Tetbury
Some of you will have heard of my intention to travel all the way to a small village near Bristol in the Cotswolds in order to carry a 60lb sack of wool up a steep hill. I originally saw it on the news and thought to myself then that what with me having a gigantic case that I carry around twice this race is something that I totally can (and must) do! So I'd been doing some training leading up to this weekend (that being the bank holiday one just gone). Sadly I was unable to recruit anyone else to come along since a lot of people are in the middle of exams. But it all turned out all right.
I left home on Saturday a bit late (I was noting down train times and things) but managed to get across London to Paddington a lot faster than National Rail thought I could. Turned out my ticket didn't go through London though, so I bought a travelcard (I didn't mind much, though). Managed to get there at 6:15, making good time. Met with my friend Paul, who I would be staying with, and walked to his place. Chatted with him and Ian (another friend) for a while then went out to eat at a place called Gormet Burger. The food was very good. There was lots of waking, though it didn't bother me that day.
Got up early on Sunday, so that we could go to Tetbury, have a look around and I could train a bit. But we didn't leave till about quarter past ten. It was raining too. I then learned that it takes about 50 minutes to walk to the station as we missed two trains. So we had to wait an hour for the next one, and then had to wait another hour for the train to Kemble. Then we got a taxi (for £20) to Tetbury. It's a nice little village. The rain had stopped by then, too. Not many places were open, though. We finally had lunch at The Crown, which was very nice, spoke to the owner a bit. Had a walk around, walked in on a service in the church and promptly left. We finished looking around and then I ran up the hill 4 or 5 times. Steep hill is steep. You can get a good pace leading up to it, then you hit the steep bit and you really slow down. Then you hit the not too steep bit and you fail to speed up because your legs are too tired. I spoke to some random people in between runs, and to someone who was setting up for the race. We were pointed towards The Snooty Fox where a couple sacks were in the entrance hall. There was also a really big dog, too. Anyway, the sack wasn't too heavy, and I decided to grip it in the middle rather than the corners. Anyway, got the taxi back, the driver was friendly. He even checked the train times for us to make sure we wouldn't have to wait too long at the station. Anyway, eventually got back quite late.
Got up early the next day, left by 7:30. Was raining a lot on Monday. Made good time walking to the station. Only took an hour to get to Kemble. Had to wait a while for a taxi, though. But helpful taxi driver called round various people for us when we couldn't get through to anyone else (he was busy and couldn't pick us up himself). Was still raining when we got there. There were stalls selling things and rides, and a band, and places were open. We had some cream tea (though I had ice cream) and wandered a little more. We correctly assumed The Crown would be full so we went to eat at The Royal Oak (additionally I wanted to see what it was like). However, they were doing a BBQ outside, not food inside. So we just had a drink and warmed up a bit. The people there were friendly though. Had food at The Close, which was very nice. Although I had to pop outside to record the morris dancers. Then we went to Gumstool Hill to watch the races.
The team races were done first, and there were a lot of people lined up to watch. The atmosphere was good. People cheered for everyone to encourage them to keep going. The team races involved 4 people per team, 2 at the top, 2 at the bottom and the sack started at the top. They also had kids in teams doing it with very small (relatively) sacks, but they just did the course in sections. The individual races started at the bottom and finished at the top. I misjudged on Sunday where the track started, so it was a bit longer than I expected. There was a bit of a mix up in my heat, Some guy was already there in a green bib when I got down there (not entirely sure why). So with 5 people and 4 sacks, I waited. The problem then got worse as we had 6 people and only 4 sacks. but I went this time. The confusion prompted incorrect names from the commentary, but it got cleared up at the top of the hill. Oh, and the races were started by Jake Meyer, who is the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest, and the youngest man in the world to climb the 7 Summits (the highest peak on each continent). I got to shake his hand :)
Anyway, I had a practice lift of the sack just before the race. I put it down saying, "That's all right," feeling satisfied. The guy next to me tried it and didn't agree with me. So then the race started, and it goes downhill a bit to start with, then flattens out and goes up the very steep hill. I was quick going downhill and a bit unsteady. I almost bumped into someone, so I decided to slow down. Then we came to the hill and one guy put the sack down and I just kept on going. I got past the steepest bit, and felt I wasn't that tired, my legs weren't too bad. I then heard and spotted Paul, Louise, and Ian in the crowd, managed to smile at the camera and then remembered that it's a race. So I sped up and overtook another guy. The third guy had already finished. I got to the end and just chucked the sack on the ground. I was tired and my legs weren't happy, it felt weird to walk, but I wasn't that out of breath. I did the race in 1:15. The guy who beat me got 0:58. I reckon I could have done better, but I don't think 15 seconds better. I was a bit too relaxed and enjoying it, I forgot to run as fast as I could. After that we went back to The Royal Oak, had a burger and a pint, chatted to people, relaxed a bit and recovered. Then we got a taxi back to Kemble. Had to wait a while for the train, though. Played a bit of Three Dragon Ante on the way back to Bristol, and again when we got back. Then went to bed.
