Practise makes Perfect : a 30km walk

I had the very rare opportunity of walking for as much as I wanted yesterday. Snow had fallen two days before and it was below zero so I decided to stretch my goal for the day a little bit.
Het Voetstappenpad is a nice circular walk around Hilversum (The Netherlands) through heath, forests and a bit of Hilversum itself.
The lenght is 25km and parking north of the walk the total lenght of the walk would be 30km.

Het Gebed-zonder-End

The temperature was minus 5 degrees but luckily there was hardly any wind so there was no windchill. I was carrying my backpack stuffed with jeans and filled waterbottles to reach the weight of 14kg. I was wearing a North Face Gore-tex trouser over synthetic longjohns, an Icebreaker Merino baselayer and midlayer and my Paramo Alta jacket together with Scarpa SL3 boots and a cheapish pair of walking poles and a thin fleece hat and gloves.
I never felt cold at all and sometimes even had to open the jacket to cool down a bit.

Bussummerheide

I started at 9.30 at a leisurely speed. There were a lot of tracks of small deer and rabbits in the snow. The human footprint you can see in the picture is the waymark of the Voetenpad, originally established in 1938.
I had my SatMap Active10 gps with me to test the batteries in cold conditions. I used rechargeable batteries that weren't freshly charged but all bars were shown on screen. The path is very well waymarked but I thought it was best to use the gps anyway. I had it turned on all the time in energy-save mode and the batteries only ran flat 600m before reaching my car again. During The TGO Challenge I will only turn it on when needed so I think I can get at least 2 full days walking out of 3 normal AA-sized batteries.  

Westerheide

Despite the lack of sunshine I was enjoying myself. I kept saying to myself this was all f...king fantastic, having decided to do this only 12 hours ago. The company was great (there was nobody around) and the views were stunning.   

Charolais cows

I didn't meet any Highland Coos, instead I met some Charolais cows who thought I was bringing something nice to chew on. I tend to ignore cattle, and in exchange they ignore me, but this time they followed me for a while at very close range. I had my poles ready to scare them off but didn't get the change (?) to test the theory.  


Dr.Albert Schweizer forest road

Kilometre after kilometere passed and I kept feeling good which was a bit of a surprise to me because I had injured my right knee 15 days ago. Despite the terrain being difficult to walk on from time to time - months of rain had turned the paths into deep mud and tracks of mountainbikers and walkers had frozen solid to form a sort of boulderfield - I didn't experience any pain in my knee. 

Hilversum's Wasmeer viewpoint

After walking for three hours I took a lunchbreak of 15 minutes at the Hilversum's Wasmeer viewpoint, south of Hilversum. As I was packing to leave two elderly men entered the viewpoint. One was obviously being 'guided' by the other and the newbie remarked this was a nice flat area. I thought : "It better be otherwise the Laws of Physics don't apply around here. It's a lake for God's sake !", but I kept my mouth shut.

The Hoorneboeg

Another 2 hours 15 minutes of walking on 'boulderfields' started to take its toll and at 3 o'clock I had another 15 minutes break. Calves, knees, hips and shouldermuscles were making clear they'd had enough of it but I still had to walk another 6km.


Me, Halvar Icebeard, getting a bit knackered 

I simply put one foot in front of the other and ending in my neck-of-the-woods meant I could split the remaing km's in manageable pieces : the pond, the left-turn at the road, three oaklanes, the campsite.... .

Spanderswoud

Eventually I reached the car having walked 30km for which I needed 7 hours. Time moving was 5hrs35mins, average speed was 4,3km and moving average was 5,3km/hour.

Today I expected to have sore and stiff legs (I remember coming down the stairs at Glenbrittle YH after a long day in The Cuillin) but that didn't happen. I actually feel good.
Some more of these walks and I'll be ready for the Challenge in May.

Gear : Therm-A-Rest NeoAir Xlite Regular

A couple of days ago it was my birthday so I thought it was a good idea to buy me a present. I needed a replacement for my leaking Exped Down Air 7 mattress.
I visited BeverZwerfsport , a Dutch outdoorshop, to test the T-A-R NeoAir Xlite Regular. A very light mattress at 350 grams compared to the Exped at 900 grams. I've been happy with the warmth and comfort of the Exped 7 - I'm a sidesleeper - and thought I'd give the NeoAir Xlite a try in the shop.

My hips didn't touch the floor, even when deflated a bit for softness, but it's a bit 'noisy' when turning from one side to another. I don't mind. I'll be using earplugs.
Couldn't test the warmth but the R-value is stated as 3,5. I'll have to do some fieldresearch for that.
I left my cash at the shop and took the NeoAir home. I was happy.

Rule 1 : Vetters are always right, Rule 2 : ...

On the last day of last year, or the first day of the first week of this year if you prefer, I received an email from the Almighty Coordinator in Settle containing my Route Sheet and the comments of the honourable Vetters Les & Issy Silkowski. There was work to be done.
I'd made some unexplainable typo's, forgot some FWA's, planned a lot of looooong days and my route contained several dangerous spots, not to mention the sheer madness of planning 45 Munros.

