 |
| Dawn on the Monarch’s Way near Hawkchurch – pic by Lee-Stuart Evans |
All killer no filler. All greatest hits albums for bands have nothing but the best bits. Queen had so many albums and hits it meant Greatest Hits 1 wasn’t enough, and Greatest Hits 2 quickly followed. When you have spent nearly 1500 miles on a trail on foot over 18 months much of the ‘bad times’ with bad weather, exhaustion etc fall to the wayside and what you are left with in your memory are just the highlights. The Greatest Hits.
In this blog I cover a weekend where I finally complete the entire 625 mile Monarch’s Way for the second time (!) but also get a chance to see the trail in its full glory in the Summer, meet up with friends and supporters of the Trail and enjoy the highlights of everything I’ve come to love about this very unusual trail and the people that champion it.
 |
| Lee-Stuart , Susi and Rosanna meet at the coast at Charmouth on the Monarch’s Way |
Due to a quirk of logistics I never walked the 8 miles between Charmouth and Bridport that the Monarch’s Way shares with the South West Coastal Path other than during my Fastest Known Time run. This gave me the perfect excuse to go there and meet up with John Tennant from the Monarchs Way Association to collect my ‘End to Ender‘ certificates and celebrate one of the most amazing adventures of my life.
 |
| Dairy Cows at a farm near Hawkchurch on the Monarch’s Way |
I set off late Friday night from Broadwindsor with my friend Rosanna who was looking for a decent excuse to test her gear and fitness before a gruelling Lakeland 50 Ultra she is doing later in July. Our plan was to do a 40 mile loop over the weekend and meet up with various people on the way. We headed south on the Monarchs Way towards Hawkchurch and we circled by bats as they flew past catching insects drawn to our headtorches. After a few hours we wild camped in a field overlooking Hawkchurch and slept for 3 hours before the dawn arrived.
 |
| Rosanna and Susi on the Monarch’s Way near Charmouth |
Rosanna and I then walked from Hawkchurch to the Charmouth coast enjoying the sunrise and arrived at the seafront around 9am having found a wonderful bakery that sells goods and bacon sandwiches and tea from a small door round the side of the house directly on the trail.
 |
| On top of Watton Hill Bridport on the Monarch’s Way |
At the coast we met up with my friend Susi who has subsequently become a warden of the Monarch’s Way in the Wincanton area and also John Tennant the Chairman of the Monarchs Way and Brian who is a warden in Dorset who came to my rescue twice during my FKT and walked with me during some of the toughest sections I had back then. I’ve come to refer to Brian as the ‘Wizard of Dorset’ who only appears when you need him most.
 |
| The Cliff section of the Monarch’s Way that is shared with the South West Coastal Path near Bridport |
Brian left us to meet us at the pub when we got to Bridport while the rest of us went along the Cliff path from Charmouth. The weather was hilarious with massive strong winds and poor visibility everytime we went above 600ft, we missed all the views including going over the highest point on the South coast at Golden Cap.
After a long leisurely lunch and a chat, Susi, Rosanna and I left Bridport. A bit tired Rosanna had had a nap under the table at the pub (something I did a lot on the FKT). We took some photos with Brian and John with my certificates and also commemorated that we had raised £3160 for the Monarchs Way Association and for the first time created definitive electronic GPX files of the entire route based on Trevor Antills 3 Books and my Fastest Known Time route, that now all walkers and runners could use with confidence.
Susi eventually left us and the trail near Ryall to get to her car and this left Rosanna and I to enjoy an evening snack and a drink at the pub in Shave Cross before settling down for a long sleep in a field a few miles south of Pilsdon Hill knowing we only had a handful of miles to cover in the morning to get back to the car.
 |
| Monarch’s Way Sunset near Pilsdon Hill |
As we got back to Broadwindsor the next morning I found to my delight that John and Brian and put some Monarch’s Way stickers on the telephone box and I mounted a spoof blue plaque to commemorate my lowest point physically and mentally on my Fastest Known Time record.
A while back I went out to do the Boscobel Loop on the Monarchs Way in terrible weather, but came to realise that some of my negative thoughts about the trail were from travelling so much distance on my own. With Jason and Kieran and the trail I had a blast despite 3 ft snow drifts and freezing temperatures.
 |
| Crossing Fields on the Monarchs Way near Hawkchurch |
As I sat in a meadow near Pilsdon hill that morning surrounded by tall grass about 4 miles from getting back to the car, with the warm sun and butterflies darting about it dawned on me that this same field would have been a muddy cold and treacherous slog in April. We had bats swirl around us while we walked at night, birds of prey and butterflies and dragonflies flit around us during the day and enough time spare to have a long lunch with friends in a pub and a decent nights sleep. This was the exact opposite to the conditions I had faced on my Fastest Known Time. I don’t like being alone on a remote trail for too long but I love being on a remote trail with a few close friends for company to share the experience with. This feeling may stem from my diving and flying where I’ve usually always got at least one other person with me. When you add great company and great weather you get the best out of a good trail.
 |
| Monarch’s Way Sunset near Pilsdon Hill |
The whole weekend had been nothing but the highlights of everything this trail has to offer, from the rolling hills of Dorset to the Jurassic Coastal Path, decent weather, gorgeous sunsets over massive backdrops and friendly pubs with wild camping in remote places and wonderful people around me that have all come to signify how a trail can bring people together from all walks of life who would not have met otherwise.
 |
| John Tennant , Lee-Stuart Evans and Brian with the Monarch’s Way End to Ender Certificates |
With the mileage I had done on the Monarchs Way Ultra and this weekend I was now 285 miles into ‘Greatest Hits 3’. So who knows when I might be back to grab another certificate in the future? but for now that weekend was a fitting way to close a golden chapter on my adventures with a Cavalier theme.
 |
| The Telephone Box at Broadwindsor on the Monarch’s Way |
