The Dorset 100.....5 days to go.....

So I have finally finished plotting the route on the maps (thanks Mum and Dad for the help!), photocopying the relevant parts of the maps (maps are really HUGE when you unfold them all), and sticking the right bits of map to the right bits of route description. I might not be naturally good at navigating, but I sure as hell am going to make it look like I am.

On completion of this exercise, I've now got a weighty tome of 34 pages to carry around, plus the 3 maps, plus a spare copy of the route description, a spare copy of my version, and a list of checkpoints. By a stroke of good luck, my new extra large backpack has arrived today, so at least I'll have something to carry all this around in.  

There are four things that have struck me on reading through the route description a few times:

1) At about mile 65 the instructions say to "....TR thru garden gate (WM on R). (EXTREME quiet please). BL and in 20 YDS BR to pas thru gap in hedge onto lower garden. TL to pass unicorn and in 30 yds up bank by LMG, TR to ST......" Huh? I'm referring to the unicorn, whilst I appreciate that the rest of that sentence doesn't make sense either. Unless that is, you've spent the last few days studying the LDWA code breaking book, in which case, that all makes perfect sense. Anyway, the unicorn. Is this, like a pet? I'm guessing so, as we have to be extremely quiet while passing, presumably so as not to disturb it. 

2) There's a lot of instructions about not touching this fence or that fence, as there is a risk they are electrified. Wow. That's just what you want 80 miles in when I'm guessing your legs might not be up for doing everything you ask of them, like running in a straight line. 

3) There are 14 checkpoints (and as this is an LDWA event, I interpret this as 14 cake stops).

4) The route ends at 101.6 miles. That's 101.6 miles. Not 100 miles. I didn't sign up for this. 

By some very kind help I can now use a compass (thanks Mum). And I am also getting a new 122 decibel survival whistle in BRIGHT PINK! From my good friends The Childs Family, who read my last blog and took my distress over the whistle situation into their own, far more capable, hands and have sent one to me. Big thanks everyone! I am very lucky to have such fantastic people around me, and I'm really feeling their support right now. Plus, I'm happy to learn from Malcolm that I don't need to learn Morse Code after all to communicate help, just short sharp bursts on the whistle. And likewise, if any of us should hear some loud whistling anywhere (especially in Dorset, next weekend) then we should investigate. And this is our survival lesson for the day. 

xxx