FKT: Stephan Tietz - Wayfarer's Walk (United Kingdom) - 2021-07-07

Athletes
Route variation
One way
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Self-supported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
16h 35m 0s
GPS track(s)
Report

I have come across the last 35km of  Wayfarer's Walk while out on leisure and training runs, so I was tempted to do the full 115km for a while. It looks like there are few natural or public sources of water on the first half, so I stashed a few supply caches at 20km (Stubbington Down), 40km (M3) and 80km (Bottom Copse). I supplemented this with stops at the Tesco in New Arlesford (at 60km, on route) and Coop in Denmead (at 100km ish, 100m off route). I had a 2kg backpack, not including water.

I got a taxi to the car park at the start and set off at 5am. The day started with a bit of drizzle, but that soon cleared. It was mostly overcast with temperatures in the mid to high teens during the day. Eventually the sun came out a bit after some mild showers in the afternoon. Path condition were mostly good with the occasional muddy field or track. There were a few kilometres of very overgrown path (between Brown Candover and Totford, and between Purbrook Heath and Portsdown Hill). Most of the run was very enjoyable though I struggled a bit from 70km. I had a good break at 80km to sort my feet and refuel. I particularly enjoyed the rolling hills of the North Wessex Hills and all the hares running away from me (not just at Watership Down).