Fred and Jerome's, Hambleden, 24th june 2009

Run Report by Neil

A sunny evening, with a multitude of varying species of insects all wanting to have a good feed on any flesh they could get their teeth into, (do flies have teeth?) greeted runners on the 24th of June and all spirits seemed high as we set off from Jerome’s house in Hambleden

Runners were, and my first apology of the report for some slight, lets call them artistic differences, with names were; Jules, Steve, Jerome, Selwyn, Man with dislocated finger, Susie, Amanda, Chris, Lady all in black. We were later joined by Prezzo and another lady plus Jerome’s wife and Children for a slap up Barbeque back at the ranch.

The run totalled 8.6 km (more for Jules who had run there) and can be described with two words. Up and down. Having set off from Jerome’s house with his, at first, reluctant dog we made our way steadily and then not so steadily, some may say vertically, up to the top of Colstrope Hill. Followed by a nice long down. We then had the only flat part of the run which culminated in a lot of BJs. The number plates in that lovely house!!!! Clean your minds up now.

At this point Chris, Selwyn and dislocated finger man decided to take the path along the valley and head back to Jeromes. The rest of us went for something a bit different and crossed the valley road to do another hill. Not like the first, this WAS steep. Long, straight and steep. At this point can I thank Susie for dragging me up there.

We were rewarded for the next 5 minutes with a long steady downhill where Jules again bemoaned not having his camera with him as the views were fantastic. Jerome then led us down through the woods and, yes you got it, up another hill. A long cruise back down and across the field back to Jerome’s house concluded the run just nicely.

With a lovely spread laid on back at base for the night all that can be said is “good effort”. Conversation seemed to be mainly based around Amanda’s quest to remember her favourite porn director’s name, not sure how appropriate being sat next to Jerome’s son, but hey the kids have to learn!! I think the conclusion was Seymour Butts. Nice!

As the food ran out Steve promptly stood up and started to get ready to go. He had cycled with Selwyn but had decided it was time for him to go leaving poor Selwyn to fend for himself despite Selwyn insisting Steve had agreed to give him a tow up the hill to Frieth. The ridicule was then completed with what can only be described as a frank description of Steve’s rucksack. What was it….. oh yeah girly bag! Just the first one that came to hand when leaving mate I am sure. Sorry.

Fun had by all on a beautiful evening in the Chiltern Valley.

Neil.

The Longest Day Walk finished (at last)

Well I am glad that's over!


After 87 miles and 33 long hrs I finally made it up Beacon hill to the end of the Ridgeway.

To say I found the last 3-4 hours hard would be a bit of an understatement. Very, very grim! But very glad I have done it.

There is no way of expressing the range of feeling that pass though your head on these sorts of things other than to say without the help and all the support I would not have got even half way. The sight of Susie, Amanda all the boys, Alfons with Mark and his girls, All the Cole family, Richard and Jules Sainter all walking out to meet me at Bledlow Ridge will always be a very special memory!
Thank you to everyone!

The Walk: Chris, Rob and I set off in fine spirits. We had flown down in the back of Jo's car roof down, sun on our faces feeling great (thank you Jo). We sailed along for the first 20 odd miles in the sun with moral high and feeling good. As it got dark and we pushed on towards Jerome at the second stop, I started to realise how difficult it is to judge distance and time in the dark.

It's not often that I would be grateful to see a large hairy man looming out of the dark at midnight and l slumped into the deckchairs provided whilst Jerome waited on us with Fred's home made chicken and vegetable soup (very nice, thank you Fred).

Leaving Jerome we had a 12 mile, 4 hr stretch to West Ilsley which turned into a real mental battle, conversation and the warm soup soon dried up and all of us were locked into our own little world of doubts and fears. Presso as always lead, pulling us along without a head torch, singing and trying anything to keep us going! I found it impossible to keep track of time or distance with each mile seeming to take hours. By the time we got to Presso's car it had started to rain and we all fell into it saying very little, even though we had finished another section we all felt in a bad way.

Enter Richard Morris! Richard bounced into the car and chatted away trying to lift spirits and get us going, the three of us stared blankly back at him. Richard chirped away for the next 3 hrs. By the time we worked our way down into Streatley it was clear that Chris and Rob were ready to stop, to be honest so was I, but I had Steve and Jen waiting (they had been up since 4am and had driven down from Cheltenham) I was not going to tell them "sorry I've had enough".

The next few hours were strange. From starting out thinking I would walk for just a couple of miles before giving up. I followed Steve's pace, Jen and Steve chatted away and raising my spirits, whilst the miles didn't quite fly by, I felt much better by the time we got to Nuffield.

