Category: Tourist Running

Hadrian’s Wall Day 3

Jess Guth1 Comment

It didn’t go to plan. 7 miles in I couldn’t cope anymore. I’m not sure with what or why but I just couldn’t. The pain wasn’t really any worse than it had been all morning. It was there as a constant but not worse. The terrain was much more challenging but I knew it was going to be hard. I was ok for a little while and then confidence on any ascent and descent vanished- tricky when most of the route is up or down. Eventually brain and body said ‘nope, not today’. There were another 2 miles to navigate before a way off. We agreed Kath would carry on and I would head to the Sill and figure things out from there. So at 9 miles we split and I walked slowly down the road.

Anyway, I’m disappointed and cross and sad and sore and need time to process. I found some joy in the day, a lovely scenic bus ride, people who helped, a room with a bath…

We re- asses tomorrow.

Hadrian’s Wall Day 2 – Carlisle to Gilsland

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Just a very quick post because I’m tired and need to process today. We left Howard Lodge in Carlisle just after 8 am after an average breakfast but nice overall stay.

Today’s route was varied, more undulating than yesterday and actually a lovely route.

There were some muddy bits and some of the road sections were actually welcome after having spent a chunk of time thinking carefully about where to put our feet.

We had the path completely to ourselves for the first 5.5 miles and after that we met others coming in the opposite direction every couple of miles or so.

My feet are sore. The walking shoes were still soaking wet so I obviously wore the trail running shoes. They’re actually much better and fabulous in mud but they are quite tight. Those pressure points already tender got worse and I was in low level pain from early on. facilities are basically non existent so eventually we had a wild wee.

The sunshine was lovely and it was nice not to be rained on! But I started flagging quite early. We decided to push on to 10 miles before lunch. I sort of made it but I was struggling. We sat by the roadside and had some pasta we’d bought from M&S. I struggled to get going again and in Walton we thought we’d stop at the tea room for coffee. We didn’t have coffee because we couldn’t get served as the guy running it seemed more interested in chatting to locals. He seemed cross that we left with me just having had a pee but in all the time it took he hadn’t taken an order from Kath.

We saw the first bits of stone wall today. It’s quite a staggering wall and must have been tea imposing in its time.

Around 14 ish miles I lost the plot. Everything seems to hurt worse. There was a narrow muddy section that just made feet and hips throb with every step. I had a little cry. I got in my head. It definitely felt like I had taken on too much. I was cross that I didn’t feel better. After all we were just walking and not walking fast and the terrain was mostly fine and while there had been a hill or two it really wasn’t a strenuous route.

So today has been tough. Dacre House, our B&B is really nice and I am happy to just be able to rest. My feet are really tender, my little toes are blistered to hell and let’s just not talk about the chafing along the knicker line – let’s just say I screamed in the shower and Kath’s response to seeing it was ‘fucking hell that’s horrendous’. Vaseline has been liberally applied, the toe blisters popped and I’m about to do some stretches and then sleep.

Tomorrow is another long day. It has much more up in it and is described as moderate to strenuous. I don’t know how I’m going to do it. But I want to.

Hadrian’ Wall Day 1: Bowness-on-Solway to Carlisle

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We are tucked up in our Bed and Breakfast in Carlisle after a good day getting wet through walking in the rain. Our adventure started yesterday with a train journey from Keighley to Carlisle. This includes the Settle to Carlisle line which is a stunning route. From Carlisle we got a taxi out to our B&B – basically the route we’d be walking back today.

I’ll review the accommodation separately on Trip Advisor but Bowness House Farm, now Hunters Leisure complex or something like that was fine. Not luxury and with interesting decor (diamanté encrusted toilet roll holder anyone?) and average food but fine. After a little stretch of legs on the beach we ate and then settled in.

This morning the earliest we could have breakfast was 8am so that’s what we did. Then we left our bags ready to be picked up and transported on to the next B&B and off we went. We’d spoken to a guy at breakfast who had just finished the walk the other way had described our Day 1 as boring. it was anything but!

