Final Day: Saturday 3rd June

Unbelievably stiff this morning.

The strong NSAIDs did their bit last night to get me to sleep (after Heather insisting on reading until daft O’clock) but the old limbs don’t seem to want to move or bend in the correct way together. Look at walking: you stand up, put one foot forward , step off and bring the other foot past it until a stride is completed. That wasn’t possible for about 15 minutes until the bits of grit and fluff in my back, knee and ankle joints were worked out of the way tentatively. Nevertheless, after the whining was out of the way the main thing was: NO BLISTERS.

In the words of Monty Burns: “Excellent”

Today was going to be (like yesterday) a straight walk. Over relatively flat land but in the strong sun again. We breakfasted well in Chez Jackson and said our farewells and thanks to the clan for their incredible hospitality. HOn to the top of the bank outside Chollerford at Hillhead. It would be a straight run to Newcastle, almost entirely parallel with the Military Road and as straight as a die.

Heather left me to go home to check the post and put some of my smelly washing on (home was only half an hour away) So I set off on my own for the last leg. The going was wonderful – the paths wound either side of the road and through the odd copse to give relief from the sun. My Camelbak was replenished with the optimum Glucose/water/Irn-Bru mix (kidding) and importantly it was exclusively Eastbound to help my morale – no more of the need for crappy ‘short-cuts’ to ease to make things easier.

It’s incredible but after early suspicions that my legs would be a state today with the bandage on my injured ankle etc. things calmed down after half an hour of walking and I actually started to jog I felt so good! I gave it a good canter for half an hour, aware that it would probably shave about the same again off my finishing time, but the benefits were more than simply the time saved – I felt great. I allowed myself a little bit of self-congratulation and pride in doing this thing for the first time. Being a devout pessimist I don’t often do this, but it was a combination of relief and thanks to God/Allah/Krishna/Yahweh that I’d managed to get through since January unscathed.

The next couple of hours seemed to go very well – passing through the ancient gate that linked the wall up with the North-South roman road (now the A68) at Portgate and onward for another 5 miles or so. Meeting the occasional walker going the other way (I kept telling them they were doing it in the wrong direction but they didn’t listen) for a chat I was quite alone for the most part. By now, the sun was baking hot and I was dying for some relief. I made it to just outside the village of Harlow Hill at a reservoir and nature reserve called Whittle Dene. Thank God for a very handy twitcher’s hide. I gained access and lay on the floor for half an hour to take the weight off my ankle and get some shade. It was bliss.

I had arranged for Heather to meet me a few miles East of Harlow Hill at Heddon-on-the-Wall. This is at the end of what is known as the ‘West Road’ (the route of the wall going into Newcastle). We met for lunch. I needed a top-up of energy drinks, sandwiches and encouragement. My feet were starting to whiff a bit so a change of socks was in order. I had a good hour’s rest as progress had been excellent, despite the problems yesterday.

Heather left me again and promised to meet me near the finish along with her parents (Heather’s dad had promised me a bottle of Brown Ale at the finish). The west road was a bit of a slog after with Heddon, Throckley, a strangley-named village called Blücher and then finally Walbottle before you cross the A1 and into Newcastle proper.

I limped past Benwell and Elswick, Scotswood not being far away. I dropped down the hill towards the city centre and hung a left at Corporation Road and down another bank. There I came to the spiritual home of all Geordies: St James’ Park.

SJP
As it sits atop the hill overlooking the city it dominates the skyline whether you arrive via train or road, there is no avoiding it. The only stadium I have visited that does that to you from afar is Twickenham.

None other in England that I know of. After genuflecting I then moved onto the city centre and the main shopping areas of Blackett Street, Northumberland Street, Grey’s Monument and John Dobson Street.

