Illey Way

The Illey Way is a short walk of 4.5 miles through beautiful Worcestershire countryside. It joins Woodgate and Waseley Hills visitor centres and crosses meadows, green lanes and an old dismantled railway viaduct.
I did this walk on 18th August with John and his friend Ezzat, who has just been diagnosed with lung cancer and is building his fitness up to fight it. It was a nice way to test my feet and check the recovery process. I had a small amount of discomfort but nothing to worry about, I wore my running shoes rather than hiking boots to allow my feet to breathe.
Fin the dog covered at least three times the distance and kept disappearing, this was a bit nerve wracking, a few times I began to work out how I could explain to Gem that I had lost her dog. Buzz on the other hand stuck within a metre of me at all times and then couldn't walk for the rest of the day!!!

Offas Dyke

After buying the equipment I would need for backpacking I had decided after some research that a good walk to start with was the Costwold Way which I planned to complete the last week of August.

However the best laid plans are subject to change, sometimes for the better, so when my brother John mentioned that he wanted to complete the Offas Dyke walk he began in May I jumped at the chance to try out my stuff a little earlier. I decided to join him for a couple of days as a training exercise agreeing that if he were to complete it we were looking at 5 days, an adventure that I wasn't convinced I was ready for. I should have known then what would happen, I am not capable of starting something like that and then not finishing (barring death)!

Ready to begin the adventure

We set off brimming with excitement on Wednesday 4th August, ready for adventure and excitement (despite the rubbish forecast). Dad dropped us off in Knighton at the Offas Dyke centre where John had left off in May. Within 10 minutes everything hurt, if I was a little weaker I would have called Dad back immediately and gone home. However, I pressed on and spent the first 2 hours adjusting my pack to make it comfortable. With the help of John I worked out that I was carrying too much weight on my shoulders rather than my hips, once I had realised this it was simply a matter of tightening the waist strap and remembering to walk tall. We covered 14 miles that day and to be honest most of the time my thoughts rotated around the fact that I was an idiot for even thinking I could do this.

First night camp was in a nice lady's back garden

It was great to arrive at the first night camp and relax, the lady whose garden we camped in brought us a lovely cup of tea and penguin biscuit, also she let us use her shower. Bliss!! Within an hour I felt great and I got to use all my new stuff to cook dinner so I was happy.
I had one criteria in mind when choosing equipment - weight! My tent is a Coleman X2, which weighs in at just under a kilo, it is good in this respect and is fine if the weather is dry, however I wouldn't recommend it for British camping as it is only one skin and may not keep you dry if it rains - luckily I didn't have to test this out as it stayed dry every night. I also chose the lightest stove I found, at 73grams I couldn't have done better!! I didn't weigh my whole pack but I am guessing it weighed in about 7-8 kilos. I went for a 65L bag, a regatta survivor which was great, I would recommend getting the smallest bag possible to fit your essentials, that way you are not tempted to take anything you don't need!

The second day of the hike started off well, I had got a little more used to the bag and so I could enjoy the wonderful scenery a little more. Unfortunately this wasn't to last and 7 miles into the 14 miles disaster struck! My hip went from a little bit irritating to almost unable to walk. Fate intervened at this point as we reached a church in a little village that had facilities inside for walkers to make tea and coffee and even have a biscuit!

Restored my faith in humanity!

This lifted my spirits and after a cup of tea, a lie down and a nice chat with a Danish couple I was ready to go again. This was rather short lived and within an hour I was getting to the point where every step felt like someone was twisting my hip. I kept going telling myself not to be pathetic and that people have survived worse injuries and continued to walk miles. There were tears and lots of whinging to poor John but I made it to the bridge at Hay-on-Wye and John gallantly ran off into town to get me painkillers and something nice for dinner.

A wagon wheel, some ibuprofen and I was ready to walk the 10 minutes to the campsite.

We got to stay on the campsite garden which was lovely, in the sun and with a table.

The third day was amazing, and not just because I had copious amounts of painkillers for my hip! I had prepared myself for a difficult climb over the black mountains and we were both aware of the possibility that the weather could still deteriorate and force us to abandon the days walking and seek shelter, this added to the excitement! However we made it, the three hours walking through the cloud which covered the ridge was simply amazing! It was like being put in a sensory deprivation box, visibility was extremely limited and there was no way we could hear each other over the wind. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. My hip was fine and I had built some strength to carry the pack, I felt great, this was my favourite day of the whole walk.

