The Walking Weekend

Well, the plan was solid. A walking weekend on the south coast, along the North Downs way, 4th and 5th of October, get some serious miles under my belt alongside my dedicated girlfriend Su. Lovely B&B booked, route all planned out - by Su I might add. All I really had to do was get dressed and go... simple you might think. However, I hadn't counted on the fact that Friday October 3rd was my leaving drink at work after almost 11 years there.

I think we can all see what happened.

So after a killer hangover and a gentle, loving reminder from Su that this was also a weekend away for us both I staggered to a great place in Forest Hill for breakfast and then we were on the train to Folkestone. Having already decided that a shortened walk was in order due to my physical state (hangovers generally take days rather than hours since my late thirties) we emerged to some quite appalling weather and were very glad we'd gone with the waterproofs. It was hammering it down, with a driving wind meaning it was coming in sideways. Lovely. After a couple of detours, a steep hill and over an hour later we spied the picturesque b&b in the distance and dreamt of hot showers, hot drinks and a hearty meal. But... there had been a power cut. It really wasn't the best of days so far ! However, the hospitality was excellent and we got a lift to the local pub that 'opened at 7' (not in London now !!) and had power so all was well. I even got to see my teams abject performance on Match of the Day.

So with only 3 miles covered, we were up for some serious walking on Sunday, and what a glorious day it was, and after a wonderful breakfast we set off at around 11 from the comfy b&b:

Just look at that azure blue sky !!

Heavily equipped with fruit, snacks and much water we trotted off. Now Dover was only 9 miles away which was not enough, so armed with the North Downs way guide we decided to walk to Etchinghill and back first which would add about 6 miles to the trek. We walked high above the Eurotunnel entrance:

Stopped to admire the view out to sea on several occasions:

And generally made a reasonable fist of following the albeit a little vague at times directions in the guide, with only a few detours:

We made some new friends along the way:

We also paused to check how far it was to go

And really rather enjoyed a romp around the outskirts of Folkestone in the first couple of hours

It really was a gorgeous October day, and I even attempted an arty shot

That's right. Check ME out !

The hillside was covered in pillboxes which were used during WWII to spot planes coming from Germany - it seems incredible that 74 years ago you could have stood where we were and watched a firefight in the skies as the Battle of Britain unfolded

As we moved along past Folkestone and towards Dover the scenery became even more beautiful in the sunshine:

And we passed the Battle of Britain memorial (cap doffed)

And saw the train line cut into the hillside

Quite a feat of engineering, although it paled into insignificance alongside the Channel Tunnel, and incidentally they used all the earth dug up from the tunnel to enhance the causeway underneath the hills. Fascinating eh ? You'll be a hit at dinner parties with that nugget my friends !

The path continued up and over plenty more hills:

There were more helpful signs:

And all things considered it was a great day, even if, with the shadows lengthening, our feet were beginning to hurt a bit !

But we put a brave, and some might say self satisfied (in my case) face on it:

It was quite a long way down:

And that in the distance is France !

I pondered for a while about how we actually are the daddy of that particular relationship - I mean there's a part of France called Brittany but is there a part of Britain called 'Francey' ?? Hell no. And damn right too. And our cliffs are better ! In your face France !

So at just before 6pm we boarded the train back to London and had been on our feet for almost 7 hours with only a couple of 5 / 10 minute stops and had covered about 16 / 17 very hilly miles with all the detours. Quite pleasing, however it was meant to be a 2 day deal and so I knew that despite my aching limbs that I still had to get a second day in a row in the bag as the hardest part of the trek would include that (days 1 and 4 are not as long or as far as 2 & 3 I think).

So, on Monday, in the rain again and on my own this time I set about doing the Green Chain Link walk around the area - these really are superb and brilliantly signposted - and after a first hour that was no fun at all it did get better for a while and the pig-headed part of my nature decided I was going to do 21 miles as that fit with one of the destinations being 10.5 miles away (a place called Elmstead Wood). It was a miserable day and the only real highlight was the walk through Crystal Palace Park where they have dinosaurs...

It really is well worth a visit and beautifully kept

But after making it to Elmstead Wood in about 3hrs 15 minutes, I needed a sitdown and tucked into my wonderful sanger made by Su (she's such a star) and took the weight off for 10 minutes or so. Refreshed and revived I made my way back as fast as I could (ie slowly) and to be honest I really was in bits by the end, but it was another 7 hour walk, and approx 37 miles covered in 2 days gives me plenty of confidence about the trek ! And I had a hot bath and a hot chocolate waiting for me (I think I may have the worlds greatest girlfriend).

So most of the kit is bought, one more training walk to do on Sunday and then we're good to go.

The final blog will be from the Sahara (written when I get back, I dont think the wifi is great out there !) and hopefully I have some nice pics and cool stories.

One week to go...

Thanks for reading ! And thank you so much for the donations :)

Rob