The Monument

After swapping text messages with Heath, I arranged to meet her at New Bridge Street. There she was, waiting with the dogs and her dad, Gordon. Only a few miles left now (3 actually). Across Byker Bridge and up Shields Road to the Morrison’s supermarket where my sister, niece and other folk waited for me. I had a carton of milk for some reason here. Only 2 miles left.
These couple of miles were bloody hard work. Every little rest you have means your joints stiffen up a little more. With (predictably enough) a straight road to the Roman fort the last stretch was completed in slightly longer than my average time (it’s Heather’s fault really as she did this bit with me and couldn’t keep up with my shuffle…ha!ha!)
The Finish seemed to be a mixture of relief and was somewhat of an anticlimax for me. As I received an impromptu round of applause from my relatives (who had parked 150 metres from the fort (which was closed) I insisted that I complete the bally thing properly and touch the gates. Which I did of course.

Segedunum Front Gates

Many, many thanks goes to Sharon, Jade, Matchy, Gordon and Chris and of course Heather for the reception. Oh, and The Broon was fabulous, Gordon!

Job Done.

Day 2: Friday 2nd June

In contrast to yesterday, the morning was fabulous. Blazing sunlight hit me as I opened the curtains. Got a great night’s sleep – soaking my feet in the room’s large rubbish bin full of water (in lieu of the promised bath) helped immeasurably last night and I was amazed not to have any niggling aches/pains/ricks/strains. Just very tired.

Heather had to go to work today (nearly 40 miles to Newcastle along the A69) and as she stole out at an unearthly hour I promised faithfully I had retrieved everything from the car that I would need (I had filled the rucksack up with waterproofs(….WHY…?) a Gore-Tex bivi bag, food, water, stove, change of socks, spare t-shirt, camera, phone, sunglasses, spare shorts…etc. etc.) so basically I would be OK for the whole day. I bade her farewell and got my head down for another couple of hours.

I sat down for brekkers (definitely full English this morning as no running today) with a feeling of foreboding rattling around both brain cells…….BALLS! My wonderful painkillers that numbed the aches yesterday. They were still in the car. In Newcastle. Ach! Never mind – didn’t start this in the knowledge that I’d get through unscathed did I? Didn’t get through 9 years in the TA using pills did I? (Actually a haze of alcohol helped a lot of the time.)

So, bacon, egg etc. along with strong tea inside me, I settled up and was dismayed to find no discount for the breakfast Heather hadn’t eaten (if you get my drift). So I got my rucksack and bimbled off in a huff. As the B&B was about a kilometre away from the wall itself, the proprietor had helpfully advised me ‘just to follow the path’ round the back of the farm buildings and ‘the wall’s straight ahead of you’. Ha! You can see the route I took below.

A rather circuitous Route

There was no bloody track there. Nothing. The map I had showed marshes all around me (remember I had no boots) so I was debating going back to the main road and walking the long way around to the start when I found a National Trust sign that had fallen over about 400 metres away – only then did I know I was going the right way.

As usual, pursued by daft sheep that wanted their breakfast. Honestly – I might have been brought up in a town but I’m not entirely unfamiliar (not in the biblical sense, you understand) with livestock after much time spent at Otterburn, Catterick, Sennybridge et al. But these buggers were something else. I’ve decided I don’t like things with horns now. Or big shaggy things that might well hurt you if they sat on you.

They were just bloody tiresome. There you are, trying to work out where a 73 mile-long World Heritage Site of masonry, bricks and German walkers is and:

“Meeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh” said Sean the b****** sheep in me lughole (at 70 decibels).

Do you know how far a map can be blown when you’ve dropped it in a high wind?

I eventually rejoined the wall after an hour’s flailing about with the map and a 20 minute yomp uphill to the hilariously named Cockmount Hill. I seemed to have lost quite a bit of time. But the views were definitely worth it. Looking East towards Caw Gap, Winshields Crags and beyond was stunning in the fantastic sunlight.

The Views

Anyway – back to walking. I was struggling to keep a decent pace as the sun was starting to beat down now quite harshly and I could feel my legs starting to heat up. I took the rucksack off for a shufty around for my sunblock. After quite a thorough shufty with the entire contents emptied smartly on the grass I came to the conclusion that my happy pills weren’t the only thing I’d forgotten to get out of the car. Balls. Thank God I had a hat.

