Home

      > WHW Introduction
      > WHW Training
      > WHW Day 1
      > WHW Day 2
      > WHW Day 3
      > WHW Day 4
      > WHW Day 5
      > WHW Day 6
      > WHW Day 7
      > WHW Day 8
      > WHW Final Thoughts
      > WHW Accommodation

Discuss in the Forum

Links on Walking Places

Training

Compared to last year the training was very limited. Both Dale and myself were a little complacent after completing the Coast-to-Coast last year. I had kept up the gym work and enrolled into the JJB in Selby, which certainly helped. I did though put on the weight I lost last year and a bit more but managed to lose a bit before starting The West Highland Way. I did a walk with my daughter and her friends to practice for their Duke of Edinburgh bronze, by doing the 12 mile walk up Ingleborough from Clapham and I did the 15 mile walk from Buckden over Horsehead pass and over the top from Litton (2 x 2000 feet climbs) and that was about it.

So it was poor preparation really. A mixture of complacency, arrogance and laziness meant that as the day of start approached rapidly I was quite worried. A phone conversation with Dale the week before confirmed that he was in even worse shape than me so we were both more than a little concerned as we caught the train to Scotland. Maybe it added a bit of excitement I don’t know, but it taught me a bit of a lesson and next time I will not ignore this aspect.

 

< Previous          Next >