I am pleased to report the successful crossing of the Lyke Wake Walk on Saturday the 6th May 2017. Albeit with two men down. Will, Pete, Matty and I set off from the Youth Hostel at 5.50 Am, twenty minutes behind schedule. However, this was good going after two much red wine in the Golden Lion the night before.
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> We set off with spirits high and the sun was shining. In all fairness our spirits were a bit too high, as we spent too much time chin wagging instead of pressing on at a good pace. Nevertheless, this guaranteed that our support crew (Nics, Hels Kiera and Olive the dog) were ready and waiting with sausage sandwiches and tea at checkpoint two.
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> Heading off from checkpoint two we initially went in the wrong direction. Luckily enough we realised quickly without adding too much more in distance. By the time we reached checkpoint three after the Lion Pub the sun had gone in and the reality had set in how much further we had to go. We then headed over the bog (which was definitely boggy) and arrived at checkpoint four to find out support crew had not yet arrived. A quick phone call confirmed they had got side tracked in an art studio! Subsequently, we pushed on over the next stretch. This is where it began to take its toll. Wills ankle appeared sprained after some spectacular bog jumping and Petes joints seized up. The average pace dropped down from a steady 3 mph to a slow 1 mph. Luckily enough the support crew broke off from the art viewing and found a road to meet us at about 30 miles in. Pete (tin man) was done and could not go on but Will wanted to press on. He did not want to drop out as he had previously taken the micky out of Matty from dropping out of another challenge and was worried he will be in for the same treatment! However, after much persuasion and the realisation that it would take us about 24 hours at his pace he honourable admitted defeat (Matty waited until the next day to give him some stick back).
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> Matty and I continued the concluding stages alone. As the night drew in, the blisters and aches became painful and our morale took a blow. It was just a case of that we needed to get through it. Luckily enough Matty was still going strong and managed to pull me along with him. Those latter stages in the dark felt like they were never going to end because we could not see where we were heading.
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> At 10.20 Pm we were triumphant and concluded the walk in the thick mist. Our support crew were there with our two fallen comrades flashing their headlamps to welcome us to the finish. We were all too tired to finish with a celebratory pint so just headed off to bed. However, we enjoyed a great breakfast together the following morning.
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> Thanks to our great support crew – as we could not have done it without them.
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> A word of advice would be, don’t underestimate this challenge. we tried to do some practice walks together but due to other commitments we never got around to it. The big joke was Will said I don’t need to practice walking as I have been doing it since I was one years old! He admitted afterwards that practice walks were needed. We are all thirty something physically able men and apart from one the rest suffered with severe aches and pains.
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> I would also highly recommend purchasing the sketch map. It was much easier to use than an OS map.
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> Will Bb (Harrogate), Will B (Harrogate), Peter B AKA tin man (Selby) and Matty R (Sheffield).