I finished work early on Friday, and after
packing my bergan I set off for Hay on Wye near Hereford. Turns out that most of Gloucestershire was
flooded, so after some bizarre tom-tom routes (and four and a half hours) I
reached the campsite.
I pitched my tent and set off to explore
Hay-on-Wye (TOWN ON BOOKS!) which was pretty quite, and very picturesque.
I went to bed early, and woke up with a
cold. Which was nice.
I arrived at the Storey Arms Centre at 7am,
and after giving my bergan weight some serious second thoughts, I set off
anyway. My bergan weighed 45kgs, which
you can really feel going up hills.
After the first quarter of an hour, I was
regretting my bergan weight already, the first ascent was mental, and although
it didn't look steep from the bottom you could really feel it. I didn't feel tired, but catching my breath
was hard. Several times I questioned
what I was doing. The view is fairly
standard all the way up to the top, but after you crest the first peak, the
view opens up to all over the Beacons.
A series of peaks followed, until you start
a huge descend and then a gradual rise to the last peak, but this time my
muscles were burning, and I was nearing the three hour point. I didn't want to run down the hills because I
didn't know how much energy I'd have left, and I knew I had to come back the
way I came, so I was trying to pace myself.
After the last descent, all I wanted to do
was sleep. Three and a half hours, and I
really didn't fancy walking for the same amount of time back. I made the mistake of taking my boots off and
looking at the backs of my feet. I
should have waited until the end because I felt every step after that.
I ran down all the hills on the way back. I wanted to run up them, but the weight on my
back wouldn't allow my legs to lift up at speed. The stone and sand tracks aren't fun running
down, especially the last one. The
initial ascent that had taken me 40 mins, took me 7 to run down. I zigzagged through a group of seven girls,
who were videoing each other. They
screamed after me "We'll film you all the way down!"
Thanks ladies, I wasn't planning on running
all the way down but now I have too now.
I actually though I was going to die a
couple of times. I lost my footing and
images of snow-ploughing (with my bergan using me as a sled) crept into my mind. How I regained my footing and continued is
beyond me. Running down the gassed slope
is even more dangerous, if the ground had given way you can twist your ankle or
worse. So I had to hope that I could
turn my back in time if I fell, and land on my bergan.
I reached the bottom, ploughing through the
small river to the gate, which, although refreshed me at first, made me wet up
to my knees, which then annoyed me for the last 5 min dash to my car.
2 and a half hours back. I'd shaved an hour off running down the hills.
The scense of achievement was amazing. I consider myself fairly fit, but to only be
an hour and a half off selection time elevated me.
Although receiving severe weather warnings,
I decided the Vitara could take it, and then drove through perfect sunshine
back to London.
I spent the drive back slowly bringing
myself down. I realised I could shave
say another half an hour or so off the time by running downhill, maybe an hour tops. But I'd have to run uphill to get anywhere
near selection time, and that's what makes the difference between a good level
of fitness, and what's required for Special Forces.
The only way to really train for that is to
do weight-bearing uphill workouts, so guess what I'm going to be doing after I
return from deployment.
I'm still pleased with my effort though,
and next time I'll know the route and where I can make time up. I had a lot of respect for the British
Special Forces before, and its increased two-fold now that I can see the
difference and the extra effort they have to put in. Photo's of the walk are on facebook.
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