100km Jurassic Coast Challenge Recap: Part One
I did a crazy thing. Last weekend (May 14-15, 2022), I walked 100km over two days raising money for in support of a cleft lip and palate charity (Cleft).
Back in 2017 my cousin and I were together in Maine. She was training for a 100km walk at the time, and I decided to join her in her training by walking around our lake. I was in decent shape at the time as I was running a lot, and I thought “how hard can it be?” I walked about 25km that day, and it wasn’t too hard, although my feet sure hurt the following day.
Fast forward to 2019, when we decided an ultrachallenge would be our next adventure. We originally signed up for a 106km walk around the Island of Wight for May of 2020. We all know what happened in 2020, so the race was cancelled. We had to postpone again in 2021, so here we are, 2 years later, finally making it happen. Because of timing, and the fact that I would need to fly over to London, we switched from the Isle of Wight to the Jurassic Coast Challenge.
Our route from Corfe Castle in Wareham to Bridport. Picture from the Jurassic Coast Challenge.
The Jurassic Coast Challenge is a 100km (62mi) walk along the, you guessed it, Jurassic Coast. It is a World Heritage Site on the south coast of England stretching from Studland Bay in Dorset to Exmouth in East Devon. This ultrachallenge started at Corfe Castle, took a small loop around Swanage, then headed west to Bridport.
There were several different ways to complete the Jurassic Coast Challenge, we chose to walk it over 2 days. Others walked all 100km straight through the night, or chose to walk a section or two. I can tell you that any and all of these choices were difficult, as you can see from the elevation map:
Look at those hills! Picture from the Jurassic Coast Challenge.
The full 100km required 2200m (7218ft) of climbing – a LOT for me, living in flat Chicago. But you only live once, right? In the months leading up to the challenge I tried to train in Chicago, not an easy feat as it is completely flat, and it’s hard to find trails without driving too far. The longest walk I took before flying over the pond was 34km (21 mi), not exactly the hearty training I had planned. While my training was not great, I felt my fundraising was on point - I raised over $10,000 for Cleft, an organization that helps children born with cleft lip and/or palate. I was absolutely thrilled and blown away by that number - $10k supports roughly 250 surgeries. Thank you thank you to all of my supporters!
My cousin and me, the afternoon before the race.
We stayed in Weymouth at the halfway point. Bright and early Saturday morning we took a shuttle to the start at Corfe Castle, a 40 minute drive.
At 7:29am, we crossed the start line and were on our way. The first bit through the Swanage area was inland across farmland, and included our first big climb of 200m (656ft). There was a lot of excitement in the air, everyone felt good, and the weather was perfect. The climb, although high on the elevation chart, didn’t feel all that difficult. Probably because of the fresh legs… There were some cattle gates to get through – easy if you are used to them, but is it really necessary to use so many different types of gates??? Luckily I usually had someone in front of me who knew how to open them. It wasn’t so hard to figure out at the beginning, but later on, after many many km the brain gets a bit foggy. We had multiple views of Corfe Castle as we walked along the path through mostly farmland. We reached the first rest stop at about 9:45am. 11km (6.8mi) done!
Corfe Castle
Up the first hill in the Swanage area.
So much food! This was a minor stop, the major stops had even more.
The rest stops were really well staffed, complete with tons of food, a medical tent, water, lots of chairs, and incredible Ultra Challenge staff to help us with whatever we needed. They even had Freddos, one of my favorite Australian chocolates (easily found in the UK, but not in the US)! I was a happy girl, and may have picked up a few at every rest stop. I ended up carrying a few for the entire 100km. I’m very dedicated to my favorite chocolates.
Relaxing at rest stop #1. The lanyard around my neck is my check-in badge.
