Once more I arrive home, dripping with sweat, legs burning with lactic
acid. I never ever want to run that far again. That's what I say to myself
after a 15 mile training run. But I know that next week I'll run more.
And the week after. Because that's what you do when you're training for
the Robin Hood Marathon: a 26.2 mile (42 km) race which charts a course
around Nottingham in a giant figure of eight.
When I last sat down to write something for the Appel I had just started
my working life in Nottingham. I was finding my feet as a working adult
and discovering the questionable joys of exercise. I still live in Nottingham
and I still work at the same desk for the same company. Well, actually
the company name has changed twice since I've been there but it still feels
the same! I still do pretty much the same work: designing, installing and
developing IT systems which display real time train information to the
travelling public. But more and more I find that people are asking me h
ow to do things. Increasingly my job is about helping other people get
their jobs done. I guess that means I'm moving up the company food chain!
But the biggest change in me over the last two
years surely has to be my appreciation of the great out doors! It all started
on New Years Day 2002. I made a resolution to go walking in Wales every
month and promptly booked myself a B&B for the end of January. On that
occasion I walked alone and got hideously lost. Just when I thought I had
reached the safety of my car I realised it was actually 24 miles away by
road. I walked 18 of them in the dark and managed to hitch a lift for the
remaining six. Needless to say I slept very well that evening and awoke
the next morning with very sore limbs! However, despite this inauspicious
start, I was hooked! Hill walking was for me! So I made many return trips
to the Welsh countryside that year. With my Dad, friends, colleagues or alone
I saw wonderful sights and had wonderful days.
The same year I decided to join the ranks of my (English) Grandfather
and other members of the Gieles family by tackling Wainwright's Coast To
Coast walk. It is a fabulous route: 195 miles through three national parks.
I set off from St Bees Head on the west coast on 3rd June and walked alone
carrying all my camping equipment on my back and cooking for myself each
evening on my trusty petrol stove. The experience proved to be deeply
fulfilling and certainly learned me a lot about myself. It was not easy
and there were bad days as well as good. But when I finally made it to
Robin Hood's Bay after ten days of walking and ten nights of camping I
had a new perspective on life! I have written a full account of the w alk
and, no doubt, I will sooner or later get around to putting it on the Web
for all to see.
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This year I decided it was time to
discover Scotland! This started in February when I enrolled myself
on a Winter Skills training course. I spent a week as one of a group of
four with one instructor walking and climbing through snow covered hills
in Aviemore, one of the few Scottish ski resorts. Dressed out in warm clothes,
crampons, ice axes, climbing harnesses and helmets we had a fun time as
we learned how to try and keep ourselves safe in the snowy mountain environment.
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Photo:Winter Walking - me far left (click
on photo to enlarge)
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Photo: dressed for the weather. (click
on photo to enlarge)
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Later on this year, in June, I returned north of the Scottish border
to drive from place to place and walk on various hills that I had not even
seen before. Highlights would have to include Ben Nevis and wild camping
in Knoydart. Surely, however, the most spectacular walking and scenery
was to be found in Skye.
The Isle of Skye is home to the Cuillin
ridge which is 11km long and only a few feet (a meter) wide in places.
Its entire length, formed by an impressive range of 18 mountains, never
dips below 760m which makes it high by British standards. What makes the
Cuillin ridge particularly spectacular when you are on the Isle of Skye
is the way they rise from flat lands virtually at sea level dramatically
upwards.Although people can and do undertake the entire ridge in one go
I contented myself with more modest walks in these hills.
Photo: Cuillin Ridge (click
on photo to enlarge)
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During my first outing I climbed up the
Inaccessible Pinnacle which gave a great sense of adventure because it
is narrow and not straightforward. You feel that if you make a mistake you
will end up hurting yourself, badly! But I made it to the top and, from there,
abseiled down the other side. This is the traditional method of descent from
the pinnacle and a very fine experience indeed! Gradual at first but,
after five metres, suddenly an almost overhanging 20m high drop!
On my second outing I walked up some more peaks and again had to make
an abseil descent in one place. Whilst on the Inaccessible Pinnacle I
had been shrouded in cloud but, on this day I had clear weather and beautiful
views all the way along the ridge.
Photo: Perched on Iaccessible Pinnacle (click on photo
to enlarge)
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After Skye I also visited the Outer Hebrides before returning home. They
were desolate islands with single lane roads and incredible beaches. With
the right climate they would be a holiday resort by now. But when I was
there, in July, they were being swept by 40km/h winds and I'm not sure
the temperature was ever much above 10 degrees (at least it never felt
it!). So I don't think there is much danger of their shores being invaded
by apartment blocks and hotels. Having said that, everywhere I went whilst
I was there I couldn't help but bump into Dutch tourists! Who would ever
have thought that I would bump in to more Dutch than English people when
visiting almost the most northerly and certainly the most westerly point
of the British Isles!
There is only so long you can spend looking at mountains without wondering
what it is like to get to the top without just taking the easiest route.
I think there are only so many walking trips you can go on before you start
to see imaginary lines on cliff faces. Inevitably these thoughts lead
you to the conclusion that perhaps it is time to give climbing a try.
I started last year by visiting the local climbing wall in Nottingham.
For £5 you can spend as long as you like practising your skills
on the indoor walls of what used to be a church. Before long I was itching
to have a go on "real rock" so I went on a weekend course in rock climbing
skills where I was shown the basics of using a rope, harness, helmet and
other more exotic looking equipment. Then later on in the same year me and
my Dad put the skills to the test in Wales by attempting a genuine climb.
The climb was easy by most peoples standards but I still think that, looking
back, we were a little out of our depth! Nonetheless we lived to fight another
day and many memorable moments are now behind us: from intimidating 1000ft
cliffs to enjoyable sunny afternoons where we've climbed no more than 15m
at a time!
So I think that summarises what my main interests outside of work have
been. And I can honestly say that being outdoors and having my own mini
adventures has been fantastic. The memories will live on for a long time
and, with every new experience and emotion, I find myself growing more.
Meanwhile the Marathon training continues. Quite what the attraction
is of running this kind of distance I can't tell you. Somehow the idea
drags you in and, once you've committed to it and got to a certain stage
in your training, there is no going back! I know now that I will complete
the full distance even if I have to hobble through the last 11 miles in
agonising pain! But even so, please wish me luck. And spare a thought for
me on the 14th September, any time from 10:00am onwards. Send me as much
positive energy as you can spare and, you never know, I might even enjoy
it!
David - August 2003
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