Hadrians wall walk DAY 3

HADRIANS WALL WALK DAY 3 (THE BIG ONE)

"OMG WHATS THAT? It's a flip flop! What do we do? GRAB IT!"

Last night was full of laughs and music with a new MTFU anthem coming to the forefront. and with it a shocking revelation from Sluggie that he NEVER HEARD OF "TENACIOUS D"! Have you lived in a hole up until now man? the song we were all singing before gonk time was "fuck her gently" by Tenacious D and it had our spirits up. I also managed to have a little chat with Jane about her confidence in her ability and fitness. Jane had been in our group at the front (when we were going quite fast because of me needing a poo) she had kept pace and was looking really comfortable but I think day one had made her doubt that she might have been able to complete this challenge. A little bit of negativity had crept in and this was an opportunity for me to tell her that I didn't think she gave herself enough credit. "DON'T EVER SELL YOURSELF SHORT ON ANYTHING, IF YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT THEN YOU CAN"! This adventure was as much about a group of people individually challenging themselves as it was about raising money for Cieran and the Trust. And as I have said before we ALL felt challenged at some point EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US!!!

Today was the day I had been looking forward too the most it was the toughest as far as terrain go's but by far the most beautiful. Once again the routine was Breakfast, kit, coffee and muck out before setting off for the hill's. Myself and Sam decided that we would start from the camp and walk the extra 3 miles as we didn't get to do so last night instead letting the other 3 go while we stamped the stamp's. 07:30 we headed out and the hill was tough but the heart got pumping and I began to smile as we ascended fast, I felt really good today and it was showing with the blistering pace we set as we munched up the miles. about 3/4 of the way up the incline we traced the path into the fields and hills above just as we heard the tikki taxi come past. That set us going faster (I love the competition of catching up) and we finally stopped at a trig point for some water, a look at the map and a quick picture (I must have been tiered as my eye's were closed).We cracked on and began to descend into the valley below and even got a beep of Iain in the Tikki as he headed off back to camp. After catching a glimpse of the front group we knew it wouldn't be long be fore we caught them up so decided to take 15mins for a proper break at an old roman temple.I have to say I was pretty impressed with the detail still remaining in the carvings and alters.   
                                                         

 just as we stopped we got close enough to give the other group a whistle. I forgot to say earlier that on day one Jane and Dave were given 6 pressie's off a friend one to open each day and the first was a bag of party blowers which they kindly handed out between the group and this was our way of communication at a distance and an excellent way of lifting spirits :).



We caught the group well before dinner and I'm really glad as we walked into true "wall country" together. with more "ewes are all birds ewes are!" and "shut up ewes!" to keep the morale up, this is where the real work started but my word it was glorious up there! We soon reached another Trig point as we climbed up and up oh yeah and down as well then up again then down etc etc, this was fun!!! I think Sluggie wanted a nap when we got to this trig point!

we ran into "green hat bastard" again in between him murdering and eating i'm sure I saw him licking his lips when he was looking at me. Grrrr screw you werewolf stay the hell away from me! we finally arrived at lunch but unfortunately we had to divert a mile to the car park where the support crew (Iain and Susie) were set up ready for us.

Today I felt quite sad for 3 reasons and very close together. Firstly it was great to share these times with the great people I was with, but I missed seeing something amazing and being able to turn around and share it with Gemma, she is not only my fiancee she is also my best mate and I missed her being there massively (plus every time I turned around Sam had his tongue shoved down Sophie's throat pmsl).

The second reason was as we passed the roman fort there was a group of children having a school day trip to visit the fort, This made me miss my kid's ALOT. I work away so I had only seen Gemma and the kid's for a day in over two weeks and being faced with these kid's having lot's of fun screaming and laughing made me wish I could give them a big cuddle and tell them how much I loved them (my kids not the ones at the fort), even more precious to hear them say it back to me. The third reason I felt sad was because Sluggies feet had taken a spanking this morning so hesitantly he decided to stop there for the day which meant he wouldn't be with us when we topped out at the highest point then dropped down to the stunning "sycamore gap". I had a chat with him briefly, I wanted to be sure that he was stopping because he was in pain and unable to go on today and NOT because he thought that he was slowing us down or being a burden to us in anyway which wasn't the truth. The group dynamic was excellent at this point everyone taking turns being at the back and giving support to anyone who needed it, we were absolutely a team and it was awesome!

