Taking a walk on the wild side

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