Category: LDWA

A few days ago I posted about the experiences that Andy and his team had with a murder of cows (I know that it’s a murder of crows, but I like using the word for cows too) charging and galloping towards them, and he’s been kind enough to send more details about his team’s adventure (Andy mentions with many thanks for Dawn for much of the text!).

I like the line “Dawn thought she’d test the water and questioned why were they doing it” and that rings some bells for me on our 100 walk a few weeks ago. I suspect that Nathan and I didn’t talk enough about why we were doing it, perhaps as secretly neither of us knew the answer other than it seems a good idea when drinking in the pub. The phrase of “testing the water” is an excellent one though here, very brave of Dawn  🙂

On another point, this whole thing with trackers is interesting. The LDWA are looking into various forms of trackers for future 100s and there’s clearly lots of work needed here to establishing what will work best and be the most reliable. But, back to the main point, congratulations to the bravery of everyone involved in this walk!

Anyway, the story of Team Barandaw in Andy’s words:

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The journey began back in October 2019 when Andy Gordon, Barbara Hutton and Dawn Jones met on a White Cliffs Ramblers walking holiday to Majorca. Andy had recently completed the Sussex Stride and was looking forward to taking on Y Sir Fynwy 100-mile challenge to be held in 2020. Barbara and Dawn were full of admiration and a little disappointed that they would be unable to tackle such an adventure without a qualifying 50 under their belts. Barbara, Dawn (and Andy for good measure) hastily signed up for the Spring into Lakeland challenge event for April 2020 in the hope that if there were still places available, they may be able to squeeze in to do the hundred.

But the pandemic struck and both events were put off until 2021. Oh well, undeterred the plan was to still try for a 50 event and the Bullock Smithy was pencilled into the diaries as indeed was The Tour de Trigs, an event not taking place until December so surely that would go ahead, surely the pandemic would not still be playing havoc with these events? As history unfolded one challenge after another was postponed or cancelled. But out of the disappointments came the chance to tackle the Y Sir Fynwy Virtual challenge without a qualifying 50, what a result. The Tour de Trigs had needed them to form a team and have a name and that is how Team Barandaw came into being. Later they referred to themselves as the Barandaw Goats when they noticed they were all sporting Hoka One One Speedgoat footwear.

Taking on a 100-mile challenge as novices meant planning and training. Dawn’s husband, Steve, was enlisted to support them around the route at various checkpoints. It did not take long to realise that an elongated or linear route would be a lot harder from a logistical basis and so the decision was made to walk the Canterbury Outer Ring modified to 26 miles and do 4 loops, with the 4th loop being a bit shorter which helped psychologically. Covid-19 restrictions meant the Team couldn’t all walk together in the early training preparations. The route was recce’d and modified around areas considered dangerous to tackle in darkness or when tired. Various day and a night lap were walked, finally culminating in a 60 mile day and night combination which was the furthest any of the Team had walked before and all came up against a bit of a wall with sleep deprivation. 4 main checkpoints were identified where supporters could park. The Team were offered more support from Keith, Barbara’s husband, who took on the role of supporting Steve and keeping an eye on the trackers that were hired to see the Team’s location and John Gilbert, who has undertaken various LDWA 100-mile challenges over the years and nobly manned a couple of checkpoints at very unsociable hours. It should be mentioned here that Sarah Turner also with a few 100-milers under her belt made contact and offered valuable advice.

The day arrived and Team Barandaw was well prepared. They set off at 8am as planned and the first loop went without any hitches. Jacket potatoes at the lunch stop and a coffee and cake mid-afternoon. Barbara had already started to be aware her feet were uncomfortable. The second loop included having a very pleasant meal at the Golden Lion, Broadoak, where the accommodating landlady was ready to put the food on the table as they arrived with thanks to Steve and Keith in giving her the heads up when the Team were 10 minutes away and the food choices already made. So far, so good, the Team set off to walk through the night but with a welcome hot drink and plenty of snacks provided by John Gilbert around 11.30pm. The night walk brought the extra challenge of long wet grass and soggy feet, this will be addressed with different footwear for any future 100 milers! The Team in their planning had walked the route at night but they had dealt with sub-zero temperature and next to no grass – what a difference 4 weeks can make.

