By John Hartshorn
We
all know walking is good for you, so over the course of this last weekend, a
joint 1Spatial/Linknode team took on the challenge of walking up to 100km in
Oxfam’s Trailtrekker 2012 endurance trekking challenge in the Yorkshire Dales,
and raising around £5k for Oxfam.
The
weather was just perfect – warm, dry, and with a refreshing (although
dessicating!) wind. And scenery...well, one person is quoted in the
Yorkshire Post’s coverage of the event describing it as very “Tolkein”
like. As a local, I would describe it as rolling upland terrain!
A
team of four (John Hartshorn, Dave Eagle, Crispin Hoult, Nic Snape), calling
ourselves Abi & The Pacemakers, we started at 6am on Saturday in Skipton
with the aim of getting as far round the challenging 100km as possible.
840 people set off, and it didn’t take long for us all to disperse into our
little foursomes. The banter as teams passed each other or walked a while
together was just great, adding to overall spirit of the whole event.
The
course was certainly rugged and demanding in parts – up Malham Cove, over
Fountains Fell, across the shoulder of Pen-y-Ghent (one of North Yorkshire’s
“Three Peaks”), and after a refreshing meal put on by our outstanding support
crew (Tim Downs, Tung Nghiem, Chris Tagg) the long, relentless yomp to Cam Farm
at the top of Langstrothdale. That was half way and had taken over 13
hours! By this time, blisters were starting to emerge, and iPod’s were
being switched on – nothing like being able to disappear into music to take the
mind off the slog. It was then down into Wharfedale and a meal stop and
leg massage at Buckden before the night trek along the river Wharfe. By
the time we then got up high on the Limestone pavement above Conistone, the sun
was rising for another beautiful day and stunning vistas.
At
Coniston, two of the team decided that 80km was ample (one of which had only
ever set out to do the 40km Bronze challenge, but was cajoled into going
further by the rest of us!), and so set the other two on their merry way with
the remnants of another team for the last 20km. They still faced a 6 hour
hike back down to Skipton and with some more challenging ascents up and over
Malham Moor and then, after a water stop (and the smiling, encouraging faces of
our support crew!) at Hetton, one last climb up the seemingly never ending and
unfeasibly steep forest track around Sharp Haw before the final few km down
into Skipton.
To
be met by the whole crew and some family members at the end was just astounding
– a real hero’s welcome back.
And
today? A few interesting blisters, but otherwise fine!
What
an experience. Again.
Keep
an eye on the
1Spatial TrailTrekker page for photos of the team throughout the
challenge. Don’t forget, you can still reward the team for their mammoth
efforts by donating a little something here
