Mission Possible? - The Second Day of our Seventh Training Walk

Having already walked 50km the previous day, I can't say that I leapt out of bed, but I was surprised how well I felt as I got ready for our 8.30am start.

Clearly we all knew that we were not replicating the challenge that will face us on the actual event.

However quickly we walk on the day we will not be able to have a thirteen and a half hour break and still achieve the distance within 30 hours!

However, as we stood at the base of the hill at Washington, with 40+ km ahead of us today, had the clock still been running we'd have another six and a half hours to complete the distance - even though we knew that today - on our training walk - we would be walking for another 9 - 10 hours.

One of the things that we did learn this weekend was that this is not just a physical challenge. The mind is important too, and it is important to break the walk into as many small stages as you can.
Thinking of the total distance, can be self-defeating. Setting visible landmarks to walk to, rather than thinking that "...it's a very long way left to go" can help to overcome any negative thoughts as to the enormity of the challenge.

So Pete, Matt & I set off at 8:30am knowing that we  weren't due to see our support team - today comprised of Teresa and Isobel - for another 5 hours!

Rain clouds over Chanctonbury Hill?

Initially, the going wasn't too bad. Even the initial climb up Chanctonbury Hill was OK! But rain was forecast for today and the sky was dark and ominous! Actually, the sky wasn't quite as dark and ominous as it appeared to me as I was, as always, wearing sunglasses!

However, despite some ridicule from No.1 son (ie Matt) about me looking like Roy Orbison, as far as I was concerned they had repelled the rain so far on our walks, so I wasn't going to take them off now.

Poppies!

We walked on, and on, and on.

As we walked into Botolphs, we met the 'Hamstrung Heroes' team who were starting a 30km walk from there.

The long climb after Botolphs with the journey travelled in the distance

Whilst initially managing to keep ahead of them, despite our tiring limbs, they eventually passed us at Devils Dyke, as we stopped for Pete to undertake some minor foot repairs.

The further we walked, the harder the wind gusted. We were literally blown sideways on many occasions which made the walk all the more difficult.

On previous walks I may have documented that there aren't too many hills on the second half of the walk.

Not true! Well, what I mean is that the more tired you get, the steeper the hills seem.

At around 1:45pm we reached our rendezvous point at the Jack & Jill windmills.

It is fair to say that we weren't at our happiest. Despite this our "wonderful" support duo, Teresa & Isobel, ran around ensuring that we had food, drink, fresh socks etc. We had only been walking for just over 5 hours, but we were cold, windswept, a bit miserable and hungry.

As we rested our spirits improved, but we did stay too long here, nearly an hour, something that we won't really be able to do in July.

So at 2:40pm we set of on the last leg of our walk today, the 14km or so to Lewes.

As the Hollies once sang:

"The road is long,
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows where"

Actually, whilst long, this section doesn't actually have enough winding turns, it just goes on, and on, and on.

We had no problem navigating any section of this route, having previously walked all stages in previous walks, although what it will be like in the dark we will have to wait until our next walk to find out.

After a further half an hour of walking, I announced to Matt, that we had "failed". As he pointed out, this wasn't the most "motivational" comment that I'd made this weekend. What I actually meant was that, had it been the real event, our 30 hours would have been up. It being 3:10pm on our second day.

But by this time we had walked 79km, 21km short of the total, including our overnight break! Had we not had the break, we would undoubtedly be suffering from sleep deprivation, but surely we would have been able to have covered the distance in that time!

Grass Watch? Makes train spotting sound almost interesting in comparison!!

 So we carried on to Lewes, arriving there just before 5:30pm. 90km in two days. 10km to go. Tired? Yes. Sore? Yes, a bit, but actually not too bad!

What we did learn though was that this WAS 'Mission Possible'!

Day 2 Stats:
Duration: 9 hours
Distance: 40km
Walking time: 7 hours 50 minutes
Walking speed: 5.1km per hour / 3.2 miles per hour

Total time elapsed from start - 32 hours 20 minutes
Total distance walked - 90km
Total rest taken -  16 hours 20 minutes!!