The Cotswold Challenge...

The word 'challenge' in the title is an understatement, it should have been called the Cotswold 'ouch', or the Costwold ' argh'!
I have never, ever done such a hilly marathon, and SS and I have done some hilly silly (stupid) courses in our walking history - this was the toughest!

It was what us professionals would term an a/e type of course...or for those less initiated, an 'arse over elbow' type of course, the ascents were vertical, the descents ( and there were not that many!) sheer drops into almost oblivion, and the little bits of flat in between were covered in either stinging nettles, cow pats or noxious quagmires!

The challenge started at Birdlip village hall, and was a circular route taking in other beacons in the area, for example, Haresfield and Painswick.
The scenery was stunning, especially from Haresfield beacon when the sun finally broke through the clouds and gave us a fantastic view across Gloucestershire.
The checkpoints were in either bus stops, National trust car parks, or a golf course (4th one!), and followed the theme of McVities ginger cake and homemade bread pudding...the last checkpoint was back at Birdlip village hall to a plate of quiche and coleslaw, followed by tinned rice and tinned peaches ( how awesome is that?!) but.....in order to get that quiche  you had to do a last mile of lung-bursting uphill awfulness that is the WORST that we have ever done!
 For the last 5 miles, everyone we passed kept saying things such as " we're getting closer to THAT mile"...or "not long until THAT hill"....and, to be honest, I did think 'it's only Birdlip'.....I've been down and up, and up and down in the car, and yes it's bad, and yes, O2 masks drop from the ceiling, but it's only a hill........but ...we didn't do THAT route...
Oh No!! The route organiser's took us up a sheer ascent, not the nice curvy road way!
THEY took us up through the woods, and up, and up and up and up.......

SS and I did 4,447 metres of ascent, we didn't stop, and we overtook a lot of gasping people (mainly men!!) on the route.....we earned our quiche!

We came in with the first 60 out of 150 entrants....and felt decidedly smug!

But, on Tuesday, as I am editing this, my butt cheeks are still on fire, and my thigh muscles are screaming - the Cotswold challenge - OUCH!!!