The day after

The boots tell the tale

We both ache a bit today.  We are clearly not as young as we used to be.  

As promised, a few photos from along the way yesterday.

We've only just started, and already there's a hill.  Actually, it's a very steep hill up onto Culver Down - N was reaching for his inhaler by the top of the climb and there's still another 12 miles to go!

From the top of Culver Down there are great views across Bembridge Harbour and towards the mainland,

and on the other side, the broad sweep of Sandown and Shanklin Bay.

After that, the photos were few and far between.  It wasn't that the views weren't great, because they were - the Island really is a beautiful place.  But I found I had to concentrate on the walking, and stopping to take piccies wasn't the best of ideas.

Head down, eyes on the footpaths and try to negotiate the other walkers.

Sometimes we were all spread out along the trail -

 - other times, especially on the climbs, we all bunched up.  This nasty steep hill is almost at the end of the first half, coming into Carisbrooke.  You can see the pathway from some way off and it looks as bad as it is!  As we got nearer the the top I could hear bagpipes and as we rounded the corner, with Carisbrooke Castle in sight, we passed the Priory and there, on the top of the tower, was a bagpiper playing us all to the half-way finish post.  

For some reason I felt quite emotional; perhaps I was just relieved to have made it to the end.

And here we are, medals round our necks, having just crossed our personal finish line.  Others were carrying on to complete the entire walk, but we had set out to do the first half and had succeeded in our goal.  There was a great feeling of comaraderie throughout, and we met up with a number of friends along the way.  The marshalls and volunteers along the course were wonderful, encouraging ('just a little hill now') and did a grand job.  I have wanted to try the main walk for a number of years and I'm chuffed that we both had a go.

I learned that:

• proper walking boots are a must
• I should have checked my cycling jacket before the day - the zip was broken and had to be held together with safety pins
• lined trousers are great for keeping the wind out
• sunglasses are great for keeping dust out of eyes
• t-shirt and waterproof jacket works well
• a pocket-full of boiled sweets comes in handy
• sometimes you have no idea of where you are (not being able to see over the tops of hedges)
• a thumb-stick would have been useful for going up the hills and coming down the hills, and there was a lot of that to do
• you find your own pace and stick with it
• sometimes you need to dig deep to achieve a goal, but the sense of satisfaction is worth it.