I didn't call it "Rising the 45" for nothing , did I ?

Actually Les & Issy gave me some sound advice and some good tips and I know I'll have to improvise in May due to weather- and groundconditions (my physical condition will be topnotch).
I've made some re-calculations, improvements and added a FWA here and there and send it in this afternoon. Let's hope it gets the Vetters' approval this time
  

Nichts neues im Westen (no news from the West)

I've send in my route 44 days ago and haven't received a vetter's comment yet. I've contacted the Dog at HQ in Settle by email after the advised 21 days of silence but he said to be patient.
Of course I'm willing to be patient but after checking my mailbox multiple times every day for weeks on end I'm turning into a mental patient myself.
The only therapy I'm doing is to research anything there is to find about my route on the web.
I'm using Geograph and Google to find pictures and tripaccounts. Isn't that taking away the adventure once you're there, I here you say ? Perhaps, but it's also fun to do the research beforehand. And believe me if I say circumstances will be different in real life. People don't tend to make pictures in really bad weather and in zero visibility it's good to now a bit about the terrain that lays in front of you.
Pictures say a thousand words but taken from a different angle a seemingly steep ascent or grade I scramble can turn out to be an easy stroll  into the sky. And vice versa of course.
I also found a warning about midges near Lochan Coire an Lochain (Chno Dearg), better make camp on the ridge if there's no wind. I hate the little monsters but they like me very much.

I've booked a bed at the Mallaig Backpackers and Glen Nevis Youth Hostel but haven't received a reaction from the Dalwhinnie Bunkhouse so far. Traintickets Montrose-Mallaig, Mallaig ferry and leaving the car at the Montrose campsite (if possible) still have to be arranged.
And receiving the devastating comments from my vetter of course.

Winter has arrived.

Yesterday and the day before saw the very first snowfall this season. Only ten days ago the last leaves were blown from the trees. Yesterday the ground was still sodden from previous rainfall but today molten snow was frozen solid on firm surfaces making walking difficult from time to time.



 

The temperatures are around zero and a little rise is expected for the next days, followed by a colder period. I was cosy in my Paramo Alta jacket and the dogs, Atilla and Djengis, enjoyed the snow also. 

 

Part two of the treefelling that started the previous winterperiod has restarted a few weeks ago and some of my best friends have been chopped down. Beautifull Douglas Fir with 4ft wide trunks.
I don't like it.

TGO Challenge 2013 : my route

For my first Challenge, in 2007, I had planned a high level route with lots of Munros. On day 1 I took an almost leathal fall while approaching The Saddle and ended up with a total of just 2 Munros, all bagged on day 1.

 

For 2013 I've again planned a high level route containing 45 Munros this time. Don't say it, I know I'm mad.  I'm aware of all difficulties that one can encounter during the Challenge : injurie, bad weather (like in 2011 and 2012), snow covering the summits, even meeting old (and new) Challenge friends can change ones plans.

Not to mention the vetter's comments ! I'm sure there'll be plenty of that.

 

"Rising the 45"

 

            

Day 1 : Inverie to River Carnach (camp)

Day 2 : River Carnach to Lochan Dubh-Glen Pean (camp)

Day 3 : Lochan Dubh to Glen Suileag (camp)

Day 4 : Glen Suileag to Glen Nevis (Youth Hostel)

 

Day 5 Glen Nevis - Mamores - near Sgurr Eilde Mor (camp)

Day 6 : near S.E.M. to near Chno Dearg (camp)

Day 7 : near Chno Dearg to near Coire Pitridh (camp)

Day 8 : near Coire Piridh to Dalwhinnie (bunkhouse)

 

Day 9 : Dalwhinnie to near Beinn Bhreac (camp)

Day 10 : near Beinn Bhreac to Loch nan Eun (camp)

Day 11 : Loch nan Eun to near Tolmount (camp) 

 

Day 12 : Tolmount - Lochnagar - Glen Mark (camp)

Day 13 : Glen Mark to Glen Esk (camp)

Day 14 : Glen Esk to St.Cyrus (campsite) 

 

Are you still there ? Did someone faint ? No worries, mate ! The weather will be superb so I won't be needing all those Foul Weather Alternatives I made in advance.

I'll have one spare day that I'll probably need. Not for resting but for being behind schedule so I've booked my Challenge dinner for the friday. I'll will try to finish on Thursday though.

I'll be the bearded, fit looking, tanned guy at the bar. 

TGO Challenge 2013 : before you know it...

This week I received good news from the honourable Mr.Manning from Settle. I was lucky in the draw for the TGO Challenge crossing of Scotland in May 2013. I also got permission from SWHTBO, she's lovely.
Yesterday I submitted my route : "Rising the 45", starting in Mallaig and finishing in St.Cyrus.

Today I started my Challenge training. Apart from Chris Highcock's 'Hillfit' and the indoor hometrainer I've got to get the legs used to walking distances again and the back to carrying heavy rucksacks.
With the dogs I covered 12,5km today in just over 2 hours with a staggering 25m of ascent. Yep, it's hilly over here.

I'll keep you informed about my progress and the vetter's comments on my route.