For my sixth training walk on Saturday I had planned on doing a longer walk this weekend but a bad case of man flu during week made me rethink my plans. I was staying with my parents in Mudeford so planned a relatively easy 10 miler along the beach - or so I thought!
My route would take me from Mudeford all the way around Christchurch bay to Hurst Castle at the entrance of the Solent. The weather was lovely, blue sky and gentle breeze, a stark contrast to my last training walk. Another decision was to not carry my full pack, instead opting for a light 5kg day pack.
I set out just after 8.30 along Avon Beach, a route I had walked along many times before. The path ran out after about a mile and so I was walking along the sand, the sand slowly turned to shingle and, with the exception of a few short sections of path, remained that way for most of the next five miles! Now walking on shingle was not something I had really though about but as it turns out its quite hard going. I didn't really notice at first but after a few miles my thighs were beginning to complain and by the time I cut onto the cliff top after six miles, I was so please to see tarmac! My shingle ordeal wasn't over and after a blissful mile and a half on a path I reached Hurst Spit, a mile and a quarter shingle spit that juts out into the Solent! Fortunately this shingle was a bit more compacted but still not easy going, and I had to go out and back before finishing my walk.
By the end of the walk my thighs were feeling really tight, my old friend chaffing had begun to show some signed of reappearing and I could begin to feel a blister form on the back of my left ankle. Unfortunately having opted for a smaller day pack I found I'd forgotten the compeeds and vaseline. I was glad to finish the walk at that point and mentally kicked myself for forgetting such important things.
Although it was tougher than I thought it would be I really enjoyed this walk. I got a chance to explore an area I've never really seen before, even though it's on my parents doorstep. The coastline was very rugged in parts and at some points I found to hard to believe that I was only a few 100 meters from civilisation. While at other points I was rubbing shoulders with your common or garden casual stroller. Hurst Castle was another highlight that I'm putting on my list to return to at a later date. It was also great to walk in warm weather for a change!
So lessons learnt from this training walk;
Never underestimate your walk!
Be better prepared.
Sun cream and a hat are needed - I'm a little bit red!
Total miles walked - approx 10. Time 3h 40m.
From experience, don't use compeed during a tab. It tends to make the skin much weaker. I've seen holes half an inch deep after blokes have used compeed and subsequently pushed out the rest. The boot will just lever out the entire area of skin covered by the patch. Best way is to pop it, patch it up with tape (duck is the best) and walk through the pain.
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