"When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen." -A.A. Milne
The end May Bank Holiday weekend (or, in Scotland, time to take a day of annual leave!) marks the annual LDWA 100 mile event. This was my 8th, and this year it was held in Kent and Sussex. It was named the Hunnypot 100 - to mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of Winnie the Pooh, and it visited lots of the sites on Ashdown Forest which are featured in the stories. Ashdown Forest is also special for my family (see later), so I was excited for this one!
Well, that was until I kept reading things in the news about a heatwave arriving over the bank holiday weekend.....but as Eeyore says (adapted for 23.05.2026):
"It's snowing☆ still" said Eeyore gloomily."So it is""And freezing☆☆""Is it?""Yes," said Eeyore. "However'" he said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately."☆sunny☆☆boiling
Caught a flight down to London on Friday morning with Andrew and made our way to Bromley, where we stayed in the Purple Palace for the night. Andrew had bad jet jag from several work trips, so it was a very early night and a long sleep. Turned out I was VERY glad of this later in the weekend!
Saturday morning we got the train over to Meopham, where the start was located. We were on the 12pm start, so plenty of time for faffing, unpacking and repacking bags, and catching up with friends it had been a year or longer since seeing last!
At 12pm, off we went.....into the furnace! Andrew, Alan and I had decided to all stick together on this one, and work as a team to get through it. So, no focus on times, other than to use as much of the time limit that we needed, so that we would all survive it!
Aside from it being far to hot (30oC or more!) to be doing any sort of exercise, it really was beautiful weather! Ideally in these sort of conditions, I would have been relaxing under a palm tree on a tropical beach, with an iced beverage (maybe a mojito, or perhaps a pina colada), with the odd dip in the sea to cool off, but hey ho!
Cementing his reputation as a genius, Alan had brought along a spray bottle filled with water, which we all regularly sprayed ourselves with to cool off!
Here is the route, and what a gorgeous route it was!
The first afternoon/ evening, we pootled along, enjoying the scenery and taking too many photos.....
Had my sneezing/ nausea phenomenon for a few hours on the Saturday evening. Settled after a while with a hay-fever tablet and 2 Gin-Gin chews (thanks Andrew!).
We got to the Ashdown Forest section just as it got dark, so that meant playing Pooh Sticks off Pooh Bridge in the dark (but a kind marshal had piled up loads of sticks, ready to play!)
CP 4 at 40 miles, was in Crowborough, and it was a big boost to see my Auntie (marshalling) and my cousin Sammy (walking)! A few miles later, still on Ashdown Forest, we went through my Granny and Grandad's memorial gate. Another boost! Goodness knows what they thought of several hundred people coming through their spot during a Friday night!
From there, the night section was quite nice and much cooler. Followed by a lovely misty dawn and sunrise!
Got to the breakfast checkpoint, at 61 miles right on time for breakfast, and a big import decision to make as to breakfast, helped by some Pooh wisdom....
The next day was quite challenging, so we changed tactics, slowed the pace, and took extra time at checkpoints. Progress was slower, but it was progress, and that's what matters! The scenery was just as beautiful as the day before!
My favourite part of the day was seeing Simon (Pipe) coming towards us filming and shouting "you must go into the church ahead!". About 75 very hot miles in now, I wondered if we were looking so bad that he might be strongly hinting that we start praying. I asked as such, but turns out this instruction was linked to the cool temperature inside the church, rather than anything to do with spiritual rescue. Soon afterwards, Sandy, on being asked how he was doing, replied with "I need a nap", and after imparting my knowledge of the upcoming cool haven, he headed into the church. A few minutes later he caught up again - the pews having been too hard for any proper nap.
Just before sunset, we had climbed back up yet again to the top of the North Downs, up an especially evil hill. At the top was a bench, which Andrew sat on, followed in quick succession by Alan and then me. Two guys climbing the hill just behind us soon reached the top, so we all shuffled along to make room, and they sat down too. None of us said anything, just looked at the view, and sat in the moment, side by side. It was a special moment that I shall treasure.
Unfortunately, the moment had to pass, and the rest of the blasted hill had to be climbed, before coming down it, going straight back up another one, and repeating this several more times. "Oh bother!" comes to mind!
Then came the second night! I've never done two nights without sleep on the trails before, and I think this was a good way to test it. Because I wasn't really expecting it, I hadn't had time to worry about it beforehand. It was "interesting" for sure, and I had a LOT of hallucinations! These included a clown in a checked shell-suit standing next to me reading my route description, giant dragonflies and moths on the trail, cats, people sat by the path, endless buildings and doors, and even an Italian restaurant...... trippy!
All the checkpoints were phenomenal. A huge thank you to all the volunteer marshals for everything they did. They are always amazing at the LDWA 100s, but this weekend I felt they went even further. It really felt that they were doing everything in their power to get as many people through the event as possible - providing ice lollies, dunking hats and buffs in cold water, soaking towels in cold water to drape around ours necks as soon as we came in. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! And thank you to the organisers for an super event!
A little after 4:00am on Monday, we reached the finish. It had taken us over 40 hours - 11 of which were spent at checkpoints! I feel like I've done something completely different from anything I've ever done before. I've never spent 40 hours straight doing anything before! I think it's fair to say there were times along the way that each of us thought we wouldn't complete it. Only 44% of starters finished, after all (but getting to any checkpoint at all was a massive achievement in those conditions - well done all!!). But we worked at it together, adapted our plan, chipped away bit by bit, and we did it!
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