So what went wrong? – Part Four (the last bit)?

When I started my first post about my 2021 experience I intended it to be single post detailing the various errors I had made. This all seemed a bit negative so it kind of expanded into a more narrative tale about my race. I was intending Part Three to continue until the end and my inglorious withdrawal but there are a few people who made a significant contribution to keeping me going, and who deserve more than a passing mention, so this final section will acknowledge those as we get ever closer to my demise…

When I arrived at Checkpoint Four I was in a pretty bad way and fairly despondent. I knew that at my current pace I stood no chance of getting to Kirk Yetholm within the cut-off time. I was exhausted, my feet were blistered, how could I possibly carry on?

Angels, that’s how. At CP4 I was lucky enough to be looked after by two simply amazing people that truly deserve to be referred to as such. Rachel took me into the checkpoint and got me sat down with food and drink. CP4 is famed for its lasagne and deservedly so, that made me feel better straight away. I don’t think I’ve explained exactly what happens at a checkpoint (if I have, sorry, I’m about to repeat myself) so as this was the last one I would make as a competitor I’ll do so now.

I don’t know if the way things were done was due to Covid or if this is usual (I’ll find out next year), but by the time I was at any checkpoint there was a seat and a table allocated to me with my drop bag next to it. You are escorted to it by a member of the checkpoint team and provided with whatever food and drink you need. Rachel gave me hot chocolate (I was intending to sleep so I didn’t want coffee), lasagne, watermelon (which I didn’t realise I wanted but ate gratefully when it was given to me) and possibly something else but I’ve forgotten. She also checked what else I needed – a medic and a bed. After I was fed and watered she took me to Felix, possibly the finest foot-fixer on the race and definitely another Angel. He had a look at my feet and said I had a very small amount of infection in my blisters. Normally this would be the end of the sufferers race but as it was very small he photographed them so he could consult his boss to see what could be done. He cleaned up my feet and gave me some codeine and paracetamol to help me sleep and said he would come up with a plan for after I had rested.

CP4 is about the best checkpoint to need to sleep at, it has proper beds. Rachel took me to a bunk, made sure I was OK and left me to sleep. I had spent one and a half hours getting sorted, I wanted to give Felix plenty of time to fix me up after my rest so I decided on three hours sleep.

Three hours of deep dreamless sleep later I felt much better. I got up, wandered around a bit and was once again met by Rachel. She took me to see Felix who said I was allowed to continue but if I made it to CP5 my feet would have to be assessed again. He cleaned and drained my blisters whilst Rachel provided me with scrambled eggs and bacon – and coffee. I was in a somewhat more positive frame of mind than when I arrived at the checkpoint and reckoned if I could keep moving forward at an average pace of two miles an hour I might have a chance…

To be honest. re-reading that bit, I don’t think I’ve really managed to convey the absolute dedication I felt from Felix and Rachel to keeping me going, it was immense and whilst I ultimately didn’t get much further, from my perspective it was worthwhile as I did get some enjoyment out of some of my final miles and it allowed me to find out more about some areas I really need to get out to and recce.

The path continued to follow the route of the river to the wonderfully named Slaggyford.

It was here I met The Angel of Slaggyford. When the Spine Race isn’t happening she is called Natasha but during the race she is an Angel with pizza, coffee and Bourbon biscuits for passing competitors. I really did think she was an angel when she addressed me by name – I kept forgetting that the tracking is completely open to anyone to view and so she had watched me approach and come out to meet me. The Spine Safety Team arrived shortly afterwards as they were concerned that I had stopped moving…

I left Slaggyford in a happy contented frame of mind – even if I did lose my sunglasses somewhere en-route. However darkness was falling and I was starting to struggle a little. Hartleyburn Common (South Side) was fairly straightforward but once I crossed the A689 things started to go badly wrong. I veered off the Pennine Way onto another path and crossed the Black Burn on the wrong bridge. You know its the wrong bridge when you have to cross a barbed wire fence to get to it. This left me on the wrong side of a dry stone wall. Had I looked at my map I might have realised this wasn’t actually a catastrophic error as I could have rejoined the Pennine Way after only a couple of hundred metres. I climbed the wall instead – which, to be fair, was much easier than the barbed wire fence. I have no explanation for why i walked in a complete circle at Batey Shield.

