5th Training - 288 km 5 Days Walk

Paul's 5 days' training walk will take him from Kalamunda to Collie, a total of 324 km of long trails, hills and valleys to cross.  Paul was looking good this morning and he finally took off at the Northern Terminus, Kalamunda at 5.30 am on Day 1.

Joy arrived at Pinjarra and was met by young Cooper, Garry & Beth's grandson who has come to help Joy unload all her stuff into the bus.  By 9.30 am we headed off to Brookton Highway where we will camp for the night.

Beth loves to clean her home!

Brookton Highway

Bus camped overnight at Brookton Hwy

If Paul walks at 4 km/hour he should arrive at 10.30 pm tonight  If we meet him midway it will be at Mount Dale which is 13 km before Brookton Highway.  Let's see what happens.

Nice warm coffee for a cold night!

We drove to Mt. Dale and met Paul at 6.45 pm.  You can see he was so happy to meet us and especially with a hot cuppa in is hand.  He continued his journey and finally arrived at Brookton Highway at 9.45 pm.  As usual, Paul did his leg and back stretches.  This time he had a cold water dip for both legs, eaten a warm sausage casserole and vegetable diner cooked by Beth and after a warm shower, he headed straight to bed, after a massage.  He covered 70 km at average of 4.4 km per hour this time with minimum pain and aches!

On Day 2, the alarm went at 5.30 am and Paul was up and ready to go. Joy continued as usual to prepare Paul his fresh juice of carrot, tomato and apple with a teaspoon of glucosamine.  Paul packed his second day's backpack and by 6.15 am he was ready to step out and tackle another 68 km!  His quick breakfast was a piece of home baked wholemeal bread with Joy's creative nutty non fat chocolate spread which he will take in his hand and eat as he walked.  So off he went on his walk with God.  Back in the bus, Garry served his favourite morning mega cappuccino which I reckon is the best cappucino in WA.  We left Brookton Highway to meet up with Paul midway at Sullivan Rock between 12 - 1.30 pm.  The support team decided we needed to keep ourselves fit too so we slowly climbed to the top of Mt. Vincent to meet Paul.  Beth and Joy took many photos too!

 Water catchment area on Sullivan Rock

Hibbertia

The Hollow Tree

Hovea

Garry's hiding!

Cross section of a Blackboy

Can someone identify this flower?

Trail along Mt. Vincent

What a Glorious Day!

a Classic Table Top

Blackboys against skyline

Paul was truly happy when he met us and was dancing as the four of us walked downhill and talked heartily.  Paul said he had lost time when he went off track for a while so we can expect him late at night at North Banister. However he was still doing 4.4 km per hour despite lost time!  

Paul walking down towards Sullivan Rock

All travellers should dust our shoes to prevent dieback

Washing Paul's Walking Clothes

Read Paul's audio recording on this!

When we returned to North Banister, there were washing, cooking, blogging and bus maintenance awaiting us.  Paul finally arrived just before 10 pm. He had blisters just beneath his right toes, pain in both knees and calves.  He was also very sleepy and finally retired at 11 pm, happy to have covered 68 km at 4.3 km/hr.   Oh yes, I must blog this: Paul said he smelt a gorilla behind him and realised it was his backpack.  He asked Joy to smell his backpack and asked what she thought of the smell.  Guess what Joy said; "This is not unusual.  That is how you smell all the time, Paul. You are that gorilla!".

We woke up this morning on Day 3 at 5 am with Paul only having 6 hours sleep, and off he went at 5.59 am.   with his muesli in a paper cup and a big smile.   The next stop was Dwellingup with 4 camp sites in between.

Putting my walking shoes again?

Joy squeezes every spare time to update the BT Blog

As I am writing now at 4.15 pm, Paul has just came down from Mt. Wells an hour and a half ago and had been doing 4.4 km per hour.  He called to say he was doing very fine.  Apparently Gary & Beth have gone to see some friends arriving today from Indonesia.  Now Joy had the whole bus to herself and was keeping track of Paul's journey with the satellite transmitter.

 At 8.34 pm, Paul returned to the bus, having covered 64 km at 4.4 km/hour.  By 9.30 pm Paul had hit the sack.  He was in much pain in both knees, calves and a small blister on his right feet.

On Day 4, we were all up at 5 am.  Paul had to prick the blister which was giving him much pain and he was off by 5.59 am this morning.  It's my (Joy) 50th birthday so spending my day here with Beth & Garry in the bus and out later at Quindanning Road where we camp tonight will be a memorable one!

