Distance 12.5kms (7.8 miles). Total distance covered 50.1 kms (31.2 miles) Halfway point!
Arrival time - 20:50. Total time since start - 14 hours, 50 minutes. Time without sleep - 17 hours
The team leader's experience - checkpoint 5 was a high point as support were cooking our tea and the mood of earlier was lifting (although we hadn't sampled Margaret's cooking at this point). We'd been asked by support to let them know when we were nearing camp; Oxfam's '1km to go' signs were a benefit at this point. A quick phone call to Margaret to say we were getting near and to please send Craig to come and meet us, as I thought this would boost morale.
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| Alison, Helen and Heather almost smiling |
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| Margaret cooks pasta - she's smiling! |
It was starting to go dark by now and there was an eerie glow all around. We were reminded by support to ditch all unnecessary baggage and out came the
suntan cream, sun hat and glasses to be replaced by hi vis vests and head torches. Thankfully it was now dry although I kept my waterproof
trousers on just in case! There was a mix up with map cases just as we were leaving and Aly was quite glad that hers had been tidied away. However, we soon heard the patter of tiny feet as Craig ran up to us having found it! We would have liked to kidnap him at this point and taken him with us, but we didn't know how Margaret would feel about this,
(although he was willing).
View from the crew - funny how as soon as Craig and Margaret took over the rain stopped and the sun came out. Checkpoint 5 was lovely with the low evening sun on the surrounding hills. The call came that the team were getting near and Craig set off to meet them. It was now starting to get dark and Margaret's worry now was Craig missing the team and spending the night roaming the Downs. But he was soon back (sooner than expected so there was a bit of a last minute flurry with the pasta and sauce). This was the night shift's first experience of coping with the walkers. Someone else likened it to living with teenagers - all their clothes and belongings are strewn all over the place, they all have demands that must all be met at once and you just can't wait for them to leave home. The major issue now was the team's time. They were now over two hours behind their planned time - not a worry in itself at this point but if we kept losing team then things were going to be difficult later on.
Stage 6 - checkpoint 5 (Washington) to checkpoint 6 (Botolphs)
Distance -10 kms (6.2 miles) - a steep ascent then a very long descent. Total distance covered - 60.1 kms (37.3 miles). Arrival time 01.00 Sunday morning. Total time since start - 19 hours, 3 minutes. Time without sleep - 21 hours.
The team leader's experience - with our stomachs full, the mood was quite refreshing as we headed off into the night. No rain and we contemplated how miserable it would've been if it had rained now. How easy it is to forget what has gone before when you feel content. Alison and I got chatting to a guy who had done the walk before and he told us how the route panned out from here. I found that I never used my OS maps to follow the route, but I had to carry them just in case, but I did use the route guide.
Halfway up one of the hills we were stopped by a lad looking for a bottle of water for one of his team mates who was feeling sick. This I gave him as I always carry more than I need, but then you never know. This was one thing that struck me with this walk; everyone was willing to help out in any way possible, as we were all aiming for the same goal.
The 'Ladybird's are go' team that we met earlier in the day kept popping up and it always seemed to be when I was flying up a hill with a fag in my hand, then waiting at the top for the rest. It was quite hard going in places with the wind and I was glad of the poles. Aly commented that it reminded her of when she and I nearly got blown off Black Combe two years ago!
Along the straight bits Heather put some music on to lighten the mood, although she then had my problem from a previous training walk - not using poles, ground slippy and dark, lets check the ant hills enroute! This problem soon rectified we set off again. Aly and I stopped for a call of nature, in the dark not as much of a problem if you can't find a bush, although 20 headtorches soon illuminates the scene for you! In her haste to move she left a pole somewhere?? She got quite an eyeful (not literally) when coming across a guy peeing!!
We saw checkpoint 6 and thought we were close so rang support, only to discover it was an optical illusion. Aly and I were still ahead and because of this tensions ran high. We waited for the others to catch up before checking in and realised once we'd met support how behind our proposed timings we were. Some difficult decisions were made at this checkpoint. The time was now 01:30; we had to be at checkpoint 7 by 05:00, otherwise we would be disqualified and after a quick drink and top up of bottles we set off again. We joined forces with the 'Ladybird's are go' team as they had lost two team members and we had lost one.
Alison's tale - the overnight stretch was an experience. I'd felt ok at checkpoint 5 and still had energy and enthusiasm. We had a pasta dinner cooked by Margaret. My appetite had started to go a bit but I knew it was essential to eat so I had a plateful. It seemed to take us a long time at that checkpoint preparing for the nightshift - a long night of walking ahead. But I felt fine as we headed off on stage 6. A friend phoned me at the checkpoint but with time at checkpoints being so precious I had to call her back once we were on the move again. Plenty of time then!
The darkness descended as we left the checkpoint and headed along gravel tracks and over a bridge. My dad had texted me and I sent him a very loving reply. Funny how the walk brings you closer to your loved ones and seems to bring out the best in you. I remember talking to some men as we walked. It must have been fields after that and Chactonbury Ring? I felt ok as we went; the adrenalin fuelling me.
I think I must have started on my Kendall mint cake. It's hard to eat late at night and you can start to feel queasy. The mint cake tasted sugary but I persevered with it. At these points your stomach feels delicately balanced between feeling ok and feeling sick. It's like the sick feeling lurks inside you just ready to rise and you have to breathe carefully and concentrate on feeling well and staving off the sickness.
Looking back at the stats for this stretch I can't believe the length of time it took! The middle bit is a blur. I remember coming down a hill and looking back at a trudging trail of lights with people coming down the hill. There was some sort of stop on that hill and I tried to take a picture or two but they didn't come out. Heather had a fall - maybe two - and she left her nightlight on the ground, a decision she later regreted when she couldn't see the uneven chalk and flint path beneath her feet. At one point Helen and Aly disappeared having walked on ahead. Heather was wobbly and in pain and we walked downhill carefully and slowly together. Then we realised we were totally alone in a copse of trees.
I waited for others to appear. No one did. There was no sign of Helen and Aly, and no obvious footpath. We began to wonder if we had misread the direction arrow 100m back. A sense of doom descended. I began to imagine having to give up the walk because we had lost our team and lost our way. We could see the checkpoint in the distance but couldn't make out which way we were supposed to go to get there.
I was just about to head back and check the direction arrow when some lights appeared behind us. Other walkers! They were heading towards us and I feared they might be following us thinking we were going the right way. So I called to them asking if we were going the right way. They replied that they thought so.
Then as they approached I recognised them as our 'Ladybirds Are Go!' friends. We walked down the hill with them and found Helen and Aly waiting. A few moments later we were at the checkpoint. But we had to confront the fact that we were already four hours later than our scheduled time. We had to speed up or we would be out of the game!
View from the crew - it was a lovely moonlit night and as we waited for the team we could see a line of pinpricks of light slowly moving down the hill towards the checkpoint - the light from hundreds of walkers' head lamps. And we could hear them calling to each other in the dark - a real goose bump time. No room for the tent again so we put a wind break up and waited for the walkers. And waited. And waited. Because of this we realised that things were not going well on this stage.
The team were well behind schedule at this point and when they arrived it was clear all was not well. Heather had injured herself on the long descent and with a deadline to meet at the next checkpoint some big decisions had to be made. It's never easy giving up on something you've been working towards for so long but, for the sake of your physical well-being and the progress of the rest of the team, sometimes you have to. We cleared a space in the support car so that we could take Heather on to the next checkpoint where we were due to rendezvous with Sonia and Michelle and thus get her back to base camp. Although she didn't finish, it was a fine achievement to make it to the 60kms mark.
