h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Each year there's an annual chairty event where hundreds of people walk the 40 miles from just outside Keswick to Barrow in Furness.

0330 alarm clock goes off
0335 Ben: "you need to wake up"
0400 walk the mile to the place where the minibus for our team will collect us. The Stroke ward has a team, which I'm on. There's also lots of other hospital teams.
0545 start walking I join the cluster with The Consultant, Physio, ot and assorted teenaged offspring they're very fit and do it every year they were aiming to finish in 10 hours.

0826. First Checkpoint: I had done 10 miles in 2 hours 30 min
0830. First proper hill, begin to fall behind my feet are starting to hurt. I tell my group to go ahead and I'll go at my own pace.
0915 sit down at support point. Feet really really hurt. I had a well broken in pair of boots which I managed to wear a hole in last week. Stop to inpesct blisters. Have one the size of a 50p on my heel. A staff nurse from coronary care stops and gives me a blister plaster.
1004 another blister. I want to carry on but Michelle and Chris two nurses from stroke offer me more plasters. Hobble on. At this point I'm walking by myself, amid the large stream of people. I really don't know if I can do this, I hate the thought of giving up but it's only been 15 miles and I'm in agony. I remember the books I've read about the Polar explorerers and think that this is nothing compared to what they went through. Make a conscious decsion to go on.

1114. 18 mile support point Denise (the ward's cleaner and mum of three of the nurses is our support driver.) There is also Dagnia one of the junior doctors from latvia who is unable to walk because she injured herself on the London marathon. I collapse down on the ground and eat crisps and grapes provided by Denise.

Euan, a surgeon, and Val one of the oncology nurses arrive. Val has a spare pair of trainers in the support car and in my size as well. I set off again with Euan and Val. The next three miles to the half way point are much easier, it's on a level and by Coniston water.

1216 half way point. Free burger for all walkers. But no veggie option so I carry on and on my own. A 4 timer tells me the best view is the 33 mile hill. I'd forgotten there was. 33 mile hill!

It's much harder again and soon there's another blister. I sit down and am offered more plasters by strangers.
Meet Euan and Val again.
Really struck by how nice everyone is. It's a huge inconvinence, the roads are closer but people have come out of houses to cheer us on. Numerous small children offer us water and sweets.

1434 27 miles. Marathon point! Am starting to feel I can do this. Stop for meal and crisps Denise has a surfit of food which she pushes on us in a motherly way.
1530. I realise I've been taking the wrong approach to blisters. Instead of stopping I should have carried on walking the agony lasts for 10 minutes and then they burst.
We're joined by Mike, one of the juniors doctors.
Mike and Euan talk about running the last 6 miles.
1648 34 mile point. No more mention of running! Amuse ourselves with the alphabet game (disease names)
1750 37 miles. The Dalton cub scouts have a stall giving out oranges. Along the way there are numerous stalls giving out water and fruit. This one is notable for how polite the kids were.
1853 finish at the sports club in Barrow. Accept voucher for pie and peas and beer. Finish at 13h 7 min. Would have liked to go faster but about half the team didn't make it home at all.
2000 ish. Bath . Count blisters. 9. Two are the size and shape of olives.






Then Euan and Val pick me up. Walking is so much easier with a group so I decide to stick with them.


0940

Well done

Was the view from the 33 mile hill as good as promised?

Congratulations on a mammoth effort Hope you are soon recovered. did you manage to enjy any of the scenery. For me it would beat London streets any day!

Websailor

To be honest I was in too much pain to appreciate it!

That's a shame. Maybe next time

Websailor

Wow! I'm so proud of you. I'd have thrown in the towel much, much sooner. 40 miles would be impossible. Truthfully, I wouldn't have been brave enough to even start it.

I think that there will be a next time though it's more difficult to get on a team if not living in Cumbria. You really need a team with a support car. You're not allowed to participate without one.

I love how outdoorsy a lot of Cumbrians are. The other big event is the Coniston 14, a 14 mile road race around the shores of Coniston Water. I can't imagine anywhere else where you could get 1777 people to walk 40 miles. The big thing I learnt from this was what a lovely community Barrow and the hospital is. The other thing was how much of mental effort it was. At 15 miles I was in agony with blisters and could easily have given up. Then I would have thought that I couldn't go on. But I did go on. And the pain was just a sensation that I could bear.

I'm sure you could do the k2b if you trained for it! If you're not used to walking it might be quite a bit of training. Val - the nurse who I ended up walking with was approaching retirement, and she'd been training since October. Her first walk was 5 miles which took her 3 hours.

I'm with Hypatia, not a chance at my age with arthritis (no lectures please!) but I am full of admiration. I am sorry we missed out on your services in the West Midlands

Websailor