Weekend of 8/9/10th May - I drove up to Barrow-in-Furness from Nottingham which took about 4 hours. I have a 40 miles charity walk on Saturday 9th May. The drive was smooth and enjoyable with plenty of sunshine along the way. It was shortlived when I got stuck in a 5 miles traffic jam due to a serious road accident along the A590. I was stuck there for about an hour. Thank god the weather was brilliant and it feels so warm that I had to unwind my windows to enjoy the cool breeze of Barrow.
Next day, me and my mate Ricky woke up at 3.30 am getting ready for the walk. I was barely sleeping before that. I guess this has to do with my unusual sleeping pattern. Ever since I started working at the chinese takeaway, I have always hit the sack at around 3 am. As you might have guessed, I had to wake up instead of going to bed at 3.30 am. At 4.20am, I was picked up by Oxley's van which went on to pick others up on the way to Keswick, Lake District. The journey takes about 1 1/2 hour. It was already drizzling at that time but I expected much worse weather to come as forecasted. There were a total of 12 walkers from Oxleys who participated in this event.
At 6.15am, we reach Keswick, as soon as we leave the van, the walk begins. We were all given RFID tags to "touch and go" at checkpoints. This was used to track our time at the checkpoints. My walk officially begins as soon as I touched the reader at the start point at 06:16:20. I was really excited and eager to finish the walk. So the walk begins...
After about 10 miles, I reached the first checkpoint registering a time of 08:32:42. Not too bad as I was jogging and walking. Second checkpoint was just 3 miles away and I feel great eventhough we were accompanied by heavy rain and gusting wind. Everything was normal until I reached the 4th checkpoint after walking 20 miles, time is 11:19 am. This is the point where I took 2 painkillers as I was struggling with throbbing pain on my thigh and shin. The next 10 miles were dreadful as I had to pass by Coniston Lake which is dead long. I walked for an hour, the lake was on my right, I walked and walked and it is still on my right, seems like it is stalking me. Every step was dreadful and sensational. This was compensated by loads of great and wonderful views of lakes, greens, trees, little cottages and hills.
After the lake, I finally reached checkpoint 5 (27th miles), this is the worst bit of the walk as I had to face a terrible hailstorm. Falling hails with gusting winds pierce my hands and face. It felt like a thousand needles poking onto the same place over and over again. Absolutely painful and torturous. I took another 2 painkillers to ease the pain on my legs. Keep telling myself that there is only 13 miles left and I have completed almost 2/3 of the walk. I was at the verge of giving up but hang on to it when I see my colleagues catching up with me and even offered to accompany me. There is also another friend who text me encouraging words from our Lord to keep me going. She is wonderful and the words of support from her followed me throughout the walk. The words keep reiterating in my mind as I walk.
Food and drinks were provided free to all walkers. I have to take a lot of sugar for instant energy so I had a couple of energy drinks, chocolate bars, jelly buttons and sandwiches. Special thanks to the support team for painkillers and delicious buns with ham and cheese. I never had time to rest so I pushed on with food along the way. There was one point when it was raining and I had to eat this rain soaked sandwich. It was horrible, but the pain is even worse. So my attention was diverted to my legs.
Finally, I reached checkpoint 8 at 15:59:27, which is only 3 miles away from the finish line. At this point, every step feels like a walk on rough and hot rocks. I so wanted to give up as the pain was really intense but the encouraging words followed me, telling me that I can do it and I must not give up on my jelly legs. : )
I reached the finish line in Barrow after 10 hrs 42 mins and 7 secs of walking. There was a great sense of relief as soon as I touch my tag for the last time. Yahoooooo!!!! I finally made it. I am so proud of myself but also thank God for his support through friends and colleagues. We were given a statistic record of the walk and a medallion. Each walker was given 2 vouchers for either drinks or burger or both. I had a lager and 1/4 pounder. At last, some nice food to end the walk. Awesome! It was funny as everyone walked like a penguin, like it was some kind of weird dance party. Sitting down on the field was a mission after all that walking. I had to use all limbs just to sit down. I manage to do so in the end but landed hard on the grass. LOL! Then, to stand up is another mission :-S. I had to get someone's helping hand.
I went to bed at 10pm after the long day. The pain was so intense. Rolling about was full of pain. Me and my mate were screaming every time we roll about. He was on the bed and I was on the floor. Next day, we woke up for a little shopping at Morrisons, everyone was walking normal except us. LOL! We sure look funny.
Eventhough it is dreadful and torturous, I enjoyed this walk as it helped the many people supported by charities. It might have helped saved lives and support others. I am glad I joined. I might do it next year, but with more practice beforehand.
Here are some pictures:
Here is a link to the K2B walk website:
