The first big one

1 September 2012

The first big training walk involved a night walk on the Stiperstones loop. The plan was to walk the circuit from Stiperstones with most of the walk in the dark to match roughly the timings of the Hike. This was also our first real test of whether we can go fast enough to finish in 24 hours! So far our aggregated timings suggest we are on course for 26.5 hours so need to get faster.

Set off from Stiperstones car park at 4.15pm, starting the actual walk section at the summit checkpoint at 4.31pm. A glorious afternoon, definitely one of the days of the year. Not a lot of time to take in the view however, or photographs - you’ll have to just use your imagination for this walk.

We had targeted getting to Earls Hill in two hours, around five miles distance and a lot of decent sections once you get off the rocks on Stiperstones. The walk up Earls Hill was just as difficult as before but we just managed to get to the top for 6.31pm, 8km. We had taken the same route up as last time and although it is not as steep as Caradoc, it does seem to be a relentless slog so we think we might try the other route which we use for the descent one night this week. This route is steeper and a bit loose underfoot, but it is worth trying out.

Quick coffee and flapjack on the top although the wind made the coffee pour horizontally. We worked out that Shelve was probably the rough half way point on this walk so thought we need to get there in three hours which was going to be quite tough.

Next checkpoint is Bank House Farm which we reached at 7.25pm.  The section through Eastridge Woods is nice although it took longer than we remembered and we emerged at Snailbeach at 8pm, 13.6km and found a handy bench to have some food, home made rolls and salad from the garden. We then donned headlights as the next part was on the road. 

Shortly after setting off we had a brief chat with a man who was very interested in the various routes Long Mynd Hikers take through Eastridge and suggested an alternative to going through Snailbeach village which we located after leaving him.

The road section involves some gradual and not-so-gradual climbs up towards Pennerley. After passing Crow’s Nest we reached Tankerville at 9pm, 16.9km and then just a short uphill section before the turn off towards Shelve. It was a relief to get off the road as there was a surprising amount of traffic we had to stand aside for on the road from Snailbeach. Some drivers gave us more room than others and quite a few seemed to be a bit dazzled by our lights which on balance is probably a good thing as they could’t miss us, or rather they could miss us.

The walk to Shelve was punctuated by encounters with various scurrying animals, their bright eyes lit up with our torches. Arrived at Shelve with the moon now full, just outside the targeted 3 hours from Earl’s Hill at 9.33pm. No time to stop though so we hacked on through the forest section and out onto the A488 for a short stretch which was very quiet and only one car passed. After passing the Powys sign we slogged up the track from White Grit and made the foot of Corndon at 10.30pm, 22.7km. We needed some sustenance before we tackled the climb so we had a brief coffee and flapjack stop. The climb up Corndon was as tough as expected after the distance we had travelled and it is clearly going to take a lot of mental energy to make this on the Hike with 30 miles under our belts. Reached the summit at 11pm, 23.6km. It was very windy at the top but very exhilarating at night.

From the top you can see the glow of what we assumed was Shrewsbury. Invisible during daylight, it is a very obvious at night. The moon was now enveloped in cloud and the resulting gloom meant that we struggled to find the path from the summit and managed to go wrong for the first time here. After going through a gate that we couldn’t remember we eventually realised that was because we weren’t meant to go that way so had to retrace our steps losing about 10 minutes and then follow the hill boundary until we found our bearings again. We remembered heading towards the hill south of Black Rhadley and that line kept us on the right track.

The path down off Corndon was another that seemed to have lengthened in the dark and there were lots of eyes lit up in the dark as sheep scurried away. But having done this section twice we got to Woodgate Lodge Farm at 11.48pm, 26.4km without a hitch although the sheep were probably a bit grumpy having to move for these two brightly lit walkers.

We kept very quiet going through Little Cefn Farm as the footpath goes right across their property and then found the route across the hill, partly thanks to a neatly-placed square of fluorescent material. The final part of this was previously through a gate and down a field and we took that again but at the track at the bottom, realised that the landowner has now cleared the footpath which goes along a sunken track between the fields so that should be fine for the Hike.

It was very dark here so we just plumped for what we thought was the right direction and eventually found the single section of unattached fence which marks the route to the gate into the wood. On the other side the path was very, very boggy. Our new boots are well and truly christened now and this short stretch to the pig-trough stile is likely to be impossible when there are 500 Hikers on it so we will have to find a route on the higher ground and drop down at right angles to the stile. On the other side there was more bog but we were soon free of the clag and on the open hillside and found the route down to the A488 pretty easily. 

Arrived at the Nind road by Welsh Lodge at 12.35pm, and had another brief stop for coffee, flapjack and fruit. (In case you’re wondering, there’s a lot of details about food on the blog because it becomes very important when you are doing these distances.)

The road section up to Black Rhadley is just a slog and it has taken us well over an hour in the past but we managed it in 45 minutes and then marched up to the summit in just ten minutes to arrive at 1.37am. We now had just 50 minutes to walk back to Stiperstones car park via The Bog which we managed by the skin of our teeth, arriving at 2.31am, exactly 10 hours from the start. 

We made it! Our longest ever walk and the tough night section of the Hike. More night walks to follow next weekend.