Liquid Refreshments Before, During, After
I wanted to report that myself Jamie Copeland, Tom Gillespie and Luke Elton from Durham successfully completed the LWW from West to East on Saturday 2nd June at 7.45 approx. The LWW was an idea presented to us by mine and Luke’s dads who did it back in the day and we felt obliged to carry on the tradition and of course beat their time.
After arriving on Friday and staying at the Three Tuns Osmotherley and enjoying a nerve resting few pints, we set our alarms for a dreaded 3.30 wake up call. We signed the book on the way out, and were on the road for 4.45 with the weather and spirits looking positive.
All 3 of us started in good spirits and made progress throughout the initial section and soaked up the views. Up and down the hills and up some tough elevation coupled with some aggressive rain didn’t even dampen our spirits. We hit the Wainstones, up towards Round Hill and then plodded on towards the Lion Inn. Just before arriving we got absolutely drenched but this was made better by a coffee and also a whisky shot at the pub to dry off and warm up.
We set off from the Lion Inn shortly after, with the sun high in the sky as we got our second wind with just over half way to go. We plodded through the terrain and bogs which did seem like an absolute eternity as the horizon got slowly closer. As we hit the railway crossing, we plastered up and regrouped, and then we really had to grind it out and grit our teeth to push through the final stretch. As we spotted the pylon it give us an extra boost, although it didn’t seem to get any smaller for hours. Sun was out and it was lovely conditions towards the end, which helped us power through as we hit the final, final leg. The pylon finally in sight as we cursed under our breath – we had made it.
At the end we hit the ground, and the thrill of finishing this epic challenge was overwhelming and a great sense of achievement for us all. We drove back to the hotel room (with legs not in fully working order), ordered vast amounts of food and celebrated with a well-deserved beer. A fantastic walk and a challenge like none of us have ever experienced before, where we really needed to be on our game mentally and physically.
Officially elapsed finish time: 14 hours 52 mins
