All's fine with marathon/ultra 169 (South Downs Marathon)

I completed this wonderful LDWA event last year and absolutely loved it as the South Downs is such a magical place and I thought it would be a good test of my knee and foot issues. One of my chums was also coming back from injury, to her back, and so we agreed to link up and do a run/walk (run the flat and downhill sections, walk the uphills) with photo opportunities. There were several 100 marathon club members there so there was lots of hugging and catching up before we set off.

The weather was magnificent throughout although it was a bit cold on the higher bits as there was quite a strong wind but we soon forgot about that when the sun came out again. I'll let the photos tell the story:

When you register you're given a credit-card sized card which gets scanned at each checkpoint. Last year Mike was able to track where I was but he couldn't find any link to the page this year.

Louise & me with Gill, a long-term member of the 100 club with well over 600 marathons under his belt.

It started with an uphill which went on and on and I was so busy chatting I forgot to start my watch until we'd reached the top!

I'd never seen Cuckmere Haven so low

Louise included me taking a photo in her own shot

Windswept tree atop one of the Seven Sisters

At some point after this we accidentally went up a track when we should have taken the lower route. We could hear people below us so retraced our steps only to find that the 2 paths merged soon after the point we retraced our steps so it didn't matter. That added about half a mile to our distance. Doh!

We'd been warned about the Oil-seed Rape ( an asthma trigger for many, me included) and I could smell it long before we had to pass through it. It was almost waist-high and I had to hold my walking poles high above it.

The White Horse of Littlington and yes, we did have to go up that hill but that was a comparatively gentle climb compared to some of the others! I zoomed right in from afar to get that shot.

The Buttercups up there were stunning

Before we started to climb this hill a man went past us and we exchanged a cheery greeting then we both looked at eachother and said "that was Peter Owen-Jones"! How wonderful to meet him on the Sabbath and in the terrain he's talked about so much.

and

We chatted with this couple for a while - he is in training for the Marathon de Sable next year and she is doing the Oxfam Trailwalker  (which goes right along the South Downs Way) later this year.

This was one of the checkpoints but no-one knew how Plonk Barn got its name!

 

Another long and winding chalk path!

Passing along one of the holloways this area of exposed chalk fascinated me. Isn't it amazing that any plant-life can make its home on that.

I have never seen to many Cowslips in flower up on the Downs. They were stunning.

Our final climb gave us expansive views

I have no idea what this man-made structure is for. A sink hole perhaps?

Beautiful Exmoor ponies grazing the grass to keep it in check.

I took a photo of this clump of Bluebells last year because they are defying all the textbooks which say they like dappled shade and they simply should not be thriving in such adverse conditions, yet they are!

Last view of Eastbourne before we made our descent to East Dean

My Garmin shows 28.02 so given that I didn't start the timer until after about half a mile and with the little extra bit we did that ties in with my official finish time!

I treated myself to a badge for my kitbag

So that was marathon/ultra 169 and all in all a grand day out.