Explorer Expedition - Day 3 to 7

(apologies that it has taken a while to post the last of our blogs but we have been recovering and been on a well deserved break)

Day 3 -  Saturday 28 July

Today we walked from Ferny Croft to Bishops Waltham. It was the longest day, but we are all glad to have got it over with. It was slow going and took over nine hours to complete. 7km to the ferry crossing and then a half hour wait for the ferry, so we sat on the tram which was to take us to the end. Matt gave out all the tickets, and between the wait and the tram journey to the end, Adam managed to lose his ferry ticket. We had only 2 minutes to look for it before the ferry was to leave, so we had to all run for the ferry where on board Adam found ticket in his roll mat (£$%&^?). When the conductor came to stamp our tickets he asked if anyone had lost their wallets. We all said no, where upon the conductor presented a wallet, and Adam said it was his (£$%&^?). What a £&!$%^.

Crossing Southampton was hard going all day. Both Miles and Chris found it hard going, Miles with Achilles tendon and Chris with many blisters. It was slow and painful throughout crossing Southampton. We had to stop three times in the space of an hour due to toilet and Wi-Fi access and then we had to cross the M27 junction. There we decided to adjust the route so as to make it shorter. It involved heading towards a disused railway line and then following it up to Bishops Waltham. The pace had dropped and moral was low but we made it the railway line to find that it was very disused and we couldn’t walk down it at all. So we had to continue on along a road. Miles was in too much pain to continue, so with three miles to go, Mike had to rescue him and drive him to the scout hall. So the rest of us plodded on pace slowing and Chris struggling but the text from Miles telling us of Fish and Chips spurred us on to the hall, where we were greeted by Miles and Mike smiling. The rest of us flopped on the ground and then got foot baths to soothe our tired feet and then half an hour later we got our fish/sausage and chips. Moral shot from a 3 out of 10 to 10 out of 10. And all were happy. After the meal Albert got all the maps out and put them out next to each other so as to see how far we had to go. Looking at the maps we realised that the hard walks were over and that we could do this. Day 4, 5, and 6 were all easy in comparison to the first 3 and that it was downhill from now on. We all decided to get an early night and maximise our sleep.

 

Day 4 - Sunday 29 July

Today we walked from Bishops Waltham to Petersfield. It was supposed to be a 6 hour walk, but that changed. We’ll start from the beginning. We set of at 8:15, and if our maths was good that means that we should arrive, with one hour of stops included, at 1:15 but we got very distracted with road signs. We kept stopping to do filming which slowed us down, but we got good footage so all was good. After that we followed the route, but there was a horrible cloud following us and it would not leave us alone. At two points we stopped to take shelter: one under a bridge and one at a bus stop. We stopped at the bus stop for a long time because we had open fields ahead of us, and walking in what was to come meant that stopping there was a good idea, so we sat watching lightning and thunder going over our heads for a long time, but in the end it was the best thing to do.

As we got to Petersfield we had to cross a dual carriageway, but there was a problem:

Can’t go under it, You can’t go under it, So we got to go round it

And that was a pain in the bum, but as we got to the hall all was well, and as we got there we were happy. When we entered there was CARPET and it only got better from there - we found a room with long CUSHIONS and better still:

WE HAD COUCHES AND MY WORD WE WERE HAPPY!

We had the amazing cooking skills of Adam’s Grandma which was awesome, plus, we had a television so we watched Ghostbusters, which was an EPIC film, and then we went slept. The worst part of today was Albert forgot the jam.

 Day 5 - Monday 30 July

Day 5 and we were a team member down; Chris had to go home the evening before due to having severe blisters on his feet. So we got up early and Matt cooked some bacon sandwiches before Adam’s grandparent came to collect the extra kit in the morning. We left the scout hall at 8:15 and were soon making good progress out of Petersfield. Today was 29km so we knew it would be a long day. We stopped at a garden centre on root for a rest so Matt and Miles went in to see what was in the shop and to Albert’s delight found him a pot of jam for his lunch. We pressed on from there till lunchtime where we stopped in the middle of a forest for a lunch break for half an hour. When we set of we came across a snake in the grass which Sam found to be very interesting. We continued walking and arrived at the scout hut we were staying at around 6:30pm where we met Chris again and Angela who had brought us some very nice homemade cake. We had to wait for the hall to be opened but once we were in we started cooking (which was another lovely meal of boil in the bag) before going straight to bed after that.

Day 6 -  Tuesday 31 July

Day 6 and with the team back up to fall strength we woke up early made our porridge and then set of at 8am knowing today was the shortest day of the walk as it was only 16km. The weather was dull and miserable but we pressed on and made good time. We were already half way by 11 so took a long break outside a co-op in Little Mead. We then had to walk up a very very steep hill when we were not far away. We arrived at our final stop over at 3pm where we had lunch and then waited for pizzas to be delivered by Sue, Michelle and Maria. While waiting Kevin (one of the crew from Bentley Copse) told us that we could stay in the crew accommodation that night which we were very grateful for. After having our pizzas we all had showers and watched some of the Olympics as well as having games of Pool and table football. We took an early night so that we could be fully prepared for the final day.

Day 7  - Wednesday 1 August

The final day had arrived!

 After a good night sleep we set of from Bentley Copse. We left about 8am again as we had to me John and Sue at Leith Hill at 10am. There were lots of hills on route so this slowed us down lots. At 10:30 am we arrived at Leith Hill where we were greeted with sandwiches ready for our lunch. After this we then set of again and the closer we got to home the more we recognised the surrounding area so all of the spirits grew.

We stopped in South Holmwood for lunch where we heard about a man from the Surrey Mirror coming to Priory to take our photo for the paper. It was going to take us another couple of hours to reach the Priory so we waited outside for a bit as we had been told to meet there at 4pm. So when we walked into Priory there were lots of people waiting to welcome us and then walk the final part with us. We had our photos taken then set of in a large group for the last bit of the walk (Reigate Priory to St Joseph’s). As we approached the church we let everyone else go on ahead before we ran to the finish line where even more people were waiting to welcome us home. Once we had touched the garages and collapsed, Fr Chris brought us out some ice creams, we had our photos taken before all going home to our own beds for the first time in 2 long weeks. We all felt very proud to be part of this walk and are all grateful for the support we have received.