One Small Step!

Following yet more physio it was out on the beaten track (or tow path to be more precise) again.

The test was to get to Gargrave and back (to Skipton) in a) one piece and b) in reasonably good time. Thankfully I managed both - I didn't think 1 hour 20 each way (from my house some half a mile further than Aireville Park) was too bad although on the day we won't be commanding that sort of pace for the duration (it extrapolates out to 18 and a half hour pace). We would struggle with that even if training had gone perfectly!

Obviously there is still a long way to go and I continue to look with envy at the miles being racked up by my team and other teams.

Journey's start - just outside Aireville park.

Lock at Gargrave (number 30 for those that are interested).

The next lock (31) on the journey.

The next few walks will start to increase the effort without undoing all the good work done so far - should be interesting!

I'm off to watch the London Marathon now. Loads of people enduring immense physical pain all in the name of raising money for good causes. Now who could be that daft?

Operation Welsh Dragon

Two members of the Q-Team again braved the elements as Rich and James descended on the Black Mountains and took on the welsh peaks of Hay Bluff, Lord Hereford's Knob (yes, really!) and Rhos Dirion.

The day started in low cloud, from the hamlet of Capel-y-Finn, and a climb up to the Offa's Dyke path, routed along the border with England, where James again took the opportunity to celebrate St George's Day early by flying the flag.


James patrols the English border with Wales in the clouds


Continuing along the ridge up to Hay Bluff, the cloud soon gave way to some most pleasant sunny spells and the pair reached Hay Bluff in good time.




James on Hay Bluff triangulation point at 677m above sea level


From here, the route took the walkers deeper into Wales, with a short traverse across to Lord Hereford's Knob (690m), also known as 'Twmpa' in Welsh.




Rich pauses to collect his thoughts, and read the map on LHK.


By they had reached the final peak of Rhos Dirion (713m), about 12 miles into the walk, Rich began to struggle with a recurring knee problem and James had started to re-aquaint himself with his old friend Mr Blister.


Even with their difficulties towards the end, the pair still finished the (approximately) 16 mile walk in less than six hours, which sets a good pace for Trailtrekker!


Mission: ACCOMPLISHED

Trailtrekker route changed

On Thursday we got notified of a change to the route due to fallen trees. Ironically the new route takes us right through the middle of the wood we would otherwise skirt round!

So what are we missing out on? Well from our training walk on the 'old' section we passed Old Ing farm and Calf Holes which provided footage for our video, we walked against the ferocious wind up Cam End, we got 'spotted' by a shooting party at the edge of the wood and we witnessed Ady tumbling in a field.

Take a look at the 2nd post and 3rd post from that walk.

The important thing perhaps is that the route has obviously shortened as a result but considering the original route was over 100km anyway we won’t be too far short. If James feels like doing an extra lap of Aireville Park to compensate then that’s up to him!

Recipe Book

After The Q Team's pig racing night and the football tournament it is the turn of our fellow HML Trailtrekkers to put on some fundraising fun. Last night was the treasure hunt organised by Jo and Claire but more on that later courtesy of Nick. There are some funny moments captured on video so check back later for a laugh (assuming the technology works).

Over the last month or so Tim and Cath Coates have been putting together a recipe book made up from recipes provided by Trailtrekkers at HML and their friends, family and colleagues.

There are 86 recipes providing excellent value for £5 including such tasty selections as “Pidge’s Fish Chowder”, “Walk Faster Spinach Pasta”, “Limestone Pavement Ice Cream” and “Malham Tarn Muffins”.

Thanks, of course, go to Cath and Tim for putting the recipe book together and to John Mason Printers and HML for sponsoring the book.

If you want to buy a copy email joeldalby@aol.com.

I ain't goin' in no pool!

As I continue my steady progress back to full fitness I thought a blog entry would be good. It’s almost 2 months since the Valentine’s night walk. And in this time how many miles do you think I’ve walked in training for the big event? Yep, about seven, and that’s being a bit generous. The cause of my apparent sloth is a bad knee – quite important when the specialist subject is walking.

The problems won’t stop me lining up on the big day but rather than the pain starting at Buckden like I’d hoped it’ll probably be bad before Pen-y-ghent.

I haven’t developed a taste for aerobics like Ady just yet but I’m not far behind. My morning routine on the advice of the physiotherapist is a series of what I can only describe as bum lifts, followed by some vigorous leg kicks while lying on the bed (without going into too much detail, it’s a good job the neighbour is slightly deaf!) which I repeat with slightly less noise (oh dear I let the detail slip) whilst stood up.

These exercises should be repeated 3 times daily. I can’t find an appropriate place at work to carry out my extraordinary routine so I repeat at 16:30 and again at 22:00.

Whilst James and Richard were braving the elements on Saturday I was taking delivery of the Reebok Fusion – an exercise bike!

I figured in my attempt to get the legs working and keep/get my fitness levels up this was the best, nay the only, option. I had previously reignited my passionate dislike of swimming which was the only other choice.

Okay, so cycling a few miles inside isn’t what could be described as ideal preparation but at the moment it’s as good as you’re going to get. The other downside is it doesn’t make for a great pictorial blog entry but I’ll be working on getting some more picturesque landscapes in the background.

Hardly Sir Chris Hoy or Bradley Wiggins stuff but I’m already clocking up over 8 miles a day so fingers crossed its doing some good.

We’re making excellent progress towards our £1500 target but we’re not quite halfway there! Please sponsor us through our justgiving site. To those who have already sponsored us or supported us in other ways - thanks.

Generous corporate sponsors

Evening all. I thought I would put a quick post together to say thank you to the corporations and local businesses who have supported us thus far.
As part of fundraising I wrote to several companies asking if they could supply us with raffle prizes or some product donations to help our walkers.

A big thanks has to go to Science In Sport (SIS) for their generous discount and also Lucozade who have also offered us a discount of their products.

As far as local donations go we have so far been offered raffle prizes from The Candle Shop, Thorntons and a local company in Halifax called Sabel Cosmetics (www.sabelcosmetics.co.uk)

I am still waiting to hear back from several big names but hopefully we will gain more support and this will help us reach or even smash our fundraising target and allow us to get as much money as possible for Oxfam and make the first Skipton Trailtrekker one that will challenge people to beat next year!

Horton or Bust

Two members of the Q-Team (Rich S and I) yesterday embarked on the longest training walk to date, travelling from Skipton to Horton, taking in the two highest points of the journey: Fountains Fell and Pen Y Ghent. The added challenge was that if we didn't make Horton - 26 miles away - by 21:00 that night, we'd miss the last train home! We set off at 9:35...















Rich on arival at Gargrave (10:55)



Airton (12:15)



Malham at 13:00 - this was taken shortly afterwards (13:25) at Malham's famous Cove



About to start the ascent of Fountains Fell (15:30) - the weather deteriorated sharply here and the rain started coming down!



James takes a tumble going up (!) Fountains Fell.



James in the clouds at the top of Fountains Fell (16:30) celebrating St George's Day a little early - weather: driving rain/hail

Too cold and wet for photos after this point after we both fell into big muddy puddles, but even more disturbing than that, I ruptured the only remaining bag of Twiglets in my rucksack.

We reached the summit of neighbouring Pen Y Ghent at 18:15.



Finally reached Horton station (19:25) just minutes before the penultimate train (19:31). Yay!!

Total time (including stops) was a respectable 9 hours, 50 minutes.

Mission: Accomplished