Here on in, I wish someone had come with me. Again, the views were spectacular but some of the clambering was quite dangerous with a full rucksack – I felt that maybe I should have done a little more training over terrain like this with weight on my back. Sycamore Gap in particular was daunting and when I got to the top I was confronted by dozens of whinging American school kids complaining about the hills, the flies, etc, which helped my humour no end.

Sycamore Gap

Lunch was a blessed relief out of the sun for me as I was started to cook nicely (on one side only, for added comic effect). I traipsed the best part of a kilometre from the wall through Houseteads fort to the visitor centre next to the B6168 Military Road and bought lunch there.

Houseteads

I was quite tired and much in need of a rest after 4 hours of up and down climbing and descent that most people take a whole day to complete. A cheese sandwich from a cheesed-off lassie at the counter and a bottle of coke later I had a wee nap. If the screaming kids had let me, that is. It was very busy with lots of tourists and bikers who sat round boiling in their leather suits. The sun was very intense now, but as there was a fierce wind you hardly noticed it until you were sheltered.

I had decided not to bother trailing all the way up the steep track back to the wall just to hit the path at the top and saw on the map that if I went along the main road for a couple of KM I could follow a bridleway back up to the wall covering about a third of the distance and ending up further East that I would have anyway. Sorted.

At this point I would like to mention that pretty much constantly I had been receiving text messages from my colleagues since the preceding afternoon (which helpded my morale immensely - thank you all. But Linda and Janet, shame on you) and several times had had to postpone a tricky descent because a text arrived at a critical time. Just as I was about to step off a high stile to start the climb back up to the path, Saf on our helpdesk sent me a text. Oh dear! Crack! went my ankle as I tried to read my phone and step off at the same time.

Now I have to admit that on occasion I do employ the odd profanity or two to get my point across. This happened to be one of those occasions. I honestly thought it was game over like Michael Owen last night.….I know - I'm such a drama queen…

Dalkin

I digress. After swearing at every living thing within a mile of me (I was glad to have an excuse to have a go at the sheep anyway – although (again) not in the biblical sense, you understand) I took a few tentative whining “ooh, ahh, eeh” steps and realised it wasn’t that bad. Obviously all you lasses would have given yourselves a shake, run off, completed the thing at a canter, collected the kids from school, done the month’s shopping and sneered at the men complaining about a little bit of pain…but us blokes take pain seriously. Childbirth? Pah! It merely smarts a bit, I’m sure!

So I dragged my sorry ass back up the hill, rejoined the trail andpresently came to Sewingshields crag.

Sewingshields

Now those of you who know me well will know I’m a Big Girl’s Blouse anyway. But the lack of painkillers, the sunburn and my aching ankle all started to work against me now. Another thing was I had failed to reccie this part of the walk properly and had assumed that the ground (which you can see from the road) was nice and level where in fact it was like marching over sand dunes - the odd gradients and hillocks placed a great strain on my ankle which wore me down quickly.

From here until the end of the day things started to slow right down. I was uncertain I would make my RV with Heather at 5 o’clock but I did. Just. Just short of Chollerford and about 16 miles covered for the day.

H. picked me up with my trainers and most of the kit strewn out on the ground next to me. I was in a grumpy heap trying to get out of the sun, working out the route to our accommodation for the night at Sue Jackson’s gaff at Haydon Bridge.

Add to my near sunstroke, a healthy limp and the general weariness the fact that Heather had had a stinker of a day at work and was obviously expecting a more grateful passenger than could be deduced from a grunt of “You’re late” as I shoved my kit into the car and you have a recipe for a colourful ‘domestic’!

Nevertheless we made it to Haydon Bridge albeit with the minimum of conversation and to Sue’s country club! Wow! What a place. A wonderful three storey townhouse it has it’s own bat colony, an ensemble of bright, friendly and polite children (Ed and Tom) and a BFG (Dr. Mike) to boot.

The BFG

With a curry house across the way and their own fishing rights to the South Tyne river it seemed very grand! Although I’m SURE there were priestholes in that place I couldn’t prove it. After a post-mortem of the day’s events (a chance to show off my sunburn) and a hobble (a more advanced limp) into the shower cue the promised curry.