After the obligatory start selfie and stamp in our Hadrian’s Wall passports we made our way out of the village and along the road for a bit. The Solway Firth is quite spectacular really and we paused every now and again to listen to curlews and oyster catchers. We soon picked up the off road path for a bit before making our way past a Holiday park and along a lane. A little stretch along and we stopped to put our rain jackets on. And we didn’t take them off again all day.

A brief nod to Drumburgh Castle and we were on the Burgh Marshes. That’s a roughly 3 mile stretch which we walked part on the road and part up on the grassy mound. We could still hear and see curlews and lapwings. Once we crossed the cattle grid at the end of the marshes, we were heading into Burgh-by-Sands. Our taxi driver had told us that the Pub there was pretty much the only thing open for refreshments along the route and that it opened at 12. It was only 11.30 so no coffee and pee stop. It was raining quite heavily and as we continued on I got completely drenched by a car driving through a puddle. I lost my sense of humour for a few minutes and am marched on with soggy knickers.

We had been leapfrogging a woman walking on her own and she stopped at a portaloo by the village green and we decided to do the same. Feeling more comfortable we continued on with a brief stop to look at St Michael’s church. After that we walked along a few fields navigating the cows and sheep. We arrived in Beaumont with St Mary’s church sitting sort of above us on the hill and a welcome look bench round a tree inviting us to pause for a bite to eat. In addition there was a coffee trailer.

We had our packed lunch and coffee, briefly chatted to two women also walking the wall and then set off again. More fields, more cows and lots more kissing gates as we made our way alongside the river Eden into Carlisle. We walked all the way round the Sands Centre to find the entrance so we could stamp our passports. We saw the two women there again after having leapfrogged each other a couple of times. We realised we didn’t actually have to go all the way round and used a back exit to get us back on the path.

Technically the route for today was complete just before the Sands Centre but we decided to add a bit of tomorrow’s route on as we would need to walk to the B&B anyway and continuing on the path was really only marginally further. I jumped straight into the shower to get the worst of the mud off legs (I’d been wearing 3/4 length pants) and we rested a little before going for food in town. We went to Franco’s. Good pasta and pizza and the best espresso I’ve hard in a while!

So that’s what we did. About 17 miles all in. But how did I feel. My shoes aren’t quite right. They are quite hard/stiff and then they got wet. So my feet felt quite tender from quite early on. I’m considering my trail running shoes for tomorrow but they are quite tight so not sure yet. I got in my head every now and again. Early on I had a panic about whether I could do this and there were bits where I was anxious – some stone flag steps, fields full of cows, significant mud… but I’m fine. I’m tired because I’m not fit and my feet are a bit sore but it’s all good and tomorrow looks like it might be drier – which would be lovely!

Birmingham run

Jess Guth2 Comments

I’m in Birmingham for work and currently sitting in the Clayton Hotel restaurant hoping that writing this on my phone will make me look unsociable enough to stop any of the others joining me for breakfast. There should be a very clear rule against joining others for breakfast unless explicitly agreed beforehand.

Anyway, I am feeling quite pleased with myself because I actually got out for a run. I was awake early but couldn’t really be bothered to get up. I felt dehydrated and quite creaky. I dozed for a bit, had some water and decided to at least go for a little walk in what seemed to be glorious morning sunshine. I got my running gear on and set off. I walked up the slope towards the cathedral and after about 5 minutes dropped into run/walk. I carried on to symphony hall and then looped back to say hi to the Floozie in the Jacuzzi before coming back past the still closed shops, Moor Street station and the seemingly ever expanding HS2 building site.

The run was almost exactly 2 miles and felt like a positive loop to start the day with. My right hamstring and calf are tight and might need some tlc but other than that it just felt nice to be out.

