Severn Trent Mountain Challenge 2014
July 12th 2014
30 mile hike
Gain - 5840 ft
The Severn Trent Mountain Challenge is an annual hike set up to raise money for WaterAid. I participated in this event through my role at BWB Consulting, along with colleagues from our Nottingham office (HQ).
Having not met any of my team members before the day, nor been able to make any of the practice walks I arrived feeling extremely dubious as to my ability complete the challenge. I think my longest hike previous to this was probably for my Gold DofE award, around 15 miles in the Lake District. Admittedly with much heavier packs, but still nothing like the 30 miles I'd signed up to here. As a slight aside, there were also 20 mile and 10 mile options, but I'd taken the plunge with the 30!
A beautiful morning, we set off one of the first groups and completed a long shallow climb up out of Hope Valley. This was followed by a bigger climb out of the next valley which took us over and into the upper Derwent Reservoir basin. The perimeter of the reservoir made for some flat, easy walking and at around 12 miles we'd reached the foot of another cracking hill.
At this point we were briskly overtaken by another mixed group. There is an element of competition surrounding the challenge, with the fastest male, female and mixed groups being awarded a prize. Naturally competitive I was all stations go for the mixed prize so was decidedly disgruntled by being overtaken by a team containing a girl! Even more so when we proceeded to climb and I realised I could easily climb at about double her walking speed...
Anyway, competition over we eventually reached the peak and were duly checked in before a long stroll over the plateau. This was for some reason slow work and I was rather glad to make it down. Unfortunately I'd decided not to take on water at the base of this climb for weight reasons, but very soon regretted this. My stocks ran out halfway across the plateau and although the thought of being hydrated spurred me on, this did not hold true for my team mates who hadn't been so silly and hence weren't suffering.
However, something that was on all our minds was the cut-off times we had to make at Edale, about 26 miles in. This meant we all picked up the pace towards and through the next check point, and onwards right to the close of the NE 'loop' of the course. Coming back on ourselves we revisited our first checkpoint where we left one of our five team members who had found the going pretty tough. He was therefore deemed to have completed the 20 mile route, a great achievement in itself.
The second half of the penultimate climb beckoned and we strolled on and through to Edale. By this point I myself was struggling with some blisters on the soles of my feet, and downhill was proving tricky on the knees. Missing my footing and face-planting down the hill probably wasn't my best move either, but serves me right for rushing!
Edale was a welcome respite - providing jaffa cakes, bananas and more for the weary walkers we were. Keen to crack on we soon departed though, just about allowing time to stop for a team photo at the top of the final climb before descending into Hope Valley. To put it bluntly, the last few miles were agony. In hindsight I really should have stopped and burst the massive blisters formed on the bottom of my foot, but never having had blisters anywhere but my hands before (from rowing) I didn't really know how to deal with them.
The finish line was incredibly welcoming - we finished along with the other BWB Consulting team, which was brilliant. More photos and a hearty lasagne were had before I set off back to Buxton, my home for the weekend.
Overall a great event and day, helped along by the absolutely stunning weather. My birthday the next day was a very hobbling affair, but no different to last year when I had just completed the 'Tour de Wales' (see posts below), so this appears to be becoming an annual occurrence...
Time
Total - 11:48
Moving - 09:39
30 mile hike
Gain - 5840 ft
The Severn Trent Mountain Challenge is an annual hike set up to raise money for WaterAid. I participated in this event through my role at BWB Consulting, along with colleagues from our Nottingham office (HQ).
Having not met any of my team members before the day, nor been able to make any of the practice walks I arrived feeling extremely dubious as to my ability complete the challenge. I think my longest hike previous to this was probably for my Gold DofE award, around 15 miles in the Lake District. Admittedly with much heavier packs, but still nothing like the 30 miles I'd signed up to here. As a slight aside, there were also 20 mile and 10 mile options, but I'd taken the plunge with the 30!
A beautiful morning, we set off one of the first groups and completed a long shallow climb up out of Hope Valley. This was followed by a bigger climb out of the next valley which took us over and into the upper Derwent Reservoir basin. The perimeter of the reservoir made for some flat, easy walking and at around 12 miles we'd reached the foot of another cracking hill.
At this point we were briskly overtaken by another mixed group. There is an element of competition surrounding the challenge, with the fastest male, female and mixed groups being awarded a prize. Naturally competitive I was all stations go for the mixed prize so was decidedly disgruntled by being overtaken by a team containing a girl! Even more so when we proceeded to climb and I realised I could easily climb at about double her walking speed...
Anyway, competition over we eventually reached the peak and were duly checked in before a long stroll over the plateau. This was for some reason slow work and I was rather glad to make it down. Unfortunately I'd decided not to take on water at the base of this climb for weight reasons, but very soon regretted this. My stocks ran out halfway across the plateau and although the thought of being hydrated spurred me on, this did not hold true for my team mates who hadn't been so silly and hence weren't suffering.
However, something that was on all our minds was the cut-off times we had to make at Edale, about 26 miles in. This meant we all picked up the pace towards and through the next check point, and onwards right to the close of the NE 'loop' of the course. Coming back on ourselves we revisited our first checkpoint where we left one of our five team members who had found the going pretty tough. He was therefore deemed to have completed the 20 mile route, a great achievement in itself.
The second half of the penultimate climb beckoned and we strolled on and through to Edale. By this point I myself was struggling with some blisters on the soles of my feet, and downhill was proving tricky on the knees. Missing my footing and face-planting down the hill probably wasn't my best move either, but serves me right for rushing!
Edale was a welcome respite - providing jaffa cakes, bananas and more for the weary walkers we were. Keen to crack on we soon departed though, just about allowing time to stop for a team photo at the top of the final climb before descending into Hope Valley. To put it bluntly, the last few miles were agony. In hindsight I really should have stopped and burst the massive blisters formed on the bottom of my foot, but never having had blisters anywhere but my hands before (from rowing) I didn't really know how to deal with them.
The finish line was incredibly welcoming - we finished along with the other BWB Consulting team, which was brilliant. More photos and a hearty lasagne were had before I set off back to Buxton, my home for the weekend.
Overall a great event and day, helped along by the absolutely stunning weather. My birthday the next day was a very hobbling affair, but no different to last year when I had just completed the 'Tour de Wales' (see posts below), so this appears to be becoming an annual occurrence...
Time
Total - 11:48
Moving - 09:39
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