He simply gave me a look that we both understood and i dropped it knowing that his decision was the right one for him although it still saddened me that the boss man would miss out (love you big guy).

We moved on after lunch and the terrain got harder still as we were faced with a big climb and some serious sheer drops off the cliffs a couple of feet to our right (nothing like a few hundred foot drop to get you smiling). Everyone did great at this point and once again a special mention to Jane who suffers with vertigo and just breezed past with only a little help. Sycamore gap was upon us and it was every bit as impressive as I thought it would be.

I had been slowly talking the boy's into doing a naked photo to celebrate getting to the next trig point (think it's a military thing, but it was also inspired by a mate who had done the same whilst climbing IN THE SNOW so I didn't want to be beat. Cheers Tylerzoid!) I would like to point out at this point that Andy did not need any talking into it and as soon as I mentioned it he was trying to get his kit off I had to explain to his that it wasn't until we topped out at the next trig point. The others were a little unsure but I made them all promise that when the time came they would get their kit off (I promised they could put the rucksacks back on though, how kind of me!). The boy's all did a moon shot here at sycamore gap (I think they thought that would be enough and there would be no naked fot after that ...........WRONG!!!).
I would like to draw your attention to Jane and Sara sat enjoying the show whilst Sophie get's stuck at the acorn end of the famous five. this was one hell of a line up!!

Proper pic taken by some kind "future victims of old green hat" we moved on and the climb from the gap was severe at this point i had taken to running up the inclines with Ant and Andy and then walking down the other side. we looked down from the top of the other side of the gap and realised how steep it was.

A few undulations later and we were looking down on a pretty steep declining path with a little bit of a climb on the first bit i sat on the edge and took a pic (what me take photo's never).

Then from the bottom you can appreciate how big the bloody hill is!!

Unfortunately Jane couldn't face this descent and had to find an alternative way down so that was the last we saw of her and Dave until we RV'd at camp later. we pushed on through and myself Ant and Andy had some fun on some small scrambles and rocks to liven the day up REALLY HIGH WEREN'T THEY BOYS!!!

it was finally time and we reached our next break point "NAKED TRIG POINT"! as soon as I got there I looked across both ways and we were clear of outside "interference" if we moved quickly (I really didn't want to be arrested and put on a certain register for indecent exposure, not that there was much to see). I started to strip straight away and it looked as though a few of the boy's were going to start crying but they knew they couldn't get out of it, it was time to MAN THE FUCK UP! we didn't bother with boots off we just pulled everything down and put our Bergen's back on Sara took the photo and Sophie staggered around covering her eye's and sniggering at our little acorns, I don't know what she was laughing at I had a good look at Sam's and it wasn't anything special! So here it is, ENJOY!

Less than 1 second after the photo was taken we got dressed back into our now FREEZING COLD AND WET clothes and cracked on with the trail it was tough terrain still but everyone did great and we reached the Quarry at around 17:45. It was stunning.

at this point i was toying with the idea cutting the distance for those who wanted it for tomorrow, this would mean continueing tonight another 3.5 miles the the roman army carpark. I know the guy's weren't keen on me going on my own but i felt great and i had confidence in my ability to run the remainder of the fell's with no kit to weigh me down. We were all umming and ahhhhing and i was loosing light fast so at 18:10 I asked for the map and pocketed my torch and emergency blanket, kissed everyone goodbye and (in the words of Sophie on her blog ran off like " Kel being Kel, stubborn and with more energy then a caffeinated, sugar-powered 5 year old ". 
So off I trotted and do you know what the last thing i thought about as I left the gang to embrace my own personal challenge?! "fuck, what happens if that werewolf turns up?"

Start point the white dot. The green area is the flat-ish very heavy muddy farm land the red area is where the fell's bite back. I had arranged for the Tikki Taxi to pick me up at 19:00 but wanted to be at the car park RV well before that. I was loosing light fast and all I could think about was the werewolf and that alone made me run faster!! I have to admit by the middle of the red section I was hanging out but I really did want to beat that fading light as I dropped down just past a turret I knew I had it beat and 15 mins later I was dropping down off the last fell and into the carpark the time? 18:50!!! LITERALLY 2 MINUTES LATER Iain and Sluggie pulled up in the van and as Sluggie looked over at me I smiled a cheeky/cocky smile and mouthed "what time do you call this?"

