Keswick to Barrow walk completed

Setting off for anywhere at 4.30 in the morning might be a challenge enough for me at any time, but an hour and a half later my intrepid friends and colleagues and I were to be starting surely the most gruelling of charity events that the South Lakes has to offer. Myself and 10 others from Cox Motor Group (actually including some with slightly tenuous links to the company, like my sister) took part in last Saturday’s Keswick to Barrow (K2B) 40 mile walk. Yes that’s 40 miles, not a typing error! Raising money for amongst others, the North West Air Ambulance, is always a good reason, but 40 miles? Surely there have to be easier ways.

The weather forecast had been under serious scrutiny for many days but nevertheless we set off at bang on 6 a.m. with only light drizzle and promising looking skies. The walk is really professionally organised with an electronic tag that hangs around a walker’s neck which needs to be touched against a sensor pad at 10 points along the way. The final one in Barrow is surely the most satisfying of the “beeps” that a walker hears, in fact it sounds like a fanfare!

10 miles in, Grasmere village and we were looking good, the skies had indeed cleared, we had reached our first support vehicle stop and were in an optimistic mood as we ditched our no longer needed water-proofs and took on food and drink. Unfortunately that was to prove too optimistic as the weather forecasters hadn’t got it entirely right. The thing about the walk is that you don’t really know if you’re going to make it or not until right near the end so there is no room for over confidence. Every slight twinge, ache and discomfort starts your mind playing tricks with you and doubts as to your ability to see it right through to the bitter end, grow by the mile. But anyway we carried on regardless, the team getting split into smaller teams as the pace increases and decreases in turn. Some preferred to plough a lonely furrow whilst others sought sanctuary in the company of others. Me? I just kept walking, ignoring the pain as best I could, in fact at times I can’t remember who I was walking with.

There is a great deal of camaraderie on the K2B. Over 3000 people thrown together from all sorts of eclectic backgrounds and the spirit of achieving something big is certainly evident. It’s not just the excellent marshals along the way that encourage the walkers, random people turn up to support with enthusiastic clapping and shouts of “Well done, keep going, nearly finished”. The most welcome of those has got to be the chap and his two young sons whom I remember from last year (did I mention 4 of us had done it before?) who appeared at approaching 30 miles with big bags of sweets that they give out free to many a tired walker needing a sugar boost. Quite honestly it’s that kind of thing that makes you want to do it again.

18 miles came up and we took on more calories from our support vehicle driven again by the brilliant Barry Todd who winds his way along the route in the form of a mobile oasis providing our access to fresh socks, boots, clothing and as mentioned food and drink. Actually the event is so well organised that drink and food stations are all along the route offering bananas and apples and even burgers and brews. The team bunched up and regrouped again at this point but not for long as the long winding road beckoned. Some of the route takes place on public roads, again perfectly marshalled to ensure walkers safety but I prefer the sections without any vehicles, it makes it easier for me when I begin to stagger wildly from side to side.

As the afternoon progressed, the weather in turn begin to deteriorate. The decision to ditch our outer layers began to seem as bad as agreeing to do the walk in the first place and our t-shirts and pants turned from damp to wet to utterly soaking. This was bad, every step became harder and I could do nothing but keep my head down and just get on with it. Later, everyone confided in me that the weather turning had had a major impact or their morale. I promise you, it was tough.

By mid-afternoon we were climbing up Kirkby Moor, surely my least favourite part of the route this time. Last year the sun shone brightly as we rose up to the highest point of the walk and the view down to Morecambe bay was magnificent, a real morale booster. This time however it was wet, misty and foreboding and I swear it had grown a few hundred feet higher, what a difference a year and the weather makes?

The ones that hadn’t completed the walk before, had all asked me at which point did I realise that I could actually make it, when did I know it could be done? Well I think that point generally comes at the 30.5 mile marker, Horrace Cross Roads. From here it was pretty much downhill (well sort of) and we were counting down in single figures. So again came a change of emotion and fortune. The weather was changing back to bright and at times quite sunny, we became drier and actually started to look forward to the finish. We couldn’t fail now we thought and I could taste the beer and pie at the Hawcoat social club already.

The final section through Dalton was remarkable. We walked passed a pub where every table crammed with drinkers put their hands together to applaud us as we passed, such is the respect and recognition of the effort. In fact I’d like to thank everyone who expressed some sort of support to any walker during the day. It makes it all worthwhile, trust me on that one.

With only a few hundred yards to go, I attempted a rather sneaky break-away attempt from our group of 5 (the others had splintered off ahead during the afternoon) in order to show supremacy over my wife Debbie who disgracefully done the same last year and succeeded in beating my time by that all important few seconds. She had already assumed that I would have tried such a stunt and set off at a sprint to win the battle. I couldn’t believe that after nearly 40 miles of relentless walking I could coax my already beaten body into anything more than a jog but we’re a competitive bunch in our house (you should see what the kids are like) and we dashed towards the line. Onlookers seeing the husband versus wife contest unfolding before them began to shout encouragement with the ladies winning the vocal competition with shouts of “Go on love, don’t let him beat you!” I saw her beaming smile at this expression of female solidarity.

But in the end common sense prevailed and before we both collapsed in a heap with 25 yards to go we slowed to a mere fast walking pace again and crossed the line together, although chivalry reigned as I let Debbie swipe her tag before me. She clearly will have a different version of the final events.

So, we all made it, and what a feeling. I promise you that nothing can compare with that exhilaration. So well done to Debbie Cox, Geoff Stothert, Sarah Stothert, Lindsay Cox, Steve Morrison, Sim Tucker, Annette Tucker, Kathleen Robinson, Jaki McKitrick, Ian Greene, you were all fantastic!

The K2B is incredibly hard, but will I be there again next year?

Frankly, it’s just too well organised and too much fun to miss.