Sunday 13th January - Our first training walk from Malham to Horton!

Since my last blog post I've been creating Nerd Herd passes for a bit of fun (which I will add to the blog later) and thinking about what novelty cakes I can bake for our next fundraising efforts!

But so...... our first training walk of 2013 began on Sunday 13th January, and what better route to take than the hardest part of the official Trailtrekker route starting from Malham and finishing in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, just under 13 miles.  Except Joel and Jez decided to add on some pretty crazy "warm up" ideas that involved running in the dark!  Joel left his car in Horton-in-Ribblesdale so we had transport at the end of the walk and he ran all the way back to meet the rest of the team in Malham - in just under 2 hours 20 minutes!!  Jez part walked and part ran from Skipton to Malham, a similar distance again in good time.  Both totally crazy but what fantastic efforts!!!

A 6:00am wake up call was early enough for me to drive from Leeds to Skipton to pick up James then Julie, (a friend from work who also joined us on the walk), before heading to Malham to meet Joel and Jez.  Although I did wake numerous times during the night as I wasn't feeling very well plus I was a little nervous about the day and eventually stayed awake from 5:00am!

We set off at 9:52am from Malham... weather was perfect, cold but dry and clear with some sun!  Although the weather forecast predicted heavy snow from around 3pm onwards, so we were keen to get to Horton in good time!

Setting off from Malham, towards the Cove

View from the head of Watlowes Valley

Photo opportunities, great excuse for a quick rest! ;-)

The view of Malham tarn was beautiful, reflecting the rays from the sun but unfortunately I didn't manage to take any photos.

As we reached the top of Fountains Fell the skies clouded over and it got colder.  You could see the frost and some snow in the distance!

Frost on the grass!

Frozen wall, Fountains Fell

Frost seemed to cover everything on the top of Fountains Fell and this wall gave off a metallic sheen, quite magical and futuristic in a way!  A slight chilly breeze picked up now....

Towards the end of the walk it began to snow gently but we never saw more than a light dusting on the roads.  We finally reached Horton-in-Ribblesdale about 2:45pm, cleaned up our boots and headed back to Malham for a short celebratory drink before heading home for a well earned hot bath and feet up time!!

It was a lovely day and a great first achievement for the team.  Looking forward to the next one now, yet to be decided! :-)