I struggled to find the path across Hartleyburn Common (North Side) but eventually came to a dry stone wall – I say ‘dry’ but everything was sopping wet by now – with a stile over it onto Blenkinsop Common. It was here I made a really stupid mistake. someone else had caught me up and decided to change his socks – so I changed mine. Why? I was still on the Commons, it was still wet and within 50m I now had another pair of wet socks. Blenkinsop Common is not a great place to be on a grey miserable dawn. There was no life on the Common at all. I decided this was probably because if anything had evolved to live there it would be extinct – because it wanted to be. I may be being unfair, Blenkinsop Common may be beautiful in the sunshine but on a cold grey morning it felt like the most miserable place on earth.

Eventually I found my way off the Common and crossed onto Haltwhistle Golf Club, which was clearly not impressed at hosting part of the Pennine way and left the most overgrown track I’d seen on the whole of the Pennine Way to exit its grounds on.

By now I was feeling better and even took photograph of Thirwell Castle on the grounds I would look at it later – I didn’t have time at the moment.

Shortly after I was met by a member of the Spine Safety Team. She was aware of my blistered feet and my navigation issues and suggested I might want to call it a day. As it was now getting sunnier and warmer and I was in a positive frame of mind I said I felt I could continue. We compromised with me stopping for a 15 minute power nap and a coffee at Walltown.

I was warned that the next section along Hadrian’s Wall was ‘undulating’ and that some people liked it and some hated it. I really liked it, much of it was grassy which was welcome relief for my blisters.

The weather was constantly improving, the path was pretty much impossible to lose and my feet and blisters were drying out – I was very happy at this point. However at Turret 39 near the fascinatingly named ‘Once Brewed’ (Twice Brewed appears to be on the opposite side of the road) I was met by two more members of the Safety Team. I was taken to a car park where I was forced to have coffee and cake and a nice chat. It was clear I was in a much better state than I expected. The male member of the team (I’m sure he introduced himself, I’m just not that good with names at the best of times) said he was expecting something much worse and he called in to say he was happy for me to continue. I then had a nice chat over coffee with the female half of the team (who could have been called Liz but probably wasn’t) and apologised profusely for not being very good at navigating and became a little depressed that I appeared to be being told I wasn’t really good enough for the Spine Race. On reflection I don’t think that is what I was meant to take away from the conversation, the fact was I had made some slightly bizarre navigation errors and been very slow over the Commons so it wasn’t at all unreasonable that they were concerned about me. To be brutally honest I wasn’t good enough for the spine Race at that point and hadn’t been at many points before. One thing I need to do before 2022 is to both recce the trickier sections of the route and spend more time with the map becoming familiar with the various places and where they fit into the overall scheme of things.

Anyway I was allowed to continue and my spirits gradually rose again as it was a nice day and there were lots of people on the wall, many of whom wished me well and some even applauded as I walked past them. I saw one or two runners as well. One addressed me by name, it was Felix, my foot fixing angel from CP4. I didn’t recognise him as he had been wearing a mask all the time he was fixing my feet and appeared to have grown a beard underneath it, which I was hitherto unaware of. He had escaped for some exercise on the way to his next checkpoint but stopped and walked and chatted with me for a while. At this time all was well with the world. I knew I was in a bit of time trouble but I was making reasonable progress, the sun was out, I was on course, what could go wrong?

Well…

At the briliantly named Hotbank Crags (there are so many great place names on the Pennine Way) the Pennine Way turns away from Hadrian’s Wall and goes North again toward Haughton Common and some woods. To save time, wherever I write ‘Common’ think ‘Bog’ and you’ll be about right. Then it started to rain. My feet became soaked, my blister dressings moved about, my feet hurt like never before and I was still about seven miles from the checkpoint. Another runner passed me and mentioned Horneystead Farm was nearby. This is owned by a wonderful lady who provides food and drink to Spine racers 24/7 during the race. I missed it. It was getting dark. I started trying to run. I started imagining the land I was crossing was owned by a friend of mine, I was having a conversation about how she might like to improve it a bit as it was part of the Pennine Way – in my head. Running – possibly. People, roads, junctions never getting nearer, always at the bottom of the hill, follow the line, find the checkpoint.

