A Walk and a Pint

ClickRich has foolishy signed up to join some friends on a 40-mile-in-a-day walking lark. The 40 miles is a challenge. The speed that these friends will do it at will be a challenge. With less than 2 weeks to go, a training regime is something of a challenge too so I decided on Saturday to walk as fast as I could from ClickTowers in Bournemouth to the Bankes Arms in Studland village. There I would reward myself with a pint of their locally brewed* Isle of Purbeck Brewery before charging back as quickly as my hiking legs would carry me.

The objective, aside from a vain attempt to improve fitness, was to test my new clothes, check the boots still fit ok after 10 years, see how much I need to carry and work out what kind of pace starts to hurt... oh, and explore a corner of the world that I can see from our living room, but have not been to in 3 years here.

First things first. The pub is lovely. By it's character and panorama, it's something of a tourist spot, but there's plenty of room for everyone in the beer garden- even the domestic chore dodgers masquerading as mountain bikers (I know your game). I chose a pint of the Studland Bay Wrecked and I was not disappointed. I'd underestimated the amount of curvature of the coast round Studland- perhaps through the flattening effect of the distance as I view it from home- but I was surprised to be looking straight out to sea at Bournemouth. Strange.

Anyway, with the heat smashing down I headed for home and, excluding the wait for the Sandbanks ferry and sitting in the pub, I managed a round trip of 14 miles in 3 hours 40 minutes. To do three times that distance in less than 12 hours (which I suspect is the target of my friends) will be pushing me to my limits...

...and there'll be no beer.

*round the back of the pub

Tags: Studland, Bankes, pub, walking, hiking, ale, Sandbanks, Dorset, Bournemouth, cycling, mountain biking