wendy glenn

Don't want to moan about the weather but.....

So this weekend on a rare weekend off I decided to go for a coastal walk to try and keep the temperatures as low as possible and decided to do a route around Mersea Island.  It had been a while since I walked the route.  Quick look at the map and check of the tide times.  Alarm set for 05:00 and at West Mersea for a 06:00 start.  I had opted to do the hardest bit physically first, so walking west to east along the beach for a while.  Set of well and was making good time up until reaching East Mersea Youth Camp.  I was on a time constraint because of other commitments and then it all started to go wrong amidst high temperatures and an incoming tide.  For years now the sea defenses around that area have been damaged and fallen into the sea.  I'd walked it before so knew there would be a bit of climbing up and down.  I completely underestimated this in the fact that much more damage has occurred since I last walked the route.  I came to a bit that was completely washed away by the tide and which was at least 2ft deep in water.  The path to the side was deep thick clay mud which was proving tricky, coupled with using bits of the old sea wall as stepping stones was beginning to get dangerous. So now I am faced with either go into the water not knowing how deep it was or if it would be more mud I'd be getting stuck in (not a good option with no dry socks and about 10 miles still to go) or turn back and cross the difficult section in quicker time as the tide is now less than an hour until high tide.  I turned back and after a few more trips onto my backside and tweaking my left ankle I made it back to a point of safety from the tide.  I now have a good 2 inch layer of clay mud on the bottom of my boots, am absolutely filthy and have wasted over an hour of my limited time on this part.  I stopped at a conveniently placed picnic bench to try and re-plan the route and eat breakfast.  I was left with 4 hours before I needed to be back at home and it was already in the high twenties in temperature even next to the sea.  Looking at the map it was now going to be at least 2 - 3 miles detour to get to where I wanted to be (and should have been by now) and with the tempertures soaring and slowing the pace realistically I was going to be struggling as did not have all day to play with.  I made the decision to abort the training and walk back to West Mersea to collect my car.  Disappointing training wise although I was really struggling in the heat and the picking across broken concrete with clay covered boots was certainly not ideal.  I'm resigning myself to the fact that I am going to struggle on the walk big time because of my lack of training.  All I can do is to do as much as I can and hope for the best........  Once a tail ender, always a tail ender.  KRO!!!!

That was a warm one....

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! First training walk of 2023 completed. 5.5 miles on roads and pavements around the MOD Middlewick Ranges. Just a light bimble in walking kit but without daysack or 🐫 . Not a blistering pace, but we're the KRO Tail End Crew, not racing snakes 😀 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Seasons greetings and a massive thank you everyone for your continued support.  Well the festive season is amongst us, but it is good for us to recognise that not everyone is looking forward to it.  A thought for the families who have lost loved ones since last Christmas, those who are alone or those families whose loved ones are at work or on deployment around the world with His Majesty's Armed Services, many of whom will not be able to even make a call or email home.  In the New Year the training will start in earnest, I just need to let Ernest know!!  Laters taters!!!

We're getting the band back together....... This is the longest blog I will write I promise :-)

First of all, a big thanks for looking at my fundraising page.  I've finally got around to uploading some photos from my previous Frontline Walks.  For those of you who are new and uninitiated to my spur of the moment ideas, back in 2016 I decided that I really liked the look of The Frontline Walk and signed up for my first one.  Someone commented that "I would never be able to do that"....  Since then I have completed 2 walks across the Western Front of WW1 (2017 & 2018) and 1 across the Normandy Beaches (delayed until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic) all 100km.  So one would think that I should know better by now!!  In fact the complete opposite and I feel more motivated than ever to be raising money for this wonderful charity and I have decided to sign up for my 4th Frontline Walk in aid of ABF The Soldiers Charity.  This charity does so much good work for our veterans and their families.  I have supported them since 2016 and have taken part in other events as well as The Frontline Walk to raise funds.