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That's Asda price!

20/4/2013

And so it was here, April 20th, the day of the Asda bag pack. We had managed to string together a crack team of packers all ready to give up their Saturday morning/afternoon to try and further swell the BRT coffers. And swell they did!

We gathered together at about 10:30 ready for our 4 hour stint at the end of the tills. Fearing I would be more of a hindrance than a help, I took my position in the doorway, ready to mop up the people who dodged the packers. Everybody else took their positions at the end of the tills armed with their specially made Brain Research Trust bucket (thanks to the design team - Mark, Jackie and Kim). The buckets took a hammering but will certainly be wheeled out whenever possible.

A brilliant team

It was quite a long 4 hours, but people took it in turns to go for a drink, toilet break etc. Everybody had their own tale to tell of the day, but my favourite was when 3 kids came over to me with coppers in their hands and said "It's for charity, I think he might be homeless...." I wonder whether it was my walk worn feet, or my attempt at not shaving until after the Coast to Coast that prompted the comment. It doesn't matter though, I got a donation!

There was also the couple who said their son had jumped off the Transporter Bridge recently. My heart went out to them until I seen Jackie laughing, it was then I realised that he had a bungee rope attached to his feet, and it wasn't a one way plummet!

Somebody excelled at their job as I overheard two women saying "By, that man knew how to pack a bag, he was very good...", and after witnessing Chris and Dad perform their 'Laurel & Hardy Do Asda' routine, I assumed it was Mark they were talking about - maybe it is Jackie and Kim taking their work home with them.

Many thanks to Cath Able for making it happen

All in all, it was a very worthwhile day. It took 6 of us a good while to count the money (mainly because we were scrapping over money bags), but the final total stood at.....

£662.57
....as well as 23 Asda tokens, 7 Euro Cents, and 1 Indian Rupee.

A fantastic effort all round. Thanks to (in no order) Nat, Sonia, Chris, Jan, Emily, Mam, Dad, Mark, Jackie, Pam, Kath D, Kath H, Maureen and Grace. Thanks also to the people of Asda who donated, and a final thanks to Asda, and in particular Cath Able who, with the help of Mark and Jackie, have made this happen. It's took the pot to well over £2,000 - and there is still the walk to come!

Check www.justgiving.com/danwoodgate for more info.

Many hands make light work

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Are we there yet?

14/4/2013

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Where do I start with this one? Probably way back in August last year when I had a crazy idea to walk the Coast to Coast. That's 192 miles from the west coast of England to the east. Still, it's all for the best of causes, I just need a little practise in walks before I can do it. That's all isn't it? Read on....

Richmond Castle in the background

Due to the recent rain in the Lakes (even though it ALWAYS rains in the Lakes), we decided not to camp out there on Friday night, I never even got the chance to camp in my living room as it was, but we would tackle a big walk for the whole of Saturday. Now which walk should we do? Yes, you got it! The longest leg of the whole walk, the 23 mile Richmond to Osmotherley section. We had all of the Saturday free, the weather was nice, why the hell not - what could possibly go wrong???

Old converted pub in Brompton on Swale

It was an early morning rise, Dad drove to Osmotherley and dumped his car there, then jumped in Nat's who then dropped us in Richmond and disappeared into the sunset. It was just after 9am and there we were, only 23 miles away from the comfort of the car. Still, we were psyched up for this one - if we could nail this then we could take on the world (as long as the world didn't come at us the morning after).

Three little pigs

Everything was keyed into the GPS and we were ready to go. We put total faith into the GPS, and it took us on what I think was the shortest route, although it wasn't the most scenic route of the C2C, in fact it was bloody awful to be honest. Pretty much all of the route was road/path/track, it would almost have been a joy to go over the odd stile, or splodge in mud. Because of the poor route, and it was a misty day, I didn't get too many good pictures.

Pretty much my view the whole walk - following Pacemaker Col

We skipped (slight exaggeration) the first 8 miles of the walk, passing through Brompton on Swale, and buying a losing lottery ticket in the process. We didn't know at the time it was a loser, of course. We also passed through Bolton on Swale which had a nice little church yard and boasted the grave of a man who lived to be 170. It must be true - it said on the headstone!

Disused water pump at Bolton on Swale

We carried on though and were trying to hold out until the half way point, Danby Wiske, but unfortunately we both felt we needed a break. We had clocked about 10 miles and spotted a little bridge in the middle of a long track. We seized the opportunity - never had such a piddly little bridge given so much pleasure. We took our bagpacks off, perched on the wall of the bridge and enjoyed some scran. It was about midday so we had reached a good average of 3.2mph.

