Well what a fantastically epic weekend of walking we had!! 3 days of fun, laughter, reflection, companionship, pain, celebration and more pain. Sorry for the delay in the blog post but things have been crazy over the past week.
Friday morning started with a potential hiccup when two members of the Rabble turned up late. Not to mention anyone in particular....you know who you are Ally and Paul! The weather in Chilton was wet and windy but luckily when we got to Overton it was slightly better. After a warm up, some photos and a team talk off we went on our way with all 87 miles of the Ridgeway in front of us.
Day one turned out to be an easy day of walking. We enjoyed some great views across Wiltshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire taking in land marks such as Barbury Castle, Uffington White Horse and Castle, Dragon Hill, Segsbury Castle Fort and Waylands Smithy. Night one was spent at Courthill Youth Hostel which as it turned out was only occupied by the Rabble. So we had the run of the place for the night. A wild party was had of scoffing lasagne followed by whiskey and master chef on the box! Rock and roll.
Day two started well with the prospect of 30 miles to be completed by the end of the day. This leg saw the Rabble take in some familiar routes on the Ridgeway as this section passed by Chilton. Our lunch stop in Goring was a big surprise for all the Rabble. Secretly friends and family had arranged to join us for our lunch stop so we were greeted by loads of people on Goring bridge with banners and flags cheering us on. This was a real lift for the Rabble. After a great lunch and some feet repair work we were back off towards Wallingford. Dan and Adam joined us for the afternoon to drive on the Rabble. It turned out that Wallingford was the point we had to call the medic due to a man down situation. Glen had bravely been battling with his heavily blistered feet but things had turned very nasty so wisely he stopped his hike at this point. He did try to continue but when one of the blisters popped that was game over for Glen. The afternoon of day two was difficult for the Rabble having lost a man the morale dipped a bit plus the terrain turned very nasty with steep inclines along the section with Grims Ditch. Nevertheless we battled on and finished day two to be greeted by Claire, Graham, Ian and Adrian who had set up our camp site for us and had hot drinks on the go. A shower, freshen up, more feet repairs, pain killers and fish and chips proved a good pick me up for the evening.
Day three began with all of us suffering various ills. These included some awesome blisters of various quantities and size, sore knees, shin splints, sore feet from the impact, bad backs, a requirement for several hip replacements and strapped up ankles. So day three was due to be a very interesting day. Predictably this day turned out to be our slowest day of the weekend although we still managed to maintain a 2.9mph walking pace but had more frequent and longer stops. Claire, Graham, Ian, Adrian and Ali did a brilliant job of supporting the crew through out the whole day. We met for lunch at Whiteleaf Country Park and at this point Chris came along to help the Rabble get to Wendover. It was great that Chris managed to join the Rabble and get us through the next 5 miles. The terrain continued to be varied with the Rabble going through lovely woodlands, country parks and travelling along some great footpaths and byways. If only we could enjoy it over the pain! The support crew met us almost every 2 miles towards the end to encourage us along and provide food and drink. The day was coming to a close and at Wigginton we got our first glimpse of Ivinghoe Beacon. With the clock approaching 9:30pm and the wind and rain lashing down the Beacon was finally reached and the journey for Noah was over.
It was a fantastic team effort and there was plenty of smiles and laughter even at the end. All of our thanks goes to the great support crew who did a sterling job for us. With out them we would not have been able to do this challenge. Also our thanks goes to all who have supported us including Screamingfrog, South East Work Wear, Project People, Courthill and White Mark Farm and all our sponsors who helped us raise a brilliant total.
At the time of writing we have successfully managed to raise over £6300 for the Reading and District Stillbirth fund in memory of Noah Thomas.
So where next Rabble?!....................................................
Friday morning started with a potential hiccup when two members of the Rabble turned up late. Not to mention anyone in particular....you know who you are Ally and Paul! The weather in Chilton was wet and windy but luckily when we got to Overton it was slightly better. After a warm up, some photos and a team talk off we went on our way with all 87 miles of the Ridgeway in front of us.
Day one turned out to be an easy day of walking. We enjoyed some great views across Wiltshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire taking in land marks such as Barbury Castle, Uffington White Horse and Castle, Dragon Hill, Segsbury Castle Fort and Waylands Smithy. Night one was spent at Courthill Youth Hostel which as it turned out was only occupied by the Rabble. So we had the run of the place for the night. A wild party was had of scoffing lasagne followed by whiskey and master chef on the box! Rock and roll.
Day two started well with the prospect of 30 miles to be completed by the end of the day. This leg saw the Rabble take in some familiar routes on the Ridgeway as this section passed by Chilton. Our lunch stop in Goring was a big surprise for all the Rabble. Secretly friends and family had arranged to join us for our lunch stop so we were greeted by loads of people on Goring bridge with banners and flags cheering us on. This was a real lift for the Rabble. After a great lunch and some feet repair work we were back off towards Wallingford. Dan and Adam joined us for the afternoon to drive on the Rabble. It turned out that Wallingford was the point we had to call the medic due to a man down situation. Glen had bravely been battling with his heavily blistered feet but things had turned very nasty so wisely he stopped his hike at this point. He did try to continue but when one of the blisters popped that was game over for Glen. The afternoon of day two was difficult for the Rabble having lost a man the morale dipped a bit plus the terrain turned very nasty with steep inclines along the section with Grims Ditch. Nevertheless we battled on and finished day two to be greeted by Claire, Graham, Ian and Adrian who had set up our camp site for us and had hot drinks on the go. A shower, freshen up, more feet repairs, pain killers and fish and chips proved a good pick me up for the evening.
Day three began with all of us suffering various ills. These included some awesome blisters of various quantities and size, sore knees, shin splints, sore feet from the impact, bad backs, a requirement for several hip replacements and strapped up ankles. So day three was due to be a very interesting day. Predictably this day turned out to be our slowest day of the weekend although we still managed to maintain a 2.9mph walking pace but had more frequent and longer stops. Claire, Graham, Ian, Adrian and Ali did a brilliant job of supporting the crew through out the whole day. We met for lunch at Whiteleaf Country Park and at this point Chris came along to help the Rabble get to Wendover. It was great that Chris managed to join the Rabble and get us through the next 5 miles. The terrain continued to be varied with the Rabble going through lovely woodlands, country parks and travelling along some great footpaths and byways. If only we could enjoy it over the pain! The support crew met us almost every 2 miles towards the end to encourage us along and provide food and drink. The day was coming to a close and at Wigginton we got our first glimpse of Ivinghoe Beacon. With the clock approaching 9:30pm and the wind and rain lashing down the Beacon was finally reached and the journey for Noah was over.
It was a fantastic team effort and there was plenty of smiles and laughter even at the end. All of our thanks goes to the great support crew who did a sterling job for us. With out them we would not have been able to do this challenge. Also our thanks goes to all who have supported us including Screamingfrog, South East Work Wear, Project People, Courthill and White Mark Farm and all our sponsors who helped us raise a brilliant total.
At the time of writing we have successfully managed to raise over £6300 for the Reading and District Stillbirth fund in memory of Noah Thomas.
So where next Rabble?!....................................................
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