constanttrek

Breaking us (in)

August 5th, 2004

It is day 5 of the long march, and we are in Rochester having (another) rest day. It has been some experience, so far! Thankyou to everyone who came down to see us off at Trafalgar Square. I am sure nobody else had a clue what was going on, but it was great for us to have the moral support. Thankyou also to Dan, Stefania, Dad and Ela for walking all the way to Greenwich with us, and to all of you who came down to Greenwich for dinner – it was a great last night for us.
So, on to day two.
On the map it didn’t look far from Greenwich to Stone (Dartford Crossing). About 9 miles, 10 at the most. We figured it would be a long day but worth it to get us out of London. Ha! Try 15 miles, up hill and down dale, with far too much weight in the packs. When we actually got to Stone, it took us another hour or so to find the hotel we had booked into (we booked hotels to Rochester as there were no camping grounds), by which stage it was 9.30pm. We had been walking since about 11.00 – it took us a while to get packed on the second day – so we really were shattered. The fire alarm at 2.00 am didn’t do a great deal to help, and given the state of us as we attempted to walk from the bed to the bath the next morning we decided it would be a good day to rest.
A day off, good sleep, and a bath all meant we were feeling far fitter on Wednesday, so we headed off up the A2 for Rochester. Wednesday has been by far our best day so far, as we did about 12 miles and although we were sore at the end of it, we were nothing like the crippled pair that limped into Stone two days before. It also felt as though we had some sort of rhythm at last.
It will be great to finally hit the North Downs Way walking path and get off the motorways, as we are both fed up with trucks and cars screaming past us. It is an oddly alienating experience to be the freakshow walking on the side of the road rather than Joe Citizen whizzing by in the car – as if you no longer belong to society, which I guess, in some ways, we don’t. I have been acutely aware of how odd we must look, with our oversize packs, walking sticks, and accroutrements. We have had several adolescent youths giving us the benefit of their erudite advice as they screech past, and more toots than I can count. I quite fancy getting a sticker which says “honk if you think I’m sexy”, just so I get an ego boost when they go by. (Although there is always the chance, looking as attractive as I do covered in sweat, that no-one would honk – and where would that leave me?) Now that we have the website painted on our backpack covers, I at least feel that there is some benefit in people noticing us. Perhaps they may bother to look us up – hey, if you do, and fancy throwing us some sponsorship, you know where to email….
After today we have a couple of long haul walks, but the plus side is that we are into camping country – well, everywhere except for Dover. If anyone knows somewhere we can camp in Dover, please let us know!
We are beginning to feel as though we are finding our feet, so to speak, and although the blisters are rather large and somewhat painful, our bodies seem to be adjusting fairly well. We still look fairly amusing when we try to stand up after we have finished walking, rather like a pair of manky old drunks trying to balance. It is all good though, and we are glad to be on our way at last. Hopefully we shall write again by Dover and let you know if we are still standing.

Entry Filed under: trekking