19 January: Introducing my Team

Winter has arrived. Snow all around. Woohoo.

 

Decent walk today, after a fashion. Out for nearly four hours, although it has to be said that I was only properly walking for about half of that time. The rest was spent at the park sledging, or rather dodging the manned missiles sliding down the slopes and helping my grandson back up with his sledge after each run. Anyway I feel comfortable with this routine of walking most days. Feeling good. 

Kenilworth Castle Today

 

I won't be doing the Coast to Coast alone. Sure, I'm the only one planning to walk every step from west to east, but I will have some fantastic support from a core group of family and close friends along the way. Actually, when I "went public" with my idea I got a really positive response from the people I know. Many expressed interest but couldn't commit to anything specific, whilst others wished me well and asked to be kept informed.

 

What follows is an introduction to my core team. Those closest to me who are prepared to commit in advance and put their own plans on hold for a time to help me out.

 

My brother Dave was first to volunteer, with sister-in-law Ali and my mum quickly following. It's apt then that the three of them will be my support team for the first part of the expedition, getting me up to St Bees and on my way east.

 

To say Dave isn't really a walker is being a bit diplomatic. I've invited him on trips several times over the years and I've always had a straight refusal. Occasionally saying he'd love to but he's just picked up some obscure injury, but mainly just telling me not to be so silly. Given this ambivalence to what I choose to do for fun it is all the more impressive that he's put his hand up for these first hard-yards.

 

Dave and I share an unusual and unique sense of humour. It's kind of hard to define, but there are some things that only he and I find funny, and we'll be chuckling along together whilst others in the room didn't even notice the event or line that tickled us so. It's the kind of sense of humour that means you end up laughing alone quite often, and sometimes laughing alone in public places.

 

Dave is the first of two Dave’s who will be playing a big part in supporting me, so to avoid any potential confusion, from here on in this Dave will be known as Sherpa Dave (because he will be transporting me and my gear around for me – not because he has a lifetime of experience climbing in the Himalayas).

 

Unlike Sherpa Dave, Ali does get why I'm doing it. She was an enthusiastic supporter from the off, and straight away I privately pencilled her in to walk the first two days with me, or at least one of them. At the time she was preparing to walk the Great North Run, and my secret plan was looking good. Then it all started to unravel. Ali completed her walk in triumph, but in doing so undertook never to do it again. Since then she's shared with me harrowing tales of broken and blackened toenails, of sore feet and legs and pain that last for weeks afterwards, and other discomforts still clear in her memory.

 

So, I've opted for a short-ish and easy-ish first day in the hope I can talk her round. We'll see. Realistically I think I have to accept that I'll be doing most of day two on my own, maybe meeting up with the three of them for the final few miles into Borrowdale. That second day is one of the hardest on the route.

 

Not too long ago my mum would've done the whole lot with me. She loves the hills like I do, and we climbed Haystacks together a couple of years ago on a beautiful cold early spring day, with snow and ice still thick on the ground. A memorable experience for both of us I think. She walks most days but the Coast to Coast would probably be a bit of a stretch. There is no doubt though that she will walk some of the way on these first two days, and this will be one of the highlights of the expedition for me.

Buttermere March 2010

Saturday is changeover day. Carol arrives for the weekend on Friday night along with Simon. The two of them worked together some time ago but have stayed in touch along with a small group from that time. I've kind of become attached to the group through walking: They meet each month or so in the warmer months and walk locally, and socially. With a Sunday morning walk usually followed by a pub lunch. It was during these outings that Simon and I compared notes and realised that we had a shared interest, especially with regard to the Lake District, and we undertook to do something together. Well, to cut a long story short this will be the first time. There always seems to have been a reason why Simon couldn't make our trips, and I was starting to think he was trying to tell me something? In fairness the last time we attempted to get together he was pretty committed. On this occasion we called off a wild camping trip at the very last moment because of storms in Cumbria. Sure enough the area hit the news that evening with reports of flooding and associated chaos.

 

As Sherpa Dave and crew head home Carol and Simon will walk day three with me, and probably part of day four on the Sunday. These days aren't too tough and run through the heart of the Lakes. Given some half decent weather it should be an excellent weekend.