We stopped briefly for some much needed repair work to my feet (thank you Steve!). Selwyn and his bike then arrived and we walked on to Swyncombe. More chat and the sun on our faces made me feel that things were looking up! When Selwyn left to cycle home again and a mile or so later Steve and Jen got to their car at Watlington, I was left to walk on to Bledlow. I had half been looking forward to a section on my own! After about a hour that idea had fled and the realisation that I would never have made it this far let alone finish, without people around. (my mind is far too fragile!). After a few wobbles along what is the very dullest 5-6 miles I was very pleased to meet Jules and Marty who cycled next to me and took my mind off the walking. (the novelty had worn right off).

The last half mile into Bledlow made the whole event worthwhile; lots of people and shouts of encouragement, it felt like the whole village had turned out. I walked the next 4 miles with Max, Freddie and Oliver then another 6 or so miles on my own, with Wendover and the last stage to buoy my spirits. These sailed by and I even managed a jog down the hill to meet Rob, Liz and Stella. I breezed into the car park had a quick bite to eat and set off. Mark, Susie and Paul Daly had also come out to do the last section. With a nice big group and lots of chat it was more of less over!

After about an 1.5 hrs we were working our way up through the woods, it was about 9.40 I had been going for 29 hours it was now getting dark for the second time on the trip. I was spent! It was clear that both the terrain and my fatigue were going to mean there were a few hours still to go! I had already exceeded the dose of the Pro-plus and Neurofen so had decided not to take any more past Wendover. The lack of sleep, the problems with my feet and my mind shot, it was all I could do to follow. With Mark on one side talking away to me and Rob on the other navigating, they man-handled me onwards and onwards (the desire to stop and sit down was intense) Susie as ever holding my hand and asking if I was alright! I was not. 5 hours of hell.

In my weaker moments earlier I had thought about how I would feel finishing. I thought I would break down "an emotional wreck". In the end it was just "done" can I sleep now!
I know I would not have made it to the end without everyone's help. Thank you.

Chris

Saturday 5.30pm Bulletin

I left Chris about 5.10pm heading towards Princes Risborough in the company of Jules, Martin, Freddie,Oliver and Max. He is still walking at a good pace despite painful blisters and the distraction of various friends on route has really helped him keep up his spirits and the momentum. Thanks to Martin, Helen ,Ellie, Abbie, Jules, Richard, Mark, Charlie,Tilly, Jules, Amanda and Oliver for joining in the support group!
Chris hopes to be at Wendover about 9pm and I will join him for the last stretch, finishing towards midnight I imagine....
Susie

Saturday 9.30am Ridgeway Walk Bulletin

It been a tough night's walking. Legs aching, feet hurting, tired but otherwise surviving. Thanks to Jerome for the hot soup provided at midnight and to Richard for joining the crew at 4am in the rain to walk to Streatley. Arrived at the Swan at Streatley about 7.30am, a little behind schedule but ready for toast & tea. Baz & Presso were fantastic support through the night but their legs will carry them no further! Walking with Steve & Jenny to Swancombe, sore feet but otherwise in good spirits.

9.40pm Ridgeway walk Bulletin

Progress continues to be good. The boys have just crossed the M4 East of Swindon.
Presso is setting the pace. Conversation has surprisingly been somewhat scant.
Looking forward to Jerome joining the pack just after midnight.
Have had a request to provide a change of shoes for the morning so feet are already feeling it but otherwise all are in good spirits.

The Boys Ridgeway Walk- the start!

Leaving from Avebury now 16.25
Thank you to Jo for the lift all the way to Wiltshire in her soft-top.
Weather conditions good, the wind is behind us.
Here we go.........

Presso,Chris & Baz

Message from Chris:

As all of you must know by now Rob, Chris P and I are walking the Ridgeway, I have been collecting money for a couple of Charities - MacMillan Cancer Relief and The Walser Tanzania Charity.

The Web site only gives me an option to enter one charity so that why you can only see MacMillan on the web site.

Please follow the link to: http://www.justgiving.com/chrisroddick

Ridgeway Walk - Overton Hill to Ivenhoe Beacon - 84.7 miles

The length of the Ridgeway in one go!

At 4pm on 19th June 2009 three intrepid explorers will set out from Overton to explore the limits of human endurance and walk for an estimated 27 hours continuously to cover the 84.7 miles that is the entire length of the Chilterns Ridgeway.
We will try to keep this Blog as up to date as possible by adding comments (as anonymous users if you can't log in). Progress reports and estimated timings will be updated here or in the comments section wherever possible.

