Journeys by hiking, running, cycling and touring
It has been a month, and high time I ventured out to knock off the next section. Luckily the forecast was for two days of bright weather, little or no rain and wind and reasonable temperatures. It would have been wrong not to go for it. I dumped the car on the outskirts of Witham, … Continue reading The Essex Way: Part 3 – White Notley to West Bergholt
A little over a week later from my first section of the Essex Way, I was back and ready for more. This time the plan was to pick up where I left off, conveniently at a bus stop, and walk to White Notley where there's a station. My mapping software, into which I'd imported a … Continue reading The Essex Way: Part 2 – A1060 to White Notley
The Essex Way is a long distance route of 130km (81 miles) stretching from Epping in the West to Harwich in the East. It was created as a result of a competition organised by the CPRE in 1972, and some of the original CPRE-branded waymarks can still be seen on the route (although now largely replaced … Continue reading The Essex Way: Part 1 – Epping to the A1060
The campsite stirs early, sounds of birdsong mixing with the roar of gas stoves for early morning brews. I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself as I'm all but packed for 7:30 when the cafe opens for breakfast. Even so the Belgians have already scarpered. Mike, Darren and Scott join me, reprising our meal in Dornie … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2017: Day 4 – Leapfrogs
Rain falls during the night, not unexpectedly given I'm in the Motherland of Rain, and does little to speed my leaping joyously out of bed. I lay and doze, listening to the geese overhead, the song birds somewhere near, and the patter of precipitation closer still. Even so, it's a relatively early start at 08:35, … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2017: Day 3 – Raincoat Hokey Cokey
A decent night's sleep is had, despite some snoring from the room's other occupant, and so much so that we're late to rise. We're also slow to breakfast and slow to set off. Basically we're slow in every way conceivable. Just as we seem to be making progress towards starting the day's walk, Howard and … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2017: Day 2 – Fluffy Slippers and Anchovies for Breakfast
As agreed last night, breakfast is taken at the first opportunity. Supplies are gathered from the local shop and we sign out. Early. Andy even admits it on the sign-out sheet, saying "it's only 15 minutes". I take a more cowardly approach, adding 5 minutes and annotating "Andy made me!". We're off, up the minor … Continue reading TGO Challenge 2017: Day 1 – “Releasing the Handbrake”
The euphoria of knocking off 15 miles and nearly 1000m of ascent on a day when I was feeling sluggish soon wore off. The wind picked up in the night and was really pressing on the tent. Again I had bits of cheap Chinese inner in my face. I was glad to get up, but … Continue reading Cambrian Way #9: Bryn y Fedwen to Mallwyd (Days 20-21)
The need to get in some serious backpacking practice before the Big One in Scotland in May saw me heading back to Ponterwyd a bit sooner than I'd expected. I'd decided that the Cambrian Way would be a suitable training ground for the TGO. Furthermore, in a moment of madness I had the idea of … Continue reading Cambrian Way #8: Ponterwyd to Bryn y Fedwen (Days 18-19)
I've already told the story of the actual walk, but also wanted to wrap up some comments on the planning for the trip and some general thoughts on the walk and route themselves. So here goes... Firstly, my account of the walk (I'll add Paul's in due course when and if he gets around to … Continue reading A Different Coast to Coast – Devon
Ivybridge to Wembury: 15 miles, 1 day The half day did us both good in topping up the tanks ready for the final stretch of the walk. I don't think either of us had particularly high hopes for this final day's walk, but personally I can pretty much steel myself for anything with the knowledge … Continue reading A Different Coast to Coast – Part 4: The Bottom Bit
Drewsteignton to Ivybridge - 38 miles, 2½ days Paul's feet seemed to have got a second wind, and he was back in the lead as we climbed up out of Drewsteignton onto the Castle Drogo estate. Familiar territory now, and I'd visited all of these tors earlier in the year, so it wasn't a long … Continue reading A Different Coast to Coast – Part 3: Dartmoor
Knowstone to Drewsteignton, 29 miles, 2 days As is always the case on a long distance walk, a night spent in a proper bed and the body filled with a proper breakfast gives you a bit of a spring in your step. And so it was as we started out for day 3, tempered only … Continue reading A Different Coast to Coast – Part 2: The Middle Bit
Lynmouth to Knowstone - 27 miles, 2 days The rain started just as we got to Lynmouth, banishing the hopes that had arisen that the forecast didn't seem to be playing out. We stepped onto the beach to take the obligatory start photo and then turned our faces southward and into the rain. Before we … Continue reading A Different Coast to Coast – Part 1: Exmoor
Ice cream and tea consumed I got on my way, leaving sleepy Strata Florida behind and heading along a lane that would take me to the Teifi Pools. Climbing up gently over grass, I gained a trackway and soon saw the first of the lakes - Llyn Egnant. I stopped to refill my water from … Continue reading Cambrian Way #7: Strata Florida to Ponterwyd (Days 16-17)