ was covered in mist, hiding where we were attempting to climb to. The usual suspects set off along the road, Tim, Steve, Damon, Sue, Arlene, Ryan, Chris, Jackie, Charlotte and myself. A brisk pace was set and we speed walked the 2 or so miles up to the beginning of this mini mountain.
This was going to be the steepest hike we had done so far. I told people to do it in their own time and not to worry about holding anyone up, just to concentrate on getting themselves up to the top. The faster walkers could wait and have a well earned cup of something hot in the café on the way back down.
Immediately the group split as we tried to work out our own pace on the steep ascent. Sweat beaded brows as we all gasped for air. Considering it was such a cold and misty winters day there were a fair few people walking the Wrekin. Lots gave encouragement as they passed on the way back down.
Really steep ascents were luckily replaced by a few gentler, flatter walks before undulating again. Unfortunately because of the low lying cloud, you could not see the top, but as we drew nearer, I could see the faster walkers waiting at the top for the rest of the group to come in. I appeared red-faced with exertion and this ascent had taken me a lot longer than at my fittest before I did Kilimanjaro a couple of years ago. Methinks this should become a monthly training place again!
Group photo taken and we all set off down the steep path with Chris comfortably taking the lead. It was a lot quicker down than going up and all too soon we were back at the road again to trek back to our cars, all thinking, we must get more hilly walks in.
Next walk the Malverns!
(Lisa Dundas)
[08/02/2010 18:51:21]
Walk #3
Sunday 24th finds us at draycote waters for our next training session,a five mile circuit of the reservoir. A fine morning with plenty of sunshine although still bitter in the wind.Usual suspects Steve,Tim, me, Lorraine Lisa, Angela,Christina, Jackie and Charlotte. We also welcomed new walkers Damon and Sue to our little group.
we started off at a brisk pace and on the tarmac it was pretty easy going. I found myself out front with Steve and Tim, the pack thinned out into a long line. Half way round I started to feel the pace but kept going idle chit chat took my mind off the pace and before long we had completed the circuit 1 hour 15 not bad for an overweight middle aged man (haha). After a quick breather we decided to do it again. Now I don't know if it was Steve or Tim? who piped up "let's try and do it in an hour". Well Lorraine needed no prompting and shot off double quick time with the cries from some of the walkers, of I don't know if we'll keep this pace? Lorraine was on one. Once I caught her up the pace steadied although still rapid. We did the circuit 1 hour 5 even better than the last. We stopped at the start finish line with a well earned cup of tea with the conversation of going round again being well and truely ignored(maybe next time?) The conversation got onto our next walk another of Lisa's "the Wrekin" 1300 odd feet straight up!! I think she maybe a bit of a sadist, but well done everyone for today, onwards and upwards till next time.
Cheers
Dean
[18/01/2010 19:13:53]
Week 2 Walk
This was Arlene’s walk to lead around Hartshill Hayes, Warwickshire. She had been contacted by an events group who often met for social events and walking, so she invited them along to join us. An events page was set up on Facebook and people were invited with the stipulation to arrive at the car park at 9.55am ready for the off at 10am. Well, lets just say the organiser of the other group rolled up at 10.30am. Our lot were raring to go, dressed appropriately, with rucksacks, walking poles and gaiters. His lot wore jeans and trainers.It was apparent fairly quickly that proper footwear was needed, as underfoot was either extremely soggy or resembling an ice rink……..not great whilst walking down a steep hill. Dean slipped a whopper on a massive patch of ice, luckily only his pride was bruised, but we also think he was still too drunk from the night before to feel anything. Soon after, on a tiny patch, a girl from the other group went. We altered the route a few times as certain pathways were too dangerous to contemplate and it was a good job as the same girl fell again a little later on.
Our group were finding things a little frustrating as the walk seemed to be very stop/start and the frontrunners often had to wait for the very slow people at the back who seemed to be content with a Sunday stroll. We weren’t there for that.
We left the park and paced off up the road, not realising we needed to head down the canal towpath, so a few of us had to back-pace and ended up behind the really slow walkers, frustrating when you are almost brushing their heels with your toes. We overtook and picked up the pace a bit and eventually decided to get off the towpath at bridge 29, leading to a pub. For us this was a toilet stop, but for the other group they pulled out sandwiches and ordered hot chocolate at the bar. After a lot of mumbling and groaning from us lot…..without a pint being bought, we made the decision to leave the other group to it. The job was left to Arlene to tell their leader as the rest of us climbed the slope up to the road.
Here we were at the bottom of a steep hill. We all attacked it with gusto and vigour as finally we could get some speed behind us and get our hearts racing a little. We continued along the main road before following an off-road footpath. Dean, Tim and Steve had disappeared and soon Lorraine raced ahead to catch them up whilst Arlene and I waited for Jackie and Chris who were just a little way behind as they couldn’t cross the main road due to traffic.
Parts of this footpath were undulating, some of the path was gravelled, but most was extremely muddy and I found this most difficult underfoot. Today I was glad of my walking poles. Eventually we came out onto another main road, but neither myself, Arlene, Chris or Jackie knew whether to go left or right, so I rang Lorraine to see which way to turn. They had turned right….and it was the wrong way, so we headed left and were ahead of them. "A bit like the Hare and the Tortoise this" I said.
They soon caught up with us and we all walked into Hartshill Hayes country park car park together, vowing to not let another group join us again.
I have to say, although it frustrated all of us no end, it really seemed to bring us together as a united group, and showed us that we are probably a little fitter than we originally thought.
Next week 2 circuits of Draycote Water = 10 miles!!
[11/01/2010 20:11:42]
Week 1. Eat Snow & Walk
A mad group of 14 of us and Dids the dog turned up for the 1st scheduled walk of the New Year...Yes! It was cold, yes! It was snowing, yes! It was the first major walk for some of us! And yes! Some of us were nearly in tears near the end of the walk but determined to carry on and everybody completed the walk!The walk was led by Lisa Dundas (She who climbed Kilimanjaro); the route took us 10.96 miles through Corley, Allesley & Fillongley in the region of Warwickshire. The reward was drinks and lunch at the White Lion pub in Allesley. We started off at a brisk pace and full of enthusiasm, we were wrapped up with lots of thin layers, had water with us and cameras.
There's the novice crew (aka "The Unfitties"), no walking poles or rucksacks, someone actually had a JD sports carrier bag - which we have fondly named as our mascot (note to self... I wonder if we can get sponsorship from them.) There's also the seasoned walkers (aka "The Swalkers") Those who know about pacing themselves and stretching down to avoid Onset of Muscle Strain etc.
As we were nearing the end of the walk there were cries of "oooh, oooh there's the pub" alas, there were 3 pubs in the village of Corley, we got to the cross roads and our intrepid leader took the long route - telling us it was the short route! The main aim of the group walking days is to get to know each other as a team and for some of us to find what walking is all about!
And walk we did through snow, slush and ice, at one point we were trekking through driving snow and eating it as we went! The walk was a long, fairly flat route to test endurance and push the pain barriers to realise what can actually be achieved! Next week will be a shorter, hillier route to get those thigh muscles working. More to follow by Lisa next week...
Blogged by Arlene.