Curry Time!

Lovely jubbly! Beef Rogan with Garlic naan and a glass of white wine ‘cos I was in polite company. Really, the hospitality was exceptional and we even got to see the best of the Ripping Yarns series: Golden Graham. A great day’s walking and a fantastic 17th Century bedroom to sleep in. Doesn’t get much better than this. And with a selection of mood-altering drugs inside me I dropped off to sleep ready for the next day’s travails.

iPod Playlist

Thursday 1st June

The morning started grey and forboding. It looked like rain - you know that rain that gets you realy wet. The clouds were skipping over the sky from the Solway Firth at a fair rate of knots.

We breakfasted at the Little Chef adjacent to the hotel. As usual in the UK, the fare on offer was dull but seeing as I wouldn't be able to do anything other than walk if I got a full english, toast and tea was taken.

I wanted to get going ASAP as I expected to get stuck in the Carlisle rush hour. We set off at 0830 but apparently Carlisle doesn't have a rush hour so we got straight through and drove the long straight 12 miles to Bowness. I already checked the Easy Tides website some months hence as that part of the country seems to be underwater a lot of the time so I knew we'd be alright. Bowness is shown below and is a charming wee place. And it IS wee! According to Visit Cumbria, there used to be a viaduct linking Bowness and Annan across the whole width of the Solway Firth (over a mile) to link the railways either side of the border. Apparently the Scots preferred to close it than let their people use it a thoroughfare for illicit Sunday night drinking in England. Allegedly.

I set off about 0900. There were a lot of people around the start of the walk. But it was hard to seperate the tweedy hairy twitchers (The area is an AONB) from the tweedy hairy walkers. Unfortunately I neglected to get a photo from the start so here is one I nicked earlier:

The next couple of hours went like a dream. However, a picture I took with my phone and texted to work tells another story:
By the time I got started and avoided a succession of relcalcitrant bulls, sheep and other walkers; rearranged my iPod, and was chased by two dogs I got a fairly decent pace going. I did the next 10 1/2 miles before 1100 and rested at Kirkandrews on Eden before completing the remainder into Carlisle at a gentle pace .

This was most of the running done for the trip. Which was a shame as I'd enjoyed the morning. And West Cumbria has some of the nicest van drivers I've ever met - even the white ones gave me the thumbs-up which could have been thanks for me wearing a high-viz vest (most of the beardies thought they could wear dark colours and expect not to be run over)

The weather turned out ot be perfect for running - overcast but warm enough to be comfortable. And no rain as it turned out!



Heather picked me up and we lunched in the exotic confines of Morrisons at Carlisle. Heather gave me a lift through the city to the A689 a couple of kilometres outside. Here the sun came out and I topped up my Camelbak with another two litres of water, glucose and carb mix. I ran the next 4 - 5 miles or so until just outside Brampton where I had another rest. After checking in with work just south of Carlisle airport, I found that the decision to follow a trunk road (the A689) for such a distance was a tad dangerous to say the least - but this was saving me valuable distance and TIME as we had to be at the B&B in Greenhead no later than 6. The proximity of lorries and other large traffic to me was most disconcerting, thank god for the bright vest again! Plus - I've never seen so many tractors and queues of traffic in my life which only served to enrage the more impatient drivers.

Mid-afternoon, we found ourselves in Brampton. The plan was to follow the A69 further but i was unwilling to risk my neck any more on narrow verges and roads without cycle lanes as a buffer for me. Heather took me on a reccie of the A69 to the other side of Brampton and another five miles East of the village. As I thought, there was no way I was going to risk walking along here as I got more tired and the chances of stumbling under the wheels of a Belgian truck increased! H. took me back to Brampton and I changed the route to pass through Eastern end of Brampton, down and across the Irthing Valley. I passed Lanercost Priory and up the side of the valley to rejoin the trail at the top. As I walked past the Priory (shown below) the weather was glorious and it triggered the memory that I had actually stayed in the Priory in 1991 on a TA weekend (I also remembered the local pub being taken over by our Company). What a strange coincidence. I reckon I was up to about 20-odd miles at this point.


