Llamas Not Included

This week my non-running challenge for the year became very real.  In August I'm taking part in TrailTrekker, a 100k walk through the Yorkshire Dales, non-stop, in under 30 hours.  The reasons why I'm taking part in this really long walk are lost in the shrouds of time, but once an idea has formed in my mind they somehow manage to take on a life of their own.  A good example of this would be the fact that I am also running my first marathon this year.  I'm not sure how signing up to that happened either.

The trekk is undertaken, for health and safety reasons, in teams of four and, on Sunday, my team 'Llamas Not Included' went out for a long walk to scout out some of the route before the main event.  Back in March we had walked the first four stages of the route in dreadful conditions. To say that morale was low at that point is an understatement.  We had returned to Leeds cold, wet and sore.  The memories of the discomfort were fresher in our minds than the memories of the route or the scenery, so we hoped for better weather this time around.

Unfortunately the weather forecast at the start of the week only served to bring the negative memories back.  Heavy rain, low temperatures, strong wind, all of the things that we had battled against previously.  The discussions in the week running up to Sunday's walk were all of the "shall we do something else" variety.  We met up on Thursday evening, following a presentation about the event, to work out what we were going to do.  I don't know if it was the beer or the fact that we had been encouraged by the powerpoint presentation, but we decided to brave the elements and walk the next three stages, from Horton in Ribblesdale to Buckden.

It was almost 9 o'clock in the morning before we set off from Horton on the Pennine Way, the path that had previously brought us here from Gargrave.  It was raining, but not as heavily as the forecast had made out.  It was obvious that it had been raining heavily though as the stone path was running like a stream, all be it a very shallow one.  We crossed the 3 Peaks path and immediately wished that we had taken it rather than sticking to the Pennine Way, which was flooded.  We took our time and looked for a route around the pop-up river that shouldn't have been emptying into the lake that had formed in front of us.  In the end we had to wade through the shallowest parts of the saturated tundra.  My feet were soaked and we had only been walking for 3k.  This was not the start to the day that I had hoped for.

That stream is the Pennine Way

As well as making ponds out of puddles, the wet conditions also added spectacle to the early stages of the walk.  The waterfall at Calf Holes was in full flow, as were the falls at Ling Gill where we also found wild orchids.  I had never seen a British orchid before.  My first sighting of these small, brilliantly purple flowers, coincided with the change in the weather.  The rain eased off and above us the clouds began to break.  The wind at our backs stiffened as we climbed the day's only slope, up Cam Fell, and before long we said farewell to the Pennine Way and hello to the Dales Way.

As much as PW had left us sodden, on both walks, DW was pulling no punches from the first steps.  The slope back down Cam Fell was spongy and wet at best.  Our purposeful strides to the summit had been replaced by tentative steps as we tried to find the driest way to Cam Farm and the first of the day's checkpoints.  It had taken us three hours but any lost time would have been made up if we'd had a canoe.  The soggy ground continued until we got to Swarthgill Farm where it became a proper track.  Thoughts entered our heads about running this section in August (to use different muscle groups) but as it will be dark next time we're on the path it didn't feel like a good idea.

Stunning view from Yockenthwaite Farm

We stopped for a rest by the ford at Beckermond, before pushing on to Deepdale and the second stage stop of the day.  The grey sky gave way to blue and before long we were all over-dressed.  For the first time in two days walking we were well fed and not cold.  The forecast strong wind was on our backs and everything was in our favour.  A little over an hour later we arrived back in Buckden, smiles on our faces, already contemplating our next training walk.

Well earned pint in the sunshine back in Buckden

Regardless of what our next training session is, team 'Llamas Not Included' will be setting out to complete the 100k walk on Saturday 22nd August, aiming for all four of us to make it round by the morning of Sunday 23rd.  We are under no illusion that as nice as the last part of training was, the full event will be a hard physical and mental challenge.  As well as pushing ourselves, we are also raising money for Oxfam, who are organising the event.  If you would like to make a donation to give us a morale boost and support the work Oxfam do please follow the link to our Just Giving page.