Hadrians wall walk DAY 3

HADRIANS WALL WALK DAY 3 (THE BIG ONE)

"OMG WHATS THAT? It's a flip flop! What do we do? GRAB IT!"

Last night was full of laughs and music with a new MTFU anthem coming to the forefront. and with it a shocking revelation from Sluggie that he NEVER HEARD OF "TENACIOUS D"! Have you lived in a hole up until now man? the song we were all singing before gonk time was "fuck her gently" by Tenacious D and it had our spirits up. I also managed to have a little chat with Jane about her confidence in her ability and fitness. Jane had been in our group at the front (when we were going quite fast because of me needing a poo) she had kept pace and was looking really comfortable but I think day one had made her doubt that she might have been able to complete this challenge. A little bit of negativity had crept in and this was an opportunity for me to tell her that I didn't think she gave herself enough credit. "DON'T EVER SELL YOURSELF SHORT ON ANYTHING, IF YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN DO IT THEN YOU CAN"! This adventure was as much about a group of people individually challenging themselves as it was about raising money for Cieran and the Trust. And as I have said before we ALL felt challenged at some point EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US!!!

Today was the day I had been looking forward too the most it was the toughest as far as terrain go's but by far the most beautiful. Once again the routine was Breakfast, kit, coffee and muck out before setting off for the hill's. Myself and Sam decided that we would start from the camp and walk the extra 3 miles as we didn't get to do so last night instead letting the other 3 go while we stamped the stamp's. 07:30 we headed out and the hill was tough but the heart got pumping and I began to smile as we ascended fast, I felt really good today and it was showing with the blistering pace we set as we munched up the miles. about 3/4 of the way up the incline we traced the path into the fields and hills above just as we heard the tikki taxi come past. That set us going faster (I love the competition of catching up) and we finally stopped at a trig point for some water, a look at the map and a quick picture (I must have been tiered as my eye's were closed).We cracked on and began to descend into the valley below and even got a beep of Iain in the Tikki as he headed off back to camp. After catching a glimpse of the front group we knew it wouldn't be long be fore we caught them up so decided to take 15mins for a proper break at an old roman temple.I have to say I was pretty impressed with the detail still remaining in the carvings and alters.   
                                                         

 just as we stopped we got close enough to give the other group a whistle. I forgot to say earlier that on day one Jane and Dave were given 6 pressie's off a friend one to open each day and the first was a bag of party blowers which they kindly handed out between the group and this was our way of communication at a distance and an excellent way of lifting spirits :).



We caught the group well before dinner and I'm really glad as we walked into true "wall country" together. with more "ewes are all birds ewes are!" and "shut up ewes!" to keep the morale up, this is where the real work started but my word it was glorious up there! We soon reached another Trig point as we climbed up and up oh yeah and down as well then up again then down etc etc, this was fun!!! I think Sluggie wanted a nap when we got to this trig point!

we ran into "green hat bastard" again in between him murdering and eating i'm sure I saw him licking his lips when he was looking at me. Grrrr screw you werewolf stay the hell away from me! we finally arrived at lunch but unfortunately we had to divert a mile to the car park where the support crew (Iain and Susie) were set up ready for us.

Today I felt quite sad for 3 reasons and very close together. Firstly it was great to share these times with the great people I was with, but I missed seeing something amazing and being able to turn around and share it with Gemma, she is not only my fiancee she is also my best mate and I missed her being there massively (plus every time I turned around Sam had his tongue shoved down Sophie's throat pmsl).

The second reason was as we passed the roman fort there was a group of children having a school day trip to visit the fort, This made me miss my kid's ALOT. I work away so I had only seen Gemma and the kid's for a day in over two weeks and being faced with these kid's having lot's of fun screaming and laughing made me wish I could give them a big cuddle and tell them how much I loved them (my kids not the ones at the fort), even more precious to hear them say it back to me. The third reason I felt sad was because Sluggies feet had taken a spanking this morning so hesitantly he decided to stop there for the day which meant he wouldn't be with us when we topped out at the highest point then dropped down to the stunning "sycamore gap". I had a chat with him briefly, I wanted to be sure that he was stopping because he was in pain and unable to go on today and NOT because he thought that he was slowing us down or being a burden to us in anyway which wasn't the truth. The group dynamic was excellent at this point everyone taking turns being at the back and giving support to anyone who needed it, we were absolutely a team and it was awesome!

He simply gave me a look that we both understood and i dropped it knowing that his decision was the right one for him although it still saddened me that the boss man would miss out (love you big guy).

We moved on after lunch and the terrain got harder still as we were faced with a big climb and some serious sheer drops off the cliffs a couple of feet to our right (nothing like a few hundred foot drop to get you smiling). Everyone did great at this point and once again a special mention to Jane who suffers with vertigo and just breezed past with only a little help. Sycamore gap was upon us and it was every bit as impressive as I thought it would be.