Tuesday I slept in. I was tired. Was relaxed about heading back, chatted to Ian about 4th edition and stuff. Got to the station in good time, and got home without difficulty, though I didn't go through London on the way back.
A video should be up somewhere once I get the camera back to Alan.
I left home on Saturday a bit late (I was noting down train times and things) but managed to get across London to Paddington a lot faster than National Rail thought I could. Turned out my ticket didn't go through London though, so I bought a travelcard (I didn't mind much, though). Managed to get there at 6:15, making good time. Met with my friend Paul, who I would be staying with, and walked to his place. Chatted with him and Ian (another friend) for a while then went out to eat at a place called Gormet Burger. The food was very good. There was lots of waking, though it didn't bother me that day.
Got up early on Sunday, so that we could go to Tetbury, have a look around and I could train a bit. But we didn't leave till about quarter past ten. It was raining too. I then learned that it takes about 50 minutes to walk to the station as we missed two trains. So we had to wait an hour for the next one, and then had to wait another hour for the train to Kemble. Then we got a taxi (for £20) to Tetbury. It's a nice little village. The rain had stopped by then, too. Not many places were open, though. We finally had lunch at The Crown, which was very nice, spoke to the owner a bit. Had a walk around, walked in on a service in the church and promptly left. We finished looking around and then I ran up the hill 4 or 5 times. Steep hill is steep. You can get a good pace leading up to it, then you hit the steep bit and you really slow down. Then you hit the not too steep bit and you fail to speed up because your legs are too tired. I spoke to some random people in between runs, and to someone who was setting up for the race. We were pointed towards The Snooty Fox where a couple sacks were in the entrance hall. There was also a really big dog, too. Anyway, the sack wasn't too heavy, and I decided to grip it in the middle rather than the corners. Anyway, got the taxi back, the driver was friendly. He even checked the train times for us to make sure we wouldn't have to wait too long at the station. Anyway, eventually got back quite late.
Got up early the next day, left by 7:30. Was raining a lot on Monday. Made good time walking to the station. Only took an hour to get to Kemble. Had to wait a while for a taxi, though. But helpful taxi driver called round various people for us when we couldn't get through to anyone else (he was busy and couldn't pick us up himself). Was still raining when we got there. There were stalls selling things and rides, and a band, and places were open. We had some cream tea (though I had ice cream) and wandered a little more. We correctly assumed The Crown would be full so we went to eat at The Royal Oak (additionally I wanted to see what it was like). However, they were doing a BBQ outside, not food inside. So we just had a drink and warmed up a bit. The people there were friendly though. Had food at The Close, which was very nice. Although I had to pop outside to record the morris dancers. Then we went to Gumstool Hill to watch the races.
The team races were done first, and there were a lot of people lined up to watch. The atmosphere was good. People cheered for everyone to encourage them to keep going. The team races involved 4 people per team, 2 at the top, 2 at the bottom and the sack started at the top. They also had kids in teams doing it with very small (relatively) sacks, but they just did the course in sections. The individual races started at the bottom and finished at the top. I misjudged on Sunday where the track started, so it was a bit longer than I expected. There was a bit of a mix up in my heat, Some guy was already there in a green bib when I got down there (not entirely sure why). So with 5 people and 4 sacks, I waited. The problem then got worse as we had 6 people and only 4 sacks. but I went this time. The confusion prompted incorrect names from the commentary, but it got cleared up at the top of the hill. Oh, and the races were started by Jake Meyer, who is the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest, and the youngest man in the world to climb the 7 Summits (the highest peak on each continent). I got to shake his hand :)
Anyway, I had a practice lift of the sack just before the race. I put it down saying, "That's all right," feeling satisfied. The guy next to me tried it and didn't agree with me. So then the race started, and it goes downhill a bit to start with, then flattens out and goes up the very steep hill. I was quick going downhill and a bit unsteady. I almost bumped into someone, so I decided to slow down. Then we came to the hill and one guy put the sack down and I just kept on going. I got past the steepest bit, and felt I wasn't that tired, my legs weren't too bad. I then heard and spotted Paul, Louise, and Ian in the crowd, managed to smile at the camera and then remembered that it's a race. So I sped up and overtook another guy. The third guy had already finished. I got to the end and just chucked the sack on the ground. I was tired and my legs weren't happy, it felt weird to walk, but I wasn't that out of breath. I did the race in 1:15. The guy who beat me got 0:58. I reckon I could have done better, but I don't think 15 seconds better. I was a bit too relaxed and enjoying it, I forgot to run as fast as I could. After that we went back to The Royal Oak, had a burger and a pint, chatted to people, relaxed a bit and recovered. Then we got a taxi back to Kemble. Had to wait a while for the train, though. Played a bit of Three Dragon Ante on the way back to Bristol, and again when we got back. Then went to bed.
Tuesday I slept in. I was tired. Was relaxed about heading back, chatted to Ian about 4th edition and stuff. Got to the station in good time, and got home without difficulty, though I didn't go through London on the way back.
A video should be up somewhere once I get the camera back to Alan.