#24 Run the Dyke

Since its inception the list has been moving forward slowly with some quick wins, but the time has come to up the ante and find out if I really can put my words into action. Whilst giving blood was a positive experience and making a cake was very satisfying, they didn’t really push the bounds of physical endeavour.

The purpose of the neverendinglist has become more than just an outlet for my midlife crisis if I’m honest and the script for life is now slowly starting to be penned. Maybe just maybe a simple blog of random things could become the ultimate self-improvement manual! It is certainly motivating me to make things happen and #24 has been calling for a while now.

As dawn breaks on an early morning in March 2013* I plan to be stood atop the cliffs at Sedbury with the Offa’s Dyke path lying ahead of me and 177 gruelling miles on my feet. It is not just the distance that is going to be the challenge though. The Dyke starts and finishes at sea level, but rises and falls continually along its winding route reaching a high point of 700 metres at Hatterrall Ridge. The landscape is truly amazing with mountain ranges framing river valleys. On foot it should take somewhere in the region of 12 days to complete. The plan is to try and cover it in under 5 days as a trail run of goliath proportions.

The Offa’s Dyke was named after King Offa and constructed back in the 8th century (no mean feat at the time) to mark some form of delineation between the Anglian kingdom of Mercia and the Welsh kingdom of Powys. It is one of 15 Trails in England and Wales that together make up 2,500 miles of National Trails. The Dyke passes through 8 different counties and crosses the border between the England and Wales over 20 times taking in three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Brecon Beacons National Park. The journey is likely to be gruelling, but at least the view should be nice!

So there it is down in writing for the world to see. Am I a man of action or just a man of words? It’s time to find out. This one is inspired by you Terry Fox.

*Rescheduled to 2013 due to a bout of tendonitis, whilst always believing the impossible to be possible, running 177 miles over the Welsh mountains with a dicky ankle was always going to be a bridge to far. I haven’t quit, I’ve just rescheduled ok!

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