Distance covered: 12.8 miles/20.5kms
The Adrenaline Seekers
The Ultimate Hike Planner – Mr. D of Aylesbury
From the Royal Berkshire – Nick A. and Meto Man
From Sarf London – its the boy from the Heath, Kray
Planned Arrival
7:30 (Late - the Royal Berkshire folks – always name and shame late comers)
The Story – Arrival
Whilst waiting for the late troopers, Kray was changing into this hiking boots but noted that Mr. D was already in his wet weather gear. Kray commented that, bro you already kitted up and Mr. D replied, yeah it is going to be wet. So Kray changed to wets and booted up and waited for the boys from Berkshire.
On arriving and apologising Kray noticed the boys were not kitted for wet weather leg side but ahh well Kray made no comment, part of planning is check you conditions and adjust, Kray was aware since the Wednesday it would be a wet but not from start but the guys from Berks were in normal joggers (a soaker).
The Start
After pleasantries, we tried to navigate onto the path and the usual Acorn getting disoriented to the starting point occurred. We ended up taking a route that took us past the Guilford Station briefly and back on ourselves to where we packed and then eventually found the link to Point 2 on the route grid.
Along the warm up route (1km of start), Kray was making waypoint marks for the after hike Pub swift pint. To be honest, this 1km route was literally littered with options.
3km Point – Group Peecha
Around this landmark, we realised we had not taken a group picture so did this and when we looked up we were straight into a climb, asem aba’ but this is what we thrive on – “the climbs”.
A recent article indicated that when walking or hiking and doing a [burn/stop/rest/burn] routine discharges more energy (calories) than when in continuous flight and that pause to take the group foto definitely is true to this. The idling engine had to be bolstered to get into the climb and Acorns who love climbs where grinning like Cheshire cats.
The Full Hike - The Highs and Lows
Not sure what you call a High or a Low but all the challenges presented many Highs – from the mud, to near slips, to more mud and learning how to traverse a path of mud by planting your feet on the sides (grass verge) to avoid mud.
The Low was probably the wet weather – it was constant for 3 hours of the walk and even the wets did not keep an Acorn dry. Nick gave up avoiding the sludge and walked right in it, Darren commented on his feet being wet and boots heavy, Kray was dry footed at this point and Darren then replied your boots may be good then!! 😊 (Always Buy Columbus). As for Meto Man, he was on survival mode at this stage – he got a Nettle brush on his body and complained – of all the wahala we were enduring, Nettle too dey inside, you see the soft “mama bá” Royal Berkshire boys.
The Scenery
To be honest this is a proper summer hike as it takes in the River Thames and long stretches of this hike is alongside the river but we did see some nice properties that some Acorn investors had on this walk again. Kray and Darren walked onto one Cottage with an imposing front and as Mr. D was focused on the navigation looking down and then when he raised his head he uttered, “damn this is nice, you wont expect this in this neck of the woods”. It was a property with all the Wings including the “Gate Apartments”.
The End
Well, no one gives up, an Acorn walk is all about your using your faculties to endure, you switch them on when you need to and on a loop you have to walk back to your cars (uber is “sacré bleu”) – gone are the says we walked to cars on the end side.
So, on our way to the start it was downhill and our return trip was a burner. Imagine being tired, wet, soaked in mud boots and then having to do an incline that was just creating lactic acid in your hams.
Still we got to the cars, did the high 5’s on another enthralling hike, with all the elements, and the we got changed (how we did it on a residential street remains off-press) and then for some reason we all said - “off home, get washed and relax” – no mention of pub pint, Kray was going to continue painting his girls pad – Mr. D had helped all day the previous day so both were leg and body worked out to the max.
The After Feeling
You could tell the boys had been carried in to the point of exhaustion if no one says pub time and gets into their cars. It was not like the South Downs, not like Ridgeway but definitely in the hikes this looks like a simple one became more of surprise once the elements kicked in and I think this should be part of the calendar, wet season hiking.
Next Season
This year the planning has been exquisite and it should not be a daunting task thanks to Koomot (www.komoot.com) but what the 2 last hikes has proved is you can find areas within equitable driving distances so look forward to next season and who take on the mantle from Mr D. This will be decided at the Acorns Christmas Shindig.
Reporting
It is your boy from the heath, the name is Kray.