At some point my final Angel appeared in the shape of Les Binns. I could write a lot about Les Binns but suffice to say if everyone was like Les the world would be a much better place. He had already helped some Challenger runners he came across much earlier in the race and now he was helping me. I told him I needed to get to Checkpoint Five. He knew the way, he opened gates for me, he directed me, he gave me hope. However I was now hallucinating so much I had no idea what I was running over, I’m fairly sure it wasn’t the pretty gold and silver foil I was seeing. Wherever I was it wasn’t on the seafront as I thought. However Les was keeping me going and giving me a chance until…

You may remember after my delirium after coming down off Cross Fell my rational brain finally made contact. It happened again. I realised it didn’t matter if I got to CP5 or not, I was done. My feet were in ribbons, I had no idea what was real and even if I did get to CP5 I’d have at most two hours before it closed and there was no way I would be able to convince myself I was in a fit state to continue, much less the Safety Teams.
‘Les, I can’t do it’
‘You sure mate?’
‘Yes’
‘OK, I’ll call you in’
Les called Spine HQ and got me picked up. He used the phrase ‘Rag Order’ on the phone and when I looked it up it was pretty much the perfect description of me at that point. Its often associated with hangovers but it exactly conveyed my mental and physical state at that point – Rag Order.

I have mentioned some of the great place names on the Pennine Way. I retired at Shitlington Crags, which somehow seems appropriate.

I was taken to Checkpoint Five where I met Les again and was able to thank him for his help and have chat with him whilst I was being fed and watered. Then I fell asleep. It was such a deep sleep I awoke to find my feet had been bandaged and a line drawn around my left ankle. The line represented the limit of the infection in my foot – cellulitis, it was bit swollen. I was fed again and the medics reappeared to dress my feet again and take pictures as I had the worst blisters they’d ever seen apparently. They also advised I go to A&E to get the cellulitis checked out. After this I was helped to the toilet (standing unaided wasn’t really possible) and then placed in a comfy chair to wait for Sharon.

Whilst I was waiting an Angel reappeared. Rachel had heard I was at Checkpoint Five and had come to make sure I was OK. Obviously I wasn’t OK but I was able to chat to her (I have no idea how coherent my conversation was) and told her about my foot woes. It may be the sheer intensity and brutality of the race that makes people care so much, I don’t know but Rachel cared enough about the idiot she tended to so well during my stay at Checkpoint Four that she even tracked me down on Facebook to see how my foot was doing after I said I didn’t know if they might keep me in for IV antibiotics (they didn’t)

After a while and with no help from me on the directions front, Sharon found me and took me to Carlisle A&E where my feet were rebandaged and I was give a course of antibiotics. We then went to Penrith where a pair of size 10 slippers were purchased from Morrisons to give me something to put on over the bandages, followed by a pair of size 12 from Sainsbury’s when the size 10s proved a little tight. We checked into the Premier Inn at Penrith for the night and I spent the evening eating all the food Sharon had bought from Morrisons, had a glass or two of wine and then slept – a lot.

So that is the end of my 2021 Spine Race. not as I wanted, I managed to cover about 220 miles in around five and a half days. There was absolutely no chance of me getting further as the weather had deteriorated and everyone was being made to put on their warm kit and full waterproofs before leaving the checkpoint. Add to that the shredded feet and rapidly developing cellulitis and its fairly clear that two hours would have been no where near enough recovery time, even if I had the full six hours I think it would be unlikely.

Those that have read the full story of my journey might be forgiven for thinking I didn’t really enjoy it. I did, well the bits where I wasn’t hallucinating anyway. The positives I take from my journey are that I wasn’t physically incapable of doing it and I was mentally strong enough – some might say too strong, I should have stopped at he first road crossing after Hadrian’s Wall really. Anyway I think I learned a huge amount about the race and am now in a much better position to succeed – which is why, as I hinted earlier, I have signed up for 2022.

For many people this will be as much of my blog as they want to read – thank you for reading this far. However it will continue. I have some thoughts on specific aspects of my race I want to share, including what I really didn’t get about the difference between a stage race and a non-stop race. There is much to be written about kit – mine wasn’t bad but it could be better. There will be recces and other races, The journey will be recorded because after all, the only way is Pennine!