It's a pity, but I was taking pictures of the landscape along the way (the Irthing Valley in particular is stunning) but my phone wasn't up to the job (it's getting on a bit) so I wasn't able to do justice to the vista when organising the pictures and a lot of images were wasted - Sorry!

I had arranged to meet Heather further along the trail at Bankhead Turret. I made it about 3.30 and had a bit of a rest. I topped up my water for the third time that day - the sun was really starting to beat down now! Hereafter, it was a fairly straigtforward journey for the next hour and a half as I got more tired and the pace dropped. Birdoswald was made about 5.00 after a few jovial conversations with fellow trampers. I was anxious to make it to the B&B sharpish so I could get my feet soaked.

As it turned out, that proved to be harder than I thought. Whilst the B&B (just outside Greenhead) seemed OK when contacted there was no bath, no evening meal on offer. I had to use the rubbish bin in the room as a foot spa when filled with cold water - ahhh, bliss! We went into Haltwhistle (proclaimed as the 'centre of mainland Britain') for our tea and after sorting the wheat from the chaff found the traditional Black Bull where we both had pasta dishes and I indulged in a pint of ale. An hour later I was out on my feet and had to be shuttled back to bed and lovely clean crisp sheets.

iPod: Compiled in advance was a long playlist consisting of: Black Grape, The Happy Mondays, the hilarious Electric Six, Radiohead's 'OK Computer', Space, Paul Weller, Snow Patrol, New Order and Feeder.

The final days before...

In the week before I started I did two final runs, on the Saturday I took my new rucksack to the picnic area 7 miles up the road to Rowley where I prepared a lunch of Mr Noodles' KIMCHI spicy soup. This was prepared on a wee gas stove I've been coveting for the past few years since I left the TA. This was a trial run for the second day - all the kit I'd need was with me and it wasn't too much of a burden at all. I ran most of the way back was was unexpected (and I tried out one of the painkillers I'd purloined from a colleague at work (you know who you are) which turned out to be absolutely splendid as I passed the 10 mile mark with no aches at all. Recovery time was also down - I was able to go out for a 6 miler the next morning with Millie (in torrential rain as it turned out) with no ill-effects.

Then, on the Tuesday I did a final 8 miler which was pretty boring and monotonous. I was wanting to get out there and get this thing over with. I was sick of training. Bring it on!

Kit preparation for the event....

As well as the already established essentials of such an undertaking (iPods, painkillers, Sudocrem nappy rash cream, etc.) I found that what I also needed some other articles of equipment centred around 3 main needs:

1. Carrying capacity
2. Good footwear
3. How to carry the necessary water

Carrying capacity: The timetable for the 2nd day meant that as I would be on my own for about 9 hours so I needed to be able to carry water, food, waterproofs and a Goretex Bivi Bag (a welcome buckshee leaving present from the TA. However I only had an old army rucksack that was far too clapped-out for my needs. As well as being new, whatever I bought had to be waterproof, comfortable and well-balanced as I was to be clambering over walls and stiles, etc. I found an excellent product at Tesco in the shape of a 45 litre rucksack for less than 15 notes - bargain! It had all sorts of wee pockets and a great assortment of ergonomic straps to keep it comfy for a long trip. Anyway - no point forking out a fortune on something from Berghaus when I've no intention of going anywhere near Mont Blanc! I'll get you a picture of this little gem soon!

Footwear: Seeing as I inherited flat feet from my Dad, I needed something to give my arches a great deal of support as well as good cushioning properties. I found that on any training run that I did over 10 miles or so, they started to ache, not due to pressure sores but simply lack of support. So I consulted Colin at work as he is a daft fitness freak (marathons, hurtling down a mountainside on bikes, etc.) and it turns out he has crap feet like me as well. He recommended some specialist trainers from New Balance - these are NB761s (see below) these were an absolute godsend for me! With firm support and excellent shock absorbing along with soft but tough linings, these puppies meant business!