 

Carol and Simon will head back to the midlands sometime on day four so the descent into Patterdale on this day, and the long march over the High Street range to Bampton on day five will be solo. This will be my first completely unaccompanied section, and one of the harder days. It is likely to be the first big test of whether I can hack it. It is across perhaps my favourite part of the district though and I have visited most of the route before. I should at least be able to survive!

 

The prize after my five day crossing of the Lakes from St Bees will be a night at the Mardale Inn in Bampton. When planning my route I had two pre-defined stop-off points: The Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge, much later in the walk, and the Mardale Inn. Love this place. Here I will be joined by Ash, who will accompany me through the unexplored territory between Lakes and Dales.

 

Ash and I are long term friends, and have been best man for each other, godfather to children, etc. Our initial meeting was completely by chance in that we were placed in lodgings together as wet-behind-the-ears first year students at Sheffield Polytechnic (a university now of course). There are many many stories I could share about Ash, but discretion leads me to stick to those that are relevant to his role on Coast to Coast.

 

If Ash had been around in days of old he would have been Wolfstan the Anglo Saxon warrior, yomping to Stamford Bridge to take a thrashing from the Vikings and then summoning what’s left of his army marching back down south to do the same again at the hands of the Normans. He is unfazed by adversity and simply doesn't know how to give up.

 

We did the Lyke Wake Walk together a couple of years ago. The Lyke Wake Walk is a 40 mile trek across the Yorkshire Moors, following a very similar route to the final stages of Coast to Coast as it happens. It involves total ascent and descent of something like 6,000 feet and takes you across all manner of terrain, the highlight (lowlight?) of which is several miles of peat bog mid-route. The idea is to complete the walk in less than 24 hours. We first attempted the challenge in the January, with little in the way of support: Basically my cousin's mate drove us there and offered sympathy at the meeting points along the way. Walking across the frozen moor through the night, lit by the moon and stars is still one of my lifetime walking highlights. Navigation is not all easy on the Lyke Wake though and the lack of daylight at that time of year eventually ended the attempt as we went into the second night!

 

We returned later in the year for a second attempt. My son Rob joined the walking team, and my good friend Dave (who will become Walking Dave – see later) provided outstanding support. This is how to be a support crew. The rest of us had to do nothing other than walk (and take care of bodily functions). Dave looked after everything else, the highlight being hot homemade soup at half way just before dawn. Dave had set up stove in the middle of the moor in complete darkness to make us this meal. The four of us have remained a close walking group over several years now. Much more about Dave and Rob later.

 

This time we were successful, or at least Ash was. I stopped two miles from the end in protest at the madness of the challenge, swearing at the same time never to visit this part of Yorkshire again, let alone set foot on its’ footpaths. How things change?

 

Anyway, during those final few miles I was nearing exhaustion, and had pretty much shut down every bodily function that wasn't essential to putting one foot in front of the other. Let's say I was not terribly chatty. Ash on the other hand went all motivational on me, leaping around the path passionately making the case to me that we were on the edge of something magnificent, something life changing, something we would tell our grandchildren about. We just needed to keep moving for another couple of hours. Together we would succeed, crossing the line arm in arm to a rapturous welcome from locals in awe of our achievement. I think I told him to get lost, or words to that effect. I couldn't work out why I was in so much pain whilst he seemed to be moving with ease and energy to spare to taunt me in this way? The man ran the final yards to the finish for goodness sake!

 

Within minutes he collapsed into a heap. I saw then that he had been in just as much distress as me, it's just that instinctively he wouldn't allow himself to falter. He would have kept going even if we still had another ten miles to go. We are different. I manage my limitations to get the best out of myself, Ash just blasts through to the end no matter what and pays the price later. Of course, this could be an interesting cocktail when we meet on the Coast to Coast. After five hard days crossing the mountains I will probably be ready for a bit of a coast (no pun). I suspect Ash will be raring to go and ready to dispense some more of his motivational coaching.

 

Ash is due to leave the walk at Kirkby Stephen, leaving me to my final solo leg of the journey. This is day eight, to the half-way point at Keld. Here I will be joined by my son Rob, who will walk with me for the second half.

