This is the second podcast and there’s more about this series in the text of the first podcast with Simon Hodgin. In short, these are like pilot podcasts to establish how to do the audio better, see what the reaction is like and then we will start to widen the scope of the whole arrangement.
This podcast is with the legend that is David Morgan, the former Chair of the LDWA, who has organised and taken part in many challenge events. The podcast focuses on his experiences of this over the years and also addresses the most important question of what is his favourite food at challenge events. I suspect this might become a running theme (excuse the pun).
Something new for 2026 is a series of podcasts that I’m planning for the LDWA. It’s going to take a fair few podcasts to start getting the editing quality sorted, but I have to start somewhere and Simon Hodgin of Norfolk & Suffolk group kindly agreed to help with the first one.
I reference in the podcast that there’s a lot more to the LDWA than just the 100, but I felt the need to ask Simon about some of his challenge event achievements. I’ve recorded a couple more podcasts and they’ll be advertised within the LDWA. After a while, they’ll advertised more widely hopefully when I’m content that I know what I’m doing.
The first few podcasts will be with LDWA members, talking about their volunteering experiences and their walking, but there will be more focused podcasts on how to prepare for any challenge event, what to pack for a 100 mile event, as well as podcasts about specific walking trails. Then there will hopefully follow podcasts featuring other people involved in outdoor adventure activities, as well as those involved working on trails, B&Bs owners used to dealing with walkers and much more besides.
When I’m happy that I’m getting there with the quality, then they might start appearing in the usual places where podcasts are found. So, that’s the background! The podcast download for the first episode is below.
And so the final day of LDWA Local Groups’ weekend was upon us (I’ll stress that we’ll be talking to groups and individuals more about what was discussed, this blog post is really more about Richard as I’m his chief publicity officer).
We started the Sunday morning (after breakfast of course) with an uplifting introduction from Phoebe Smith, the LDWA President.
And as a summary about the LDWA, it’s marvellous value for money, membership is £15 a year at the moment via direct debit and we have hundreds of challenge events that take place every year, alongside social walks and a website packed with information about long-distance trails. It’s also a way for people to be inspired by the travels of others, I like hearing about how brave other people have been and wondering if I can do the same.
Richard was considering all the exciting adventures that he could go on having been inspired by Phoebe. Phoebe has written numerous books and gone on endless adventures, I recommend her Instagram account at https://www.instagram.com/phoebersmith/.
The rest of the morning was spent in workshops which were very helpful and informative. It’s often the case that members can come up with great ideas that we just haven’t thought of before. Weekends like this are also really helpful because groups can share best practice with each other, learning from how things are done differently.
There was a really rather lovely lunch before we headed off home, the plaice goujons were very agreeable. Thanks to Woodland Grange for their really helpful staff and consistently good food, it’s much appreciated!
We managed to work out how to exit the car park.
And then it was time to head home, popping into a JD Wetherspoon en route, although I felt quite exhausted during the latter part of the drive. I obviously remained very brave. It was definitely worth the mad dash across mainland Europe to get back for the weekend.
The second day of the LDWA Groups’ Weekend (here’s more about day one) started with a hearty breakfast arrangement.
There were two walks laid on for members, with a 16-mile option and a 23-mile option. I opted for the shorter walk and everyone, other than Richard, was ready for the 09:00 start. There were calls to just leave him behind, but they were mostly from me.
Here we are, ready for action!
This is the River Avon, we crossed over on Hill Wootton Road, located just off of Kenilworth Road.
Richard and Madeleine discussing something important.
Richard working out where he was, which at this point was near to Hatton Park.
The series of locks at Hatton and I realised later on that this is near to where the Elephant, Bear and Bull touched on.
A dragonfly sculpture (or at least I think it’s a dragonfly).
The walk then went from Hatton into the outskirts of Warwick, this photo was taken near to Warwick Parkway railway station.
Richard demanded to be in another photo near to Budbrooke Industrial Estate.
And then into Warwick although we unfortunately didn’t have time to stop in any of the pubs. Fortunately, I’ve visited most of them already.
Richard needed a sit down and medical treatment. Fortunately, the ever tolerant Pam and Sarah were able to assist with this.
Madeleine is looking up at a leaking bridge, which feels sub-optimal as it’s from the canal above. The River Avon is on our right.
Getting towards the end of the walk now, this is near Old Milverton.
The light isn’t very good here, but this was a quick diversion to Saxon Mill.
St. James the Great church at Old Milverton.
This looked exciting, disc golf. Must add that to my list of things to try.
The board showed the evening’s entertainment. From my perspective, many thanks to Simon Pipe for producing such a professional video of the LDWA 100 and we were able to show a bit of a sneak preview of that. And also thanks to Andy for his introducing the expanding media team.
