An awful lot can happen between a piece of toast and a tuna sandwich.
The day began with the aforementioned toast in Porlock at 5am before we took the twisty-turny-but-very-scenic route over to Lynmouth to meet Uncle Pete (Ferlie) and start the hundred-mile run to Ivybridge with three other teams.
I was off first and it was most enjoyable trotting along with a couple of blokes from Teignbridge (geddit?) along the bottom of a beautiful gorge before climbing onto Exmoor. We reached the first changeover point where Pat and the other teams weren't duly waiting so we ran down the road to where the Way should have come out - the route's been changed since my map was printed!
Off Pat went over the moor and off I went in her trusty Volvo. Second checkpoint and Dave was there with his trusty bike (having had a pleasant ride from Lynmouth in the early morning sun with the skylarks singing overhead) plus Phil with his not-so-trusty Polo. Dave joined Pat for the run down a dead end, Phil and I followed in the Volvo, Pat and Dave reached the end, Phil started the next leg while Pat, Dave and I drove back up the road. And the logistics were to get more complicated!
I then had the dubious pleasure of driving Phil's Polo. Suffice to say that an aggressive clutch, agressive throttle, pacific brakes and a gearbox in which reverse was a hair's breadth from first made for an interesting driving experience! And I couldn't get it into fifth gear (not that I really needed to on Exmoor's roads.) Oh, and it didn't like going from third to second so on the steep, windy lanes I frequently had to stop and do a hill start from first! However, I made it alive to the next changeover, Phil arrived and I departed upon a most enjoyable solo jog along a beautiful river valley. It was all going swimmingly until a few legs later when ...
Colin and Wendy didn't turn up and they didn't turn up ... and neither did anyone else! Once all four teams were overdue by more than an hour (on an 8-mile leg!) the next runners started leaving anyway. We later learnt that the waymarking was very poor and some people didn't know where they were going and others followed them (against their better judgement) and ... well, it just wasn't a good leg for anyone!
The next few went well until we got to Drewsteignton where it was clear that we couldn't finish in the light. So Colin and I went off to run the last two legs while everyone else carried on with the intermediate ones.
But it went horribly wrong yet again and for both groups, to boot. Dan and Kevin couldn't find the next checkpoint, were out for a very long time with no drink and, in Dan's case, not even a shirt so eventually phoned for a pickup! I managed the very scenic penultimate leg but was seriously knackered by the time I got onto the edge of the moor. Faced with a remote, eight-mile leg with a strong wind in our face, cloud coming down and the threat of rain (which it soon did) we also phoned for a pickup and turned round.
We sought refuge in the pub at Scorriton with credit cards they didn't accept and only £10 cash to pay for £11.05 ("£11 for cash") of beer and food. But the landlord was very nice and offered us the chance to win a pound on the flip of a coin which we duly did! What's more, some runners and hangers on from another team were sitting next to us and thought I looked hungry so gave me the remains of their ham, egg 'n' chips!
We were collected an hour later and eventually found our way to Ivybridge (via the scenic route through Buckfastleigh ... twice!) to receive a wooden spoon from Uncle Pete for being the first team to retire. And I had (most of) that tuna sandwich, sixteen hours after the toast.
Memorable quotes:
| Dave: | I think you two should get married. (In response to Pat and Garry's married couple impression while driving and navigating, respectively.) |
| Phil: | Garry drove my car and now it only has four forward gears. |
| Colin: | Don't trust strangers running in the opposite direction giving advice of short cuts. |
| Kevin: | I was out for five hours. That's a long time for 20 miles. |
| Dave: | Are you eating that? (referring to the remains of my tuna sandwich) I wasn't so he did! |