11th September 2021
And here we are, the final Mighty hike of the season! Back in early June this hike seemed to be an impossible way away and I never thought I would actually complete them all – or if I did I would be hobbling along. How wrong I was. I looked after myself and enjoyed every moment and seemed to get stronger every week.
I was lucky enough to be joined on this last hike by Ninja Sue and Rich Grieve once again and I couldn’t have asked for two better hiking buddies.
Once again the day dawned bright and clear and would not be too hot. Annoyingly an inconsiderate Mighty Hiker lit a cigarette right in front of us shortly after the start and I ended up getting two lungfuls of smoke.
The hike begins in Chepstow and is pretty gentle initially – I believe this year we avoided Savage Hill and the Devil’s Pulpit and instead walked a good mile through a barely lit tunnel housing thousands of bats which cut about 1000 feet off the elevation. Step Sister Nicola was at the first pit stop at Tintern Abbey to dish out a nice hug!
Shortly after the pitstop was the first steep climb of the hike and the lungfuls of smoke really came back to bite me as I completely lost my breath and I really struggled to get to the top. Sue and Rich were very patient and waited for the poor gasping bloke in a tutu!
Recovery was swift and we got to the lunch stop with no further problems.
Shortly after lunch there was another sharp climb and once again I lost my breath and was really struggling. Again Sue & Rich waited for me – they even had to pause their Strava – that’s how bad I was! The trekmaster walked up slowly with me and made sure I was ok.. Thank you! Once at the top recovery was again quick and I was able to complete the hike with no further issue.
Leaving out those two incidents this was a very enjoyable hike and we had some great fun along the way.
Having a special announcement and lots of cheering from the Macmillan hiking team as I crossed the finish line was really nice, and what made this even more fantastic was that my wife Becky had just been given the all clear after her Melanoma operation.
An appropriate way to bring to an end a superb summer of hiking I think.
