21-22/06/25
Many of these photos were taken by Fiona, and the order of presentation and narration is somewhat random.
One of my sisters is receiving treatment for breast cancer in Cheltenham; I went to an appointment with her and spotted this fundraiser. I managed to persuade my brother and other sister to enter. They had better palmarès than I did; Rory and his friend walked the 70 mile boundary of a parish, and Fiona has run the Oxford half marathon the last few years.
There were hills and wolds:
Most of the route was on excellent footpaths:
We (well, not Rory) were born in Gloucester, but it’s a long time since we moved away and most of the route was unfamiliar. This turned out to be the first of many heatwaves in the UK this summer, which was a real challenge. I’m used to Audax-type events so something more supported was a little different, although there was a lot of the same spirit.
We got to Painswick, which was the quarter point, pretty well. Naomi and Claire came to meet us there:
The next leg, to Coaley Peak was ok, but we were slowing. On to Wotton was a real trial, we were struggling with nausea and dizziness. The tip from the organisers was to drink water at every km marker, but given the heat we were most likely still dehydrated. We couldn’t take on any food at Wotton and after much deliberation we decided that going back out in the cold and dark was not a good idea, and retired. That turned out to be a whole other adventure, with a coach driven by someone who had clearly never seen it before and couldn’t get above 2nd gear. Finally we got back to the Cirencester start where rescuer Chris had been waiting for quite some time to drive us back to Oxford.
We managed to raise an amazing £3k, but were disappointed that we didn’t complete the full 100 km. Next year we will do the second half of the event (which should be easier than the first).
55 km, 1,616 m climbed
