Training on the Malverns

Less than three weeks until the start of the ODP challenge now and our training continued today with a 15 mile romp across the Malvern Range in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The weather was just about perfect - dry, warm and sunny - although it was blowing a gale on top of the Worcestershire Beacon. We were up at 5am (well Simon and Russ were - Richard fell out of bed at 5 to 6) and we set off for the Malverns at 6.20. By 7.50 we were walking out of Hollybush towards British Camp and the range beyond.

Simon was struggling a bit with a swollen ankle, Richard was struggling to stay on his feet - not sure if that was because he'd just woken up or if it was his two new walking poles which he'd adjusted to suit a 7ft Harlem Globetrotter rather than himself and Russ was struggling with his new pack which was weighed down with Mars and Snickers.

We had a great day, albeit a challenging one at times. We walked from Hollybush to North Hill and back again in less than 8 hours and that included an hour's break for lunch.

Unfortunately, due to the ankle swelling up, Simon didn't make it to the top of the Beacon, but here are a few snaps of Richard and Russ looking dashing and windswept - well, windswept anyway.

What did I say about those poles?..............Wow!

Great day and we even had the energy to pay our respect with a quick visit to Elgar's final resting place before coming home...

If you haven't done so already - and huge thanks to those who have - please consider sponsoring us for this massive challenge...177 miles of really challenging terrain in 9 days and carrying everything we need to camp and survive along the way. Less than 3 weeks to go, so do please help us to help the old folks at Woodmarket.

*Here's a little known interesting fact about Edward Elgar: He didn't want to be a composer, he wanted to be an escapologist. He was good at it too but soon discovered that he was allergic to Hessian sacks so had to give it up and became a composer instead. A great loss to the world of escapology I'm sure you'll agree.

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*Some portions of this interesting fact about Edward Elgar may be partly or wholly inacurate and completely made up.

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