Botolphs (CP6) to Devils Dyke (CP7) and Jack and Jill (CP8)

Stage 7 - checkpoint 6 (Botolphs) to checkpoint 7 (Devil's Dyke)
Distance - 9.4 kms (5.8 miles). Total distance covered - 69.5 kms (43 miles). Over two-thirds of the way. Steep ascent on to the Downs and along to the Dyke. Arrival time 04.02. Total time taken - 23 hours 6 minutes. Time since sleep - 25 hours

The team leader's experience  - this section of the walk was familiar to us as we'd done a training session here at the end of May. I still find it bizarre to find a petrol station in the middle of a housing estate! (Upper Beeding). Sometimes when you know where you are going and what lies ahead isn't as beneficial as you may think, as a bloody steep hill was looming!

Checkpoint 7

With all the rain we'd had it was really slippy and hard going. But we'd joined forces with another team so we had new friends to get to know and this helped. We still seemed to leapfrog over each other and came across checkpoint 7 by accident having not seen any notification, although Alison spied Michelle from miles away (note to Michelle - I don't mean anything by this other than Alison's got good eye sight!). Although this checkpoint served food none of us were hungry and although Margaret tried her hardest to do a good impression of a sheepdog to get us in the food tent it failed! Instead of being cold I was boiling hot and peeled off layers, well one actually as only had two on in the first place. Aly was feeling weaker and weaker at this point and didn't know how far she could carry on. Her feet and legs were fine, but if anyone is eating while reading this I don't want to go into details! Craig was a godsend scurrying backwards and  forwards with cups of tea and coffee, and slices of bread and butter.

The view from the crew  - it was an absolute nightmare getting to this checkpoint. It should have been a straightforward run from Botolphs but when we hit the A23 there were all sorts of flashing lights and 'road closed' and 'diversion' signs.  Our guide gave us directions for what to do should the A23 tunnel be closed, which we assumed was the case, but we hadn't taken much notice of them beforehand thinking it was probably an unlikely event. Sleep deprivation does some interesting things - your ability to make decisions soon goes, any kind of thinking gets difficult and, in my case, my ability to understand and retain what was being said to me was almost zero. So Craig had to continually read out the new directions to me and because he was in a similar position he didn't twig he was using a wind-up torch so the light he was reading by was getting dimmer and dimmer. Luckily there was little other traffic in  Hove and Portslade early on Sunday morning so we were able to do all sorts of manoeuvres that otherwise would have given us a starring role in 'Traffic Cops'.

So, a relief to get to the checkpoint and to meet up with Sonia and Michelle. Leaving Heather sleeping in the support car the four of us went over to the food tent and grabbed hot drinks and hot food, which looked suspiciously like the previous night's pasta reheated but was still welcome. At this point we were really getting worried about the walkers time and whether they'd get through the 5.00 a.m. deadline. Well, they did with an hour to spare but at this point they were four hours behind their planned schedule. The other worry was that Aly was obviously in some difficulty, having felt sick for several hours.

As the walkers left dawn was starting to break and the whole view from the top of the Downs across the surrounding countryside and to the sea started to open out. A great time to be walking! We waved farewell to the walkers and headed back to base camp to leave Heather there before going on to the next checkpoint.


Stage 8 - checkpoint 7 (Devil's Dyke) to checkpoint 8 (Jack and Jill windmills)
Distance - 6.9 kms (4.3 miles). Total distance covered - 76.4kms (47.5 miles).Down and up and down and up again. Arrival time 05:55. Total time taken - 29 hours. Hours since sleep -31.

The team leader's experience  - we left checkpoint 7 just before it closed and dawn was starting to break through. Its quite magical being so close to nature as everything wakes up again. At this point we could see Aly getting worse, but trying to fight it as she always does in life, never wanting to give up or admit defeat. We descended a hill, crossed a road, passed a farm and filled our water bottles. Before the difficult ascent Aly said she could not go on any longer. I was so proud of her at that point, it was such a grown up decision. We've had many adventures, the two of us, and at times we should've quit. But we never did and had to face the consequences. This time I'm glad Aly was brave enough to make that decision on her own.

On route to CP8

The only problem we faced at this point was, where were we? It should've been easy to work out as we'd just passed a farm and crossed a road, but although we looked at the OS map and the direction booklet, our brains weren't functioning. Alison decided to go back to the farm to see what its name plate said, while I just asked someone who came our way. The next problem was none of us  could get a mobile signal to alert Michelle to the problem. Yet again a fellow walker helped us by letting us use their phone. We went back to the road to wait with Aly as we couldn't just leave her in her state and soon Michelle appeared.

And then there were two................

The event rules clearly state  that two people cannot walk alone and must join another team. So the problem we now had was trying to find the 'Ladybird's Are Go'  team again. At checkpoint 7 they had joined forces with a lone woman and we had carried on as three.

The first hill we climbed after losing Aly, was the one in our training walk where she had rolled down the hill (see the movie - I bet she's still got the bruises!!). Checkpoint 8 (Jack and Jill) gave us a few problems in training as we saw the windmills a long time before we arrived at the checkpoint. This time, with heads down, we didn't think about it and just motored on. It was a great relief to see Margaret and Craig, and to fuel up

Alison and Helen arrive at CP8

with more soggy weetabix. Having patched our feet up and Alison changing a top, I then decided to remove my waterproof trousers as it hadn't rained for hours. Bad decision, as having left the heavens opened! We also came across the 'Ladybirds Are Go' team survivors again and joined forces. 

View from the crew -  another nightmare! We found the checkpoint easily as it was just a few minutes down the road from our base camp. But getting into the checkpoint field was something else. No warning in our guide that there was a separate entrance and exit. Both uphill but the entrance was a firm roadway and this  necessitated a tight turn into it which we missed and, along with several others, we entered through the exit - a churned up muddy track where we could get little purchase. Awful. Still worried that permanent damage was done to Helen's car - the burning rubber smell lingered for ages. But we got in the field eventually  and parked overlooking the Sussex Weald. Tremendous view spoilt only by the downpours of rain that were sweeping across it and on to the next stage of the walk. Margaret went out to meet the walkers and to deflect their attention from the Trailwalker map which showed the length of route covered but the substantial amount of route left to go. As at most of the checkpoints, Helen and Alison seemed buoyant, particularly when they found their new chums the Ladybirds, but as we later learnt it was the arrival/being at the checkpoint that lifted the mood - it quickly plummeted once they were underway again.