I had experimented with some cheap walking boots (Hi-Tecs) but you get what you pay for - whilst they were initially quite comfortable, I soon wore through the lining and suffered from terrible blisters thereafter. Moral of the story - don't cut corners with your feet (that doesn't sound quite right does it...?)
















Water: that most important of commodities if you're bimbling about rapidly in the countryside. I initially went to Nevisport in the Boro to find one of those bottle-carrying belts that I have seen people use over the years and the salesman tried to flog me one of those poncy Camelbak water carrying rucksacks.

No siree! I wanted to keep it traditional (I was brought up on waterbottles in the TA). Get with the modern world says he! But I in my ignorance maintained I wanted bottles. Well I couldn't buy one anywhere at all.

So a week later I was in Darlington in the running and cycling shops (names I don't recall but they're both in Bondgate) and I gave in and purchased a Camelbak after trying one on. What an important piece of kit - only second in priority to the trainers! I wouldn't do anything like this again without one. My particular model is below - a 2 litre affair that is SO comfie to wear it's untrue. Bottles - pah! As well as carrying the water bladder in the provided small bag, it turns out you can remove it and put it into a larger model which was ideal for my purposes.

In addition to this, I bought some SiS GO! Carbohydrate powder as I've seen people with heat stroke as well as cramps through lack of electrolytes and it's not pretty - this stuff should help prevent that.

Mission Accomplished

Well I did it.

Full notes from Techietrek will appear here shortly as I've been in bed all day. Below is a picture from the finish at Segedunum Museum at Wallsend, 17:20 on Saturday 3rd June.

Interim update from sunny, salubrious Haydon Bridge

Hiya everyone. This is an unexpected update from Sue Jackson's country estate with excusive fishing and oil exploration rights to the North Tyne. Below are a few piccies from the expedition so far. Explanations to follow:

Techietrek Timetable and Locations...

Hi Folks

This will be my last update before I start this stupid, stupid walk. What was I thinking?

As I have explained to several people over the months, I won't be slavishly sticking to the route of the National Trail . This is because the trail is a series of public footpaths that roughly run East-West as near to Hadrian's Wall as possible - which is hard as a lot of it lies under arable and grazing farmland. In a lot of places, it is merely an earthen bank called a Vallum with no right of way actually on it.

So for this reason (and also for the valuable resource of time) I will for part of the first half of the route be following a more direct West - East route that (mainly East of Carlisle) follows the A689 through and after Brampton (place names should open up a link to the Multimap site)

Itinerary

Thursday 1st June

1. START: Bowness on Solway. Due to tidal conditions I should be here about 0800 on 1st June (no earlier or I get wet feet!)
2. I will run to Carlisle (about 11 miles) then rest there, have an early lunch.
3. Then walk to Brampton for another rest.
4. After this, I cross over the River Irthing (following a succession of minor roads and tracks) at Wallholme.
5. Then it's up the Irthing Valley to Birdoswald Roman Fort
   

It was originally intended that we stay there Thursday night in the YHA on the premises. But due to the fact that it doesn't open until July this has now changed to Fell End Farm Guesthouse. Heather also thought it far more conducive to getting a good night's rest (she has to go to work on the Friday) to stay in a B&B. At least I get a good feed in the morning rather than Pot Noodle.

Friday 2nd June

1. START: Heather should drop me off at the top of the bleeding steep bank out of Greenhead (oh come on, give me a break) on her way to work. This is near Thirlwall Castle and the Roman Army Museum on the B6318 Military Road (NY666657)
2. I will walk the classic stretch of the wall that you see on all the picture postcards from here until just after the famous Housteads Fort at NY789688). This length is only about 9 miles but should take me a fair while given the difficult terrain and probably an abundance of Dutch and German tourists to navigate through here! I should have lunch in the Housesteads Visitor Centre.
3. Here, the wall fades away to mainly Vallum again. I will follow this stretch at least as far as Chollerford - another 7 miles or so, but the more miles I do today, the less I have to do tomorrow!
4. Sue Jackson, a work colleague has kindly invited Heather and I to sojourn overnight at her country pile in Haydon Bridge. Of course we humbly accepted - although we'll buy the Biryanis, Sue! Eeeh - it's very civilised up there in rural Northumberland. Mind you, have you seen The Whicker Man....?