6am, an hour later than planned, Steve and Keith met the team and disappeared off to walk the dog with instructions to not return for one hour but to make sure the team were awake after an hour. This gave the team a chance to sleep in the van – in their planning this was considered necessary – in reality Andy snores which fortunately both Dawn and Barbara saw the funny side of. The sun was shining, and the Team were ready for another day. 56 miles completed, over halfway and only at 23 hours. The Team were doing OK. Barbara’s feet were giving her some problems, but she soldiered on. The next stop, only 4 miles along the route was a superb breakfast, cooked in the field expertly by Steve and Keith. The rest of loop 3 went without complications, but as loop 3 was ending and with less than a whole loop to go, Dawn thought she’d test the water and questioned why were they doing it? – what was making them carry on? – did they need to? After all, they had clearly done enough to qualify for next year’s 100 and it was only a badge! Well, even with Barbara’s poorly feet Dawn was put right in her place with a very emphatic chorus of ‘we’re not stopping now’. She hadn’t meant to sound so serious – it was only posed as a question, but it was good to know they all still wanted to complete this challenge. A decision was made at this point, as they were running later than their original schedule, that they would have dinner in the next pub, so Keith and Steve were called to meet them.

The Team were now about to start lap 4 – it was going to get dark again and head torches were sorted out, yet another change of socks – Gortex lined footwear this time to deal with the wet grass for Dawn and waterproof socks for Barbara who’d had to resort to sandals to cope with the blisters. Andy’s feet were doing remarkably well, and he swears it was down to the constant sock changing and the ‘Udderly Smooth’ cream he was using. The Team knew they had to dig deep now to get through the last 22 miles. Some family members who had been following the trackers and realised the team were stationary at a pub close to where they were driving paid a very welcome timely visit to cheer the team on. Dawn also took a phone call from her daughter who said ‘Mum, we (me and the children) are going to meet you at your next checkpoint – what time will you be there?’ After a quick calculation the Team set off with an extra bit of excitement knowing that Dawn’s family were travelling from over an hour away to be at the next checkpoint. Little did the Team know what awaited.

Just before the checkpoint was a series of 4 fields. The 2nd of these had cattle in which the Team had walked past 3 times already. The account of the stampeding cattle has already been written about but for anyone who has not seen the article it’s probably worth a read. This was a freaking scary experience, possibly made somewhat more heart wrenching for Dawn who had her daughter and grandchildren attempting to enter the field from the other end of the footpath whilst the cattle charged across the field. Thankfully with modern technology and a mobile signal the Team established that the family had made it safely out the field their end, but the Team were in the middle of the field being stared at by angry cattle looking ready to charge again. The Team turned around and Dawn and Barbara found enough energy to run …. Andy was more controlled with his exit from the field and thankfully they all got out in one piece. Now, with family that had travelled for an hour to see them and a field of dangerous cattle between them some quick rerouting had to happen. A permissive footpath leading to another footpath (albeit not well used) was followed and eventually the meeting with the family took place.

The Team now needed to get to one more important checkpoint, the last at 91 miles. Here the Team were met, along with Steve and Keith and hot drinks etc, by two very good friends, Jan Hartopp and Jim Cheney, who at the unearthly hour of midnight were willing to walk the last 10 miles and keep the spirits up. There was a surprising amount of chatting and good humour, and it was only as the Team approached the last couple of miles that they realised the trackers they had hired had not managed to record the walked distance. This knocked the team for 6. Whilst they had planned the route meticulously and knew the mileage they had walked; the trackers had been unable to deal with the altered last loop and had not recorded the actual distance. It also transpires that because a tracker only sends a signal every two minutes, it takes a straight line between each of these points and because this route involved lots of twists and turns the route recorded by the tracker missed sections actually walked.

Each team member also used a Garmin watch, and they had a separate GPS device. As anyone who has used them will know, keeping these gadgets going over a long period takes some doing as the battery does not support recording for 48 hours without needing to be recharged several times. Fortunately, Dawn was meticulous with her battery management, setting alarms to remind her when to recharge, and her Garmin watch kept running for the entire event and at the end recorded 103.17 miles.

The Team reached its destination to find John had turned out at about 4:30 am to greet them. As soon as they stopped walking Barbara and Andy’s body temperature plummeted and they demanded to sit in John’s van with the heater full on. Soon the Team were whisked off to get a shower and some sleep before reconvening for a celebratory Champagne brunch later in the day.

As this account is being written Team Barandaw have had their evidence validated and are in the planning stages for their next adventure. Bring it on.

Along with other tales from the LDWA 100, this encounter came in from Andrew Gordon who along with two friends was walking multiple loops of the Canterbury Outer Ring as part of his 100 effort.

I would add here that I hate cows in fields. Well, I don’t mind them in fields so much, just not ideally in the same fields as me. I will walk miles around a field full of cows rather than have to confront the damn things, I’ve heard too many stories of how they’ve hassled and scared walkers. And, let’s be honest, I’m not the bravest walker….