I had been slowly talking the boy's into doing a naked photo to celebrate getting to the next trig point (think it's a military thing, but it was also inspired by a mate who had done the same whilst climbing IN THE SNOW so I didn't want to be beat. Cheers Tylerzoid!) I would like to point out at this point that Andy did not need any talking into it and as soon as I mentioned it he was trying to get his kit off I had to explain to his that it wasn't until we topped out at the next trig point. The others were a little unsure but I made them all promise that when the time came they would get their kit off (I promised they could put the rucksacks back on though, how kind of me!). The boy's all did a moon shot here at sycamore gap (I think they thought that would be enough and there would be no naked fot after that ...........WRONG!!!).
I would like to draw your attention to Jane and Sara sat enjoying the show whilst Sophie get's stuck at the acorn end of the famous five. this was one hell of a line up!!

Proper pic taken by some kind "future victims of old green hat" we moved on and the climb from the gap was severe at this point i had taken to running up the inclines with Ant and Andy and then walking down the other side. we looked down from the top of the other side of the gap and realised how steep it was.

A few undulations later and we were looking down on a pretty steep declining path with a little bit of a climb on the first bit i sat on the edge and took a pic (what me take photo's never).

Then from the bottom you can appreciate how big the bloody hill is!!

Unfortunately Jane couldn't face this descent and had to find an alternative way down so that was the last we saw of her and Dave until we RV'd at camp later. we pushed on through and myself Ant and Andy had some fun on some small scrambles and rocks to liven the day up REALLY HIGH WEREN'T THEY BOYS!!!

it was finally time and we reached our next break point "NAKED TRIG POINT"! as soon as I got there I looked across both ways and we were clear of outside "interference" if we moved quickly (I really didn't want to be arrested and put on a certain register for indecent exposure, not that there was much to see). I started to strip straight away and it looked as though a few of the boy's were going to start crying but they knew they couldn't get out of it, it was time to MAN THE FUCK UP! we didn't bother with boots off we just pulled everything down and put our Bergen's back on Sara took the photo and Sophie staggered around covering her eye's and sniggering at our little acorns, I don't know what she was laughing at I had a good look at Sam's and it wasn't anything special! So here it is, ENJOY!

Less than 1 second after the photo was taken we got dressed back into our now FREEZING COLD AND WET clothes and cracked on with the trail it was tough terrain still but everyone did great and we reached the Quarry at around 17:45. It was stunning.

at this point i was toying with the idea cutting the distance for those who wanted it for tomorrow, this would mean continueing tonight another 3.5 miles the the roman army carpark. I know the guy's weren't keen on me going on my own but i felt great and i had confidence in my ability to run the remainder of the fell's with no kit to weigh me down. We were all umming and ahhhhing and i was loosing light fast so at 18:10 I asked for the map and pocketed my torch and emergency blanket, kissed everyone goodbye and (in the words of Sophie on her blog ran off like " Kel being Kel, stubborn and with more energy then a caffeinated, sugar-powered 5 year old ". 
So off I trotted and do you know what the last thing i thought about as I left the gang to embrace my own personal challenge?! "fuck, what happens if that werewolf turns up?"

Start point the white dot. The green area is the flat-ish very heavy muddy farm land the red area is where the fell's bite back. I had arranged for the Tikki Taxi to pick me up at 19:00 but wanted to be at the car park RV well before that. I was loosing light fast and all I could think about was the werewolf and that alone made me run faster!! I have to admit by the middle of the red section I was hanging out but I really did want to beat that fading light as I dropped down just past a turret I knew I had it beat and 15 mins later I was dropping down off the last fell and into the carpark the time? 18:50!!! LITERALLY 2 MINUTES LATER Iain and Sluggie pulled up in the van and as Sluggie looked over at me I smiled a cheeky/cocky smile and mouthed "what time do you call this?"

To be honest I really enjoyed this short time alone casting out and having a bit of time to myself, I loved being around the guy's but this just felt good to smash myself and know that I pushed it as hard as I could for a little bit. I'm not sure that the others "got that" and I know some of them will be reading this and I would like them to know that I didn't do it to be a "fucking hero man", I did it as my personal challenge and I knew it would help some of the team the next day! NO DOUBT THOUGH I'M GLAD IT DIDN'T GO WRONG AND I HAD TO BE FUCKING RESCUED BY THE MOUNTAIN RESCUE TEAM! that would have been dead funny hahahahahaha NOT! (Have ewes come to rescue me yeah?")

EPIC DAY FOR EVERYONE TOTAL MILES WALKED 18

I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH A COUPLE OF VIDEOS FROM THAT NIGHT