Welcome to Episode 120 of my “Travel Tales From Beyond The Brochure” podcast.
Last year I released a podcast episode called “How Not To Run An Ultramarathon”. I was reminded of that a couple of times recently, partly because this year’s running of the Calderdale Way Ultra happened recently, and partly because over the last couple of months I’ve finally hiked all the sections of it that I never completed. Including the bits I missed out when I got lost. After recording that pod, I entered and completed a second Ultra – the Pilgrims Way Ultra, in Northumberland, NE England – partly to prove to myself that I could. This episode looks at my experiences of that race. I’m publishing it now mainly because my last episode was a chat about Ultra-running in general with my friend Seanna, and it seemed a logical companion piece.
Don’t expect this to become an annual ritual.
Topics discussed in this episode are:
- “Bugger Bognor”
- Why I chose this particular Ultra
- Logistics & race admin
- Holy Island / Lindisfarne
- The first 20km, flat causeway and a hill
- Belford Checkpoint and the road to the coast
- Bamburgh and its Castle
- Sand Dunes, Salty Air, Quaint Villages
- Grace Darling
- … and then the rains came
- The finish and the aftermath
- Results breakdown of all three Ultras
- Did I follow my ‘lessons learned’ from last time?
You can listen via the feed above, or via Spotify, or on your podcast app of choice. Let me know if it isn’t, by the way, and I’ll see what I can do. In addition, a PDF transcript of this episode is available.
As always, if you have anything to say about the topic, or indeed about my podcasting in general, leave a comment or let me know. I now have a newsletter you can subscribe to, containing extra content, and it’s where I’ll be mentioning future podcast episodes if you want to make your own contribution.
I also now have a Patreon! If you like what you hear, and want to access exclusive content (or just to show your appreciation), then head on over to my page and donate to me!
There are no contributions in this pod, though a short unused extract from my last episode’s chat with Seanna appears in the intro.
Until next time, bye for now. 🙂
