This weekend saw me tackling Manchester RAG’s famous Bogle event. There are many variations on the ‘creation myth’, but what is certain is that some people walked around 55 miles home from somewhere north west of Manchester. This is my second attempt – the first ended after completing the ‘south loop’, a distance of 29 miles. This time, I am very glad to say I made it all the way around!
Fresh faces - at the very beginning, a mug shot with our walker numbers!
Starting from the old UMIST campus close to Manchester Piccadilly station, we were fresh and ready to go (despite rather stupidly having walked to Whitworth Park and back!). From here, the route takes us down through studentsville (Fallowfield), Northenden and finally Heald Green where checkpoint 1 provides a very welcome brief stop, nearly 10 miles out.
Checkpoint 1 - still smiling. Tea is awesome!
From checkpoint 1, the route heads further out taking in Bramhall, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Didsbury and finally back up Oxford Road to the hub at UMIST – checkpoint 5. Here we took a decent break, having covered the 29 miles in just over 9.5 hours – an average of almost 3.5mph – which is really quite a fast walking pace to maintain! Leaving checkpoint 5 before 6am, this stretch is an infamous challenge amongst Boglers. 4 of the 5 miles to checkpoint 6 are up hill, following the Oldham Road to Failsworth through areas of Manchester that are ‘awaiting regeneration’.
By checkpoint 6 (34 miles) the gruelling nature had set in.
At least the checkpoint is indoors! The next stretch is possibly the most difficult distance en route. Checkpoint 7 is 41 miles in – yes – that’s a 7 mile stretch without a scheduled break. It was during this stretch I came closest to quitting. A chance encounter if a friend who was following the walkers on his bike provided some conversation and a welcome boost in morale. It was really nice to talk about cycling for a bit and take my mind off the various pains! Having reached checkpoint 7, I was now in good spirits – with a sandwich in one hand it was off again, for checkpoint 8 is just 3 miles further round. If I get that far, at least I can have a hot pie, I thought…
By checkpoint 8 however, things started to look up. The shop had pies!
Indeed I could. The man in the shop at Ringley stores was very happy to chat about the walk and very proud of his own certificates for keeping a Kidscan charity box in his shop! From here, the route is very much on the top of the hills.
Top of the morning - high above Bolton and Bury, it did get quite pretty.
But with an up, there’s obviously a down. And then an up again – the Irwell valley brings you the ‘Hill of Death’.
Looking up - "the hill of death". It wasn't so hard.
It’s quite steep, but I got through it thanks to a little musical inspiration from The Guillemots, managing the climb in a little under 10 minutes. Turning left at the top, it then really started to feel like I was heading home. Through several checkpoints and eventually onto the final stretch – the last 3 miles through Salford back to base. At this stage it really feels like there’s no point giving in no matter how slow the progress.
Old Salford - happily this stereotype is now rather rare
Liverpool St (picture above) is unremittingly grim. Long, straight, and a mix of late 20th century flats, earlier terraces and some industrial sites (such as a scrap yard). Here I gave up on music. Perhaps Portishead’s Third was just a little too fitting. Close to the centre of Salford I joined up with 2 freshers – who had absolutely no idea about Salford, or quays. For the last mile we took it steady, finally crossing the Irwell, then Deansgate, then St Peters Sq and finally turning down the slope onto the campus.
Finishing 21 hours and 44 minutes after I had set off, I had made it. So without further ado, here are the freshly crunched numbers:
Vital statistics
| 2011 figures | 2009 figures | ||||||||||
| Checkpoint | Arrive | Depart | time since last CP | miles from last checkpoint | Total Distance | section average mph | moving average mph | Arrival | Depart | section average mph | |
| 0 | 00:00:00 | 19:33:05 | 00:00:00 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 00:00:00 | 20:10:00 | 0.00 | |
| 1 | 22:28:17 | 22:51:33 | 02:55:12 | 9.8 | 9.8 | 3.36 | 3.36 | 23:15:00 | 23:40:00 | 3.24 | |
| 2 | 23:55:26 | 0:09:44 | 01:03:53 | 3.6 | 13.4 | 3.38 | 3.36 | 00:41:00 | 00:55:00 | 2.95 | |
| 3 | 1:57:30 | 2:08:07 | 01:47:46 | 6.2 | 19.6 | 3.45 | 3.39 | 03:08:00 | 03:22:00 | 2.93 | |
| 4 | 3:43:00 | 3:55:00 | 01:34:53 | 5.2 | 24.8 | 3.29 | 3.37 | 05:33:00 | 05:50:00 | 2.52 | |
| 5 | 5:15:07 | 5:51:49 | 01:20:07 | 4.2 | 29 | 3.15 | 3.33 | 07:15:00 | – | 2.35 | |
| 6 | 7:31:57 | 7:57:10 | 01:40:08 | 5 | 34 | 3.00 | 3.28 | ||||
| 7 | 10:21:58 | 10:27:38 | 02:24:48 | 7 | 41 | 2.90 | 3.21 | ||||
| 8 | 11:51:41 | 12:10:17 | 01:24:03 | 3.1 | 44.1 | 2.21 | 3.11 | ||||
| 9 | 13:38:33 | 13:57:23 | 01:28:16 | 4.1 | 48.2 | 2.79 | 3.08 | ||||
| 10 | 15:33:54 | 15:39:00 | 01:36:31 | 3.9 | 52.1 | 2.42 | 3.02 | ||||
| 11 | 17:26:55 | – | 01:47:55 | 2.9 | 55 | 1.61 | 2.89 | ||||
| Distances as per route notes, maybe rounding errors may exist | |||||||||||
At the time of writing I had amassed £260 in sponsorship. You can still sponsor me at http://www.justgiving.com/AlanP-Bogle2011 with the funds going to Lymphoedema Support Network.
My feet are beginning to recover!
A Grim North 