However, enough about me, I will let Andrew tell the story in his words  🙂   (and I love the Jurassic Park parallel!)

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Imagine the scene, it’s dark, the three of us (Barbara, Andy and Dawn) are pretty tired at about the 90-mile mark on the final of four loops of the Canterbury Outer Ring on our 100 mile epic walk. We are hoping to meet family (including grandchildren) for a motivational boost at St Cosmus & St Damian Church on the Crab and Winkle Way. Just three small fields to cross on a public footpath to get to the church, the first with cattle in it. We’d been through there three times already with absolutely no problems…

Our support party had decided to walk towards us and had in fact entered the field with the cattle in it before us. We could see their head torches in the distance as we entered the field. Suddenly there was commotion as a 30-40 strong herd of calves, cows and two bulls started stampeding at great speed up and down the field at 90 degrees to our path across it! Our head torches caught the bright eyes, flaring noses, and flicking tails in all their terrifying glory.

If you’ve seen the stampede scene in Jurassic Park, you’ll be on the same page as us with what was happening. Our loved ones had the common sense to retreat thankfully to safety. Bravely, Andy refused to give in and continued forward in the hope of a parting of the waves, so to speak. However, the herd had a different idea and continued to stampede up and down. At the point they looked like turning and running at us, Barbara and Dawn did a complete U turn and started running back to the safety of the fence line (hearing Andy’s voice fading in the background saying ‘it’s not a good idea to run’). Andy retreated with more dignity than the girls that’s for sure.

We don’t know what had caused the cattle’s distress; maybe it was our head torches or perhaps we looked and smelt like cattle rustlers!

Much studying of OS Maps on a phone and we found a work around via a permissive way and footpath back onto the Crab and Winkle Way, eventually to meet up with our relieved supporters.

It was very scary at the time and, whilst none of us would describe it as a highlight, it will be a lasting memory for all of us. Perhaps our risk assessment skills need a bit of brushing up?

As I’ve mentioned on previous updates, I’m so pleased to read the accounts of entrants to the LDWA 100 last week. It’s a reminder of just how many people took part in the event in so many delightful parts of the UK and how different people took to walking their 100 miles.

This is the walk of Jenni Coelho, who is from the very exciting North of Scotland group (formerly the North West Grampian group) which is also the home group of LDWA chair Julie Cribb. I love the distractions of food and drink in this account, and I suspect I would have stopped for an ice cream if the opportunity had arisen later on during the walk. Although Jenni didn’t quite finish this one, I’m sure she’ll be back for more and I’m impressed she went out running the next day. How very brave  🙂

Anyway, before I get distracted with food again (Julie does that to me), here’s Jenni’s account of the Moray Meander in her own words.

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I was a relatively late sign up to the Virtual 100. My original plans for the Bank Holiday Weekend were taking part in the Cairngorm to Coast Challenge (a hike and bike event). Unfortunately, due to covid restrictions this had been postponed.

Since the end of January I had been putting in plenty of miles doing another virtual event, the GB Ultras Race Across the Alps, which was finishing on the Bank Holiday Weekend. So I needed to find something else for a grand finish. My mind had already started ticking away on possibly doing the LDWA 100 and whilst out for a run mid April I came across Bea from my local group (North of Scotland) who encouraged me to enter, as she, Julie, Rikky and a couple of others were planning on doing the Loch Ness 360. Duly persuaded, I entered that evening!

Covid of course, had to throw a spanner in the works. In the week before the whole of Scotland was supposed to be moving down a level, there was a spike in cases in Moray and we remained in Level 3. This meant that I potentially wouldn’t be able to travel to do the Loch Ness 360 (and neither importantly would my Other Half be able to support us).

So, back to the drawing board for Plan B, a route within Moray.

First choice, the obvious one, was two laps of our own 50 mile Challenge walk, the Laich o’Moray 50. The route almost passes my front door, so chance for a middle of the walk shower and snooze. The danger with this one was I might not easily awake from the snooze. Bea decided on an out and back along the Dava Way, a rest at her house and then a loop of the Laich o’Moray.

I eventually decided on a route taking me from my home in Elgin, out to Lossie Woods, leading to the coastal path taking me all the way along to Cullen (for an ice-cream!) then back to Buckie. From here I would come inland, over the hill to Keith following the Fisherwives Trail, then from Keith picking up the Isla Way to Dufftown. Then I would join the Speyside Way, passing through Craigellachie, up over Ben Aigen for a lovely sunrise, up to Spey Bay, where I would rejoin the Coastal Path heading west to Hopeman, then finishing inland at the historic Duffus Castle. A fabulous route (if I do say so myself!).

