The world's worst weather.

There's one story that's not been told. A story about a May day when Alick, Tristan and Annie ventured onto the South Downs, ill-equipped and totally unaware of the adventure they were about to experience.

A story about the day Alick uttered the infamous words "haven't we been lucky with the weather".

I still find it hard to talk about that day, hence why this post is now out of synch and weeks after the event.

It was all going so well. Pockets full of cold sausages and peanut butter sandwiches and hearts full of glee, our intrepid heroes set off ignoring the severe weather warnings and gathering storm clouds.

All was fine until Alick ignored the prime directive of outdoor pursuits and dared - nay double dared - the gods and sure enough, the heavens opened.

Two hours later, cold, wet and tired we walked off those hills and into the warm, comforting arms of Alick's local Harvester pub. A finer, more modern and welcoming hostelry one would struggle to find, it's sole deficiency being the lack of Harveys on tap.

The End.

Not a bad view

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Originally uploaded by lloydshep.

Not a bad view, eh? This previous Saturday and Sunday we did the preliminary to the Big One, walking two Trailwalker stages on Saturday and another two on Sunday - 40 kilometres all in all. We started in Petersfield, spend the night in a bizarre little b&b in Midhurst run by a woman from Bombay and a man from Iceland (sounds like a Men at Work song) and then walked to Amberley the next day for the train back to London.

On the way, we learned several things. Drinking the night before walking is really dumb. The BBC weather forecast is crap (heavy rain forecast, none forthcoming). The view from the top of Bignor Hill has to count as one of the best in England (south to the sea, north towards Kent). And we did 40% of the full distance in 24 hours. Not too shabby.

Two posts in one

Oh dear. We have been somewhat in remiss when it comes to posting on here. Doesn't bode well for the full event, does it? Ne'er mind, here's two ripsnorting walks to tell you about.

Three weeks ago, John, Lloyd and Al (with a couple of interlopers) yomped from Tonbridge to Sevenoaks. As both John and Lloyd grew up in Sevenoaks, this was a time to remember the good old days of teenage angst and unbearable boredom, and as we clambered up a bridle path which ran the height of River Hill, it was the angst we remembered most. But at the top of the hill we wandered into Knole Park, catching glimpses of Lloyd's alma mater Sevenoaks School (cue several mutterings from John about "public school bastards") and remembering that Sevenoaks, for all its faults (4x4s, more Tories per square inch than anywhere on earth, an incessant obsession with property prices) is actually a very beautiful place. And if you fancy a pint of Harvey's (of which more in a future post, we hope), there's no finer venue than the White Rock in Underriver.

Fast forward three weeks to, er, yesterday, and Lloyd, Tris and Al met at Victoria and yomped enthusiastically down the river, through Wandsworth, Fulham, Putney, Barnes and Kew and on down to Richmond. Highlights of this walk were wildlife, including a woodpecker, four herons sitting in a tree down by the water, and gaggles of very attractive joggers to divert a working stiff from the job in hand. And it rained at the end, an enormous tropical downpour that reminded all of us of the importance of proper clothing. Still, we made it into Richmond damp but otherwise unscathed, a walk of 15 miles or so, and finished with a pint and a decent chilli con carne in The Old Ship in Richmond (having already stopped for a sneaky snifter at The Ship in Barnes - uncanny).

No Harveys on this trip, though. Boo!

South Downs Way, Bank Holiday Monday

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Originally uploaded by lloydshep.

So the first full-on full-team Four Bellies experience happened this past Bank Holiday Monday. We did 23kms along the South Downs Way from Amberley down into Shoreham-on-Sea. We were joined by two interlopers - Lloyd's son Jack, and John's wife Jan.

The sun shone, the views were spectacular, and the beer in Shoreham was exquisite. We set off from Amberley at 10.30am and got to Shoreham at 3.30 - so, just under a quarter of the full Trailwalker distance in five hours. Not a bad pace, but we've got an awfully long way to go.

John brought egg pittas and sausages. In his pockets. Disgusting.

A Walk of Two Halves

Tristan and I met up for the first time, along with a friend of his Annie, to attempt 2 walks, both starting from Groombridge on the Kent/Sussex Border, across the top of the Weald.

The idea was to do a 9.5 mile loop out through some villages, Hartfield and Withyam, back to Groombridge and then another 8 miler to Eridge Station and back - with the option of some short cuts if we needed them.

We did the first walk, the full distance, in about 3 hours - but as we reached the end, Tristan upped the pace a notch and I thought, I'm sure, I could hear the sound of his lips smacking together. He was ready for half time and put a real stride on up the hill towards the nearest pub.

So what was going to be a walk of two halves became a lunch of two pints You see, there's really little point walking in such a beautiful area without sampling the fruits of the land - and this area is famous for its hops, so it really didn't seem right to leave without having a pint of a Sussex ale and one Kentish variety, the nut brown nectar washing down a roast beef dinner....

In the end, we didn't make it out for the second half, but it was because, right, we'd ran out of time. It was 2.45 by then, and there was no time to fit in another loop. And I won't hear it any other way.

An essential part of training is not just the walking, its about working out what your strategy is for food and liquid. At this point, regular beer stops cannot actually be discounted.

Next Monday, the four bellies get together for the first time - meeting at Amberly, for a section of the South Downs Way to Brighton. It proves to be an auspicious occasion.

Harveys pint after eight miles

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Originally uploaded by lloydshep.

We stopped at a pub after eight miles. You have no idea how good this tasted.

Our first practice walk

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Originally uploaded by lloydshep.

Wow. We walked the best part of 12 miles through the Kent Hills today and I'm sitting at home nursing one very very tired ankle and one very very knackered hamstring. A sobering experience. This was only a fifth of the distance we need to walk on the Trailwalk, and it was really hard. We've got a lot of work to do.