How long is a piece of string.....?

Date: Sun 22nd June 2008

Distance: 43.8 kms

Location: Hertford, Watton, Haultwick, Wadesmill, Tonwell

Conditions: A lot better than last weekend....

Weather: Generally sunny but with a gusty breeze throughout

Participants: Wol & Gee

With Lurch having hung up his boots, & the Robbos away up in the Fens, it was left to Wol & Gee to take on the mantle of this weekend’s yomp, another 8 hour-er....After being scolded last weekend for missing out on the odd mid weeker I’m not sure whether Pip’s flat 5 hours falls within the strict guidelines laid down by the Pot training regime.

In order to make things a bit more convenient for the support team (Paula & Family Wol) we chose a local route, starting & ending in Hertford, taking in the sights & sounds of the picturesque villages & scenery north of Hertford.
A 7.45 a.m. departure from Wisdom Drive (was supposed to be 7.30, but Woltime was in operation), heading down to Hertford East, across Hartham, then onwards towards the now familiar territory of Waterford, Stapleford & Watton. Such was the early pace we seemed to be setting that we decided to put back the first Support rendezvous location. We didn’t seem to be walking at a particularly faster pace but it was probably the more conducive walking conditions, i.e. no long grass, deep mud or unmarked fields of wheat etc etc, compared to last week. The issue of how quickly we were progressing started to plant concern in Gee’s mind. This was due to the technique used to measure the planned route. RealBuzz? Nope, a piece of string. What was supposed to be a 36km walk seemed widely overstated, with a more realistic estimate being round the 30k mark....more of this later.

The first support team meet up was in a small ‘village’ of Haultwick, a place possibly twinned with Royston Vasey. The pub, ironically called Rest & Welcome, looked like a recently converted Little Chef. We were half expecting a local to come out, from behind their net curtains, & order the Wol boys & their football, off the village green.

After taking on nourishment, the intrepid duo said adieu to Support, and headed onwards. There seems to be a lot of places round Hertfordshire with ‘Green’ in the name. One such place was our next through destination, Potter’s Green. Luckily we were not accosted by any spotty little spell chuckers, although maybe this can be blamed for missing the footpath sign. After quickly getting back on track we rambled onwards. The issue of distance, or lack of, brought us to make the decision to build in a Robbo detour, in order to avoid being ¾ hour early for the next Support stop. We also managed to add in a bit more distance when Gee decided to ignore the sign & head off through what looked like puddles of toxic industrial waste. A quick circle rectified the situation & we were back on track to Wadesmill. Somewhere along the route eagle-eyed Wol spotted a new addition to the wildlife collection. Any similarities to a recently retired colleague are purely coincidental.

The add-on detour allowed us to arrive on time at our second Support pit stop, in Tonwell. Is it pronounced Ton-well or Ton’ell? Answers on a postcard, if anybody actually cares... Lack of a church means you have to make do with the rather unattractive water tower. A veritable food treat ensued, with a great beef stew dished up by Mrs Wol, as a tester to see how we coped after taking on a proper meal, rather than copious nutrigrain bars or bags of haribo. A right touch, so something for Lurch to aspire to. The response to ‘can we have x’ should not be met with an emphatic ‘who do you think i am, Aisley Harriott’. Lurch, you should be catering to the nutritional requirements & requests of your team........

The last leg took us back onto familiar, previously walked territory, as we trekked back into Bengeo. Although the conditions seemed easier than previous weeks it did seem to cause Wol major problems with his feet, which seemed to cause him gip after about 4 hours. Maybe it was the increased road walking, but needs to be considered for the remaining training & main event.

Sticking to the plan to be out for 9 hours, we decided to throw in an extra trip down the Cole Green Way, which unfortunately involved walking past the front door of the Black Horse. As tempting as it was to go in, we stuck to the plan, hobbling on for the extra hour, before finally returning to the pub, exactly 9 hours after starting out.

Thanks once again to Paula & the support crew for the pit stops & beef stew, and the Black Horse for the cold Fosters. Not long to go now........

PS It turns out that string is king when it comes to measuring on an OS map. My doubt about the trek length proved unfounded, as the original distance was 37km. With the additional add ons we clocked out at a mighty 43.8km. Getting on for half distance....G.I.T.

Gee