Walk for Willow

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!

October update

Here's a VERY quick update to my sadly neglected blog:

On Sunday 02/10/2011 the kids and I did a great series starting at Hoylandswaine, circling through Penistone, Oxspring and back to the start. "Calmac's Canter" came in at 8.3 miles and 21 caches in total including a few unrelated odds and ends. A nice walk in an area I'm only partly familiar with.

On Sunday 09/10/2011 the same three of us did a series called "PAT'S 2K" which was laid down recently by my good Geocaching friend Patdhill to celebrate his 2000th find. A terrifically windy day, this series around Old Ravenfield came in at 6.4 miles and 12 finds. It was doubly nice for me as Pat's series celebrates some of his favourite finds and one of the caches was named after one of my caches! Thanks Patrick.

On Sunday 16/10/2011 we three again headed off to Wadsley Common (near Hillsborough) to do a quick-ish series before meeting Dad for lunch. "Wuff's Wadsley Wander" was 2.9 miles and included 13 finds, 1 of which was a nightmare to locate. I had to phone-a-friend to Patrick for this and then again at the end simply to rush to the final as we were late for our appointment. Some innovative hides in this series, especially the last one.

I'm now 13 short of 1000 so I'm hoping to do something nice next weekend to celebrate it. I have a good idea what I'd like to do but it depends a little on the weather plus, as Patrick teasingly says, it's hard to get people to join me when I've done "so few" and everyone else has done them all!


More news next week...