To be honest I really enjoyed this short time alone casting out and having a bit of time to myself, I loved being around the guy's but this just felt good to smash myself and know that I pushed it as hard as I could for a little bit. I'm not sure that the others "got that" and I know some of them will be reading this and I would like them to know that I didn't do it to be a "fucking hero man", I did it as my personal challenge and I knew it would help some of the team the next day! NO DOUBT THOUGH I'M GLAD IT DIDN'T GO WRONG AND I HAD TO BE FUCKING RESCUED BY THE MOUNTAIN RESCUE TEAM! that would have been dead funny hahahahahaha NOT! (Have ewes come to rescue me yeah?")

EPIC DAY FOR EVERYONE TOTAL MILES WALKED 18

I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH A COUPLE OF VIDEOS FROM THAT NIGHT

Hadrians wall walk DAY 2.

DAY 2.

"someone has stolen the bloody Robin Hood stamp, I bet it was that bastard in the green hat! Well that wouldn't be ironic would it!"

Woke up early needed a piss soooo bad and my leg's weren't the only thing that was stiff as I climbed out of my sleeping bag, morning glory was upon me so I was glad of the darkness although I did nearly trip over Sluggie's cot bed. Good job I didn't fall onto him, that wouldn't have been awkward at all!!! ("Kell your torch is digging into me..........!", "my torch is in my Bergen Sluggie!") I stepped out of the tent and crunched my way over to the toilet block, oh boy it was cold this morning and the stars were still glinting at me less brightly now and it wouldn't be long before they made way for the sun and hopefully a really good walking day. A little less than an hour later and the sun was rising to reveal the most stunning view of the the dawn lit mist rolling over the hill's we had already walked the day before. The conversation was a little muted over breakfast (porridge THEN fry up, still no horse cake!), I think there was a fair amount of trepidation about the coming days after what had been the longest day of our lives yesterday and a few murmurs of "I cant walk another 20 miles today!" And "are my feet supposed to look like this?" Mixed with "who's fucking idea was this? WANKER!" The realisation that this was not going to be easy by anyone's standards was kicking in and after breakfast was eaten and water re-plenned we gather outside for a group "bonding" shot and moral was handed out to those who needed it in the shape of me looking like a complete twat in my new head band!

With sore leg's and quivering bottom lip's we headed out for day 2 of walking it wasn't long before we arrived at our second Stamping station which was The Robin Hood pub just a couple of miles down the road just after the Scooby Doo bridge, NO REALLY! (after seeing the Scooby Doo bridge I was more than a little worried that the wicker man might make an appearance!) When we opened the little wooden box by the entrance we saw that the stamp was missing brilliant I said "someone has stolen the bloody Robin Hood stamp, I bet it was that bastard in the green hat! Well that wouldn't be ironic would it!"

 Let me explain the "bastard in the green hat", on the first day we met with a guy on his own who was walking the same walk as us but carrying all his kit (tent, sleeping bag, axes, rohypnol etc) with him. He was a bit suspect to say the least and we would encounter him on several occasions on our adventure.The one distinguishing thing about him was his scruffy green woolly hat. we concluded after the third day that he was actually murdering other walkers on the Hadrians wall path, either that or he was a werewolf. That thought stayed with me as I don't like werewolves very much (not that fell stalking murderers are much better).

Glad we cleared that up, moving on!!

Luckily the land lady of the pub showed up just as we were all about to commit suicide faced with being"one stamp short of a full set" (yes I know, just like me!).She said it had happened before so she kindly signed our stamp points and said that it would count as a stamp. I didn't want the stamp point to left empty so decided to put my finger print onto it(another reference to the cells). 

We cracked on and found ourselves moving into deeper farm land and an ever increasing number of styles. I every time I crossed a style I couldn't help but chuckle to myself whilst quietly singing "Gangnam style" to myself. It's like an instant happy moment, even now I cant help but sing it!! we were seeing more and more of "the wall" too which still had it's novelty at this point! We were entering real "HADRIANS WALLLLL COUNTRYYYYYYY"! or so the sign said!

after a few more miles we took a proper break and it became obvious that there were some sore feet around. I had for the most part avoided any serious blisters at this point but after the previous day I'm not surprised there were some potential man downs through foot related injury. Sara at this point was in some pain and the compede's(not sure whether that is spelled right but the spell checker gave me the word "commodes" which I don't think would have been an appropriate alternative, not until later that day anyway!) didn't seem to be working but she patched up as well as possible and even went bare back FOOT! I meant bare foot! and at the lunch RV picked up her sandals which was enough to give her feet a little room to breath (no, I refuse to make a smelly feet joke right now. I will however tell you that Sam and myself had an encounter with one of her sandals the next day). It was just before the lunch RV that we cut through a beautiful Forrest it really was stunning. For some reason I became obsessed with taking pictures of mushrooms when my photographer side kicked in and was happy to see Sam and Sophie join in when I started to sing the "Badger Badger Badger Badger" song (badger song here).

