St Ives to Sennen Cove

Mum, James and I set off from St Ives at a little after 08.30 yesterday morning to attempt the arduous but stunning walk to Sennen Cove (our last attempt saw just 10 miles covered in nearly 6 hours due to the difficult terrain). We knew from experience that the path would be muddy, rocky and steep but the rain made the route treacherously slippery in places and I'm surprised that we only suffered two falls. The challenging terrain and foul weather eventually took their toll on James and he had to stop at Pendeen lighthouse and wait for our support crew leader Dave to pick him up (or they'd made prior arrangements to enjoy a couple of pints in the pub!) while Mum and I pushed on to Sennen. The rain eventually stopped and a glimmer of sunshine was even seen, prompting us to peel our waterproofs off at Cape Cornwall before the long slog up the hill out of the village. We arrived at Sennen Cove at a little after six, just over nine and a half hours after leaving St Ives, and were too thrilled with our achievement to notice our aches and pain. I woke up this morning with heat rash, sun burn and a cold sore (despite the fact I was huddled in waterproof clothing for much of the day) so it would seem that the weather had the last laugh in the end.

May training

I walked 215 miles in training in May and according to my pedometer (which I neglected to wear on the treadmill for several weeks at the start of training) I've taken 1,276,336 steps. No wonder my feet look like they've been beaten up! Team Gould are still at the top of Oxfam's fundraising leader board this morning and I've just heard that we'll be setting off at 6am on Saturday the 14th of July (got to break the news to James and Linz now). Because of the four day weekend this week we'll be training on Tuesday and taking a much needed break on Sunday .. it's going to be lovely to lounge in bed with coffee and a book instead of rushing out the door at some ungodly hour of the morning.

Climbing practice

Newcomer James surprised us yesterday by completing just over 25 miles on his first official training walk as a fully fledged member of Team Gould. We walked from Perranporth to Godrevy Point and then back home to Camborne and completed the distance in ten hours. The numerous climbs were a challenge in the heat and we got through more drinks and sun block in one day than we have in the last few weeks. The big day is just 47 days away now but I'm confident that training, team work and determination (or is that stubbornness?) will help us to finish as a team of four.

More team changes

Sadly Team Gould Electronics is losing team member Ewan McDermott. Ewan's knee has been troubling him for several weeks now and he isn't confident that it's going to recover in the 7 weeks before the big event so has decided to back out. Fortunately James Cannicott has agreed to step up to the mark and take Ewan's place (evidently the new blisters gained on his last walk with us didn't put him off) so we don't have to dash about trying to find a replacement. Welcome James .... I hope you realise what you're getting yourself into :) (or perhaps it's better that you don't!)

The Mining Trail

Linz was determined to attempt 30 miles again and with Mum's poorly toe we thought it best to attempt a relatively flat route this weekend so we walked from Camborne to Portreath and then completed the coast to coast path to Devoran and back yesterday. The weather was much better this time than our last walk on this route and we completed the 31.5 mile distance in under 10 hours. We're all getting a bit nervous now that the big day is less than 8 weeks away but I'm confident we'll all be fine. Dave has strict instructions to be waiting at the finish line for us with a bottle of champagne and I'm sure that will keep us going when things get tough!

Walking injuries

Eight weeks to go and Ewan's knee is still troubling him, my toe nails are changing colour daily, James' blisters are back and Mum might have a broken big toe! Think Linz is feeling alright though - maybe she can carry us

50 miles in one weekend

Mum and I completed two 25 miles training walks this weekend and have managed to make it into the office this morning despite stiff joints and sore feet. Ewan and Linz were both busy but our back up member James joined us for 15 miles of the route on Saturday and we were fortunate enough to have two gloriously sunny days to train on.We had a couple of diversions on Saturday (once to meet James at Tehidy Woods and the second time because we missed our turn off because we were engrossed by James' story about teamwork in rats!) and completed the distance in 8.5 hours. I woke up yesterday morning with a headache and stiff knee and fully expected Sunday's walk to take much longer than Saturday's but we completed it in a blistering 8 hours. Might be falling asleep at my desk and dribbling into my keyboard today but don't think anyone could blame me.