I didn't really sleep that much on the saturday night. It was raining all through the night. Well it rained all day too! I wore a vest, my thermal long sleeve top, my jumper and my hat, also my head was, face down, in the hood of my sleeping bag! So I was warm enough. Now I don't normally get a wake up call and if I do it's a soft "time to get up Jo." However on Sunday morning it was quite different! I was already awake and before I knew it Hannah ran into the tent and shouted "Jo! Wake the f*** up!" Good morning to you too Hannah. I was there thinking it's only 6:00 and Hannah was there thinking "oh my god it's 8:00 we've only got an hour to pack our stuff!" By the time I told her it was 6:00 everyone was up.
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| Guess who? Yes it's Lucy in her funky hat! I've got to say Hannah had a pretty funky hat too! |
Everyone was up, dressed and cold, so Hannah put some hot water on and we had hot porridge for breakfast which was much nicer than the tea we had! It was hot and creamy, a good way to start the wet windy day. As people started to get up, people wanted to go home and in the end some people did! Our group went down to 5 from 7. Amber and Frankie dropped out however they did amazingly on the saturday. I was proud of them both.
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| Me and my group said goodbye to Frankie and Amber! 2 down and 5 more standing! |
We started packing our rucksacks, ready to conquer the rain. Hannah and Georgia's tent had collapsed due to the heavy rain and strong winds. No wonder Hannah ran into my tent so early in the morning. Georgia was getting a bit upset because she didn't know whether to go home or not, Monique was upset and she didn't like it at all but she carry on. Lucy and Hannah was happy to carry on too and there was me happy as larry, hugging everyone who was upset. Some people thought I was a bit crazy that I wanted to carry on, I didn't really mind the rain or the cold wind, I just wanted to be proud of something I did and I really enjoyed it! We all manage to get our tent down in the rain and everyone was soaked. We all gathered in the teachers tent, whilst Mr Withey and some of the other teachers decided to change our route and make it shorter. Off we went through the rain and mud, with our hoods up, our coat zipped up to the top, our waterproof trousers wet already and our walking boats which nearly felt like we were walking bare foot in puddles. Before we left we went to the toilet to put our gloves under the hand dryer because they were soak through too, and that was just by putting the tent down.
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| Our Sunday route was the blue route which was made shorter due to the rain! |
Me, Lucy, Hannah, Georgia and Monique were trudging through the park in the wet, again we took the wrong turn and we ended up on a round-about for some bizarre reason but we managed to get back on track. When we finally made it back on to the track, we saw 2 Arthur Terry vans drive past, I knew now more people would drop out whilst walking because the rain was now really heavy and the cold was pretty much unbearable. We walked past a random military training ground, then through a field! Yes another field! Its funny that we were in the middle of the countryside and there were fields! However this field went up hill and the eroded path that was going straight through the field looked like a stream. We headed up this muddy and slippery field/hill, my walking boots were definitely not dry any more and I'm sure everyone elses boots weren't dry either. The water came up to our ankles and you could hear the squelching of the water! You could also hear the wind, it was was like someone was literally trying to push us over. It was mad! We were making good progress and everyone was at the top of the field/hill, with the wind howling in our ears and it was getting colder. In the distance I heard some shout to tell me that Monique couldn't breath properly so the rest of the group decided that I should call Mr Withey, so on the top of the field/hill was where I had a nice little chat with Mr Withey. So Sir told us to walk to the next check point which was only down the road from the farm at the top of the hill/field. But we missed the check point (I would say that was my fault because I was reading the map.) So we got to this other farm and it was time for phone call 2. By the time the mini bus found us our group had extended and about 3 other groups had joined us. Luckily the bus did find us because Monique looked like she was going to collapse!
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| On the right is Monique! Oh and look its Lucy and her funky hat again! |
3 down and 4 more standing! Lucy gloves turned into taps. When she squeezed the water out I could of had a decent glass of water. Her hands were blue and I offered her my gloves but she didn't take them. I felt so bad. I could see and almost feel the pain in her hands, but she held it in and Hannah gave her a towel to wrap her hands in. As we were doing that a lady pulled up in her car and offered us a hot drink. Everyone was thinking the same thing at that point. We all wanted a hot drink but we knew that we weren't allowed so we said no and carried on walking. We didn't really say much after that until we got to a small field with 2 furry friends looking unimpressed to see us. 2 toffee cows were casually standing in the field, and we walked around them debating if they were bulls or cows. They were cows...with horns! We walked very swiftly through that field and on to a country lane where these beautiful bluebells grew on the side on the road. They made the day a bit brighter whilst walking that little bit of the route. We were nearly there, I must of said this a thousand times whilst walking that day but it was only to encourage everyone to carry on. But we were actaully nearly there, we had to cross 2 more fields, go over a bridge and there was the finish. The pub. Everyone was exhausted and I was proud of myself and my whole group. We did it. We got back to Kingsbury waterpark and the look on Mr Simmons face was "You actually did it!" and yep we certainly did. We had blood, sweat, laughter and tears. Well we didn't have any blood which was good. We had some hilarious times like when Georgia some how couldn't get over this fence because her feet were in the wrong position and she was just stuck there. We had annoying moments like when a teacher teases you because he has a throw-in-the-air pop up tent. But the best moment was getting home and having a hot bath and at that moment in time it hits you that you've actually completed the expedition, whatever the weather was, and you just feel so proud of what you achieved! I certainly did! Just fingers crossed for good weather for the real thing!
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| The view of the countryside! |
