It was hard. I can’t lie. My mantra was “one foot in front of the other. Just keep moving forwards. Eventually we’ll get there”.
We needed a training weekend where we could try out the gear we expected to be taking to Estonia. Two days of running with an overnight camp in between, was the plan. It was time to get a good idea of what we were letting ourselves in for!
Estonia is a relatively flat country; filled with lakes, bogs and forests. I pondered on where to go in England that could potentially replicate what we expected to find in Estonia.
I’m not usually one for flat. Give me hills and mountains any day of the week. But flat can provide just as much of a challenge as the hills. It can be boring and tedious where nothing seems to change for miles on end. Norfolk, in parts, is the epitome of this. I went online and searched for long distance walking paths and came across the Weaver’s Way with a stated total of 61 miles. Perfect.
We drove to Great Yarmouth after work on the Thursday and stayed over in a cheap and cheerful hotel. The following morning (Friday) we caught the train to the starting point in Cromer.
I’d downloaded an online GPX version of the route. However, this was poorly plotted and cut many corners and gave a total distance of 56 miles. A good 5 miles difference. As we fast packed our way along, the ‘distance to end’ on my navigation watch hardly changed at times. In hindsight, I could have amended the route to make it more accurate. But I didn’t. This aspect certainly affected my mental reserve in parts, when running an actual mile only took off 0.3 of a mile due to the inaccurate plotting. I’d guestimated the campsite at Hickling being around 32 miles into the route. What I hadn’t considered was the discrepancy in the GPX file and the actual stated distance of the path. As the milometer ticked over to 32 miles, there still seemed a long way to our end point for the day. Every mile began to feel like 3. We were tired. We were absolutely soaked to the bone having run through an hours worth of heavy downpour. It seemed like we’d never get there. But we did. 36 miles covered and we practically fell sideways into the campsite. Day one was done and didn’t our bodies know it! Even pitching the tent opposite the toilet block, felt further than either of us wanted to walk by that stage. As we showered, forced food down us, sorted our kit and generally settled down for the evening, I think we both wondered how we’d do it all again the next day.
I love camping. Cadi doesn’t. I had an OK night in the tent. Cadi didn’t. Her mat deflated leaving her cold and uncomfortable. But as is her spirit, she got up the next morning and got on with the task at hand. Breakfasted and packed up, we began to get our bodies moving once again. Day two, whilst shorter mileage wise, was certainly more tedious in many respects. Long miles of flat waterside paths, where the eye could see for miles, on top of tired bodies. We eventually made our way into Great Yarmouth and our end point. Cold, tired and hungry, we stocked up on food supplies for our car journey home and I was back in a nice hot bath by 9pm on the Saturday having avoided all the coronation shenanigans. Nailed it!
The Weaver’s Way was beautiful in places and long, straight and tedious in others. Fields of yellow rapeseed, quaint beautiful villages, woodlands and ancient monuments provided interest. Other sections of disused railway, marshes, canal and dikes felt like an eternity to travel. But it was exactly what we needed. A test of our kit and ourselves. To enable us to tweak and change things before we head to Estonia.
As with any type two fun, it was enjoyable after the experience! I’m always amazed at what the body and mind are capable of. The adjustments and upgrades made as a result of pushing and testing. I’m so proud of us for what we achieved and what we’ve set out to achieve.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together!
African Proverb
Considerations from the Test Run
What worked
My pack choice:
Montane Trailblazer 44l – I was very impressed with the design, fit and functionality of the pack. Lightweight but sturdy enough to hold a lot of heavy kit and not lose shape. Once I’d figured out the strapping system, the pack also sat snug and, other than slightly bruised shoulders from the weight and two longs days of running, I was left with no sores/chaffing etc. The external pockets worked well for food/snacks. What didn’t work so well was where to keep my phone so it was handy to grab and take photos/videos easily. Carrying walking poles made the shoulder strap pockets less user friendly whilst moving. I’ll aim to add a belt pocket specifically for my phone so I don’t miss any precious photo opportunities.
Snacks:
Velo Forte Mixed – Just love all of their range from the bars to the protein shakes. I used the electrolyte powder to hydrate in the morning and the protein shake at the end of the run. I also consumed one bar and one gel throughout the day.
Fluids:
Tailwind Endurance Fuel - I added the powder to a 500ml flask. I love tailwind and it really seems to suit me. I will add more for Estonia to keep my energy and electrolytes more stable (see ‘Water’ below).
Water – I had a 3l reservoir with me, although only filled it to 2.5l both days. I ran out of water on day one and restocked at a local shop on route (I used 600ml of it for our lunch meals). 2.5l plus the 500ml flask got me through day 2. I think in hindsight, I will add tailwind to the reservoir and keep the flask to make up the protein/replacement meals I plan to consume in Estonia (see ‘meal choice’ below).
Fizzy drinks – It was quite humid at certain points on both days, so we stopped twice on day 1 and once on day 2 to have a cold fizzy drink from local shops.
My clothes:
- I didn’t get any sores/chafing with any of the clothing. All really comfortable and worked well. I won’t be changing anything here for Estonia.
Scott Waterproof Jacket – I have an older version which is possibly around 6-8 years old now. Lightweight enough and kept the rain out. Plenty of vents to stop over-heating and condensation build up on the inside.
Alpkit Jacket – Great to throw on when stopped for any length of time or at the campsite in the evenings. Light enough to run with on cold days but warm enough to provide some protection when stationary.
Altra Lone Peak 4.5 Trail Shoes – I bought these second hand off ebay. They arrived a couple of hours before we left for Great Yarmouth. The recommendation is always to test your gear before any big event but I felt pretty confident in these shoes and decided to see if they would work well for Estonia. I wasn’t disappointed. I had no blisters or sores at the end of the two days. I did have a slightly swollen right foot but this was down to the constant pounding and heavy weight rather than the shoes or socks.
The Tent:
Hilleberg Akto - Whilst only a one man tent it gave us just enough room for us to both sleep top-to-tail style and leave our rucksacks in the porch area. It’s a quality, 4 season tent. However, this won’t be necessary in Estonia. So we are looking at an even lighter option, such as the Alpkit Tarpstar where weight is saved due to the use of walking poles to create the structure rather than specific tent poles.
Us as a Team:
A lot of our energy was taken just moving forward with heavy sacks. So our verbal communication was limited whilst on the move. This was absolutely fine. We’ve run enough together to be comfortable with silence and to know how the other is generally feeling, when to add in some distraction or to just let be. We both found it quite tough and although Cadi was ahead of me most of the day on day 2, I think overall we matched well and worked well together.
What didn’t work
The weight of the pack:
When I set out my pack weighed 13kg. For Estonia, I’ll be carrying a lot more food. So operation minimise and reduce is now in full swing. There are things I could certainly do without and there are more things we could have shared between us.
Meal Choice:
We took TentMeals dehydrated packs for breakfast, lunch and Tea. Whilst they were tasty enough, for me they almost had too many ingredients. Too much for a stressed digestive system to work with and so I struggled to eat and digest them and suffered sharp stitch type pains for a while after eating. I also struggled with diarrhoea the following day. This may have been a combination of the food and the excessive exercise I was putting my body through. However, I will be looking at simpler forms of nutrition for myself when it comes to Estonia. Potentially taking meal replacement style shakes and/or Roam Protein Bars with freeze dried fruit that I’ll re-hydrate as an accompaniment for something quick and effective for on the go/lunchtime. I’ll be getting something more substantial as a replenishing meal for the evenings but again keeping the ingredients to a minimum to reduce the stress on the digestive system. This will also help keep the weight of the packs down, as the meals themselves add quite a bit of weight.