Tuesday, October 16, 2007
The Waltham Winder
A day later than promised, but still...
I found this event quite by chance as I thought it had died a death years ago.
There were three distances for the Waltham Winder; 10 miles, 14 miles and 26 miles. The start times were staggered, with 26 mile runners setting off at 8am and us mere mortals (walkers!) at 8.15 am. The shorter routes set off later still. This event only took 25 minutes to get to, so I had a bit of a lie in! I toyed with the idea of only taking my small pack, but thought, no, you wimp, you have got to start upping the weight, so reluctantly got my large pack out and set about filling it. Now, I usually put any old pair of shoes in to make up the weight, but for some reason I put my newer running shoes in, as I decided to walk in my old Air Structure Triax Nikes. I was later going to be very glad of this decision!
We were directed to park in a field and when I left the car, I wasn't sure where the Village Hall and registration point actually was so I followed a girl who looked like she knew where she was going. After a few hundred metres, she turned to me and said "Do you know where you're going I'm not sure!"
I had a coffee and a couple of biccies and met Sue, who I'd spoken to on the Ponton Plod. She was going to walk with a friend, but the friend had gone to the wrong Waltham and was some miles away! Me and Sue decided to walk together. There were about 12 people walking the 26 mile route and we gathered outside for a briefing on cows etc before setting off. There were no route descriptions as the long, middle and short routes were marked with red, blue and green arrows and tape respectively. We were given rubber bands to be handed in at each check point.
We set off and half the field took off at a really fast pace. It was very misty and remained so for most of the day, it was actually quite damp. I don't remember that much of the beginning of the route as me and Sue were chatting quite a bit! Being in Lincolnshire, it was fairly flat and also fairly muddy. We negotiated a lot of bridal ways and tracks, and had a few gentle jogs, before reaching a road. The other two routes met here so we found ourselves suddenly surrounded by throngs of walkers! I realised that the first check point couldn't be too far off, so we put a spurt on and managed to pass most folks.
We reached the first check point, grabbed a biscuit and stashed a mars bar for later, and set off before the throngs arrived. We found ourselves walking part of the Ponton Plod route, but in reverse; we walked through Buckminster, passed the water tower and jogged most of the lane to Saltby. I discovered that the route overview I had been given had completely disintegrated, so it was lucky it was so well signed!
The second check point was on the air field near Saltby, at about 14 miles. We grabbed another mars bar to stash and I had the most gorgeous home made lemon cake. We set off and periodically picked off a few 14 mile walkers and overtook a couple who were doing the 26. The route was a bit more undulating here, and the 26 mile route branched off to complete a large loop.
We found ourselves on part of the Ponton Plod again, walking between two reservoirs before branching off to pass a third.
Reservoir 
Pump at Croxton Kerriel
I found this event quite by chance as I thought it had died a death years ago.
There were three distances for the Waltham Winder; 10 miles, 14 miles and 26 miles. The start times were staggered, with 26 mile runners setting off at 8am and us mere mortals (walkers!) at 8.15 am. The shorter routes set off later still. This event only took 25 minutes to get to, so I had a bit of a lie in! I toyed with the idea of only taking my small pack, but thought, no, you wimp, you have got to start upping the weight, so reluctantly got my large pack out and set about filling it. Now, I usually put any old pair of shoes in to make up the weight, but for some reason I put my newer running shoes in, as I decided to walk in my old Air Structure Triax Nikes. I was later going to be very glad of this decision!
We were directed to park in a field and when I left the car, I wasn't sure where the Village Hall and registration point actually was so I followed a girl who looked like she knew where she was going. After a few hundred metres, she turned to me and said "Do you know where you're going I'm not sure!"
I had a coffee and a couple of biccies and met Sue, who I'd spoken to on the Ponton Plod. She was going to walk with a friend, but the friend had gone to the wrong Waltham and was some miles away! Me and Sue decided to walk together. There were about 12 people walking the 26 mile route and we gathered outside for a briefing on cows etc before setting off. There were no route descriptions as the long, middle and short routes were marked with red, blue and green arrows and tape respectively. We were given rubber bands to be handed in at each check point.
