CC6 – I Walk Alone

Following Monks Brook through Fleming Park

Monks Brook has been a feature of my walks for many years. Regular readers of this blog will have followed me more than once as I walked beside it from Woodmill to Swaythling or Eastleigh. I have mentioned it in passing when I’ve been at running events in Eastleigh or crossed it, heading from Lakeside to Stoneham Lane. Originally, it was called Swaethling Well, swaethling, being an old English word meaning misty stream, and the modern area of Swaythling took its name from the brook. In the fourteenth century, the water upstream of Swaythling was renamed Monks Brook after the monks of Hyde Abbey near Winchester. The stretch between Swaythling and Woodmill was still known as the Swaethling Well. This is the part of the brook I know best, but I have long wanted to explore more of this seven-mile stretch of water. On 28 September, when Commando said he was going for a run at Fleming Park, I grasped at the chance to follow the course of the brook further upstream. How far I’d be able to get remained to be seen.

Time machine and preparing to launch

Much of March has been taken up with going through edits and checking the manuscript and proof copies of the paperback and kindle version of Land Fit For Heroes. The process is slow, and it feels quite strange to become so intimate again, with a book I began writing in October 2020. So much water has passed under the bridge since then and all the characters have changed and grown in the subsequent books, it feels a little like stepping into a time machine. Combined with the decidedly peculiar weather (we had snow last week for heaven’s sake), my walking has been curtailed somewhat. Despite all this, I did manage a couple of short walks that didn’t involve just going up the hill for milk.

Typical!

Back to November 2021, and the Manor Farm CC6 came around very fast. It seemed just days since we’d been walking the course talking about marshal points, although it had actually been weeks. It also felt very early to be getting out of bed, throwing on warm clothes and a Dryrobe and setting off into the frosty morning air. Truth to tell, it was early. We had to pick Sergio up on the way and we had to arrive at 8:15 for a pre race briefing. Still, I was quite excited at the prospect of getting a marshalling spot somewhere on the farm. Secretly, I was hoping to be near the alpacas.

Not Sunday Runday at Manor Farm

Sunday mornings usually involve me sitting in my dressing gown far longer than I should, writing, editing, or staring into space thinking of what to write while Commando is off on a Sunday Runday. Occasionally, they involve early morning trips to watch and photograph lunatic runners, usually in the cold. having squelched through acres of mud. On those Sunday mornings, I may sometimes be more than a little grumpy due to frozen hands and lack of sleep. The last Sunday in October 2021 was different. I was not wearing my dressing gown, and I was far from home. There were runners with me, but they weren’t running.

Coffee, cake and mud at Whiteley

1 October 2017

October started with the first CC6 of the season, at least the first one Commando could run. It isn’t easy dragging yourself out of a warm bed on a Sunday morning to go out into the cold and run around a piece of muddy woodland. It isn’t easy to go along to take pictures for that matter but there we were at Whiteley, the new town that sprung up in the 1980’s and 1990’s between Southampton, Fareham and Winchester on land that was mostly farmland and coppice originally. Continue reading Coffee, cake and mud at Whiteley

Denny Wood, the penultimate CC6

19 February 2017

Today brought the penultimate CC6 at Denny Wood in the New Forest. For once it was an area I knew fairly well as I’ve walked through it many times as part of the Care For A Walk fifteen mile fundraiser. Usually it is muddy and I had the feeling today was going to be no exception. On a different day I might have gone for a wander across White Moor to Lyndhurst and Bolton’s Bench a coulple of miles down Beaulieu Road, or crossed the road and done my usual trick of getting lost in Matley Wood. Today though I was being gentle on my poor old foot with its healing blister. Besides, there wouldn’t be too much time as Commando was running a CC6. Continue reading Denny Wood, the penultimate CC6

Badger Farm, running in the fog

8 January 2017

The first CC6 of the year was at Badger Farm, near Winchester. Despite a thick fog as we headed towards Winchester, there was no getting lost. This could be considered as something of a miracle given our track record. We both remembered walking through Badger Farm during the Winchester Half Marathon and the map told us the event was almost in sight of St Cross Hospital, divided from it by the railway line. Even so, finding the Sainsbury’s car park which also acted as the official race car park, was touch and go. When we did, I was delighted to see an open Starbucks. Continue reading Badger Farm, running in the fog

Janesmoor Pond, fog, mud and Santas

11 December 2016

Lately life seems to have been nothing but one race after another. This morning we were up early yet again, heading for a race. This though, would be the last race of the year. In an epic piece of bad planning on the part of the people who plan races, there were actually three races going on this morning in different parts of Hampshire. Without a time machine though, we could only go to one and Commando chose the CC6 at Janesmoor Pond. Continue reading Janesmoor Pond, fog, mud and Santas

Mud and worries at Whiteley Pastures CC6

2 October 2016

When Commando said he was going to run the Whiteley CC6 the day after his parkrun comeback triumph, I had my reservations. It wasn’t that I didn’t think he could do it you understand, but I was worried it was too much too soon. This would be the first CC6 he had ever run but the venue was familiar from the RR10 there. Back in July it was one of the muddier courses with people slipping and falling. The rain yesterday meant it would almost certainly be even muddier and Commando falling didn’t even bear thinking about. Continue reading Mud and worries at Whiteley Pastures CC6

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