On the bright side we couldn't see just how high we were going to have to climb!

Prepared for walking through cloud. Very wet!
When the clouds finally cleared we could see the view!

We stayed in a lovely campsite in Pandy called 'little oasis' and it really lived up to it's name, the old guy that ran it was one of those people I could chat with (or at least listen to) for hours. He told us some really funny stories about campers and how he'd convinced some that wild flowers were wild because they scream and dance about! He also did excellent impressions of wood pigeons which he used completely apologetically to wake everyone up! He'd also built a mill by himself for his late wife.

The mill that Bill built.

Saturday was John's 30th birthday, I am ashamed to say I was so wrapped up in me that I completely forgot until a throw away comment by John reminded me, bad sister! In my defense I hadn't slept well due to pain in my foot from a growing blister, I had managed to dull it about 3am with some paracetamol and dozed off. John didn't agree that this was a valid excuse and refused to talk to me for ages.....
We stopped at White Castle (which apparently used to be white), this cheered John up a bit and he began to talk to me again, the nice lady in the ticket booth allowed us to leave our bags with her and we toured the castle feeling as light as a feather!

White Castle, John's birthday treat.

On our way to Monmouth we had a call from Gem to say that she was coming to meet us for the evening, she brought all kinds of luxuries including proper towels, chairs, birthday cake, chips, clean clothes, chocolate and my husband!! We all went to a balti place right next to the campsite, by this point I was struggling to walk - with hindsight I should have gone home that night with them but as I said at the start only death would stop me finishing!!

Balti and visitors from civilisation.

The last day was mixed, I wanted to keep walking despite the foot pain and I did manage to block it out most of the time. The view of Tintern Abbey from Devil's point was worth the horrible climb (made more difficult by an attempted short cut!) and counting down the miles was a nice feeling. I don't know if it was adrenaline, the feeling of satisfaction or the fact that I was doing something I love, but I made it to the end!

Reaching the end!!!

After completing this walk I unfortunately ended up with an infection in my foot due to the blister which had got increasingly worse over the last two days, I was ill-prepared for treating and preventing this and ended up on a course of anti-biotics and unable to walk for 5 days. I have done some research on this and I will take better precautions next time.
I have learnt a lot through the experience:

• Your problems don't follow you when you go backpacking, they become insignificant.
• LOOK AFTER YOUR FEET.
• Go as light as possible.
• All you need is to keep warm, dry, fed and blister free. Anything else is a luxury!
• If you get lost throw the guide book continually until you find your way again.
  

In the beginning there were treking poles

I have always enjoyed walking, my parents were always taking the six of us on long walks and up mountains, I think they were motivated by the fact that it was free and the possibility that they might one day manage to lose one us.
I have done a few walks over recent years although I have been more into running until recently. I did Hellvelyn in May 2008, a 14 mile hike in new boots (which were fine incidentally), and have combined May bank holiday hiking trips with long walks.
My brother John decided last spring that he would walk Offas Dyke, a 196 trek from Prestatyn to Sedbury marking the border of England and Wales as King Offa saw it. So during the first bank holiday weekend in May a group of 5 of us set off to support him on the first 2 days of his quest. Although I found it tough I really enjoyed myself and as I was going through a tough time in my life I found it all the more emotionally relaxing. Suffice to say, I was hooked! It was during this weekend that I discovered trekking poles, to be honest I had always secretly laughed at people who used them (unless they were really old of course - I'm not heartless!). I had some issues during the first day with my hip, probably related to the operation I had at 18 months, I struggle with stiles and going down steep slopes. I was in doubt as to whether I would manage to complete the second day, my elder brother had already opted out of half the walk as he had broken his toe doing judo. However my sister Gem came to the rescue and lent me her poles, they were amazing!!! I take back every secret taunting laugh.

I felt really jealous when I left John and Gem the next day to continue the walk with their backpacks, it was just them and nature for the next 4 days. I'd never been backpacking myself but had always wanted to try. I made up my mind there and then to do it. I began researching equipment and got myself the basics I would need for a hike of a few days.

Here I am with Gem on my first test hike to try out backpack etc.

This blog is intended to keep a record of my walking and will hopefully also provide tips for others wanting to take up the hobby.