Another assault on Box Hill, another day of miserable weather, this time with Jo, Anne and Claire. It started OK weather-wise (except for Anne who was blowing hard at the top of Box Hill - again we parked at the bottom) but pretty much as soon as we got to the top the weather turned and pretty much rained for the rest of the walk. Occasionally the sun broke through but overall the clouds and rain won the day.
The walking was slow going, partially because of the hilliness of the course and partially because of the muddy conditions. There was one uphill stretch for a mile or so when pretty much every step was slipping, which made for very tiring and slow progress.
At the 8 mile mark, back at the top of Box Hill for the second time, Anne had pretty much had enough. A combination of the weather and the hills had left her utterly fed up and knackered, so she and Jo headed straight to the car park from the viewpoint at the top. Claire and I headed almost vertically down the slope to the Stepping Stones - thank heavens for the steps cut into the hill! A fallen tree and the heavy rain flooding the river meant we could not cross there so we had to use the bridge a little further downstream. We then knocked off a few more miles of relatively flat walking in the rain to get back to the car park and home for a hot bath!
Once again, and in the face of heavier and more prolonged rain I stayed dry in my North Face Softshell, aside from where the logo is, which did get a little wet inside annoyingly. The only other thing of note was that I ran out of water which surprised me. I didn't fill up my bladder to the brim so not 100% sure how much I got through, but maybe seeing all that water around me all the time made me want more than normal?!
Overall a good workout, still not 100% solved the rain problem. I tried a wide brimmed hat that kept the rain off my face but did get utterly sodden and was a pain to deal with.
The walking was slow going, partially because of the hilliness of the course and partially because of the muddy conditions. There was one uphill stretch for a mile or so when pretty much every step was slipping, which made for very tiring and slow progress.
At the 8 mile mark, back at the top of Box Hill for the second time, Anne had pretty much had enough. A combination of the weather and the hills had left her utterly fed up and knackered, so she and Jo headed straight to the car park from the viewpoint at the top. Claire and I headed almost vertically down the slope to the Stepping Stones - thank heavens for the steps cut into the hill! A fallen tree and the heavy rain flooding the river meant we could not cross there so we had to use the bridge a little further downstream. We then knocked off a few more miles of relatively flat walking in the rain to get back to the car park and home for a hot bath!
Once again, and in the face of heavier and more prolonged rain I stayed dry in my North Face Softshell, aside from where the logo is, which did get a little wet inside annoyingly. The only other thing of note was that I ran out of water which surprised me. I didn't fill up my bladder to the brim so not 100% sure how much I got through, but maybe seeing all that water around me all the time made me want more than normal?!
Overall a good workout, still not 100% solved the rain problem. I tried a wide brimmed hat that kept the rain off my face but did get utterly sodden and was a pain to deal with.
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