After a lovely LDWA National Executive Committee (NEC) on the Saturday, it was time to take part in the Essex & Herts LDWA challenge event on the Sunday. I often read these inspirational posts about how someone went for a jog and cold water swim before excitedly setting off. I didn’t, I woke up slightly annoyed that I had to leave the comfortable Travelodge at 07:00 ready to walk the 26.2-mile Essex Walker. I walked down to Liam’s car thinking that although I’m keen to promote walking as an accessible activity, I would prefer it to become accessible slightly later in the morning.
I had neglected to bring my headtorch, water bottle or mug. Liam helpfully stopped off at a Tesco en route so that I could pick up a healthy breakfast. Note the Gym Kitchen because I consider myself some form of athlete and I felt that buying something with ‘Gym’ on the packaging demonstrated sufficient commitment without having to actually visit one. Liam found a head torch brighter than the centre of the sun as he’s an engineer and they have these things, so with my bottled water, that was two of the three things sorted. I decided I’d eat more biscuits to replace the missing coffee.
I took this photo of the registration desk whilst eating biscuits.
Liam waiting for his tea or whatever it is he drinks. The observant reader might notice Richard having a sit down. Again.
It was all getting busy and I was pre-annoyed. I don’t claim to be inspirational but it was marvellous to see numerous friends from around the country, including of course the entire NEC. Only Elaine, who was helping with the organisation, and Richard, who was sitting down, weren’t walking the event from the NEC.
None of the computers had yet caught fire and it was reassuring to see that Richard’s event strategy was holding up.
I felt that the temperature was perfect to complete the event with one layer on. Others had a different view.
And we’re off. I had a strategy that we would walk with Simon as he said he was going at a slow pace on this event. This transpired to be aspirational, Liam and I had to nearly jog to catch up with him, but we are fine athletes and were able to manage this without Liam complaining. I was slightly more vocal on the arrangement. This was just outside the village of Blackmore.
This is fifteen minutes into the walk and we were still trying to catch Simon up. We agreed to pretend that we were naturally walking that quickly and that we weren’t burning significant calories in catching up.
Still near to Ingatestone and 45 minutes after starting, we had Simon in sight.
A rather lovely hedge near Margaretting.
Before we knew it, we were at the first checkpoint. I gave Simon clear instructions not to go without us as I didn’t want to spend the next thirty minutes trying to catch up again. I’m pleased to say that he agreed.
And there he is, in fine form for a man of his age.
This is why I enter these events if I’m being honest. I’m delighted to say that there were cheese and pickle sandwiches, my favourite. Now, I got distracted here with gossiping, so there aren’t any photos during the next stage, which isn’t great but is evidence of my getting distracted easily.
The second checkpoint was also the HQ, namely Blackmore Village Hall. I was pleased to discover that other than the two NEC members who were running, we were ahead of Paul, Madeleine and Graham from the NEC. It’s not a race. But nonetheless.
There was a little queue to give our numbers in at the checkpoint desk.
Richard was having a little sit down.
Delicious.
Note the Haribo Supermix, which is what I think is the best in their range. This is the kind of food that sustains athletes, along with the Mini Cheddars which are also in the photo.
Simon, once again under instructions not to rush off.
I’m more of a city person, but it is rather lovely to be out in the countryside.
There was some indecision here where to go. I’d add at this point that I did absolutely no navigating, I just followed other walkers. I would have had no idea if we were eighteen miles off route and, anyway, my role was to maintain morale by asking how much further it was.
This is the Priory Church of St Laurence in Blackmore. It was built in the 12th century as part of an Augustinian priory, with portions of its Norman architecture surviving today. Following the priory’s closure in the 1520s, part of the church was retained for parish worship, along with its remarkable medieval timber bell tower. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to have a little look inside.
Liam walking between two hedgerows.
I’m not entirely sure why I took this photo, but there we go.
Mountnessing Windmill was built in 1807 and was operated by the Agnis family until 1924, with a brief return to milling in 1932–33. The Grade II* listed post mill underwent extensive restoration between 1979 and 1983, although they were able to keep many of the original timbers.
Still near Mountnessing there was something of a wind whilst we were walking across this muddy field, it was all rather bracing and really quite lovely.
The final checkpoint was at Fryerning Parish Room.
The checkpoint was mostly a welcome drinks stop, but there were some snacks as well for those that were still hungry.
St Mary the Virgin at Fryerning dates from the late 11th century, with Roman bricks reused in the construction of its Norman nave and chancel. Its distinctive red-brick tower was added in the early 16th century, while the church was restored (and faffed about with) by the architect Wykeham Chancellor in 1869.
It was another church that I didn’t have chance to go in.
The old brew house in Fryerning.
Getting towards the end of the walk, we had done around 23 miles at this point and I was ready for the end. My optimum walk length is around 20 miles before I decide that I could do with a little lie down. I mentioned a few times that 26 miles was quite a long way.
There’s Liam being brave, he’s learned a lot from me about that.
Back in Blackmore, the end was almost in sight.
The village sign.
I could see the end.
I thought Liam was faffing about a bit, but I didn’t say anything. I note that we were so fast that we didn’t even need a headtorch.
Pasta and garlic bread, very nice. There was also crumble that was delicious, but I forgot to take a photo of that. I must have been very tired.
So ruddy bloody brave. Madeleine came in soon after, with Graham and Paul from the NEC not far behind. Another very lovely day and thanks so much to all the volunteers! And thanks again to best mate Liam for his driving, support and general tolerance. We were both very brave.