I decided to make virtual checkpoints around every five miles, ensuring that I would eat and drink at regular intervals and have five minutes with the weight off my feet. I would be mostly self supported, with my OH meeting me at three points: 47 miles for a change of clothes and coffee; 72 miles, again for a change of clothes and a flask of coffee and of course 100 miles at the finish. And so, the Moray Meander 100 was born.

The following weeks were spent recceing parts of the route which I hadn’t done before and with a warm and dry forecast for the Bank Holiday weekend everything was looking positive. I was loving all the pre-event chat on the Facebook page with all the people all over the country preparing for the weekend. It was suggested to post updates on the day to the Facebook page, so I decided to do this.

The actual day arrived.  I was up nice and early, my plan was to leave about 5am and I left at 5.30 am (very good for the Queen of Faff).  The weather was perfect for walking, the haar was hanging about and didn’t lift properly until it was nearly lunchtime.  This meant a lot of the coastal walking which could have been quite brutal in the heat was undertaken in cool conditions.

The coastal path into Cullen involves a wee section over rocks, which when I arrived was a little challenging due to an incoming and high tide.  I decided to take the alternative route back to Portknockie along the old railway line.  However, the route onto the iconic viaduct was not obvious  to someone who had been on the go for ten hours.  So I lost an additional 15 minutes or so getting myself onto the viaduct (without going through someone’s garden!!).

Progress was pretty good, with my overall timings only slipping about 15 minutes – but with the 30 minutes added on for late departure, I possibly shouldn’t have sat down for quite so long in Cullen eating a very large and very delicious rum and raisin ice-cream.

Coming down into Findochty, clouds were beginning to darken and it began to rain. Humph. Fortunately, there was a public convenience, so I took advantage of it and when I came back out, the rain was easing off. Looking at my timings I realised I wasn’t going to make it to my first support visit without my headtorch, so I phoned my long suffering OH to meet me in Buckie. I definitely lost some pace on this section and I was aware of some pain on my right heel. On arrival in Strathlene, which was my teatime stop, I arranged for my OH to come to me there instead.  After I’d had something to eat, I braved having a look under my sock and found a fairly large double bubbly blister lurking there. So, it had to be dealt with and then some plasters stuck on top.  Paracetamols popped and off I went again with my next meeting with the OH to be in Keith for a change of clothes before the proper night-time section.

As I arrived into Buckie I sensed that I needed to go to a proper toilet, so kept my fingers crossed that the harbour toilets might still be open as it was after 8pm. Hooray, Brucie Bonus, the door was open. Hallelujah.

Job done, and I strode up through Buckie, a new woman.

On my way out of Buckie, I was aware of a large group of boozy teenagers gathered in a park I had to walk past – fortunately, they were all having far too good a time to be bothered about the crazy walking lady. However, it did strike a note of unease into my mind.

I headed up the hill after Drybridge looking back to the absolutely stunning sunset over the Moray Firth. There were deer in the field beside me. These are moments that make these challenges all worth it.

The weird noises in the hills and woods I was heading into mind you were making my mind ever more uneasy and after about another ten minutes of hearing sounds like people were being murdered, I stopped and considered my situation. The next section was remote and I had hoped to be over it before dusk, which was not now going to happen. The following section after my support stop was not an area I wanted to be walking through in the dark either.

So, I made the decision to call it a day and retraced my footsteps back to where I could be rescued.

A smidgeon over 40 miles in the end in 16¾ hours.

Had I had a companion for the dark hours I definitely would have kept going, but I just didn’t feel safe, so I don’t regret the decision. I don’t know if I would have completed the 100, but I reckon I could’ve gotten 60-70 miles before my feet would’ve stopped in protest. If I’d realised how distracting the Facebook posts would have been, I wouldn’t have done them either, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but I definitely lost five minutes here and there which all added up.

Next time..… well, I don’t know if there will be a next time. Our local group are holding the Speyside 100 in a couple of years’ time so maybe I’ll do the marshals walk. Or I might try doing my Moray Meander later in the summer, perhaps with company …

What I did have to do was finish off my Race Across the Alps challenge – by only walking 40 miles, this still left me with another 15 miles required by close of play on the Sunday. Aaaargh.

On the Sunday, off I went (with my running shoes on this time) and covered what would have been the end of my Moray Meander, finishing at the Duffus Castle with a smile and a well-deserved Moretti.

All’s well that ends well.