Training; Limbo, Shopping and the Cowboy Spidermonkey..

"How is the training going?" It's a reasonable enquiry from someone interested in my preparations for the walk. But for me its a tough one to answer. The response "It isn't!" hovers like an unquiet soul... But, borderline delusional as ever, I can point to a range of recent activities that, to my mind might be construed as "training".

My recent rip to Paris included a few treks across the city; the Louvre itself boasts many kilometres of  gallery that I did my best to cover. And the occasional encounter with natives exercised communications skills that will be valuable in Turkey. "But they don't speak French in Turkey!" I hear you say. Do you think I was speaking French in Paris? 

Last week I made the mistake of doing a major midweek "shop", forgetting in the excitement of my supermarket sweep that I no longer possess a car. With a couple of bulging carrier bags in each hand I walked the couple of miles home. It was painless, but tiring (this was at the end of a normal working day). 

Thinking about the prospect of carrying all I will need for a walk of 135 miles I was curious to check the weight of my shopping, so once indoors I stepped on the bathroom scales first with, then without the bags. After a bit of mental arithmetic I concluded that my shopping weighed 13.5 kilos. My walk guide book recommends a pack weight of no more than 14-16! My target pack-weight is now under 10 kilos!

My plan for training includes a regular physical workout with emphasis on maintaining flexibility of joints (especially hips, knees, and feet) and improving cardio-vascular efficiency. I have to confess to failing to keep up this regime. So I have been surprised to find that recent activities that would tend to leave me winded or with a crick in my neck or shooting pains in my knee have produced no such horrors. Perhaps it is my regular morning run for the train that is keeping me fit! (I find I do this now even when I know I'm in good time) - maybe also the series of physical challenges that come my way in the course of my work.

Last week's physical challenge was the "Scenery Limbo". In this event the plucky volunteer has to carry a succession of 15 stage flats (painted canvas-covered frames), balancing them on his back, while stooping under the head of the Hobbit-sized doors that access the under-stage storage space.(I had Hobbit-sized assistance getting them out but at about 5pm they disappeared probably on some ring-quest.)

This weekend I was recruited to assist in installing a Velux roof-light on the pitched roof of a three-storey Brixton terraced house. The job was too small to justify the erection of scaffolding. Having conducted all the necessary Risk Assessments,  a full set of climbing gear was procured and the work proceeded with me "in harness" and carabina'd to ropes lassoed from one chimney-stack to another.

When I was young I remember being shown pictures of the "Spidermen" who pieced together the steel frames of the burgeoning sky-scrapers of New York and Chicago. I was already an adept tree-climber; these men were my heroes for their bravery, skill and acrobatic prowess. Now at the age of 58 I feel entitled to borrow something of their name, coupled with current jargon for a casual trader, and an able assistant and declare myself a Cowboy Spidermonkey! 

Once again I claim this to be appropriate training for my trans-Turkey trek. I'm sure there some ridge walking involved and at some point I expect to experience some degree of exposure (this is climber-speak for being on the brink an eye-watering precipice) 
and a sloping slate roof three-storeys above a Brixton back-yard is as exposed as it gets.

More soon!

By the way; the fund-raising for Water Aid is going really well, maybe thanks to the Virgin money Giving site that makes it all so easy and straightforward -  don't forget to make your donation! Go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RobinThomson