It seems every weekend brings something different at the moment. Four weeks ago Denise and I took our dance medals and, as it turns out, we were awarded honours in all four examinations (ballroom, latin, rock and roll and Viennese waltz). We are now already well on with the cha-cha and waltz routines for the Gold Bar Three examination.
Three weeks ago I was taking part in my first choir performance on the Thursday and my first solo singing performance on the Friday. I have since decided to take singing examinations and have already chosen two of the four songs I will need to perform; Home on the Range – a traditional American song, and The Manchester Rambler – an English folk song. The latter has to be sang unaccompanied! Music is definitely gripping me, I have also bought a 61 key keyboard and am trying to train my fingers to find the keys. I bought it so I could get used to the sound of a piano as that will be my only accompaniment in the singing examinations, and I hope trying to play easy tunes will help. It was a bargain, second hand on Ebay at £50.
The last two weekends have been spent away from home. I took part in the Shropshire Way 80K race the Saturday before last and spent this weekend in Newquay with Denise, her mum, brother and nephew visiting her niece.
Shropshire is a lot more hilly than I remembered and it took me just under 14 and a half hours to complete the course. This was two hours longer than I had hoped for but I finished relatively strongly which bodes well for my main challenge this year – the 96 mile West Highland Way Race on June 22nd and 23rd. I was also joint 32nd out of 155 starters and only one hour behind the first woman. These factors allow me to think I am in good shape for Scotland in June.
I stayed Friday night at Wilderhope Manor Youth Hostel. The manor was a really old, interesting building owned by the National Trust and it was located deep in scenic countryside under Wenlock Edge. I relaxed in this very calm environment and enjoyed a good meal and sleep there before setting of to register for the race at 7am Saturday morning.
After registration I had a light breakfast and laid back until the race started at 9am. My plan was to jog as far as I as I felt comfortable, then continue alternating jogging and walking as far as I could until settling into a decent walking pace to complete the race. One restriction I placed on this was ‘do not jog or run up hills, walk them’. There are people who run these events all the way but the vast majority of entrants are usually taking on a personal challenge and often ‘completing the distance’ is enough. That is certainly my goal in June. Entrants had 24 hours to complete the Shropshire Way 80K, we have 35 hours to complete the West Highland Way in June.
The race took us from Craven Arms to Church Stretton via Wenlock Edge and Ragleth Hill. It then climbed over the Long Mynd, fell down to Bridges before taking a long sloping route up to Stiperstones. From there we made our way to Bishops Castle via Linley Hill, passing the halfway point of the race somewhere in between. I started to walk/jog somewhere in this section and I also passed and was passed by a number of other participants. Smiles, words of encouragement and short conversations passed between us as we recognized the same drive and enthusiasm within us. I also got lost somewhere around Linley as I failed to spot a gate into a wood and ran an extra half mile or so!
From Bishop’s Castle we ran out to join Offa’s Dyke via the penultimate feeding station at Reith Farm. Here we enjoyed a choice of very welcome beef or vegetable broth. (There had also been food just past Church Stretton – fidget pie, a local dish – and just past Stiperstones some local sausages!).
Needless to say we had ascended a hill, Colebatch Hill, to reach the feeding station at Reith. We now journeyed on to join Offa’s Dyke for a mile or so before striking of for Clun over a series of smaller hills. By now though they did not feel small and for the first time my head began to question my motive for entering the race.
Luckily I was passed by 4 other participants travelling at just the right speed at just the right time. I latched on to them and by focusing on keeping up with them I forgot about the gremlins that had been climbing into my head. At Clun we had our last food stop. A lovely fruity cake lifted my spirits and once again I latched onto the four who had overtaken me. In time I got to talking to the two men, Rory and Matt; they had fallen in together at Bishop’s Castle and had no objection to a third member of the band – it turned out the other two participants were actually running their own race.
None the less we all stayed together as it got dark and in time we caught up with several other runners, well walkers now. There were still two more hills to climb before we finally saw the lights of Craven Arms in the distance but in company and with the knowledge it was nearly over the last ten miles did not seem much of an effort. That said when we did finish I found it hard to bend my legs to sit down, and even harder to straighten them to stand up. But that always happens when the adrenalin goes.
As always it was hard to say good bye to my fellow walkers, there is something about a challenge that pushes you together. I will probably never see Rory or Matt again but I felt as if they were lifelong friends at 11.30 that Saturday night.
There is a bizarre ending to this story in that the race organisers had thought I was missing at one point and phoned Denise to ask if she knew where I was. The marker at one of the checkpoints failed to check me through the checkpoint (though he/she had stamped my race card) and when the checkpoint closed it was thought I was lost somewhere. Anyway the call obviously worried Denise and though the situation had been remedied I wanted to tell her myself what had happened.
Unfortunately I could not get a signal on my phone, as indeed most people couldn’t in that part of Shropshire, so I set off to find one. To cut a long story short after almost 40 miles and numerous attempts to make contact I realized my phone was not working. I eventually found a land line at a motorway service station and got through to Denise. However I had very little change so Denise said she would phone back. The call never came through and, would you believe it, the phone chose that moment in time to break down. Another 30 miles or so, another service station, I got through again but Denise was now asleep; not surprising as it was now past two in the morning.
I was now almost halfway home so I abandoned my plan to sleep at the Discovery Centre in Craven Arms and decided to drive the rest of the way home. I almost made it but had to pull off the M6 at Knutsford to catch a couple of hours of sleep before finishing my journey at 7am. It had been a very different 24 hours.
Newquay was a timely restful affair. Denise’s brother Eric drove us down there, a mammoth eight hour journey and we arrived late morning on Wednesday. The day was spent making lots of loving reunions; Denise et al thrilling in seeing Helen and Oliver (Denise’s niece and great nephew) and Lee, Helen’s husband.
For me it was a long weekend of reading and Sudoku broken up by two hour, early morning rambles along the cliffs before everyone else woke up. A perfect way to let my body recover after the exertions of Shropshire. I saw a couple of birds I am unlikely to see elsewhere this year; fulmars, shags and gannets, and noted flowers such as sea campion and thrift were already beginning to bloom. As a family unit we did have a couple of short walks to the harbour where we saw one of the resident grey seals hanging around the fishing boats. Mobility was limited though as Audrey is 87 years old and Eric has severe back problems.
On Friday Myles, Eric’s stepson, and I went with Helen and Oliver to a fun climbing wall and I enjoyed an hour’s climbing up some easy 20 to 30 feet routes. I also undertook the ‘leap of faith’ which is a leap from a platform about 20 feet off the ground to try and get hold of a bag suspended in the air 6 to 8 feet away. I got hold of the bag but slid off it before we were lowered to the ground. Good effort but should I be doing things like this at my age? Of course I should!
That afternoon Myles and I also went for a ramble across a couple of the bays that make up the front at Newquay. We scrambled up some of the rocky outcrops and parts of the cliffs as well. That was fun too albeit that I managed to fall off into the sand at one point and inadvertently drop into a rockpool at another. We both had a good laugh.
We returned home on Sunday, another eight hour drive, with Denise suggesting we would have to make it a week’s holiday next year. I suppose if I take the car and can get farther afield that won’t be too bad. I could explore more of Cornwall’s cliff paths. We’ll see.
Jack Christian's journey to sustainability 