67 Hours and Counting

With the final countdown to the start line now upon us, last minute preparations are now a priority. All the things that have been left to the last minute are now being furiously assembled and accounted for.



Items such as:

• a complete map of the route (always a winner to have on a 100km trek),


• decent walking socks (Desert Storm X-Socks are my preferred choice, making me feel a cross between Robocop and Jason Bourne)


• purchase of Lanacane anti-chafing gel (to help prevent the dreaded "chubb rub")

With the sponsorship drive well underway, we are confident of hitting our target. Having sold the remainder of Aunty Ant's cookies to our work colleagues, we have just gained a few more pennies to help the Oxfam's cause.

The last training session for myself and Ant was on the 10th May, walking from Conistone to Skipton along the newly amended route over Malham Moor. Boy am I glad we did this part in daylight! If we were to have attempted this part at night for the first time, we would have been walking around in circles for hours (of course we would have still made it to the finish line on time - not even the four horsemen of the apocalypse could prevent us from doing that).

As we stumbled along the route, we even came across some sort of bizarre ritual massacre involving moles and barbed wire - it was a gruesome sight that will haunt me for the rest of my days, but at least I will know where the food for Checkpoint 3 will be coming from.

Since then, training walks have taken a sideline to ensure that we are all fully rested and ready for the challenge ahead. The carb loading has started and I am getting increasingly fed up with pasta (of any shape, size or flavour). Hopefully, all these carbs will have a positive impact, enabling us to continue along our route even when the going gets tough (I think the copious amounts of Red Bull, flapjacks and chocolate bars will do a better job, but we will wait and see).

Thanks to everyone for the sponsorship so far, we have managed to raise a fantastic amount of money.