A Sunday morning 'stroll'

Perhaps 'stroll' is not quite the word.  This morning, N and I joined several thousand others in the annual 26-mile Walk the Wight fund-raising walk in aid of the Island hospice.  Now in it's 24th year, this is a long-distance walk across the Island, from Bembridge in the east to Alum Bay in the west.  A few years ago, a 'flat walk' was introduced, 8 miles in length, from Sandown to Newport, allowing people who wanted to participate in a shorter, less-demanding route - ideal for those with young children, or for those for whom the long walk was a step too far.  We have done the flat walk ourselves, once with my mother and again with N's dad, daughter and grandchildren, making 4 generations of the same family walking together!

This year, however, I felt I should stretch myself to tackle the main walk.  We decided to do just the first half of the walk from Bembridge to Carisbrooke, a distance of about 12 1/2 miles, which we felt was probably our limit.  

We started walking at 07.25, set ourselves a target of 4 hours, and staggered through the line at Carisbrooke at spot-on 11.25, feeling mighty chuffed with ourselves.  All ages were walking, and whilst we were certainly twice the age of quite a few, we were impressed (and slightly in awe of) those people who clearly were more senior than us.  And all credit to all those people who kept going on to the end - 26 miles is a heck of a long way!

Although we do quite a bit of walking, this was different.  We are used to a more gently pace, with time for photos, investigations and watching wildlife.  And of course, it's just us.  When there are walkers in front and behind you, and a bit of a time factor, it's surprising how much quicker you walk.  We were certainly walking faster than we would normally, and after about 5 or 6 miles, we weren't talking much, either!  

The Island is hilly, there's no getting away from the fact, and we tackled quite a few of those hills today!  And there were even more in the second leg!  On the downs we felt the full force of a very blustery head-wind, and it was pretty tiring battling against it, especially when the dust from the fields started blowing into our eyes.  I had planned to take photos along the way, but it soon became clear that stopping was not an option - 'head down and keep going' became our motto.  

The last 2 or 3 miles were hard work for N, as cramp set in and blisters were a problem - I could see him in a bit of discomfort, digging in hard to keep going - but he was grimly determined to see it through to the end.  And we were really pleased, as we ceremoniously crossed the finish line, that we had succeeded in achieving what we had set out to do.  N has admitted that 8 miles is probably now his comfortable limit, so I'm very proud that he kept going with me.

I would really like to tackle the full walk, and I think I need to do it sooner rather than later - I'm not getting any younger!  Maybe I'll try the second half next year, but I know that I need to maintain a level of fitness in the meantime.  But that's no bad thing.

(photos to follow)