The evening meal included chicken and leek pie, one of my favourite things….
And some rather lovely looking desserts.
The NEC members present gave some talks, here’s Richard as he likes his photo being taken. Could I also mention here to check BBC iPlayer for Farm 999, series 1 and episode 14, where he makes his latest TV appearance. We’re very lucky in the LDWA to have this media talent.
With that, the day’s excitement came to an end with some lingering in the bar. I’m pleased to say that NEC Richard mostly recovered from his long walk and many thanks to Richard and Sally for their walk leading during the day. Thanks to everyone who attended the day, the feedback is always very useful and its great to see to many volunteers.
After a rail journey from Luton Airport, via London, I arrived into Leamington Spa and then walked to the Woodland Grange hotel. This is where the LDWA Groups’ weekend was taking place from Friday to Sunday.
The venue is one which the LDWA (I should note that this is the Long Distance Walkers Association) has used before and I recall the friendliness from the staff and the cleanliness of the hotel. It’s a lovely hotel and after an initial piece of confusion where they thought I was sharing a room with Richard, I was allocated a lovely private room.
Madeleine, the rather wonderful LDWA chair, also presented me with a chicken bake and that’s why she’s my favourite NEC member 🙂 I doubt any other NEC member will read this (other than Richard), so I’ll get away with that.
Here’s Penny, the Volunteer Support Officer, giving a talk about the weekend. Engagement with groups is important to the LDWA as we’re a volunteer led organisation and the NEC needs to get feedback from individual members and groups to properly deliver what the organisation needs.
I’d add that I won’t reveal any private discussions, but for those going, a report will be produced and all members will be able to see the various things that the LDWA is doing.
Everyone taking part got a free drink from the LDWA, which is rather lovely. I won’t name people individually as I’ll forget someone and that might annoy them, but it’s always lovely to see Chelle, Andy and Sarah from Norfolk & Suffolk LDWA. Richard was also there from the group in his national IT role.
It’s important to be well fed on these occasions and we weren’t let down by the venue.
And a little dessert to go with it (I didn’t have all of what’s in the photo).
And the highlight of the evening was the talk from the LDWA Vice-President Ken Falconer. He walked Lands End to John O’Groats fifty years ago and thought it would be a good idea to do it again fifty years later. It all led to one of the most entertaining talks that I’ve heard at an LDWA event, all really rather lovely.
I was rather pleased to actually get to Leamington Spa given the complexities of the travel arrangements, but this is an exciting and important weekend with the whole LDWA waiting to be surprised and delighted by the IT announcements.
The first walk of the LDWA weekend was along the canal routes into Oxford and we boarded a train to Tackley railway station.
The station is on the Cherwell Valley Line which runs from Banbury to Didcot Parkway, although the station here was added to the line relatively late, opening on 6 April 1931.
Andy gave us an introduction before starting the walk, although he likely could have done without someone keep asking when lunch was.
A lock and old bridge a short distance away from the start of the walk in Nethercott.
There was lots of pleasant canal walking, although at first the path was a bit ropy and I did wonder if someone would fall in, but there were fortunately no incidents. We saw a grass snake, or it might have been a rattlesnake, gliding across the water. This annoyed me, I wish they’d stop letting snakes out unattended.
Wild hops, I don’t often see those, although that’s mainly because I’m usually looking for blackberries.
Beautiful surroundings and we were fortunate with the weather, it was warm with no rain, but there was also a pleasant breeze.
Sarah, blazing a trail.
A rather lovely little church by the river, this is the Church of Holy Cross at Shipton-on-Cherwell. There was a medieval church at this site, but it was mostly rebuilt in 1831 when it was all reworked and a new tower was added by William Turner.
The lunch spot at Thrupp.
This bridge pivots up and can be operated by just one person, but there was nearly an incident here when a car tried to drive onto the now rather vertical bridge. Shortly afterwards, a pedestrian tried to do the same thing.
A rather clever piece of engineering.
An old stone bridge near Kidlington. It’s number 223 and known as Sparrow Gap Bridge
A heron.
We waited here for Sue to join us.
Walking into Oxford.
The Toblerhome river boat.
Into the city centre and then a quick pub stop before I traipsed to my thrifty hotel which was nowhere near the centre of Oxford. Memories of the dangerous snake we saw swimming in the canal had faded away, with me looking forwards to the pubs in the evening (which I’ve already written up….).
[I originally posted this in August 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
I thought it’d be a great idea to spend a weekend in Whitby and also complete the Smuggler’s Trod 25-mile challenge event which is held nearby as part of the adventure. Five other people from Norfolk & Suffolk LDWA came along and we were rather lucky with the perfect weather for the event, no rain and not too much sun.
