Blog Posts - RIDGEWAY CHARITY HIKE 2013

trial hike nO.2

28/1/2013

What better way to enjoy a Saturday afternoon than by slipping your way across snow and ice covered fields and footpaths! On Saturday 26th January Kev, Joel, Dave, Ally, Paul, Mat and new recruit Jorge embarked on day one of a weekend of walking. This was to be the a 20 mile round trip from Chilton setting off at midday. Having snowed heavily during the week it was hoped that most of the route would be clear from ice and snow. This was correct to a point but there were many areas where slipping on compacted ice was your only option. Having set out at midday we returned to the village at 7:30pm. Given the conditions under foot this wasn't to bad.

Left/Below: At the start of day One. Why leave the pub instead of going inside and drinking round the fire!!!!!!!!

First climb up onto the Ridgeway. This is about 2.5miles from Chilton and the snow is building up.

Dropping down to the south side of the Ridgeway and we decided to stop to make an igloo!! In places the snow was 2 feet deep. This was a slippery decent.

Through Catmore to the south of Chilton and the paths start becoming better for us for the time being. This wasn't to last to long! Here Mat, Paul and Joel are forging ahead manfully.

Halfway now and new boy Jorge is still smiling! This section is the Downlands Villages Riding route from Catmore to Beedon.

The path is still being good to us although this was rare during the walk. Mat and Kev are getting a fair pace on here

A bit of a breather. A chance to take on some food and stretch out the muscles. All together now!

My word that could have ended in disaster! One small slip turned into the splits! Kev and Joel to the rescue.

Nearly home now. Approaching Churn with about 3 miles to walk having climbed out of Compton.

Day two started out how day one finished.; In the dark and with aching legs and sore feet! For the Sunday hike Duncan joined Paul, Mat, Dave and Kev for an early morning 10 mile walk from Chilton towards East Ginge up onto the Ridgeway and then back to Chilton. Having left the village the weather turned very bad and for about 15 mins the wind and rain hammered down. But it seemed to blow itself out and apart from a nasty headwind in places the hike went very well.

Paul's looking very jolly for 7am on a Sunday and having walked 20 miles the day before!

Off we go out of the village. Yes it's Sunday, yes it raining and yes it's 7am !

Heading towards East Ginge and we are finally out of the headwind.

Duncan, Paul and Mat approaching the dreaded climb back up to the top of the Ridgeway. We're about halfway at this point.

Made it to the top. Time to refuel. Now only a 3 mile walk along the Ridgeway and then back down into the village. And the sun was shining.

View 26th Jan Trial

Transport sorted

23/1/2013

Our potential transport problem, which basically involved us not being able to get to the start of the hike (not a major problem!!) has been sorted thanks to the great help of Jerry Burbage of The Rural Carriage Company based in Chilton. Jerry has very kindly offered his services to the Rabble to get us to the start on time. A huge thank you Jerry for your assistance wit

let the pain commence.....

11/12/2012

Sunday 9th December was the chosen date for the pain to commence! At 7:30, yes that's right 7:30am, Duncan, Paul, Kev, Mat, Dave and Graham started their epic day from Chilton. The day was set out into three 10 mile loops with each one passing back through Chilton.

The start of the day. A happy Rabble. Well for now anyway!

A few miles into the walk and day light has broken. Here's Graham strolling into Blewbury from Upton

Kev and Mat striding into Blewbury

The purpose of this day was to test equipment and ability and to find our varying fitness levels

The mud has started. This is at the top of the climb out of Blewbury towards the Ridgeway. The mud was heavy going in places.

For the second loop we were joined by Joel. Here he is on the right crossing the Ridgeway with Dunc and Mat. Our path is to the left of the picture which takes us to West IIsley

Graham, Mat and Kev forging a path into Chilton to finish our 2nd loop. We are about a mile from home at this point

Here's Paul phoning through to order a round of Ibuprofen and paracetamol cocktails! It looks like Mat is about to be sick! But it think it was just unlucky timing

For the last loop Kev, Duncan and Dave were joined by Ally who drove the three of them on well. The light was fading here and we ended the day at 6:30pm..

Eleven hours or walking ! Blimey

Hopefully the day served its purpose and we all got something out of it. Even though there was a lot of pain at times and Monday morning was full of aches and a few blisters it was great fun and good to start doing things as the Rabble

more accommodation

6/11/2012

Our second nights stop over has been booked with White Mark Farm, near Watlington. Thanks for Debbie for arranging this for us. This night will be under the stars.....................well a tent anyway! We will be camping at White Mark Farm and getting back to nature if walking for 87 miles alon

Accommodation

2/11/2012

A big thank you to Keith and all at Court Hill Centre at Letcombe Regis near Wantage. Court Hill will be providing the accommodation for the Rabble for our first night on 26th April. Having stayed at Court Hill before I can recommend the location and the centre as a brilliant stop off point. Check out their website for more information.

Beer, popcorn and chatting.............oh yeah and a hike to sort out

31/10/2012

So Friday 26th Oct saw five of the team embark on the first Ridgeway Hike meeting at Hike HQ....well Duncan's house. This picture shows us hard at work;. Duncan checking the data on the lap top, Joel studying the map intently, Scott being studious looking at the projector (yes we had a projector!!), me making copious amounts of notes and Mat checking out the contents of his beer! Yes Mat is behind my fat head. Well meeting one went really well. Tasks have been assigned and roles have been filled. Scott; the brave soul, has offered to be our blister and sprain specialist and first aid man. He has promised to include more in the first aid kit than the old school magic sponge and water.
Some more updates will be following shortly with info on boots, shoes, laces, food and loads more.
Ta for now. D

October 18th, 2012

18/10/2012

After months of development and countless hours of graphic design and computer wizardry I can now reveal the all new Ridgeway Rabble Logo!! Thanks to our partners at Big D Design for the use of the logo!

SPONSORSHIP

12/10/2012

Whoop Whoop. After just 24 hours we have our first sponsorship in. Well done Ally C for your efforts. Lets keep the momentum going and thanks to those that have sponsored us so far.

BLOG POST NUMBER !

11/10/2012

Okay so I couldn't think of a witty blog post title but I'm sure they will come in time. So this is post number one. Welcome to the Ridgeway Rabble website and in particular the blog section. Helloooooooooooooo. Hopefully this page will give you an update into the organisation of the event along with some thoughts of the team and what is happening generally.
First up is our proposed first team trial hike organised for Sunday 9th December. This will probably be the first time most of the team will be together. So this day will act as a team session as well as a personal one to test out kit and fitness levels. I'm fully expecting the trial to tell me that I need to lay off the pies and put that pint down over the festive period!! It will be a 30 mile hike split into 3 loops of 10 miles starting and finishing in Chilton. So those that have problems on the 1st or 2nd loop can bail out! There are a selection of good pubs on the route though! So perhaps this will keep people going.
At present we are up to 12 members and these can be seen on 'The Rabble' page of the website. Some updates are needed so get your details in guys. We also have a support team in place so I'm hoping to include the rabble page to include them as well.
So signing of now. But more to follow I'm sure
Cheers
Dave (Big D)

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