 

Being his Dad I'm probably not best positioned to provide an objective view on Rob. Basically though he has grown into the sort of man I always wanted to be. He is stronger, brighter, more likeable, and a better person than me. But then I would say that wouldn't I.

 

I like to feel we have a good relationship and are mates as well as father and son. In fact Rob is my original walking partner, and he still rarely misses out on an expedition. It's a real shared passion, although I sometimes feel he may be getting impatient as he keeps on having to wait for me to catch up! My big wish at the outset was that he would walk the final steps into Robin Hood's Bay with me. Not only has he committed to this, but he has managed to carve enough time away from work and university to do the final week with me. I'm made up.

 

A day later Dave will join us for a three day stint, covering the transition from Dales to Moors. Dave is a great mate. Supportive, non-judgemental, and always always positive. He has a tremendous capacity for fun, and for beer.

 

He is also prone to bouts of creative brilliance. I worked with him for a while and I felt we were a pretty formidable combination, with his gift for generating great ideas allied to my ability to turn the best of them into something. I really hope we get to do it again sometime.

 

I'm pretty sure he enjoys hill walking these days. This wasn't always so and his induction was difficult for both of us. Being someone who embraces new experiences wholeheartedly he didn't hesitate when I first invited him along. Pretty quickly though the burn of that first ascent took hold and the novelty wore off. It was also unfortunate that most of his first outings seemed to coincide with some pretty foul weather conditions, although this was probably a useful learning experience for Dave as he discovered just how bad it had to be before I'd call off a walk!

 

On one of these early walks I also got us spectacularly lost in the hills around Coniston. The murk came down to such a degree that visibility reduced to just a few metres, the wind wound up furiously causing the rain to come up at us rather than down as it blew off the ridge. In the storm even with our bulk Dave and I could barely keep our feet, whilst poor old Rob was blown around like a twig, coat turned inside out and rucksack torn from his back. My GPS became waterlogged and trying to open a map in the conditions was futile. Staying put wasn't an attractive option. I tried to navigate by instinct and memory, and recalling cliffs close on the right kept us a safe distance to the left. Too far as it happens and we ended up in the wrong valley! I can't print most of the things he said to me on the long trudge into Little Langdale (yes - look at the map!), but I'm pleased he didn't manage to catch up with me until we found a pub.

 

Dave has revolutionised our wild camping experience. At first Rob and I used to survive on Pot Noodle and lug full packs at all times. This included on one sweaty early summer day a full traverse of Scafell with 40lb packs! Dave talked us into base camping on his first expedition with us, whereby we walk to the vicinity of our target hills, set up camp, dump our gear and head for the summits. This is now our norm. Our menu has also taken a boost, to the point where Dave has now perfected vacuum-packed-home-cooked meals. Accompanied by squeezy-tube cheese and crackers and washed down with a little Jaegermeister. Lovely.

 

This Dave will now be called “Walking Dave”.

 

So you've met my three walking muckers. Great friends and companions all. I will remind Ash and Walking Dave though that only Rob has put his hand up to walk with me on my birthday. This happens to be longest toughest stage on the walk. We have a fair few people joining us at Blakey Ridge in the evening. I hope to be in a fit state to celebrate with them.

Ash, Walking Dave, Ian & Rob. Ullock Pike November 2009

Carol returns to the walk at Blakey, and will stay with me for the rest of the journey, walking some sections and maybe spending some time at the coast. It wasn't so long ago that she was only happy walking when she was going to the shops. Bit by bit though she's started to appreciate walking for it's own sake. And she's pretty accomplished too.

 

She is very patient with me if I'm honest, including on one occasion when we camped in the rain in a tent that was cosy even for two people as close as we are, and then walked up Skiddaw the long way. She didn't complain once. The one thing Carol draws the line at is running (in my case, jogging). She says it's for convicts and stupid people. Well, I'm not on the run from the law as far as I know!

 

We met through work in 1995 and each have our own version of who moved on who. Since then we've been pretty much inseparable. The nine days between her stints on the Coast to Coast will be the longest time we've been apart. I will miss her very much.

More snow and freezing temperatures forecast over the next few days. It must be the kid in me but I like it. Somehow the fun element outweighs the inconvience to daily life it can cause. The snow also makes walking a bit more challenging. Got to be good practice.