Saturday 3rd June

1. START: Basically, as far East of Chollerford as I have managed to get the day before!
2. I will follow the National Trail path faithfully here as the B6318 Military Road has bugger all verges to walk on and is very narrow. All the going here is on grass which will be a welcome relief for my feet!
3. Because of a dearth of vilages along this stretch, I will probably arrange to meet Heather and anyone else who wants to turn up at a couple of places to get my lunch (meals on wheels!) etc.
4. When the trail gets into the Tyneside conurbation properly at about Throckley, again I depart from the established route as I'm familiar with the city. This is because at this point, the official trail drops down to the River Tyne and follows its route along to Wallsend (chucking in a couple of steep banks and an extra few miles as well)
5. However, I will walk down the West Road, Westgate Road until near St James' Park, NZ243644 (black and white heaven). I'll walk through the city centre and cross over the A167 central motorway. Along to Shields Road, Byker and the final stretch of the A187 roman road until Segedunum Roman Fort in Wallsend (NZ301660)
6. FINISH:Hello to a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale and look forward to the World Cup the week after. Yay!

As a courtesy to colleagues who are sponsoring me with their hard-earned, I have left instructions with a mate of mine to e-mail progress updates to people at work through Thursday and Friday. However, you can still text me on (07984) 176449 to find out where I am. If I actually know myself.

I promise to take lots of photos to bore you with and include a picture of my faithful bunion to see what state it's in after this little exercise!

Auf Wiedershen, Pets...

Why am I doing this?

As you can see from this picture, the little old lady in the wheelchair (my Mam) could pass for an 80 year old. This picture was taken a fortnight before she was.

This is Breast Cancer at it's devastating worst. Mam was diagnosed in early 1987. Mam was a staff nurse of 30 years standing and trained at Shotley Bridge General Hospital, she cared for the elderley and knew exactly what lay ahead for her.

Thanks to a mastectomy (unfotunately not followed up by radiotherapy in those days) it lay dormant until 16 years later and returned with a vengeance. Thereafter, 4 years of heartache accompanied by radiotherapy, chemo, tamoxifen and other unpleasant 'treatments'. She died on 10th July 2003. She was 57.

Unfortunately whilst it is personal to my sisters and I this is an all too common story in our part of the world.

If you haven't already, please contribute to Breast Cancer Care today.

Paul Dalkin
25 May 2006

April and May update

Hiya Peeps

Over the last month, my training has stepped up a little when I've had the time. Over the past few weeks I've

• Run 11 miles (my old Waskerley Station to Home route). The last time I did this I was clambering over snowdrifts! it was 2 Celsius. Well last night it was a different story and the desolate landscape was replaced by a lush green woodland with stunning views across the moors. This was a continuous run withno stops. My Camelbak is an absolute boon in this weather as you can rehydrate as you run and it's really comfortable. No - I'm NOT on commission!
• Walked 20 miles from home to Spinner's place at Sedgefield
• Walked 8 and 6 miles

And in amongst this, we have

• Sold our house
• Sold and bought a new car (Mini Cooper S 170 bhp)
• Sold and bought a new motorbike (Triumph Sprint ST - yum! yum!)

iPod: This month I have been mostly listening to: Pink , The Wonder Stuff and Will Young (you may well snigger!)

Hi Folks

I've been rather lean with the updates over the last few weeks for which I apologise, but things have been rather hectic at work what with a potential visit to Malaysia (which was cancelled) and also the industrial action that has been happening.

In effect, I had 2 weeks off after the last long run as I was resting my back. Since then, I have done several 4.5 milers and another 14.5 miler (a complete run this time, rather than a walk/run) from Home-Leadgate-Ebchester-Swalwell (Gatehead) on the 16th April (at the end of which I was nicely sunburnt on my bald heed) I hope to get up to 20 miles by the end of the month and the 25-mile mark by the end of May.

