Peaks Crossed!

I'm sat writing this with my feet firmly up as it's the day after the 2 day cross peak dog walk that we successfully completed in about 16 hours. Myself & Grace Tebbutt accompanied by the lovely Yogi walked 36 miles in total over 2 days, and on day 2 we were joined by a bigger team made up of my other half Paul, Cassie (another lovely Rain Rescue volunteer) her rescue doggy Lola my rescue doggy Sparky aka Gremlin and one of Rain Rescues current residents Duke!

We had a tough 2 days which began at Hunters Bar roundabout, the start of 'Compos Way'. Grace Yogi and myself set off at quite a pace but we were quickly slowed down by the massive hills on the first section of the walk.
On the way up to Stanage Pole we encountered 5 police cars in the middle of nowhere and thought that our walk might be brought to an abrupt end before we'd even hit the moors. They appeared to have rescued a couple of girls which left us worrying about "from what..." and looking over our shoulders for a couple of miles but who knows what was going on!

We stopped for some lunch as we reached the pole and Mr Yogi was still going strong having walked 6 miles already on his own (waaay more than I thought he would manage)

We ploughed on over Edges and past reservoirs stopping for a few photos on the way, it was a really hilly and really tiring day and we were fantasising about chips and cider for  the best part of the afternoon. Yogi only fell out of the bag once...

We'd set off at 9:30 and finally reached the half way point 8 hours later where we were extremely happy to see our lift waiting for us to take us to The Old Horns (Cassie's Pub) where we'd planned to refuel and stay the night so that we could get out and going again first thing in the morning.

It's fair to say that all 3 of us were pretty shattered by the time we got to the pub, Yogi's little legs had carried him 12 miles all on his own before I had to pop him in his bag and carry him up the biggest hill IN THE WORLD!

manic tiredness had set in by the time we reached the pub

Day 2 dawned after a good nights kip and Jon, Cassie's other half, sorted us out with breakfast butties (I don't think we would have made it without these) as well as packed lunches for the day ahead.

On day 2 the team grew and we were joined by my husband Paul and our dog Gremlin, Cassie and one of her dogs (adopted from Rain) Lola, and one of Rain's current residents Duke! We were a lot slower with so many dogs in tow and Mr Yogi gave up on walking after about 2 miles so had to be carried pretty much all the way on day 2 (well done Paul!)

Day 2 Team

Day 2 brought a very long crossing of the moors which felt like it would never end and some much more challenging map reading, if it wasn't for Graces skills we'd all still be wandering around up there I think...

The doggies were great, they all walked so well and for so far (apart from Yogi) they all managed the full 17 miles on day 2 and didn't complain anywhere near as much as the humans! Lola the collie probably covered double the distance the rest of us did too as she was darting about all over the place having a great time. Duke was a pleasure to have with us, especially when going uphill, but he really didn't understand crossing over Stiles and basically threw himself at them to get over, he's a lovely boy and will make someone a fabulous pet but he is a tad dim...

mmmmmm sandwiches

The last part was of course the hardest and going downhill became just as hard as uphill with aching knees and blistered feet but we finally made it. Sadly Sid's cafe (the official end of the walk) was closed so we'll have to pop back another time!

Huge thanks to everyone who sponsored us, if you haven't gotten round to it yet you can still send your pennies here... https://www.justgiving.com/ThirtyAtThirty

Shelley
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