I was asked to write something about the recent walk for Small Hearts Matter and here it is!
The idea came to me as I wondered how to celebrate my 58th birthday. Last year, affected by lockdown, I had decided to go for 57 challenges, a list to keep me busy for the coming year. Some were relatively easy, not leaving the tap running whilst brushing my teeth, others took a little more time like learning Spanish or going for a 100km ride.
With my birthday falling on a Saturday I thought I would do something for the day and came up with the very ambitious target of walking from midnight to midnight to cover 50 miles. It was going to be just me enjoying the spring sunshine but after a few days I thought it would be worth using the walk as a fundraising opportunity and contacted an ex-student of mine, Joe Crook.
Joe is 28 and I had been on a charity bike ride with him riding from Southampton to Paris in 2014 along with Luke Newman who I had also taught. They are brothers in law these days and Joe has had two boys who have suffered heart conditions leading to extended periods of time in hospital. He suggested the charity Small Hearts Matter and I signed up with them on Just Giving within a few minutes.
It was then the reality of what lay ahead began to dawn on me. There was now a sense of responsibility and I had to face up to the fact the furthest I had ever walked or run was 17 miles, a walk I did in the run up to this challenge. It gave me confidence I could manage a marathon but what lay beyond that? And the weather forecast was frustratingly consistent, rain and wind. The glorious May days of recent years had gone and I realised I was going to be experiencing a very different test from the one I had envisaged whilst sat at home a few weeks earlier.
To my delight Luke got in touch to say he would like to start the walk with me and so we set out on the stroke of midnight, my birthday with miles and miles of walking ahead of us. We walked down to Shirewood and cut across the trackways to Slough Lane and then across the Horton Road and up the paths to Holt, arriving in Wimborne at 3.00am, ahead of schedule but soaking wet. The first hour was a delight, the novelty of the adventure and the adrenaline of setting out, giving us a real impetus that meant we barely noticed the rain start until the lights of Wimborne showed rods of rain, coldly silver, heaving themselves earthward.
A taxi driver stopped to offer us a lift, no charge, to wherever we were heading and the temptation was great but we were on a mission. By 5.00am we were in Upton Country Park, dawn was hesitantly appearing and the birds had begun to chorus their appreciation of light, if not the rising strength of the wind. Holes Bay proved very exposed and we began to speed up in order to arrive at the Asda superstore on the outskirts of Poole to stop for coffee and a rest break. To my surprise, and our disappointment, it was closed and we weren’t able to get any shelter until near Sandbanks but what a coffee we had!
I am sure anything hot would have been memorable but this was a magical cupful of warmth and hope, raising the spirits and reviving us ready for the long trek along the seafront. Turning to Bournemouth Pier, the wind blasted us and forced the driving rain into any parts that were exposed, the wet weather gear working up to a point but having to yield to the blasts of nature.
This was where it became very hard. Neither Luke nor I had walked this far before. I had expected to be in sunshine and ready to enjoy the distractions of runners and cyclists and holiday makers who would be crowding the walkway but there was no one. Our eyes were focused on one thing only, Bournemouth Pier and there was nothing to take our minds away from the slog the walk was becoming. We walked but the pier appeared to be receding into the distance, taunting us. Worse still was seeing that beyond that was Boscombe Pier and then Hengistbury Head, miles away but checkpoints on our journey. The only option was to keep pressing forward and that we did.
Blessed relief came in meeting family members under the flyover next to the pier in Bournemouth. We were out of the rain and able to change socks and grab some welcome food and a flask of coffee. Even better, we were just under halfway and the worst was behind us according to the forecast in terms of weather. However, we were becoming aware of blisters and muscle fatigue and there was still so far to go. Most daunting of all, I was now going to be going solo, Luke planning to take a train back to Southampton having hauled me round 24 miles in testing conditions.
Luke returned from a comfort break and casually told me he’d made a couple of phone calls which meant he could now join me for the rest of the day! It was fantastic news. Luke is less than half my age but he had done no preparation at all for a walk of such length and yet he was prepared to continue knowing it was just going to get harder and harder. People are truly wonderful.
What helped even more was being able to see messages of support from family and friends and then people we didn’t know but who had seen what we were doing and they were giving money to the Just Giving website incredibly generously. We were getting close to £500 and it gave us the push we needed to hobble off towards Boscombe but with a metaphorical spring in our step.
The journey to Hengistbury Head continued to be a real slog, flat and grey, the view unchanging and that was the one real disappointment of the day. I love the sea front we are so fortunate to enjoy close at hand and would have loved a sunny day with plenty of visitors, maybe even the chance to cool our feet in the soothing waters. It simply wasn’t the sort of weather for it.
Through Christchurch we strode and the rain finally ceased its assault. We were well over 30 miles into the challenge but the pain was growing and we started to plan a stop mid afternoon for a rest as we were making good time. We settled on The Woolpack at Sopley and took the Avon Valley path which was stunning. I would heartily recommend walking this path which is easily accessed from Ringwood and takes you alongside the River Avon with its mute swans, great crested grebes, kingfishers and swooping swallows. Were you to walk the entire length of the path you would find yourself starting from Christchurch Priory right the way to Salisbury Cathedral, a challenge for another day perhaps.
Luke and I enjoyed a pint at The Woolpack and were seriously discussing whether we should keep to the 50 mile target or push on so we walked for 24 hours. If we had done the entire day, 60 miles would have been the mark we set and we were genuinely unsure how to play it. In the end that decision was taken from us when we pushed on to Ringwood and onto the Castleman Trailway to Moors Valley. Incredibly the donations were still coming in and we were at almost £1000 and keen to press on still further but right at the entrance to the country park a searing pain shot up my right calf muscle. I couldn’t believe it as all my aches and pains to that point were in my left foot and leg but it was a clear signal that this was becoming very tough indeed.
Imagine trying to cross fields separated by stiles after 40 miles of walking, having to keep hydrated and having to keep walking in gear which has been thoroughly soaked, not having slept for hours and hours. That pain reminded me of all of these and it seemed clear we would just do the 50 miles rather than keep walking until midnight.
The walk to Potterne where we were able to get a lift home took quite some time. We had been very consistently walking 20 minute miles since the very start of the challenge but it was now over 25 minutes due to my having to tread with great care to avoid any further pain. Eventually we made it to the end of our trek, 51 and a bit miles of wonderful Dorset having been covered and in dimming light 20 hours after setting out.
It had proved far harder than I had expected. There is no question about having under-estimated what I had set out to do and it was made all the more difficult by the weather.
On the other hand, the memories, the knowledge that we had done it, the views, the conversations, the hot coffee and soup, the camaraderie, the reaction of others and, most importantly, the amount raised. To date donations of just over £1500 have been made and that is way beyond what I had imagined when I thought it would be nice to celebrate my birthday with a walk.
Luke was immense and I am so grateful to him for supporting me all the way. We will be planning something to test us again I am sure but for now we are just so proud to have been able to help, in a small way, a wonderful charity and, through them, families of young children who are experiencing challenges every single day that put what we did into context. That they meet these challenges with such fortitude, hope and love is incredible and reminds us all that despite our faults, people are wonderful,generous and loving.
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