Prepare for epicly long post, in more ways than one ...
So as some of you may be aware from me sharing my life slightly on here, I'm a bit of an outdoor and sports junkie. Thankfully, my school offered plenty of ways to fulfil that passion, with DofE, Ten Tors, 100 mile cycles and even 3 peaks. However, there was one event I hadn't yet done, and given that I've finished A levels, this was my last chance. It's known as the Centurions Challenge, and in design is not particularly tricky. A 100 mile walk in 48 hours, along a canal path. Except really, it's only 36 hours, as you have to sleep. It is further subdivided by day, with Friday being 22 miles to Devizes, Saturday 56 miles out to Hungerford and back, and the final Sunday 22 miles home to Bath. Simple enough you'd think, as the canal is flat, no heavy packs, and food and water readily supplied. So 76 volunteered for this epic challenge, ranging from 14-18yrs old.
Friday was hot, but by the time we started at 4pm it had cooled down slightly. The walk to Devizes was fast, and not particularly tricky, the 22 miles done by 8:35pm, only 4 and a half hours. Though we all knew Saturday would be harder.
Saturday dawned cold, but quickly warming. We started at the bottom of the Caen Hill lock system (more on that later) and proceeded up the canal and through Devizes rapidly. The day wore on, and we passed numerous checkpoints on our way to Hungerford, 28 miles covered by 13:20. The weather, as all those English will testify, was brutally hot on the weekend, peaking at 28/29 degrees, and that was punishing enough to cause challengers to start dropping out. My feet were bad by Hungerford, but there was no point in taking my shoes off, as my feet would swell up and never fit back in!
Still reasonably happy at halfway in glorius yellow.
The way back was very long, and tiring. Blisters started popping inside my shoes after around a mile, but I forced on. The group had by now turned to iPod's as conversation had dried up, but alas it seemed mine was not working. An hour later, I discovered it was, but the brightness was on minimum so I couldn't tell earlier
Music made the journey easier, taking the mind off the feet. I followed my friends calf's for at least 6 hours in increasing agony, until with around 8 miles left, a combination of a blister popping and chafing caused me to slowly fall back, and I was passed by the rest of the group with us. The following hour was a lonely furrow to Devizes, which was a welcome site indeed at around 9pm. Then came Caen Hill locks again, which is a system of 25 or so locks all in a row. It took an hour or so to get down them, not moving particularly fast as darkness closed in, though I was joined by a friend catching up with about 15 minutes to go, which was much appreciated. I arrived at camp at 10:30, to find out that around 50 participants had dropped out on a truly brutal day of walking, leaving only 26 or so. Popping a blood blister around 2x1cm was the highlight of arriving back
Sleep was easy that night, and Sunday dawned, but I couldn't get my running shoes on for at least 10 minutes, yelling all the while
Eventually I got them on, and started the walk at 6am, immediately dropping to the back of the remaining walkers with one buddy left. The first hour was slow at 2.5mph, but I plugged in music and forced myself up to 4/4.5mph for the next two hours, my friend just following all the while. We reached Bradford at around 9:10, with 10 miles left. At Avoncliff a mile on we picked up another friend assisting on a bike, who guided us the 8 miles or so home to the end of the canal, which were awful. I was even questioned to my wide open legs by passers by, so I must have looked amusing! We arrived back in Bath, and climbed the hill, which was 16% in places (
) back to school.
Coming across the field to the finish:
Finishing time was 12:45, having spent 7 hours with one mans company, it was a relief to finish!
Frankly, now I can't walk
it's the hardest thing I've ever done, and I'm sure glad I didn't have to go into school today! Hope this makes sense, but I thought I'd share this, because it was too hard not to mention.