More Walking than Running in Week 3

Jess Guth1 Comment
Bath Royal Crescent
Bath Abbey

Week 3 was always going to be a challenge to my running. I spent the entire week (actually Monday to Monday) in Bath at the final residential for my DBA programme. I can’t quite believe that the taught phase of the programme is now over or that I have managed to get 2 distinctions and a merit so far (given everything going on I would have happily taken 3 passes!) but all that’s another story for a different blog! Let’s just say the residentials are always intense and somehow I really felt the intensity of this one. Maybe it was just because I was 100% present physically and mentally without any day job distractions. For the week I was basically a sort of happy tired that was mostly mental and which comes from thinking about hard things lots. I’m not explaining it very well. It’s sort of energising but at the same time utterly exhausting – but in a good way…

Me – Bath Botanical Gardens

Anyway, before I tie myself in knots completely trying to explain my happy tired brain, let’s focus on running. Monday was out because of travel and then classes until 6 and then hotel check in and catching up with people… Tuesday I felt totally overwhelmed and at the same time eager to get on with my studies – so instead of running I got the bus to Bath University campus and got stuck in. The bus stop was right by Pulteney Weir (below) so not a bad place to wait for a bus and it was also lovely to wander through town, past the Abbey and taking in the really quite phenomenal architecture. Wednesday I tried to get my backside out before my brain could find an excuse. I had a random trot round Bath which felt clunky and not at all normal (see previous post). It was still quite dark so I didn’t take any pictures. I made decisions about which way to go based on avoiding the few people already out and I spent a disproportionate amount of time thinking about how sporty Bath Uni is and that all the runners I had seen out and about looked liked runners. Yes yes I know! Turns out I ran a very wonky but somehow very satisfying almost figure of 8.

Strava map of my run
Roman Baths

I tried to stretch but there wasn’t really enough space in my hotel room and I was also desperate to get showered and sorted and out. I had a windowless room – cheaper, but not great – so wanted to spend as little time in it as possible. The truth is, I wasn’t moving enough. I was spending all day sitting whether that was doing some work before class, in class, on the bus orin the evening at restaurants or on/in bed in my room and everything was stiffening up. I felt creaky. Very creaky and my foot was hurting a little again. For run 2, I put running gear on but I was just going to go walk and see how it felt. I walked almost all of the 25 minutes or whatever it was I was meant to be doing. I think I only ran 3 or 4 of the intervals. I felt better for having got out but annoyed at not running. I think it was probably the right thing to do given how niggly my feet and ankles were once I got up to the uni though.

River Avon, Bath

On Sunday I was aiming for run 3. Oh how I would love to get the week ticked off even if there was way more walking involved than I wanted. By Sunday I was tired. I snoozed my alarm several times and by the time I properly woke up I wasn’t sure I would have time to run my 2 miles, come back to the hotel, get showered and organised and then get the bus. So instead I got dressed, grabbed my bag and set off on a walk. From the hotel I walked to the Royal Crescent, from there to the botanical gardens and then towards the river. Then I had to decide whether I was going to walk up to the uni. I hadn’t done it all week mainly to protect my foot and when I had set off from the hotel I thought I might walk up so at least I’d done it once…but I could feel my foot. So instead of heading back the short way and then walking up hill to campus, I walked the long way on the flat along the river. Flat is much easier on my foot. By the time I got back into town to grab coffee and breakfast, I was in pain though. I’d only walked a little over 3 miles and it was glorious thinking time but it was probably a stupid thing to do. We finished a little earlier than during the week so once back in town I went to the Roman Baths and then into the Abbey – it was nice to do some tourist stuff, too. We celebrated our last night of the residential with a lovely meal in town.

Pulteney Weir and Bridge, Bath

On Monday I really did feel stiff and my foot hurt – to the point that I took the anti-inflammatory pain killers I had been prescribed. No chance of getting a run in before the final day of classes. I decided to count the 2 outings that were essentially walks, tick off week 3 and move on. Getting out three times and moving is still winning. Consistency is perhaps more important than whether I run or walk or how fast at the minute. I need getting out there every couple of days to just be what I do again – the more it’s a habit the easier it is to get out. For week 4 I would be at home so it should be easier.