Of Forgotten Sandwiches & Aching Extremities.......

Finally, Team No Direction actually managed to clear enough time at the same time to go out for a proper team practice. We dutifully met up in leafy Surrey at stupid o'clock on a murky Saturday morning and off we went, ordnance survey map in hand and copiuos amounts of black coffee already consumed. The walk started well and we quickly found our way up to the River Wey, we diligently ignored all the warning signs we saw such as:

"Do not continue, river has overflowed"

and were in high spirits until one of the team members who shall remain nameless (NIK) said "Well, at least it's not raining" which of course angered the weather gods and the rain started about 2 minutes later and didn't stop..............at all!!

We progressed well down the River Wey until we reached the North Downs Way where we branched off to the east in order to fight our way past the legions of DofE students who were almost smug about the fact that they were blatantly better prepared for the inclement weather than we were. We progressed along the North Downs Way and headed up to the very scenic spot of St Martha's Church where we sat and enjoyed a 10 minute rest amidst the drizzle and mist. While the more prepared of us tucked into a sandwich or two Paul took this opportunity to tell us all about the sandwiches that his wife had lovingly prepared for him that were now languishing in his fridge.....at home. Nik, being the good friend that he is promptly offered Paul one of his sandwiches that had been lovingly prepared for him by Marks & Spencer, before Paul could snatch his hand off Nik managed to drop the aforementioned sandwich straight onto the sandy track.................DOH!

The rest of the walk went off without a hitch (apart from Nik missing a footpath meaning that we had to wade through knee high nettles to get where we needed to be) and we soon found ourselves back at the start point, slightly damper and slightly sleepier but all in all a success. Watch out Trailwalker, Team No Direction are coming.

Fact & Figures:

Distance Walked - 19.90 Miles
Time Taken - 5 Hours 39 Minutes
Average Pace - 17.03 Minutes per Mile
No. of "Jazz Hands" Manoeuvres - 1 (whilst crossing the A3)
No. of sandwiches left behind/dropped - 2.5

Other Interesting Stuff we Learnt:

Rich likes the word "moist"
Justin has been known to suffer from "Achy Balls"
Waterproof clothing is slightly less effective when left in your rucksack
Nik's colour-blindness is a major navigational flaw when he can't distinguish between green (footpaths) and blue (rivers) on Ordnance Survey maps
Rich chooses walking boots based on their pretty colours rather than technical specifications
Paul doesn't like to be seen in public places dressed like a rambler