At 11 am we took off to Quindanning Road, arrived past noon and had lunch from Joy's previous night nutty sweet potato and salad dinner.  At 2 pm we got ready to meet Paul midway tentatively at 3 pm on Driver's Road.  We only managed to contact Paul and left a voice message via the aerial that Joy had purchased for her broadband and Telstra mobile phone.  We also tracked Paul on his transmitter on the BT Blog and saw he had crossed the Murray River an hour ago but by the time we reached Driver's Road some 50 mins later our aerial could not pick up any more signal.  We were close to the Murray River and were at low latittude.  We finally found the place where the Bibbulmun Track crossed over Driver's Road.  It had been pouring very heavily most of the day, the dirt roads were full of pools of muddy water and slippery too!  Beth made Paul some coffee so that should keep him nice and warm.  She had made a pavlova cake to celebrate Joy's 50th birthday when Paul turns up so we were supposed to have a picnic out in the open space but most probably not in the rain!

Garry took his umbrella to meet Paul while Beth and Joy waited in the 4 wheel drive.  We waited for 2 hours before Paul and Garry emerged at 4.45 pm.  Paul had caught a chill, he was freezing, had lost lots of body heat and his inner clothes were soaking wet, was shivering when we saw him and he had decided to pack it in. The original plan was to walk another 15 km into Quindanning Road.  He eventually changed into some warm clothes which we carried in the emergency bag, and the four of us drove back to the bus.  Along the way, Paul shared when Joy called him on his Telstra prepaid mobile phone in the afternoon and left a voice message, the Telstra translated her message from "I am calling from Quindanning Road" to "I am calling from Bunnings".   The 4 of us burst our laughing!

The hot shower will take 30 mins to heat up so Paul had to wait.  Meantime we gave him a warm drink, soaked his legs and turned the heater on.  Just then another traveller heading towards Collie turned up and said he had slipped and injured his leg, and had called his son to come and pick him up.  We invited Terry to the bus and sat him next to Paul.  Garry was quick to make us each his mega cuppucinno and Beth brought out the cake and Joy finally get to blow her 50th birthday candles!  What a Blessed and Advernturous Way to spend her Big Day!

What are they frightened of? 

Would you like a cuppa too?

This can't be better!

Would you like some of my cake too?

My wife's healthy hearty breakfast!

Terry's son finally came and took his dad home.  Beth then started to cook her baked chicken for dinner while Joy continued to pack Pau's lunch for the Day 5 challenge.  Joy mostly packs for Paul food that contains lots of live nutrients, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, etc.  Paul's total backpack weight of 7 kg had been the ideal weight for him. 

Paul had bought a yelolow gore-tec like jacket from the internet supposedly to be water proof so he was very surprised the rain had got into his inner top clothes.  He had used the same jacket on his 4th training with few showers and had no problem.  What could have happened Terry explained was the heavy rain had totally soaked the straps of his backpack which were hanged over the jacket and had close contact so the water had leaked into the jacket.  One option Paul decided was to bring along a rain poncho and use over the jacket and his backpack when it pours cats and dogs again.  Joy brought hers and Paul was to borrow for the next day.  He only covered 46 km, but still walked 4.4 km/hr.   Paul noticed before he went to bed he saw muscles in his legs he never knew was there before!

Welcome to our 5th Day Challenge!

Starting the GPS & Satellite transmitter

Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path

Day 5, like every other day, our support team prayed for Paul for God's protection and blessings and sent him off at 6 am.  Paul's plan was that he finishes at Harris Dam which is 40 km away.   At around 3 pm Garry will drive the bus back to Pinjarra while Beth and Joy drive the 4 wheel drive to Harris Dam to meet Paul sometime at 5 pm.  If all work according to plan, then Paul and Joy shoud be back in Perth by 9 pm.  Meantime Joy and Beth took more photos and it was interesting to note that the bridge along Quindanning Road had 28 pillars to hold the bridge and every pillar has been numbered.

Filled to the Last Drop

We did not bother to cook so on our way we pick up our dinner.

Paul emerged at Harris Dam at 4.55 pm and he said the poncho was good.  He had been delirious a few times in the day and his eyes were starting to lose focus due to fatigue and his energy level had went down.  Anyway he walked 3.6 km/hr, given that with the rain once every hour it took away his body heat and had made him much more vulnerable.  The three of us finally reached Pinjarra by 7 pm and both Paul and Joy arrived Perth at 8.50 pm.  Paul had also recovered quickly from all his pains and for the first time in all the training, he had his first blister!

The total distance Paul had covered was 288 km, short of 15 km, and achieved 95% of our target distance!  Bravo!

Day 1 starting from Northern Terminus Kalamunda

Brookton Highway

North Banister

Towards Dwellingup

Day 5 finished at Harris Dam

Post Training:

At first it looked like I had got through the 5 day 288 km walk basically unscathed.  But after a few days rest and then goiong for a jog it became clear that my left knee is now prone to pain and swelling after about 3 km.  My right knee is also making a lot of clicking an some grinding noises.  I'll try and manage this with:

• more rest,
• joint lubricants (glucosamine, fish oil and flax seed oil),
• leg strengthening exercises (leg presses and lunges),
• leg stretching,
• low impact exercising like cycling and walking, and
• small amounts of high impact exercise like jogging.

I figure I need to be able to jog about 50km per week and leg press around 250kg before I do the next training walk starting 9 Oct 10.  Paul Madden