On Saturday 5th May I took part in a charity walk called "Walk for Willow" to raise funds for the Willow Dog Rescue charity (website) which helps pay for kennels for stray or unwanted dogs until they are rehoused.
The walk started at 9am in Wath and we had 8 walkers and 7 dogs. As I wasn't leading a dog I offered to carry all the water (12 litres = 12Kg) in an attempt to help but also to push myself that bit harder.
It was chaos at first, with all the dogs, but we soon settled down into a decent pace and headed West along the Trans-Pennine-Trail (TPT) through Dearne Valley, Wombwell and then Worsborough where we stopped for our first break at about 7.75 miles. At this point I realised we had a support vehicle waiting for us so I gave up with the water and handed it to the driver - thank you!
For those that read my last blog, and have spoken to me since, you might be aware I had accidentally left my running trainers at the Bootcamp hotel and having proceeded to do three runs back at home in my day-to-day trainers I had really hurt my knees and ankles, also giving myself shin-splints - so much so that I could hardly walk last Wednesday and Thursday.
So as you might guess Saturday was a bit of a test, especially with the extra weight of the water. I'd only been walking 15 minutes before my knees were hurting so was very glad to offload it all after 8 miles.
We continued past the southern edge of Dodworth and then Silkstone Common before arriving for our lunch stop at the Car Park of the Travellers Inn just on the outskirts of Oxspring. It had turned cold and I really wanted to keep moving, not wanting to get cold and aches, but of course it made sense to stop and refuel.
We then carried on West through Oxspring and Penistone, passed by Thurlstone and Millhouse Green before the long and quiet stretch to our final destination - Dunford Bridge.
In the end it was 22 miles of chatting and doggie chaos but a good achievement as it raised about £600 for charity. My calves were sore by the end and I was glad it was over but also very glad we'd all made it.
En-route I had managed to find 6 Geocaches but also had to leave 4 I couldn't find quickly enough because the group weren't waiting for me and I can tell you that being 15 minutes behind a group of walkers seemingly takes forever to catch up!
Showing posts with label dodworth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dodworth. Show all posts
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Thursday, 30 December 2010
500 and one thousand
27/12/2010
A hungover day after Boxing Day, and Patrick rang me wanting to get out and about as he was pushing for his 1000th cache before the year was up; he'd started caching on New Year's Day and as he was almost at 1000 it seemed like a good way to round the year off. We know it's not all about the numbers - but it did seem like a neat coincidence.
Just he and I went up to Dodworth once again, this time to visit a couple of series there by 'terencem' called Waggonway Trail and Dodworth Muck Stack.
We parked up and set off in the bitter cold at 11am and commenced a 4.4 mile walk along and around the Waggonway Trail - based along the route of the railway line which served Dodworth Coal Mine in years gone by. It was a lovely, well planned out walk and we had a good chat as we also wandered around and over the nearby golf course. We detoured a little to pick up two extras and Patrick didn't break tradition and managed to take us on a small wild goose chase. All good fun and 8 more caches and one DNF.
By the time we ended up back at Patrick's car (at 13:10) we noticed all the hedgerow's now wet and no longer frozen - the thaw was setting in.
After lunch (a sandwich and flask of tea in the car) we drove a short while and started the nearby Dodworth Muck Stack series which is through a regenerated woodland presumably on the waste created by the old mine. If it was originally wasteland it is very mature and makes a good woodland walk, which was made all the better by some ingenious hides.
The first, a microcache, caused us a nightmare and eventually we had to give up. However on the way around we PAF to Easiron (thanks Ron yet again!) and he told us where the micro-cache had fallen so we picked it up on the way back to the car.
On this smaller 2 mile walk we found 12 caches and also, on the way around, we detoured a little to pick up an extra one which turned out to be my 500th cache! Hurrah for me!
Finally, with Patrick desperate to close in on his 1000th, we popped over the motorway to Locke Park where he knew there was a (very probably) missing one and two more to find. We scanned quickly for the missing one and then easily bagged the other two.
Total count for a busy and great day out with a good friend was 20 caches, two DNFs and 7.4 miles walked. Marvellous.
(Incidentally, both the DNFs were maintained and replaced by Terencem the very next day - I'm very impressed - a big thanks to him for being so prompt.)
A hungover day after Boxing Day, and Patrick rang me wanting to get out and about as he was pushing for his 1000th cache before the year was up; he'd started caching on New Year's Day and as he was almost at 1000 it seemed like a good way to round the year off. We know it's not all about the numbers - but it did seem like a neat coincidence.
Just he and I went up to Dodworth once again, this time to visit a couple of series there by 'terencem' called Waggonway Trail and Dodworth Muck Stack.
We parked up and set off in the bitter cold at 11am and commenced a 4.4 mile walk along and around the Waggonway Trail - based along the route of the railway line which served Dodworth Coal Mine in years gone by. It was a lovely, well planned out walk and we had a good chat as we also wandered around and over the nearby golf course. We detoured a little to pick up two extras and Patrick didn't break tradition and managed to take us on a small wild goose chase. All good fun and 8 more caches and one DNF.
By the time we ended up back at Patrick's car (at 13:10) we noticed all the hedgerow's now wet and no longer frozen - the thaw was setting in.
After lunch (a sandwich and flask of tea in the car) we drove a short while and started the nearby Dodworth Muck Stack series which is through a regenerated woodland presumably on the waste created by the old mine. If it was originally wasteland it is very mature and makes a good woodland walk, which was made all the better by some ingenious hides.
The first, a microcache, caused us a nightmare and eventually we had to give up. However on the way around we PAF to Easiron (thanks Ron yet again!) and he told us where the micro-cache had fallen so we picked it up on the way back to the car.
On this smaller 2 mile walk we found 12 caches and also, on the way around, we detoured a little to pick up an extra one which turned out to be my 500th cache! Hurrah for me!
Finally, with Patrick desperate to close in on his 1000th, we popped over the motorway to Locke Park where he knew there was a (very probably) missing one and two more to find. We scanned quickly for the missing one and then easily bagged the other two.
Total count for a busy and great day out with a good friend was 20 caches, two DNFs and 7.4 miles walked. Marvellous.
(Incidentally, both the DNFs were maintained and replaced by Terencem the very next day - I'm very impressed - a big thanks to him for being so prompt.)
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