Day 1: Ahead of schedule

Written by on

We woke up early and Heley went for a run. Final confirmation, if any were needed, that she is completely mental.

We had breakfast – a full Scottish breakfast for me, muesli and porridge for Heley – in what she described as the nices B&B she’s ever been in. I was happy with tea and bacon, so top marks for Allander B&B.

It had crept up to 9.30 by the time we departed, and off we wandered to the start of the West Highland Way.

We made good time in beautiful weather, passing a total 28 other walkers along the way. The only person who overtook us was a cyclist. Damn cyclists.

By 3.30 we had reached the end of day one. So onwards we soldiered on to day two of the walk.

The sun would have shined down on the bonnie bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond if not for the weather ahead threatening to unleash itself upon us. Thunder and lightning surround us, but the weather was kind and we snuck dryly through a gap and into luxury in the form of a real campsite – they even have sinks and drinking water.

An old man of the sea welcomed us into a pub, noting he’d never known a storm in August like the one we missed. We’d like to think we could trust him as he looked a little like the old Captain Birdseye, but alas, he was nearing the end of his pint and possibly in search of tourists to tell tales to in turn for a top up. Off we wandered after a quick drink and up went the tent.

So, the tent is up and tea is brewing. Sorry Boris; we evaded the rain. We are rapidly approaching it though, and, unless the weather clears overnight, I’m not convinced our luck will hold.

Still, it’s warm and I’m about to finish my tea. Let’s hope the weather continues to hold out.

Day 0

Written by on

So, we finally made it to the start. Here we are sat watching the Edinburgh Fringe from the luxury of our B&B. Tomorrow we walk out into the hills.

The journey up here was uneventful. We didn’t have to suffer any screaming children or people listening to music by playing it through the speaker on their mobile phones. In short, we have nothing to write home about.

It rained on us in Edinburgh, but is warm and dry here in Milngavie. We’re all stocked up, we know where tomorrow’s starting point is, all we have left to do is to start. We are fully prepared and we even know where our towels are.

Hopefully the weather will be kind and we’ll be able to report back on a regular basis.

Over and out,

Phill & Heley

20110825-103023.jpg

Heley’s Wales Trek Report

Written by on

Last Thursday we set out on our final trip to test out all the gear we plan to take to Scotland and practice walking on the kind of terrain we’re likely to encounter. Setting out on Thursday morning and returning on Sunday afternoon, this was a good opportunity to learn important navigation and camping skills, and find out what walking in hilly areas is like, given the general lack of inclines around Cambridge. This was also my first time visiting Wales and it was nice to see some of the pretty parts of the area, making for a welcome change to the fairly monotonous scenery that we encountered on our trip to Ely.

Thursday

All packed and stocked up with food, we drove to our starting point at the bottom of Llangynog hill. The first part of the day, to our first break at the waterfall, was very pleasant with nice walking and views.

Things became a little less pleasant, however, as we headed away from well-walked footpaths and onto the heathland on top of the next few hills. Heather isn’t the nicest thing to walk on, and I ended up falling down crevices several times along the ridge. Things got better as we returned to marked footpaths and more even ground over the other side of the hills. Typically, I then twisted my ankle on the flat footpath, after surviving the heather mostly intact. Given my ankle and problems with Phill’s knee, we decided to change route and head for a nearby spot Phill knew would be suitable for camping. This turned out to be a sensible decision as we ended up arriving at around 9pm, just as the light was fading, so probably wouldn’t have made it to the planned camp before dark. It’s good to know that we’re willing to change plans if we need to, rather than just ploughing on regardless of the situation. We then quickly set up the camp and fire, cooked dinner and settled down for bed.

 

Friday

As I found out during the Ely trip, I’m not great at sleeping in a sleeping bag, and this was another restless night. A combination of the lack of sleep and going slightly off-course led a tired first half of the day. I soon woke up as the footpath we were following to Lake Vyrnwy disappeared, and walking along (and through) the river became the easiest path to take. We made it through in one piece, apart from some fairly soggy feet on my part, however, and rejoined the footpath for the final stretch towards the lake.

After a break for lunch, we continued along the route to our planned camping site. The afternoon walking was less eventful than in the morning, but enjoyable nonetheless. The route passed by quickly and we arrived at our destination by late afternoon, giving us plenty of time to set up the tent, make a fire and cook dinner. Camping next to the waterfall was great for the scenery, but not so great for the accompanying midges. Even with head nets on they were becoming a nuisance and any bit of exposed skin was being attacked, so we eventually fled to the tent for the night.

 

Saturday

Another sleepless night and the return of the midges in the morning meant I really wasn’t happy and struggled for the first half of the day. Being incredibly tired did have it’s advantages, though, and I managed to zone out and plod along for a large part of the distance we covered. Seeing the lake near the spot we camped at on the first night was a huge relief as it meant we had almost reached our destination for the day. The last couple of miles passed by in no time, and we both were very glad to arrive at the camp site, knowing that the hard part  of the trip was over. The feelings of misery in the morning were (mostly) forgotten after an enjoyable evening back at the camp, complete with a campfire, rainbows, and no midges.