We set off and half the field took off at a really fast pace. It was very misty and remained so for most of the day, it was actually quite damp. I don't remember that much of the beginning of the route as me and Sue were chatting quite a bit! Being in Lincolnshire, it was fairly flat and also fairly muddy. We negotiated a lot of bridal ways and tracks, and had a few gentle jogs, before reaching a road. The other two routes met here so we found ourselves suddenly surrounded by throngs of walkers! I realised that the first check point couldn't be too far off, so we put a spurt on and managed to pass most folks.
We reached the first check point, grabbed a biscuit and stashed a mars bar for later, and set off before the throngs arrived. We found ourselves walking part of the Ponton Plod route, but in reverse; we walked through Buckminster, passed the water tower and jogged most of the lane to Saltby. I discovered that the route overview I had been given had completely disintegrated, so it was lucky it was so well signed!
The second check point was on the air field near Saltby, at about 14 miles. We grabbed another mars bar to stash and I had the most gorgeous home made lemon cake. We set off and periodically picked off a few 14 mile walkers and overtook a couple who were doing the 26. The route was a bit more undulating here, and the 26 mile route branched off to complete a large loop.
We found ourselves on part of the Ponton Plod again, walking between two reservoirs before branching off to pass a third.
ReservoirWe were walking through very muddy fields now, and at about 18 miles I thought I had something stuck to my shoe. I looked down and to my surprise most of the heel was hanging off my left shoe! Sue said "What are you going to do?" "Put my spare pair on, I guess" I replied- thanking my lucky stars I had put them in my pack! Potential disaster avert and so not like me to be either (a) so organised, and (b) so lucky!!
We continued on, picking up the Ponton Plod route again and following it to Croxton Kerriel. We walked through the village with its perpetual pump;
Pump at Croxton KerrielWe walked down a lovely leafy lane, then an undulating track. The sun started to come out at this point, and we saw the third check point in the distance in front of a village I can't remember the name of.
Just Before The Third Check Point 
Scenery Towards The End
Just Before The Third Check PointA little lad in a multi coloured coat was very enthusiastically helping out here and waved us in, shouting with excitement. I had a very welcome cup of tea, flap jack, and the Sue found some shortbread. The couple we passed earlier came in, and we grabbed a mars bar as was our ritual for the day and set off again.
The route was fairly undulating from this point on, and we joined back up with the middle route. We had another little jog here, my legs were aching a little and I could feel a couple of hot spots on my feet- socks are something I'm going to have to sort out!
Scenery Towards The EndThe last three miles were counted down by green marker boards, which was a novel idea. We picked up a track, which became a road to lead us to the last check point, only 1 1/2 miles from the end. I had a coffee here, which was heaven! I thought I spotted a bag of chocolate biscuits which turned out, on closer inspection, to be dog biscuits!
The couple behind us came in and we left; we both felt that after staying ahead of them nearly all the way, we weren't prepared to let them pass us now! Luckily the last bit of the walk was easy road walking and we kept them at bay. I had been having fantasies about apple pie and custard and Sue confessed to having similar fantasies about soup, so we were ecstatic when we finished and were offered soup and apple pie! We even managed to stash more mars bars- I ended up with five (all gone now though!!)
We finished in 8 hours 18 minutes, which I'm quite pleased with. There were five people behind us, including a paramedic in full uniform.
We had to laugh when we got back to the field we parked in- it was a massive field, there had been loads there, Sue had arrived well after me but we had managed to park next to each other! Definately one to do again next year; it made a change having somebody to walk (and talk) with too!
Labels: Waltham Winder
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Thanks Lloyd! I like the Air Triax- think I'll need to break into a new pair, oh, and check the soles regularly!
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