I was never interested to do a long hike. My interest was sparked when Bobby asked me if I wanted to join Beach Bunch Night Trail Challenge 2017.

There are 2 categories, 10km and 20km. I doubt that I could hike 20km but I was confident that I could do 10km.

The 10km hike for the night trail challenge started from Jerudong Beach and ended up at Agro Park.

I decided to see if I could hike 10km under the cut-off time 2 hours.

I did have 2 back up plans.

One was to hike 5km and headed back to get 10km.

Second was to hike a total 16km from Agro Park to Shahbandar and back to Agro Park.

I was planning to just hike 10km total. Started from Agro Park, hike half way and headed back.

The original plan was to start at 6.30am on Sunday last week but since it was raining in the early morning we waited until rain had stopped and started much later.

The sun was out and it was a hot morning. I decided to cover myself from head to toe. I wore long pants, long sleeves with a hat. I put on sunscreen on my face and also my hands.

It was almost 10 am when we started our hike.

It was my first time hiking from Agro Park. The trail was flat at first and there were several long hills that we went through for more than 5km.

I was tired after 2.8km. My guess is because I’m not used to long slow incline hills. But I quickly recovered went down hills.

Just before 4km, I said to Bobby that I was just going to go for 5km and headed back. By this time, I went up hills slower.

We went through 3 big hills as we were approaching 5km and the thought that I had to go through those hills again if we head back changed my mind.

Bobby shared after the last hill that the terrain will be more flatter with short hills.

So I decided to just go through the 10km and went straight to Shahbandar.

The terrain was wet and muddy most of the time. Good thing that I was wearing my “Temburong shoes”.

After 8km, my thighs started to tighten. I felt the discomfort and resisted the urge to stop and rest because I was in a hurry to reach Shahbandar. I also noticed that my hands were already clubbing. My fingers were chubby and wasn’t easy for me to fold my fingers and close my hands. I haven’t had clubbing hands for a very long time. I used to have it when I started to hike more than a decade ago. Told Bobby about my hands and Bobby said to refrain from drinking my water. I agreed.

We went out of the jungle trail next to substation and walked on highway to Shahbandar.

I was already exhausted and I was so so glad when we finally reached Shahbandar.

Arrived at Shahbandar after 2.5 hours.

Quenched our thirst with 2 coconut water each and rest for a bit before we head back to Agro Park.

My hands were less clubbing now probably due to less stress and also resting.

We went through Empire’s road from Shahbandar. The terrain from here on wards are jungle trail, a very very long gravel road and padded roads.

I was fine with the jungle trail. Surprised that there was a lake next to the jungle trail! Water looked so calm and it made me want to swim in it but Bobby advised against it because there might be dangerous animals like snakes and the like.

After we passed the jungle trail, there was gravel road. There was no hills, there was a gradual slope of going down and up.

After walking for a few kilometers, my knees started to hurt and the soles of my feet felt the heat from the stones. I could feel the rough stones through the Temburong shoes. It felt very much like my feet were tortured to be honest with you.

Unfortunately a very old injury resurfaced and made walking through gravel road a lot more unbearable.

I was so glad to finally see PLM building once we were out of the jungle. I had wished that we parked the car closer so I didn’t have to walk further.

We got to the car after 2pm and went straight to have our lunch.

At the end of the day, I bloody well surprised myself! I never hike for more than 6km before and I did it!

I need to remind myself of a couple of things for my next long hike. Wear UPF 50+ gloves and long socks. Half of my hands were sunburnt and so are the exposed areas on my ankles.

Looking at my time, I don’t think I would be joining the Beach Bunch Night Trail Challenge. I do however look forward to do another long hike soon.

 

To enjoying a long hike,