Date: Sunday 18th May Distance: 29.8 kms / 18.5 miles
Location: Reed, Chiswells, Barley, Reed
Weather: Dry, bit chilly, warm when he sun was out
Participants: Lurch, Wol (and later, family Wol)
Target – 5 hours. An hour into this walk and me and Lurch thought we were going to “smash it to pieces” (to coin a phrase of a Matt Lucas look-a-like ex-contestant on The Apprentice). 
So much so, we revised our estimate to possibly finishing just over 4 and half hours. This was great news as we’d arranged to meet the rest of family Wol for the last 45 minutes of the walk, so we were safe as regards potentially jeopardising that rendez-vous.
However, and I’m not sure if the fact that this coincided with our first and second snack-stops, the second and third hours were so unproductive as regards distance covered, it felt like we were going backwards.
Now we had to contend with a few slower sections (such as the boggy, nettle-laced tracks through some of the groves), getting lost where Pip had kindly advised us not to, and dealing with the several kilos of mud that attached themselves to our boots (Lurch likened this to walking in high-heels - I couldn’t possibly comment), but I have no idea where the time went. We weren’t exactly breaking any records as regards pace and we were having a bit of a laugh, but by the time we were due to meet the others, we were about an hour and a half behind time!
As a way of explaining this, I’m going to suggest the concept of worm-holes in time. On the map that Pip gave us, there were a couple of small sections where the 2 pages were sellotaped together and I believe this is where me and Lurch slipped in time, had a few cups of tea and put our feet up for half hour before re-joining real-time and the walk. A bit like alien abductions, I’m very hazy about details, but I can’t think of any other explanation.
On realisation that we were way behind, we did step-up the pace and thankfully, due to the natural inquisitiveness of children, the other party had also been delayed as they stopped numerous times to investigate skeletal remains of animals, rustlings in haystacks and not surprisingly, have a few snack-stops.
It was good to finally meet up with them, and it proved we were actually making some progress.
Took us over 6 hours to cover nearly 30kms, and as Lurch said, good from a stamina perspective (even if the pace was somewhat snail-like). The Cabinet was too tempting a prospect to resist so we popped in for a quick drink before heading off home.
I believe Lurch is also starting to settle on his walking dietary requirements – flask of tea, flap-jack, Walkers crisps (no other brand would be appropriate), jam sandwiches and a family size bag of Haribo…. However, I think he is still contemplating the merits of incorporating swiss-rolls, teacakes and Vienetta….
Wol.
So much so, we revised our estimate to possibly finishing just over 4 and half hours. This was great news as we’d arranged to meet the rest of family Wol for the last 45 minutes of the walk, so we were safe as regards potentially jeopardising that rendez-vous.
However, and I’m not sure if the fact that this coincided with our first and second snack-stops, the second and third hours were so unproductive as regards distance covered, it felt like we were going backwards.Now we had to contend with a few slower sections (such as the boggy, nettle-laced tracks through some of the groves), getting lost where Pip had kindly advised us not to, and dealing with the several kilos of mud that attached themselves to our boots (Lurch likened this to walking in high-heels - I couldn’t possibly comment), but I have no idea where the time went. We weren’t exactly breaking any records as regards pace and we were having a bit of a laugh, but by the time we were due to meet the others, we were about an hour and a half behind time!
As a way of explaining this, I’m going to suggest the concept of worm-holes in time. On the map that Pip gave us, there were a couple of small sections where the 2 pages were sellotaped together and I believe this is where me and Lurch slipped in time, had a few cups of tea and put our feet up for half hour before re-joining real-time and the walk. A bit like alien abductions, I’m very hazy about details, but I can’t think of any other explanation.On realisation that we were way behind, we did step-up the pace and thankfully, due to the natural inquisitiveness of children, the other party had also been delayed as they stopped numerous times to investigate skeletal remains of animals, rustlings in haystacks and not surprisingly, have a few snack-stops.
It was good to finally meet up with them, and it proved we were actually making some progress.
Took us over 6 hours to cover nearly 30kms, and as Lurch said, good from a stamina perspective (even if the pace was somewhat snail-like). The Cabinet was too tempting a prospect to resist so we popped in for a quick drink before heading off home.
I believe Lurch is also starting to settle on his walking dietary requirements – flask of tea, flap-jack, Walkers crisps (no other brand would be appropriate), jam sandwiches and a family size bag of Haribo…. However, I think he is still contemplating the merits of incorporating swiss-rolls, teacakes and Vienetta….Wol.
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