The route has been broken into 8 bite-sized chunks of 10-12 mile sections and you are invited to join Chris, Presso and Baz for as long or as short a section as you can. The current estimated arrival times and location of the starting points for each section follow. A map is attached to help.

For information you can contact the guys on the following numbers: Chris 07920 222265 / Presso 07730 403269 / Baz 07767 367052

The red wide red line follows the Ridgeway and the yellow crosses are the timed meeting points:





The meeting places will be as the Ridgeway crosses that particular road

Start is 4.00pm Friday 19th June 2009 (Nearly the longest day of 2009)

Point Time Location / Hrs / Miles / Support

S 4pm Overton / 3.3 / 11.9 / Chris's Car
1 7.45pm Ogbourne St George Nr Aldbourne / 4 hrs / 11.3 miles / None!
2 12.15am Kinstone Lisle/Blowingstone Hill B4001 / 3.45 hrs / 11.3 miles / Jerome
3 4.15am West Ilsley/ A34 Bury Down / 2.3 hrs / 7.4 miles / Richard Morris
4 7.30am Streatley Bridge over Thames / 4 hrs / 11.8 miles / Susie/Liz
5 12.00pm Swancombe House (off B481) / 3.3 hrs / 10.5 miles / Selwyn+Steve Chinnor
6 3.45pm Princes Ris/Bledlow Ridge Rd (nr dump) / 4.45 hrs / 12.5 miles / Duds
7 9.00pm Chivery Hill Just outside Wendover / 2.45 hrs / 8 miles / Liz/Susie?
8 11.00pm Ivinghoe Beacon / Taxi home!!!

A grand total of 27.25 hours to walk 84.7 miles.

The Squirrel / Hit & Miss, Penn Street (Run 11)

Run report by Jerome


Jules, Amanda, Susie, Selwyn, Steve, Duds, Julie, John, myself and a newcomer Neil, who is a fitness trainer who gives a bit to the Radnage crowd on a weekly basis. I imagine he was looking to see if he could pick up any new training techniques from us, no really!!!
Rodders also arrived as driver but without any running gear due to the epic voyage he is participating in this weekend. This made the decision to run from the Squirrel all the more galling as this was chosen as a flat run because Rodders didn’t want to over exert himself. Well the only thing over exerting itself was my car driving 45 minutes to get there. Anyway enough of my sarcasm and general vitriol.
We set off at a steaming pace for 200 yards before Chris shouted at us that the venue had changed to The Hit & Miss due to overcrowding in the Squirrel. That was a welcome rest for me and Selwyn but we soon resumed. It was then that John realised that myself and Selwyn were about to overtake him. Not realising that they had achieved super levels of fitness in the preceding week he feigned a calf injury and withdrew to go on a bike ride. Nothing too adventurous happened in the first half as the run is basically very flat and straighter than a Roman Road although Julie did manage to slip and I believe implant her derrière in the mud………fantastic. Up the bum, no harm done as they say and the rest of the run continued without incident. Fortunately John who had waited towards the end of the run to welcome home the runners realised that the Fatties had missed out the last part otherwise he would still be waiting.
Baz welcomed us in the Hit and Miss fresh from his excursions up and around Snowdon. He looked like he had recovered quite well so all the more respect to him for doing the Ridgeway this weekend. The landlord brought out 4 bowls of very nice chips and then returned with a cheesy one for the girls (chips that is).
To me at least most of the evening was taken up by Chris and Baz preparing, lest you didn’t know, for their 87 mile walk of the Ridgeway starting this Friday. I believe they have now got a support person on each of the stops although with Rodders marking the wrong car park for my stop it is highly questionable whether the walkers and the support people will actually meet up anytime during the walk. I understand that Selwyn is now joining them for a leg, is there anything this man won’t try?
As usual I could not be privy to every conversation taking place but I assume that Duds, who was gunning the Stowford Press, must have sunk to some fairly base levels of discussion in which case they should be shared. What was Neil’s drinking like Susie and does he deserve to be invited back for another run and has he paid his joining fee?
For all those not aware a plug for the intrepid Ridgeway boys. Have you sponsored them yet? For Brett a big bog off big boy for YET AGAIN not turning up with the kitty. Lost interest and potential earnings from that have increased to the extent that a round for next weeks runners will be a suitable fine. For Rachel who turned up last week after months off with a severe injury caused by her first run…….has it happened again? For Kate a come back, all is forgiven but “he’s obviously still hitting your G spot”. For Michael the baker where are you and bring some bread rolls soon.
Next weeks run will be from Ivinghoe Beacon where we will be scouring the hillside for Presso.
Fooled you there!! Actually not surprisingly it will be from the Stag & Huntsman in Hambleden. An appropriate route will be prepared and we look forward to more banter and a great deal of beer.