  It was a nice change to amble through the woods for a while. Easier on the feet as well as the eye's. It also indicated that lunch was just round the corner. Did i mention lunch again? HANK MARVIN!!!!!

 Finally we reached lunch RV on the entrance to a junction on a relatively quiet road, soup and sandwiches was the order of the day which was well received by everyone. of course there was a catch and I was made to sing for my sandwich just handy that Iain had brought his travel guitar along (what a co-incidence)!

song played and dinner earned we all sat down and rested over lunch. before we were ready to set off again we were disturbed by an angry goth in a small red car who was snarling and swearing at us all because we were blocking his parking space while he waited for his kid to be dropped off, one word spring's to mind WANKER! Fully refreshed we set off again and the pace was pushed a little to make sure we made camp 2 before night fall (what with the werewolf being around here somewhere!) this is really the first time I got to properly chat with Sam and Sophie (when they didn't have their tongues stuffed in each others mouth's) this leg of day 2 was also the first time I uttered one of the "sheep reference's" which came from the joke "what'a the scouse version of silence of the lambs? SHUT UP EWES!" This then led to endless "EWES" jokes and shouts at the sheep which made Sophie wet her self every time. "what are ewes lookin at?"  We were starting to split into two groups again but to be honest i really needed to drop the kids off at the pool (needed a shit) and we weren't that far off camp 2 so we contacted the group behind and to check they were ok with us pushing on. We passed a few more bit's of the wall took some photo's (Quickly) then i did a "duck walk" the rest of the way to the camp. (bum cheeks clenched we rolled into camp 2 and after a good muck out we stretched off and waited for the second group to come in.

The day wasn't quite done yet we decided to give some of the team a head start some of the fitter guy's (Drew,Dave and Ant) marched on for 3 miles up 1 hell of a hill. myself and Sam walked with them for a while before cutting off to get the stamp from Chesters fort. then it was back to camp again for tea and medals.

MILES WALKED 11.63 (tbc)

Hadrians wall walk DAY 1

DAY 1.

Walking starts.

"All I can see is horse shit, but all I can smell is cake...."! 

I woke with my alarm and after Re-packing my Bergen for a fourth time (kit OCD) I headed down to breakfast with Sluggie, I have to admit after the fuck up of the evening meal the night before I wasn't expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised by a massive breakfast buffet which I piled high and sat down with the rest of the team. Susie was sat next to me eating her porridge, she informed me that the best breakfast for a long arduous day was porridge first then a fry up. I looked down at my mountainous plate of fried food and decided I would have to eat that then grab a bowl of porridge then another plate of fried heaven because it was always porridge then fry up ( I loved this adventure already).

 Two cups of coffee and a muck out later and I was standing in the car park throwing my kit into the tikki taxi (Iains Transit van) whilst the rest of the gang were doing the same or trying to scrape the ICE of the vehicles. we were enjoying  circling a roundabout a few times after Sam had announced "I ignore what my sat-nav is saying when i think it's wrong" then Sophie kicked in that he hadn't actually driven here before so how did he know it was wrong? I thought to myself this could actually be MTFU's 6 day "tour de roundabout, sponsor us now for who will throw up first"! eventually Sam and the sat-nav buried their differences and we all piled out of the car at "Walls end", our starting point for this amazing journey.

so everyone ready it was time to take our first steps and to get our first stamps in the Hadrians Wall passport (see photo in previous blog). unfortunately the stamping station was ...erm....closed!! so we headed in the wrong direction to the garage just down the road where there was a spare stamp. Whilst in the garage I filled my pockets with chocolate bar's when the guy behind the till wasn't looking :) only kidding I payed for some of them really (I don't know why I got so much it wasn't like I had burned off breakfast yet!). So now we took our first steps in the right direction.