The walk wasn’t particularly challenging in terms of hills, but there was a hill climb straight from the start at Robin Hood’s Bay. The total ascent for the entire walk was 657 metres though, which was hilly enough for me.
The early section of the walk went along the official Coast to Coast path as we went inland.
The colours along the route were beautiful and the whole walk was along a varied landscape with numerous wooded areas, moors and along riverbanks.
Bev trapped in ferns.
The food selection was wonderful throughout and the doughnut type things were particularly delightful and very moreish. One checkpoint was kindly making up sandwiches to order, so I quite happily waited there whilst eating jelly babies.
We went through a farm with some interesting pieces of ironwork dotted about, including this fine looking soldier.
Approaching Robin Hood’s Bay again towards the end of the route.
The last part of the route was along the former railway line from Whitby to Scarborough. It’s a great shame that this line has been lost, but it is now a popular cycling and walking route.
The end of the challenge event today leaves the railway line just before Robin Hood’s Bay so that entrants have to walk up the hill to the former railway station, which is the end point of the event. For those who are running out of time, the organisers allow them to just walk along the railway line to the end, which I was tempted by anyway, but that would have felt like cheating….
This is what I had to deal with….
We walked around the challenge event in two groups of three and I won’t go into details into what went wrong for the group of three that I wasn’t in. But I will say that Maria, Jane and Ray clearly weren’t able to navigate as well as me, as I didn’t end up walking four miles extra by mistake…..
Everyone is rewarded with a pie at the end of the walk, and I was so brave that they let me have two. Actually, they let me have two without the bravery bit, but if they had known have brave I was, they’d have given me two anyway, so that’s the same thing…
They were selling flasks from the 2017 event for £1, which seemed a bargain to me as another reminder of the event.
I thought that the whole event was well run and the volunteers from the Yorkshire Coast LDWA group were all friendly and had a great sense of fun. I hadn’t intended before the event to repeat this one, but having completed it, I’m pretty sure that I’ll do it again in the future.
It was rather lovely to meet the inspirational Richard and Sandra after they had completed the event, thanks to Elaine for mentioning their great achievement in completing so many walks of 100 miles or more. Below is the text that I put on the LDWA’s Facebook page:
“The amazing Richard and Sandra Brown after completing the Flower of Suffolk 100.
This is Richard’s 150th 100 mile (or more!) event and Sandra’s 220th 100 mile (or more!) event. Both started their LDWA 100 career in 1982 and Sandra has completed 23 LDWA 100s and Richard slightly fewer than 20. It’s fair to say, that’s a lot of walking.
On today’s walk, Sandra said “it was a brilliant event, the route description was excellent, the checkpoints were uniformly wonderful and it was a lovely walk”, with Richard adding that “we didn’t know the area, it’s lovely to be here”.”
Just to finish off my riveting series of posts about the LDWA Flower of Suffolk 100, I decided to just stay at the event all day on Sunday until the last entrant was in. One could say that I’m a loyal servant of the LDWA or, equally, one could comment that I was too tight to pay for a third night of hotels. It is true though that I like being at the event near to the end, it’s when so much excitement comes in and the entrants who have walked throuh two nights come in. Here’s the lovely Susanna who arrived to help in the kitchen, a particularly generous offer of help as she was going straight to Hay in the morning and her sleep was planned for the car journey.
The evening and early morning menu.
The tracker screen went off so we had to look at this all night. Simon and I didn’t say anything. It wasn’t quite what we had expected to watch.
A rather peaceful view from the roof of the sports centre that we were based in for the weekend.
A really rather lovely breakfast, many thanks to the chefs!
Richard fixing his computer.
Richard didn’t do a rota for the event, so I helpfully did one. I note Simon let him see it….
There aren’t many photos of the actual event as I moved to a role of welcoming entrants back in, but the media unit has lots of footage of this and will be producing numerous videos. As usual, the event is over-catered and that’s necessary to ensure that entrants don’t go hungry, but it also has the advantage of meaning that I had a second breakfast. Jayne did a marvellous job of dealing with all the catering, she did the event proud once again.
This is the hall where all the action was taking place just a couple of days before. It is strange to see a space empty, then so full of people and excitement, then empty again.
And Simon eating again.
Anyway, that’s mostly the end of my little series of LDWA 100 related posts, although I’ve recorded lots of footage and taken lots of photos for the media team, so there might be some more highlights to come. Thanks again to all of the volunteers, their contributions were very much appreciated and there are so many stories still to come from the event.
One of the handy things about my walking the last stretch of the walk with Łukasz was that I decided I was sort of eligible for a certificate. And I’ll treasure it!
