4 Days, 100 miles. Part 2

Day 2: The Day of Wijchen, 39.6km, Wednesday 18th July 2018

Start times alternate between 5am and 6am. 5am starts are favourite to avoid the heat of the day – my start for today was 6am. Ho hum.

Waiting to start Day 2

The Wedren was bouncing with activity when I arrived at 5.45am. Bands were blasting out their favourite music. Spectators, many of them worse for wear after a night of partying, lined the route to cheer the walkers as they left the start. And it was hot – again.

At 6am our wristbands were scanned as we passed through the start tunnel and we were off.

 

Entertainment everywhere!

Only in Holland

Pink, so it must be Vierdaagse Wednesday

Accordian + modified cajon = a nice sound

Wijchen Welcome

I entered Wijchen around 9am, around 9 – 10 miles into the day’s walk. The speed was about right – around 3mph. I stopped off for a 20 minute break to enjoy lovely coffee being dished out, free, gratis and for nothing, at a cafe-bar.

Checkpoints, where barcoded wristbands are scanned, appear a couple or three times on each day’s route….just to discourage those who might want to sneak in a short-cut!

Mayoral welcome in Wijchen

And then there was more pink

Free hugs – for those who could reach

Hydration is important

2.30pm and the end of Day 2

Another 25 miles completed, time taken (including rest stops): 8hours 35mins, around 3mph. Although it’s not a race it’s nice to maintain  a decent pace.

Day 3: The Day of Groesbeek, 39.2km, Thursday 19th July 2018

Another 5am start…thankfully!

Also known as the Day of Hills…but hills aren’t very big in Holland.

Vierdaagse Thursday sees the very moving Memorial Service takes place at the Groesbeek Canadian Military Cemetery.

After an uncomfortably hot night I bounced (eh?) out of bed at 3.30am, got myself sorted and arrived at the start before 4.45am. The queue for the start was enormous, when we were allowed to start at 5am it took a good 15 minutes to get through the start gate.

These ladies are regular Marchers, each day they sport different attire based on national costumes of EU countries where they either live or where they were born. They were powerful walkers, rarely taking much more than 8 hours to complete each day’s 40km route. We spent an interesting hour discussing the insanity of Brexit, they were all very informed…and amazed at the route the UK was taking.

I don’t know why, maybe I was tired, but I didn’t take many photographs.

Walkers as far as the eye can see

Dutch inland waterways are generally a bit(!) wider than those in the UK. They make full use of them for heavy transport, keeping a substantial amount of heavy traffic off the roads.

Difficult to get lost!

At the Canadian War Cemetery (Photo from Vierdaagse website)

By late morning it really very hot, garden hose pipes spraying water onto the procession of walkers were very welcome.

I’d been walking at a reasonable lick (3 – 3.2mph including stops) and was drinking lots of fluid. I started each day with 1.5 litres of water in a Platy plus 500ml of SiS hydration stuff. It was barely enough – I took every opportunity to take on more water en-route to supplement what I was carrying.

A hill

It was on the pull up this hill that I first noticed a twinge in my L shin. A mile or so later it had vanished - until the next incline. I stopped and gave it a good, deep massage – it seemed to help a little but it gradually worsened as the day wore on.

Another one for AlanR

Pink egg anyone?

I had a 20 minute sit down: shoes off, feet up, and eating my pink egg and a couple of Ibruprofen…all washed down with a huge glug of Corporation Pop.

After a slow re-start my shin pain had eased and I was soon back up to my normal pace again.

By the time I got to the finish at 1.45pm I was hot, knackered…and the Ibruprofen had worn off.

I hobbled back to base, hoping and praying that a good rest, more Ibruprofen and lots of ice would sort my leg – only one day to go!