Time passed quite quickly and before we knew it Sam and Dave had caught up with us after having to drop the vehicles back off at the hotel. Good effort lads you chased us down in 4 miles!! There was alot of tarmac to cover on this first day so we all headed off at a good pace with some of the team using the Iphone app "endomondo" to track our distance's and pace along the way. The first major stop we made was at a cafe so some folks could use the toilet. How fortunate we were to have arrived when there was a cycle convention and sale on outside this cafe, well when I say convention I really mean half a dozen tables with what looked like second hand cycle paraphernalia.

you can just see in the background of the pictures, I swear some guy rolled up on a chopper!! I stifled my bike snobbery and sniggers and we moved on following the river which gave me a chance to see lot's of the thing's that Newcastle has to offer, no really! we even passed through a little riverside market complete with crying tramps and scruffy old men with big signs about the end of the world and Jesus' second coming. he asked me whether I had found god yet I said "yes! just next to event HQ usually. If you find god just ask for Donna or bag lady and they will sort you out mate". (CP event joke) don't think he got it, couldn't imagine why?

So we made it through the market and the girls didn't buy anything which I was very impressed with. I think we were about 5 miles in and Sluggie began to get faster and faster I caught up with him only to see that he had some "motivation", fair play mate carrot and stick come to mind ;) We soon stopped for a quick photo opportunity that and the "motivation" had started to get nervous and we didn't need slowing down with a night in the cell's.

This first day was turning out to be a grueler but as we closed in on lunch I began to smell the sweetest smell. it was like fresh cakes and bread. I looked down and all I could see was horse shit on the path but all I could smell was cake, I concluded that if the horse shit smelt that good then the horses must taste fucking amazing this is where the term "gateaux du cheval" was invented and I couldn't wait to get me some! of course it was all spoilt when Andy piped up and informed us of the mass bakery just behind the tree's (WANKER) I want my horse cake!!! Finally we hit the awesome lunch area Iain had set up where we ate hot soup and sandwich's (no bloody horse cake though) and discovered our first casualty Susie who had earned a full "heel peel" for all her hard efforts before lunch.

The final section of the day brought the first real climbs and this split the group into two parts. My mentality towards hill's is head down and go hard (which is also my mantra for sex but that too is another blog all together :) There were some who liked to get up there asap and others who tackled the climbs with a steady "just keep going" pace. Which is all good, I think if your made to walk at someone else' pace it can tire you out quicker especially when it comes to hill's. As we got around half way up the last major climb we came across an elderly couple who told us we were just 10-15 minutes from a pub.........yeah, OK! 10- 15 minutes if you suffer with Alzheimers and you forgot what time you started to count from!!! 30 minutes later we arrived at a pub. I wish I could say "end of day one" at this point but that would be too easy. we stopped for a drink and as we watched drew stalk his pint with a needy glint in his eye we took a moment to look at the view and it was pretty good.

Newcastle was disappearing into the distance a little did we know we were about to have our very first encounter with a real bit of HADRIANS WALL!!!! but it was only a bit though. Still, I had been saying that I couldn't wait to see the wall as it made it "real", oh how I would live to regret that statement.
 Time was ticking on and the days mileage was approaching 15-16 miles i think at that point so we cracked on just round the corner to meet the wall.

 We didn't stay long just enough time to say oooohhhh and ahhhhhhh and is that it?! then we walked on and into fields and some mud how we would come to hate that stuff too lol. The daylight was drawing to a close but we were still some way out from our first campsite we picked up the pace but I could see how tiered everyone was getting and could feel just how tarmac slapped my feet were. We followed the road until it became too unsafe to do so at which point we were lucky enough that the path cut into the fields and continued for a few more miles.

 By the time we reached camp 1 it was pitch black and getting cold so the site of a warm tent, a fire, some hot food and the chance to take care of some personal admin couldn't have been any sweeter. as I took a moment outside later on to call Gemma and exaggerate everything that had happened that day for extra sympathy points I made mental notage of how clear the sky was, quite stunning with it's blanket of stars, knowing that tonight would be cold and the morning frosty. Then I retired to my bed where I slept like a baby, still giggling to myself over the groups first inappropriate joke "who shags kid's and then say's thank you? Jimmy civil!

20 miles walked today, amazing effort everyone!!

I will leave you with this final photo taken at the end of day 1..........NUFF SAID !!!