Jerome

Hughenden Valley & The Harrow - 10th June 2009

Run Report by John

A dull cloudy but calm evening greeted the runners up at Hughenden Valley for the latest running instalment. Jules and Rodders managed their usual 6 mile jog from Radnage to join us on time.

Prior to setting off Susie and Amanda couldn't resist telling everyone that they'd managed to get hold of the 'alternative run report' but had only watched a bit of it before turning it off in disgust! Yeah yeah. Steve demonstrated his critic skills by wondering whether they really were lesbos and if they really liked each other.

The usual half mile hilly start was negotiated satisfactorily until we heard screams from behind and wondered whether Selwyn had got lucky. No it was 'not run for a few weeks' Rachael who having caught up with us at the top was then given a 5 second rest before we all sped off again.
The ensuing woods felt like the black hole of goodness knows where and it was a relief to escape onto the open spaces of Downley Common. Selwyn's adventurous evening continued when he collided with an innocent pedestrian (we should be looking up and ahead of us when we are running!) Somehow we ended up at the posh end of Naphill and finished with a nice slightly downhill mile long path into the woods above Hughenden.

Distance was about 4 miles in 50 odd minutes - obviously not enough for Rodders, Jules and Steve who then decided to run to the Harrow. The well concealed church gardens provided changing rooms for the girls whilst the boys just stripped next to their cars. Why are women so self conscious?

In the absence of the kitty (!) Selwyn came to the rescue on his birthday with the first round. Excellent form Selwyn! He can't be the only one with a birthday between April and October but it certainly feels like it. The table arrangements resembled a golf club bar with the girls clique in one corner and boys elsewhere. Copious amounts of bits were ordered and consumed and discussion inevitably centred around Rodders, Presso and Baz's absurd idea to walk 87 miles without stopping, fuelled by breaky's and cigarettes and Jerome's choice of porridge or leek and potato soup. Duds also offered to help out but information regarding routes and stopping points was vague which is not really surprising when you realise that it is Chris organising it. Don't forget the vaseline boys!

Next week we are running from The Squirrel at Penn Street at 7pm. See you there.
John

Uncle Tom's Cabin, Cookham Dean - 3rd June 2009

Run Report by Duds

A gaggle of runners met (early ?!) at Uncle Tom's Cabin in Cookham Dean last Wednesday evening for a 7 pm start.

Ladies first… Heather, Sarah, Amanda and Susie…...were joined by Presso, Rodders, Jules, Baz (sporting a very tidy colostomy bag on his back but filled with water for those with a thirst - I can't wait to see what it looks like once filled with 2 litres of Brakspears for the "long walk"), Spider, Selwyn, Brett and his bike, John, Jerome plus chien (the animal; not his mood) and myself. Kate joined us later for drinks after having spent an evening honing her bod in the gym for the return of a certain person from Glasgow……

Heather and Brett did their own thing ("half an hour" I overheard Brett bragging later) whereas the rest of us set off on a truly beautiful, and not too hilly I might add (thanks Sarah), course from Cookham Dean along the river roughly towards Bourne End and then up and over the golf course back to the pub. Must have taken around 45 minutes at a guess.

This was the first time in my long experience that the group had split not only into Fitties and Fatties but into a sub-section called Uber-Fatties and Unter-Fatties (sorry if my use of Deutsche is completely wrong here Susie) of which I was proud to be a member of the former along with Amanda, Spider and Sarah. The Unter-Fatties were, from memory, Presso and Selwyn though I think it was more a case of "can't be arsed" to run the extra 100 yards than "can't". Nevertheless, both the Fitties and the Unter-Fatties got back before my group which wasn't quite as we had planned it………………

I was driving so I was on a strict diet of water and crisps only [other than a quick bowl or two of peanuts and Tabasco sauce thanks Brett] whereas everyone else seemed to be giving the wine and beer some serious hammer. I have no idea what everyone else was talking about (Presso, Rodders and Baz - no guesses there) and there was plenty of giggling and guffawing from the ladies and I have no idea why but it did seem to coincide with Kate's arrival……. In our corner, it was all pretty humdrum stuff (visits to the Job Centre, Spider's interview, Yo Sushi and the merits of snorting Wasabi chez les Bartletts in Hambleden, how fantastic is Sky +, the Lions, coitus non-interruptus…..you know, the usual banter).

It was unanimously (?) decided to return to the park near Hughenden for next week's run starting from the car park near the Church. We then usually adjourn to the Harrow at the other end of the village for copious amounts of porky scratchings and alcohol…… I'm looking forward to it already. Can I have a lift please someone ?

Yours truly,
Duds.