Training part 1

 Heavy rain followed by heavy rain…. What a forecast! Bring on the training weekend!

Waking up Monday morning, it was dark. This didn’t bode well and on opening the curtains there was drizzle. Heavy drizzle! There was only one thing for it, Tesco’s to purchase BBQ food! We weren’t scared!

After  a stressful time persuading a couple of team members about how vital training is, as we were soon to discover, kick off time started and the BBQ got in full swing…. In the rain. There was meat. Lots of meat but we tried our best to work our way through it all.  The rain did give us a chance to try out the new DOE shelter though, it will be pretty useful and today did make our BBQ slightly less wet! Well done to Chris and Ben for arriving early and setting it up for us!

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!)

Heading out to Corfe we picked up useless Laura, lazy Jack and a hardworking Faye to unite the majority of our team. Excited and raring to go we donned our packs while the boys had a race up to the top of Corfe Castle hill. It looked steep and Faye and Laura soon realised it was even steeper when you were up the top! Possibly regretting the challenge to join the boys they did give us a fab source of amusement as Faye slid down on her backside and then seemed incredibly confused about the fact her bum was wet after it had been raining all morning! It was then just a mere 20 minutes while Jack stared at his bag informing us there was no way his part of the tent was going to fit but luckily we won in the battle of wills and with a sigh he eventually gave in and showed it in his bag ready to go!

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.

We made it to Dancing Ledge before succumbing to the hunger pains and stopped for a late tea at 8.30pm on the cliff tops. The rain had stopped early into our walk and now the sun shone beautifully on the cliff as we ate while the sun set. The fight for sausage for was on as we allocated it piece by piece! The muffins went down well too with the exception of the one Jack dropped in poo earlier and had dutifully carried! Despite many calls to camp where we were I kicked the team into shape and pushed them on to continue our walk into the night! No rest for the wicked! Water was a problem at this point though and our keen hunt for water sources in all the valleys we passed was useless! We needed a back up plan! Eeek!