Day Support Crew

Day Support Crew - Lyn's Story

Charlies Angels!

Having agreed to do the easier part of this mammoth trial i.e. Support crew with Emma and Karen- I decided some help was needed to keep the girls spirits up during their epic trail.   Having ascertained Sue, Sandra, Becky and Vicky’s ‘male’ preferences and searched the internet for suitable pinup material of Morten Harket, Will I Am,  Ben Fogle , Steve Backshall and  not forgetting  Bruce Forsyth! (just for Sue) -   fun pictures and daft hats were made in preparation.  The car was loaded up at Sue’s house so I had no idea until I opened the boot later that there was no room left!!   Too many cakes!

Having gone down on the Friday night to see the girls sign in and get tagged up, I was glad I wasn’t going to be sleeping in the tents over night!  The ‘Vale ventures’ were a bit wise here, having booked into the Premier Inn – Smart move.  We had Ghurkha pasta and mince Bolognese washed down with  a bottle of fizz for Sandra’s 40^th After a walk up the hill with Sandra and Paul, as if she wasn’t going to walk enough in the next 24 hours!    , we were then treated to a Ghurkha military show after which I said goodbye to Sue, Sandra, Becky and Vicky, who were in high spirits even though a few nerves were jingling .   The next time I would see them all would be at check point 2

Emma taking shelter!

The weather didn’t look too bad as I set off to pick Emma up first, along with 3 more bags full of stuff to fit in the car.  Bad, bad and more bad weather had been forecast so along with team kit boxes X 4, food, cookers, first aid kit box, cake, chairs x 4, a gazebo, cake, brollies, spare walking boots, cake, plasters and I may have mentioned it already MORE CAKE!  we also had to fit in our own wet gear and spare clothes.   I then picked Karen up who was waiting with just one bag!  And no cake! =  result .  We squeezed her into the tiny space that was left as the back seat of my 4 x 4 Mitsubishi, not normally thought of as a small car and off we went.  

Check point 2 was just horrendous;   MUD that’s all I’m saying - we were in for a very mucky day!  The good ‘ol  Mitzi came into its own and whilst watching a lot of cars sliding past I was very glad that we had a 4 X 4.  We dutifully set up our gazebo, found the kit boxes from under the mountain of cake and awaited the girls.  They finally arrived in high spirits, no signs of flagging at this point, although their feet and boots had merged into one under the mud!    The rain suddenly decided to pour and After the first lot of Sandra’s presents – of which we had one for each check point we said farewell to them and Karen , who in her madness had decided to walk with them.     The devastation that was our   now rain soaked, muddy check point stared back us.  Emma and I gave each other a look of OMG how the hell is this lot going to fit back into the car!!  No one had eaten enough cake!!    After a hug of despair we went in a search of bacon sandwiches!    Sold out : ((

Checkpoint 2

We already knew at this point that check points 3 & 6 were closed, but now,  as a very soggy gazebo was shoved back into the car we were told that check point 4 was no longer accessible.   We managed to fit in a sneaky stop at the exit of check point 3 under the pretext of picking up Karen, who by this point had not only got a blister but also managed to lose the sole of her boot!    So with very  hastily, wet rolls made for the girls and quick attention to their feet we said our goodbyes again hoping they would keep each other going through to checkpoint 5,  which seemed miles and hours away ….

Lyn in the mud near CP5

With a car full of soggy wet coats, boots, clothes, a gazebo, chairs and food that we didn’t have a hope in hell of finding we went to the nearest pub for some much needed subsidence .    Whilst eating in a nice warm pub, which we had turn’t into widow Twanky’s laundry room, we realised we didn’t have a phone signal between us.  Whoops !  

By check point 5 the rain had just stopped long enough for us to set up the agreed 80’s Check point complete with a blow up Zimmer frame for Sandra 40^th and comedy hats for all.   Although the tutu’s were abandoned - lost in the depths of what was once the large boot of my car and which was probably a good job as ‘sense of humour failure’ was not far away!  Me and Emma left Karen in charge of the pasta and slipped and sloshed through the mud to meet the girls.   I was anxious to see that they were ok by this point, as we saw a lot of people in pain hobbling past us  -  They looked remarkably well and still in fine spirits,  even Becky at this stage who despite a massive blister was still able to be talked out of quitting.   I feel we did manage to give them a decent check point here as this was our last sight of them now as we handed over to the night shift who was the dynamic Steve and Paul.   Who made amazing scones - thank you.    Having off loaded all the kit including some still remaining cake, we headed home, which by the miracle of Emma’s sat nav we got to about 11 o’clock.    After checking the laptop every time I woke up through the night it was brilliant to hear that 3 out of the 4 Vale Venturers made it all the way through the mud, rain and hell that was Trail Walker..    Well done  and thank you for letting me be a part of it.  So proud of you all xx