Another reason for the enforced interregnum in my training was some of the unseasonal inclement weather that has been dogging me since day 1. A couple of images from about the 25th March are shown below:

A mixed bag...

Hi folks.

Pros

1. Well, I did a run/walk of 14.6 miles on Saturday (which is the furthest I have achieved in my 35+ years). I've completed half a dozen half marathons over the years (the last of which was in 1997) but from now on, it's virgin territory for me.
2. It was quite exciting actually. As the positively tropical 4 degrees Celsius hit me when Heather dropped me off, it felt good to be out. I was dropped off at a village called Edmundbyers, over the county boundary in Northumberland (yes, I DO live that far away from work) - you can see where I mean here. Then it was a run downhill skirting the picturesque Derwent Reservoir and then on via some extremely remote C roads to Ebchester, site of a roman fort that serviced Hadrian's Wall via Dere Street, the 2,000 year old Roman route from Yorkshire to Scotland.
3. Arriving home, my time was almost as good as that of a half the distance two weeks earlier. Wisely, I decided that my experiences that day after 3 large tumblers of whisly the night before had better not be repeated and a good meal of pasta and plenty of fluids the night before helped.

Image: the view towards Edmundbyers (far distant) and Derwent reservoir

Cons

1. Unfortunately, I tweaked my back somewhat whilst carrying my rucksack. This didn't get any worse until the day after when I suffered back spasms on the way to the match (good job I didn't go really...) I had to have Monday off work as the better part of 30 hours were spent flat on my back. But it seems that this exercise lark is really starting to pay off and my recovery has been remarkably swift, albeit tentative and I was back at work today, being fussed over by Pete our resident worrier and first aider with a nice pillow for my back!
2. If anyone has a preparatory treatment for persistent heel blisters then please get in touch. The skin is hardening up, but not quickly enough for my liking and it takes a good 5 days to recover from them after a run over 10 miles.
3. With it being such a long one, I decided to leave Daft Dog at home (aahhhh!) She'd only get us both tangled up in the wheels of a tractor or get me shot for worrying sheep or something....
   

iPod: Being out for so long, I got through quite a lot! Both albums from Athlete released so far - Tourist and Vehicles and Animals. Also I enjoyed a couple of podcasts: the final Ricky Gervais Show and the Virgin Radio Al Murray Show for good measure. Sniggering to yourself in public doesn't half attract some funny looks, but it takes your mind off aching feet!

This thing just keeps getting more complicated!!

More research done on the route again. I found out when I drove round the route with Heather and Millie a few weeks ago that the first 12 miles are so are prone to tidal flooding. Just how prone you can only tell on the ground when you see it - everything is flat as a pancake. It's rather akin to the Holy Island situation with the route at the mercy of the tide tables. I found out from the Easy Tides site that the expected time of departure on the morning of the 1st June is well within safe limits. I think.

Turn off those negative waves!

Okay, okay so the weather still shows no signs of abating. I figure this is just a way of training for my walk to the South Pole (I can't stand the thought of walking on sea ice at the other end!).

Saturday 11th March
Did the same 11 miler walk from Waskerley Station. In 0.5 degrees this time. With bloody snow in my face for 3 1/2 hours. What a country. Can't wait to get to warmer climes (of which you'll find out more later dear readers!). To twist the knife still further, I ended up with my second 50 pence-sized blister on my right heel this week. My brand new snug walking boots have worn their lining away against my heel leaving a big hole which I have now 'repaired' with foam and gaffer tape until I get hold of something more permanent. That's what I'm here for though.

I am aware that if these minging conditions persist I will eventually start running out of time to start accumulating serious mileage before it gets too late. Never mind, we'll get there in the end.

More walking in the cold.

Here are some images from a 7.2 miler from Chester-le-street to home along the Consett-Sunderland cycle path avec Millie. Boasting some more modern art of various types, the JCB cattle particularly notable for its originality. It was brass again...when's this cold weather gonna pass?