Okay, sorry for the delay, just been a very busy week since finishing the PLOD and wanted some time to write properly, as so many people have kindly supported us.
The last time that I wrote about the build up for the walk, was not positive. I had done a walk after work one evening and struggled. Following that walk, I had a few days off walking to work to rest my legs which made a huge difference to my strength, stamina and confidence. Our next training walk was a 20 mile after work walk from Tormaton to Dursley, again following the Cotswold Way.
We stared at 6pm from Tormaton on a windy but dry evening and followed the Cotswold Way on what is perhaps the hilliest and certainly was the hardest part of the Cotswold way that we had walked at that time. We (me, Stu Adams, Charlie Ten-Broeke, & Chesney Windsor) were joined by Paul Bennett from the other RSG team The pace was moderate as we were conscious of injuries with less than 2 weeks to go to the PLOD, but a couple of the ascents were certainly steep enough to get the heart pumping. Throughout the walk, we kept getting glimpses of the Tyndale Tower which was near our detination so we had something to aim for, although it looked a lot more than 20 miles away when we started! The walk was relatively straightforward, but we discovered how difficult paths through grass fields are to navigate at night with multiple gaps in the hedgerows to aim for (we got lost in the dark on the descent to Wotton Under Edge)! After climbing a barbed wire fence and a detour, we were back on track and reached the Tyndale Monument at North Nibley at c11.40pm, which to our suprise was lit up and unlocked. Stu and I went on to climb to the top but the rest were feeling the 18 miles or so that we had done by that point, so didnt really feel like climbing the 120 steps up the 34m tower after the climb up the hill. I was asking myself why I bothered as you couldnt really see anything from the top in the dark, but it was a one off opportuntity for me to climb the tower at night.
The descent from the tower was really steep down some nasty steps, but we were soon on our way up again onto a Golf course and finishing in Dursley at c12.15 am. I felt okay, although my back was a little sore, but I knew that I could carry on so was a massive confidence boost to me ahead of the PLOD.
Between the Tormarton and Dursley Walk and the PLOD on June 10th, I continued to walk to work, but dropped to 3 days per week and then rested for 3 days before the PLOD began.
Our preparation in the build up was really about getting kit ready for the night. Ollie Dawe had volunteered to be our Support Driver after having to drop out from the walking team and the driving was a job that none of us envyed. Essentially, you would have to transport our kit from the start to the various checkpoints throughout the night and greet the walking with hot drinks, food, supplies etc as required. The support driver would get no real sleep and little reward, but it was a hugely important job that we valued immensly. From my sailing experiences, I have learned the importance of food and fluids when you are tired and running low.
We were given a kit list by the organisers whcih included a few essential safety items as well as suggested clothing, food etc. One of the problems was that we were unsure what the weather would be doing and the kit would be very different it was raining heavily or hot and sunny, so we had to prepare for every eventuality (and thank goodness we did).
We divided the kit list up between us and Ollie has a 4x4 so we were okay for space.
As the start approached, the weather forecast looked undecided, although there was a chance that we would get away with mild dry weather which would be perfect.
To be continued..............
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