A team of 10 Infotex staff members, friends and partners took on the Norfolk Coast Mighty Hike in aid of the fantastic charity MacMillan Cancer Support. This is a 14.5 mile trek across the north coast of Norfolk, from Cromer to Blakeney.
Starting at 8:20 on a sunny Sunday morning, our team departed and shortly after climbed the 50ft Beeston Hill, granting views of a line of walkers in green stretching into the distance.
The just over half marathon distance had over 1,500 participants which at times looked more like a line of ants stretching as far as the eye could see.
The trek took the team through the picturesque town of Sheringham before running parallel to the North Norfolk Railway, complete with a passing passenger train to keep us company.
A pitstop at Weybourne marked the half-way point and having reached this after approx 2.5 hours everyone was quite upbeat and chatty.
However, the next stretch was to test us to our limits! There followed about 3 miles of seemingly never-ending shingle, taking us alongside the turrets of the Muckleburgh Military Collection all the way through to Cley Beach with no break from the sun beating down.
Walking on hot and shifting shingle with the tide lapping at your shoes if you strayed near the shoreline, and the relentless grind of the noise sapped every ounce of energy from the legs with stones in shoes for added discomfort. The marshall’s glib statement when leaving the earlier pitstop of “just follow the shoreline until you see the red building” was ringing in our ears and eventually a red roof appeared like a mirage from the stony banks to then cruelly disappear from sight once more. While many of our team had undertaken practice walks in the run-up to the event none had thought to train on shingle for such a distance and it’s quite different to the sandy paths expected. Even a seal playing in the wash barely lifted the spirits.
By the time we re-grouped in the car park behind the “red building”, emptied stones from our shoes and taken on a much-needed sugar hit and drinks, it was time for the final push. This took us across the somewhat windswept Blakeney Nature Reserve before we were greeted with the 14-mile marker. A final half-mile climb from the Quayside to The Pastures and the finish line was in sight.
We crossed the finish line as a team at 14:09 after almost 6 hours of solid hiking and the glass of cool fizz waiting had never felt so welcome nor the medal so well earned.
Credit must be paid to the staff from MacMillan Events who put this hike on and provided an army of staff who remained cheerful – even when standing in the most wind-swept locations.
The reason we undertook the hike was to help raise funds for MacMillan Cancer Support. With 1 in 2 people in the UK having to deal with cancer at some point in their life it is no wonder that every member of our team had a personal reason for wanting to take on the challenge. The pain in our legs at the conclusion is still a drop in the ocean compared to what those suffering with this horrible disease go through on a day-to-day basis.
We have set ourselves a goal of raising £2,500 and if you feel able to help contribute towards this excellent charity then visit our Just Giving page.
https://www.justgiving.com/team/infotexuk
Thank you so much to those of you who have already donated, we are incredibly grateful for every penny donated towards this wonderful cause.
Editor Note: A huge thank you goes out to the Infotex’ers who took on the challenge of the Mighty Hike: Angie Vale, Ant Agar, Jonathan Smith, John Harman, Jonny Duffin, Matt Adlem and Michael Letley.