 

 

Sunday

After a much better start to the day, possibly due to a better night of sleep, or the knowledge that we were on the last leg of the journey, I was feeling more positive about the trip. A short descent back to Llangynog, followed by a nice relaxed walk with Karl on a route around a couple more hills with lovely views, was a nice reminder that walking can be enjoyable. This was a good end to a trip which I found challenging and tough at several points, and had definite highs and lows.

It’s fair to say that I learnt a lot this trip – both in terms of useful skills, and in what to expect on the trip in Scotland. And that there are lots of sheep in Wales.Pleasingly, I didn’t struggle too much with the walking, so don’t have many concerns about the physical side of the trip. Sleeping, or lack of sleep, is my main concern at the moment, but that can hopefully be fixed after getting used to being in a sleeping bag. Or by a week or so of sleep deprivation.

Just the last few preparations to go now, then we’re off on the real thing…

Trek Report: Wandering around Wales

Written by on

Last weekend Heley and I did our final practise trip in preparation of our 380-mile walk. We walked the best part of 50 miles across and two and a half miles up during three and a half days.

It was forecast to rain for four days. The forecast was wrong. Instead we had beautiful weather to complete a route that can only be described as insane. It took Heley until the fourth day to realise how crazy the route was. If we do decide to do another practise trip, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be allowed to choose the route.

Day 1: Thursday

The first day saw us rolling up in Llangynog a little after 10 am, having been to the supermarket for provisions. Setting off at 10.30 was hardly an ideal start to the trip; getting there a few hours earlier would have made the day a lot easier, but setting off at all was at least a start.

For the remainder of the morning we walked from Llangynog to Llanrhaeadr Waterfall. Heley managed to twist her ankle along the way. The start we were making to Day 1 was becoming increasingly less ideal. The waterfall was beautiful, the sun was shining, the lady serving the tea was polite and the tea itself was wonderful. My first cup of tea of the trip was closely followed by my second. Little did I realise how long I was going to have to wait until my next cuppa.

View from Post GwynWe then started our first major ascent of the trip, first to the top of the waterfall, then onwards to Post Gwyn, a subsidiary summit of Cadair Berwyn. Wiki has this to say:

“The summit is the highest bump on the most westerly of Cadair Berwyn’s long south ridges. This ridge has a peat bog covering, with the heather being very deep. No well trodden paths have developed here and the summit is seldom visited.”

We can confirm that it is seldom visited; we can also confirm that the heather is very deep, and the peat bog is very boggy. We spent a long time walking along this particular ridge. Heley’s ankle was not happy about this; neither was my left knee.

Eventually we met the main road, where we could see some crazy mountain bikers dropping down the hill that we were climbing next.  Over and down into the next valley, we dropped past Pennant Melangell and up into the hills again for our first night’s sleep under a tarp.

Day 2: Friday

The second day saw us walking alongside lakes, rivers and onwards to another waterfall.

We made a couple of slight navigation errors. One saw us walking a mile further east than we should have and the other led to us having to walk through a large stream leading into Lake Vyrnwy.

Jungle... honestFighting our way through steep slopes covered in sharp plants that seem to sting or bite and following that with stepping from stone to stone through a stream under the cover of trees made us feel like we were in a jungle. It was a very small, tame jungle that happened to be located in North Wales, but a jungle nonetheless.

Over the dam and into Llanwddyn we got drink fizzy drinks and I had a bacon sandwich. Heley had a mint feast. Fizzy drinks, bacon and ice cream – it was the start of a very pleasant afternoon.

We walked along the lake and through some fields up to Rhiwargor Waterfall. The sun was shining, we’d arrived at an intended location, and we weren’t feeling as injured as the previous day. It was feeling a little more like the trip was supposed to, and a little less like I had drawn a crazy squiggle on a map linking as many hills, rivers and valleys together as possible.

Then the midges made an appearance. Brilliant training for any battles with the great Scottish Midge, unfortunately our current preparations were not adequate. Clouds of midges surrounded us, to the extent that we were walking around eating in the hope they wouldn’t keep up with us. To be fair, I’d score it as even. For every bite out of me that they took I have probably either killed or consumed one that had stupidly landed in my smash or my tea.

The midges made for an unpleasant start to the evening, but at least we had our new tent to play with and escape to.

Day 3: Saturday

We’d done the bulk of the planned distance in the first two days, tomorrow would be an easy day, but this one was always planned to be short but hard. Heley started off miserable having not slept well, and then slowly got worse. The midges in the morning hadn’t helped, nor had the fact my route started with a steep ascent. Then a descent, then another ascent.  This was followed by a loop around a river to a spot where we could recognise as being about half an hour walk from where we started. Then we got to walk through more bog and heather. Neither of us was very happy at this point. On the bright side, there were some absolutely stunning views up there.

