I try to ignore the weather websites in the run up to any trip away…. They either change every 4 hours drastically anyway or bring a depressing onslaught of doom as you watch the heavy rain symbol multiply to every hour slot possible during the two days we planned to go out…. And yup! Jess kept me updated. This weeked looked set not to disappoint! Heavy rain Friday followed by heavy rain over night and heavy rain all Saturday! I have never seen so many of the expeditioners with such frequency over such a short time as they all seem convinced that if they hassled me enough I’d cancel!!
I tried convincing them that it was a positive, it is important to see how people react in difficult weather conditions, it would teach valuable lessons about how important it was too water proof kit, how admin and packing times need to be tight as for when we go away and we could see how waterproof our waterproof kit was… But sat in senior management DT, bored stiff and looking out the window at the monsoon rains which seems to have migrated to the UK finding the positive wasn’t the easiest!
Chris kindly came in early to go shopping for food with me and as we dashed from the car to tescos I was drenched! My car hadn’t really dried out from the mini silver DOE trip the weekend before and still smelt of damp dog and so any hopes of airing it out with the fresh waft of ‘wild flower’ and coastal air was fading into a dream! We stormed tesco and then sat in the car in silence for a good few minutes looking at the door to my classroom just a few metres away yet in this rain so so far!
We eventually all met and loaded up and headed out Worth… Bring it on!
It was raining as we got out and we all stood with rain dripping down our necks crowded round the map for our first leg…. We headed of an within 20 minutes the rain slowly eased. No one felt brave enough to tempt fate but sure enough we were loved once again as the rain faded soon into our walk and after our first few hills we were able to stop and cook in the dry! Wooh!
Rice this time instead of pasta and it seemed the consensus was that this was a good alternative. We have already established though that food brings conflict and tension as every last piece of sausage or chicken needs to be counted out and carefully allocated! If we are like that on selection when we’ve come from mummy and daddies well stocked fridge just hours before you can tell that this is going to be an important role for someone on expedition. ‘Sausage piece allocator’. The successful candidate for this role will have clear strengths in numeracy, strong will power not to succumb to a sneaky extra bit and the confidence of communication to reprimand anyone who tries to claim more than their fair share of sausage…. All applications in writing to the leadership team!
The rain may have left but it’s legacy was still there to haunt us. Not only did the coast path bring us those evil hills we had all come to develop a strong love / hate relationship with; they were also incredibly muddy. Soon we were weighed down with mud stuck to our shoes that was at least one and a half times the weight of or packs… Honestly! I can’t even begin to think who was the first person to fall on their arse down a slope as so many people did and so often!! Poles were shared out and we hesitantly edged our way down the steep slopes with cocky Chris determined to run down before wiping out Dave promptly followed by Jess being slide in front of him into a bush which thankfully broke their fall! The peaceful silence of the coast path at 9.30pm was broken by squeals of anxiety and hysterical giggles in equal quantities!
The team split up with a few skiving out of the Devil’s stair case challenge to go and retrieve the dog and top up our water while the rest of us battled the wind as the headed to St Aldhulm’s chapel. With the mud and the wind it defiantly was one step forward and about 3 slides back! Note to team: secure all kit at all times… Poor Adam lost his waterproof coat off his bag only to be ensnared in a barbed wired fence!
We found our same random camping spot down the track and resembled as a team. Ralph, Jess’ dog decided he want to help put our tents up and with him tied around my waist we struggled getting Jess’ tent up in the dark with out torches! I’m not sure how much sleep was had as the gale force winds did cause a bit of flapping on the tentage! We were also a tent down as the girls realised the tent they had had a broken pole so we had to have a quick shuffle and squeeze people into the remaining tents. It didn’t rain though so what more could we ask for!
After breaky the next day we headed back to the car to drop off the dog’s stuff and looped back round to Devil’s stair case again… I felt strongly that I didn’t want to let those people who missed it the night before feel left out!! We stormed it, well used to it by now and headed on past Winspit where we split up. Ralph was struggling bless him and so we limped him back to the car while the rest of the team headed onto to Durlston Head.
Considering the forecast we were incredibly lucky and again rammed an awful lot into the 24 hours we were out! The next times we’d all wake up together in the morning for breakfast we’ll be in Chamonix! Wooh!!
Food over, it was time to get serious! Kit is vital and needs to be perfect for the mountains as can be responsible for keeping people safe, alive and dry! We also have to carry it all on our backs for over three weeks so in this case less is definitely best!! I unpacked my bag and went through everything bit by bit. One of the most important things to consider is placing it in smaller dry bags to help use all the smaller gaps. Unloading next for everyone else… the difference in the weight of the various bags were ridiculous! Ben- what are you taking! Don’t worry about shower gel everyone, Ben’s taking that for us!!! Alongside enough karabiners and metal work for us all to climb Everest! (hmmmm, free next summer anyone?!) Get the amounts of everything correct will be a challenge too, and don’t forget a knee support (this is where everyone looked at me as if I was weird… all to change in just a mere 12 hours time!)
After rescuing a stray toad we were soon up on the ridge welcoming our first hill. Oh how we’d come to love them over the next 24 hours! We were an amazing team though and everyone was hot on their navigation. Our one weakness, probably chatting and gossiping too much! We do need to step the pace up a bit ready for the alps. Despite trying really hard, Ben and I failed at riding the cow and catching a lamb. The cow did evoke some high pitched screeching from pretty much the whole team as we legged it when it frantically lunged at us! Or maybe it was just Ben?! The chaos continued as we passed Ku-quarr farm and slid Chris through the dog gaps in the stiles. 