Bolton on Swale church - home to the grave of a 170 year old

Enthused by the short break, although we were a bit wobbly on our feet after jumping off the wall, we cracked on. We had decided to have a decent break in about 3 miles when we got to Danby Wiske. Trudging on, my mind started wandering, what would this Mecca of a place Danby Wiske be like? Would the street be paved with gold? Would there be a facility to take off your boots and have someone massage your feet while you wait? Would there be a cash machine where it paid out money without even putting your bank card in?

Scroll down for the answer (although I suspect you've got it in one).

Brand new signage

NO!!!

To be fair it was a massive disappointment. But wait! There's a pub! You don't see too many pubs, unusually, in these little villages, but Danby Wiske still had one. We decided to stop for a little while, rest our aching bodies and grab a cold drink. As we entered we realised we were the only customers in, so were we greeted with open arms by a landlord who clearly didn't have many others using his pub? Yet again, the answer is NO! Quite the opposite, we seemed to be an inconvenience to him, no pleasantries or anything, not a very good advert for his pub which I will keep anonymous (see below). It was only a bottle of coke from the fridge but it was well chilled and done the trick. It boasted it was a CAMRA pub of the year 2012, but they can't have visited the gents as you had to go through a mountain of wellies, outside through a back garden and then into a room which looked like an afterthought.

The only pub in Danby Wiske

Anyway, we continued on, it was starting to be a bit more of a struggle now, we had certainly dropped from our 3.2mph, maybe hitting 2.5 now. More of the same again, more paths, more tracks, more road. My feet were feeling heavy and I could start to feel the blisters forming. We headed into Brompton, and got slightly excited that we had crossed a level crossing seconds before the alarms sounded and the gates closed, yes, delirium had set in!

It wasn't the animals that scared us

Although the sun was out it was Dad's day to shine - despite me flagging with blisters and general aches, it was the (almost) 60 year old Pacemaker Col who led the way. He was my Mr Miyagi for the day with his constant words of encouragement. After stopping for another break in Brompton, we were on our final push. The GPS told us it was about 3 miles away, though it must have been tired as it turned out it was 6, and what a long 6 it was!

Location of the original 'Swamp Thing'

We did keep on going though, with every step feeling the rubbing of blisters and the aching hip/back/calf/top of foot/everywhere you can think of that can ache! It was a busy road we were walking which meant partial road walking and partial verge walking - with every step up and down magnified 100 times. While Dad kept some kind of pace going I dragged my carcass behind with every 100 metres or so letting out the wail of the aching banshee.

Accommodation not up to much in Streetlam

After several more stop offs to shake off aches and pains we made it to Ellerbeck, which in turn meant Osmotherley was only a couple of miles away. I had been mentally preparing myself for the four lane dash over the A19, only to find out there was no need to do it on this route, which was a massive relief at this point as I don't think I was in a position to dash anywhere! A road sign for Osmotherley finally appeared, it said 1 mile. That's it, 1 mile from the car, it had started to rain so it was 1 mile to dry and warmth. 1 mile, that's all it was. What could possibly go wrong?

What they don't tell you is that it's all uphill!

Somebody had decided to build Osmotherley on a hill, that's what went wrong. A little breather before we took it on and we were away. I'm not quite sure what the passing motorists made of us in our shorts in the rain, especially with my now dishevelled look. The tease was that it was a winding road so you weren't quite sure when you were up the top. We passed several friendly people on the road, mainly cyclists, but the most pleasant were an elderley couple in Osmotherley who asked if we were doing the Coast to Coast. I think she had seen the state of me and wondered if we had done it all on that day!

Finally, after walking for 9 hours of the 10 we were out, we made it back to the car. 23 miles NAILED! It was a massive pleasure to take off my boots at the car. My clothes were sweat and rain soaked so I took my jacket off too.

We got home at 7:30 and I shook with cold for the next half hour. Nat got home about the same time and made the best cup of tea ever!

Despite having anti-blister socks, and a top pair of walking boots on, my feet were a mess. I had a big blister on the bottom of each foot and a canyon on the heel of my foot which I had not seen the like of since backpacking around Europe in 2004. My limbs ached, the top of my feet ached, too many aches to mention. It was that bad I couldn't even face writing this blog until the next day! Oh and I didn't even realise my head was bright red with sun burn.

Still, despite all the above I made it up and to church in good time, and went for some foot treatment at Mam's afterwards. It is definitely a good war wound, at least I can say I walked 23 miles to get it, and now I have done it, it has made me have a rethink about the itinerary of the walk - can I really get up and do another 20 miles the day after? I might make some adjustments with yesterdays walk in mind, but still practise makes perfect eh?

Finally, another good shout to Dad, he was awesome yesterday and if he hadn't been the voice of encouragement, I would probably still be crawling up that hill to the car now!

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