RainbowIt was all over by mid-afternoon, and we finally reached our camping spot for the night. We stopped and brewed a couple of cups of tea, we chatted, Heley lit a fire using the magnesium fire starter, we pitched the tarp all in time to watch it start to rain a little. The most stunning rainbow I’ve ever seen made an appearance, along with a second rainbow, which seemed to only be there to indicate how awesome the first was.

Day 4: Sunday

We woke up early, cleared up camp and set off in the cold. We had a short walk into Llangynog, where we were meeting a friend of mine before heading on yet another walk up a hill. He had said to knock as early as we wanted, he obviously didn’t mean half past nine on a Sunday morning.

Phill and Heley up a hillThe extent of my insanity became clear to Heley after we met Karl. Karl took us on a pleasant walk along a footpath and up a hill. It was a sharp contrast to the hard, winding walks that we were now used to. It was the most enjoyable walk of the weekend, mostly along bits of footpath, our rucksacks felt light, there was no heather to do battle with, no bogs, no doubling back, and other than a few ferns, and the ascent was plain sailing.

The craziness that had been our route through some of the hills and valleys of North Wales was pretty much over, and we got to enjoy the walk. I’d put us through a few very tough days, so it was a welcome reminder of how pleasurable walking through the hills on a sunny day really can be.

We had a few photos taken of us near the top, and wandered past a few caves and back down into Llangynog.

Summary

The idea of ‘train hard and the real thing comes easy’ has its pitfalls; for example, being demoralised, tired, and injured. On the bright side, we’ve come through everything really well. We encountered more than enough problems, from tough terrain and troublesome plants to issues with insects and injuries.

I can’t say I enjoyed every minute of the trip, but that was never the plan. We needed to make sure that we took advantage of this trip to fully prepare for our walk around Scotland, and I think we managed to do that. We coped with everything my route threw at us, and kept on going.

Next stop… Scotland.

 

Please remember to visit our Donation Page to help us to raise money for DC Boxing. More photos of the trip can be seen on our Facebook page.

Gore-tex Boots vs. Trail Runners

Written by on
I should have done an A-B test with a different shoe on each foot!

Heavy Gore-tex (top) vs Inov-8 Roclites (bottom)

Final Score: Phill 17 – Heley 1

Walking over 350 miles requires good footwear. There’s no way we want to cut short the trip because one of us has foot rot.

When we first looked at boots our immediate reaction was to look at waterproof footwear. I was divided between boot or shoe, waterproof or not. Heley was keen on shoes rather than boots, but leaning towards the gore-tex waterproof models.

There’s little scientific evidence that boots are better than shoes for lowering the chances of injuring yourself. We decided we were best off choosing what we felt most comfortable with. We chose low-cut footwear rather than boots.

Waterproof or not

Over 3 weeks your footwear is going to get wet. Even the toughest most waterproof boot has one place that lets water in – how else would you get your foot in the shoe otherwise?

If the weather is bad and you are walking through mud and puddles, water is going to get in, even if wearing gaiters. If the weather is beautiful then the sweat from your feet has nowhere to escape either. Essentially you are walking with your feet in little water-collecting buckets. Your feet will get wet, and your footwear will be slow to dry.

Using trail runners allows your shoes to drain quicker. Sure, your feet are going to get wet, but over a long journey they are going to get wet anyway. The advantage of lightweight breathable shoes is that you can walk the boots dry. The water seeps out as you walk, and they are quicker to dry when than waterproof boots.

Gore-tex boots are better for shorter journeys, where you have a chance of keeping dry throughout the trip. They’re also recommended for situations where conditions are going to be below freezing.

The Ely warm-up trek

Heley had already got her lightweight inov-8 Roclite 268s by the time the Ely trek had arrived. I was still in my old Karrimor gore-tex boots. Bombproof maybe, but it seems the right boot had a leak. Five miles into the first day, walking through pouring rain, Heley’s feet were still dry; Heley being the one not wearing waterproof shoes.

My right foot was damp, and by mile number eight it was downright sodden. Ten miles in and water had managed to get into my left boot too. Heley’s feet were now wet, but she was still comfortable, water left her Roclites as easily as it went in. I was now walking on the newly formed puddles in my boots.

Every few miles I needed to stop and wring out my socks, in the hope of another half a mile before the puddles in my boot reformed. There was no way these boots were going to be “walked dry”. In the end I gave up.

Summary

Sitting down after the walk, Heley had one blister, which could have been prevented had we stopped when she noticed her foot rubbing on the 2nd day. Heley never complained about cold feet, and for the best part of 50 miles her feet were fine. She may not have been happy about the weather, but there were no complaints about the choice of footwear.

I had no complaints about the weather. I grew up in North Wales, I’m immune to rain. I did have some complaints about the footwear. Walking in waterproof boots is wonderful until they get wet. Then you’re in trouble. There was little I could do to dry the boots out, and short of carry another 50 pairs of socks I was stuck with wet feet. I hobbled home to a blister count of 17. This despite wearing a good pair of wool socks and a nice pair of liner socks too.

The choice we’ve made is to go with lightweight trail runners, which may not be waterproof, but are quicker to dry and allow water back out once it’s got in.