I started this epic journey at 6am on Friday 8/11/24, finishing at 09:09:37 on Sunday morning - 51hrs, 9min, 37s. I started the journey on my own, and ran through the first 12 hours before having any crew join me.
This was a supported FKT attempt, where people from The Running Social crewed/paced me. Laura, Garry, Darren, Adrian, and Sadie were my crew and pacers and couldn't have done this without them.
I attempted this FKT, not only to challenge myself but to raise money for Hope Rescue - an animal rescue charity in South Wales.
I had my partner, Laura, and Garry meet me at the end of stages where I could top up with water/food and change socks (feet got soaked, wading in a foot of water).
From around 6pm Friday night, I had someone running with me, mostly doing one stage of the 17 stages highlighted in the official route book. From Hereford, I had Sadie join all the way to the end, helping guide and pace.
When we were making our way to Monmouth, we were due to cross Lydbrook Bridge but the bridge was closed and so following the instructions on the online route, it meant we had to follow the west side of the river which meant about an extra 8km detour.
Most of the route was well signed, but in some areas it wasn't. The OS Maps is out of date so the book was a saviour - would recommend for anyone who wants to do this. There were some very overgrown sections but overall it was clear and the most challenging part was navigating in the dark. Due to it being the start of winter I only had 9 hours of daylight each day so most of this run was done in complete darkness.
The whole Wye Valley Walk is beautiful, the daylight hours were short but I was lucky with the weather. Saw many deer, sheep, cows. Even rescued a sheep that was stuck in the fence.
It was my biggest, most challenging adventure yet and I'm so pleased I was able to finish.
What an incredible weekend, one that I'll never forget!.