After taking in some snacks, changing our socks, refilling water and resting a bit, we took off again towards our lunch stop, 14km (8.7mi) away. After a brief walk on the pavement in town we were back on the path through farmland, complete with the cows, sheep, goats, and our fellow walkers, who were all starting to smell about the same. It’s a good thing there was a bit of a breeze. We had another hill in this stretch, shorter than the first, and did not feel too difficult. At this point we started counting km by how many we had to go to the next rest stop, as thinking about the total felt a bit overwhelming.
We arrived at rest stop #2 at about 1:15pm. At each rest stop the friendly staff scanned us in before we hit the tent. This stop included lunch, so had a large selection of sandwiches, fruit, and snacks. I had been told to change socks at every rest stop – as your socks become damp they are more likely to create friction and the dreaded blisters. So we again changed our socks, inspected our feet, and were feeling pretty good. We tried not to take too long at the rest stops, but we probably averaged about 45 minutes at each one. Thus far we had conquered the first two big hills of the Jurassic Coast Challenge, but they weren’t overwhelming. I actually found the ups and downs much easier than the flat road I had trained on, as they work different muscles at different times, giving your legs a break. And I found the ups much more comfortable than the downs.
With 25km (15.5mi) behind us, we set off on the next 17km (10.6mi) leg, the longest of the entire Jurassic Coast Challenge. This is where the real fun began with the hills. Once again we started off through farmland, and I was beginning to wonder if we would ever hit the coastal trail. It wasn’t until about 4pm that we were consistently along the coast, and then the insane hills began. The Jurassic Coast Challenge is known for its hills, the best ones start as you head into Lulworth Cove. The trail runs high upon the cliffs, is very steep and absolutely gorgeous. I think the photos say it all.
This was a fun hill… hahahahahahaha!!!
The views were spectacular.
When we hit rest stop #3 in Lulworth Cove at 5:40pm we had walked 42km (26.1mi) in about 8:45 hours of walking time. My feet were definitely starting to tire, but we were generally feeling pretty good. The weather was still beautiful and warm, with some the clouds coming in. At this point we had 16km (9.9mi) to go until we could stop for the day, so we had something to eat, changed our socks for the last time and head on out to tackle the final section.
Often I felt like I was in an enchanted forest.
This last stretch of day one of the Jurassic Coast Challenge started off through a beautiful forest before sending us back to the coast and the next stretch of dastardly hills. As we came out of the forest we were treated to an amazing view of Durdle Door, an arch jutting out into the sea - it has been said that this is the most famous stone arch in the world, created about 10,000 years ago.
Durdle Door
And then came the hills. We thought we had conquered the worst of them, but the hills leading up to the 42km rest stop were just the warmups. I believe the first hill we hit was Swyre Head, and it was a doozy. Straight up along the steep cliff edge. Luckily it wasn’t too long, but boy was it steep. To the gentleman to whom I said I thought Swyre Head was the last big one, I am so so sorry. Because right after Swyre Head was another one, just as steep. These would be a challenge on any day, but after walking almost 50km at that point, they were simply cruel.
Smiling because we are on TOP of the hill.
The rest of the evening was rolling hills and forest. Hitting the 50km (31mi) point was pretty exciting, and not long after that the sun went down. We pulled out our headlamps and walked the last 8km (5mi) or so in the dark. The path was now marked with both signs and glow sticks, so it was easy to follow.
The woods were just as pretty as the coast.
We were excited to reach the 50km point before dark.
We were also away from the cliffs, so no worries about falling off. We reached the 58km (36mi) rest stop at Lodmoor County Park just shy of 10:30pm. We had finished the first two stages and we were both feeling pretty good, but of course tired with achy feet. I was thrilled not to have any blisters after 58km (preview for my day two recap: the blisters were simply lying in wait). After enjoying a nice hot pasta dinner, we went to our hotel in Weymouth just a few minutes away, took quick showers, re-packed our bags, and caught about 6 hours of sleep before getting up and doing it all over again for day two.
We made it through day one!
Have you done the Jurassic Coast Challenge, another ultrachallenge, or do you have any questions? Leave me a note below!