Summer colds are horrible. It’s just not the right time of year for such poorliness. The cold didn’t know that it was the wrong season, and my goodness, did I feel grotty for the eight days (yes, eight whole days) that it afflicted me.
I’m happy to say that it finally bid a retreat just in time for my birthday. Yes, another year has passed; my age has crept up another notch.
There’s usually a very strong outdoors theme in my birthday wish-list, and this year was no exception. However, whereas usually I use such occasions as an opportunity to get frivolous gear (i.e. stuff that I want but, strictly, don’t need and therefore struggle to justify buying for myself) the only items on my wish-list were books.
So, with my outdoorsy-books obsession fed for a while longer, I now have:
- Two Josie Dew books.
I discovered her by accident last year when Ma-in-Law dragged me into a cheap book shop and even though cycling has never appealed to me as a past time, I’m hooked on her adventures, so I’m now on a mission to read everything she’s written.
- GR5 Guidebook from Cicerone.
I’m trying to work out if I can fit both that and the TGOC into next year whilst also back working full time!.
- North to the Cape Guidebook from Cicerone.
Another one on the to-do list.
- Down Under by Bill Bryson.
The excellent B&B in which we stayed in Welshpool had a copy of this on its bookshelf and I read the first couple of chapters. Reluctantly, I put it back on the shelf before we left; now I can finish it.
- National Trails Book from Cicerone. I bought a copy for a friend last year and had book envy, so put it on my wish-list. Due to a bit of a lack of co-ordination (entirely my fault) I ended up with two copies – one has been returned to Amazon and replaced with:
- Two Chris Townsend Books – The Rockies one and the Alaska one.
I also have a little bit of present-money to fritter away, and can you believe that I can’t think of any outdoor gear that I want to buy with it? So I may just be a bit girly and buy some new earrings instead (after all, since Cannich on our walk I’ve been sharing two earrings between four holes, so it’s about time I replaced those I lost on the way).
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Saturday, 2 August 2008
The Efficiencies of the Bushbuddy
On my posting below on the subject of LEJOG Cost, Martin asked what appeared to be a simple question about the Bushbuddy.
I found myself writing something of an essay in response, so rather than hiding it in the comments, I thought I'd give it a post of its own:
Q.On fuel you must have saved a bit of money with the bush buddy stove,from burning twigs etc and if so is it worth having on a long trip?
Our theory on using the Bushbuddy, as well as saving on fuel, took into consideration that it would save us from having to carry so much gas (thus saving weight) and from the trouble of resupplying gas so frequently.
Part of our theory worked well. We must have saved fuel. We used 8 x 250 gas canisters in total (actually, we used 9 canisters, but as we threw two of those away when still half full (because we'd received new ones and didn't want the extra weight) for the purposes of fuel efficiency we used 8). We know from past experience that cooking two cups of tea and one evening meal per day each, a 250 canister will last for 5 days. So, theoretically we should have got through 12 cans on this trip (60 camping nights).
However, we also had porridge for breakfast on probably between a third and a half of our camping days - and I'll not bore you with my sums here - but that amounts to an extra canister, and some days we frivilously drank more cups of tea (because with the Bushbuddy we didn't need to conserve fuel), so let's call that 2 canisters.
So, I reckon that we saved 6 cans of gas by using the Bushbuddy. I buy my gas at £2 per 250 can, so that was only a saving of £12 - however, had we bought them as we went along then (aside from the extra effort and miles that would have involved) I expect it would have been around £22.
The bit of the theory that didn't work so well, at least on the second half of the trip, was the weight saving from not carrying so much gas. With the vagaries of the weather (I draw the line at using the BB in wet weather), the knowledge that we would struggle to buy gas as we went and the intervals between resupply, we found ourselves with two canisters most of the time - one full, one in use - which was purely on a 'just in case' basis. With a bit more careful thought on the subject of resupply, we needn't have carried so much gas so much of the time and could have better realised the weight saving.
Because of the weather over the last three weeks, the BB had almost no use towards the end, so I did find myself carrying the extra weight for no good reason, and it's not the sort of item that you can just throw into a jiffy bag to send home. I just had to remind myself, when I heaved my heavy pack with five days food in it onto my back, that we'd had good use from the device earlier in the trip!
At £55 (which I think is what mine cost) you'd struggle to justify it on cost alone unless you were doing lots of long trips, but with the other considerations (plus the fun of having a real fire (not to mention the 'fun' of getting your hands and trousers covered in soot*, if you're as careless as am I), I definitely consider it worthwhile for the meagre 150g weight.
(*Actually, to us the mess generated by the Bushbuddy is the big downside of it. I often got myself filthy using it (my carelessness, rather than it being an inherently messy device) and Mick had the job of trying to scrub the outside of the pots clean, which in turn covered his hands in soot; that soot only comes off the hands using soap and water, which is a bit of a faff when you're out in the wilds.)
I found myself writing something of an essay in response, so rather than hiding it in the comments, I thought I'd give it a post of its own:
Q.On fuel you must have saved a bit of money with the bush buddy stove,from burning twigs etc and if so is it worth having on a long trip?
Our theory on using the Bushbuddy, as well as saving on fuel, took into consideration that it would save us from having to carry so much gas (thus saving weight) and from the trouble of resupplying gas so frequently.
Part of our theory worked well. We must have saved fuel. We used 8 x 250 gas canisters in total (actually, we used 9 canisters, but as we threw two of those away when still half full (because we'd received new ones and didn't want the extra weight) for the purposes of fuel efficiency we used 8). We know from past experience that cooking two cups of tea and one evening meal per day each, a 250 canister will last for 5 days. So, theoretically we should have got through 12 cans on this trip (60 camping nights).
However, we also had porridge for breakfast on probably between a third and a half of our camping days - and I'll not bore you with my sums here - but that amounts to an extra canister, and some days we frivilously drank more cups of tea (because with the Bushbuddy we didn't need to conserve fuel), so let's call that 2 canisters.
So, I reckon that we saved 6 cans of gas by using the Bushbuddy. I buy my gas at £2 per 250 can, so that was only a saving of £12 - however, had we bought them as we went along then (aside from the extra effort and miles that would have involved) I expect it would have been around £22.
The bit of the theory that didn't work so well, at least on the second half of the trip, was the weight saving from not carrying so much gas. With the vagaries of the weather (I draw the line at using the BB in wet weather), the knowledge that we would struggle to buy gas as we went and the intervals between resupply, we found ourselves with two canisters most of the time - one full, one in use - which was purely on a 'just in case' basis. With a bit more careful thought on the subject of resupply, we needn't have carried so much gas so much of the time and could have better realised the weight saving.
Because of the weather over the last three weeks, the BB had almost no use towards the end, so I did find myself carrying the extra weight for no good reason, and it's not the sort of item that you can just throw into a jiffy bag to send home. I just had to remind myself, when I heaved my heavy pack with five days food in it onto my back, that we'd had good use from the device earlier in the trip!
At £55 (which I think is what mine cost) you'd struggle to justify it on cost alone unless you were doing lots of long trips, but with the other considerations (plus the fun of having a real fire (not to mention the 'fun' of getting your hands and trousers covered in soot*, if you're as careless as am I), I definitely consider it worthwhile for the meagre 150g weight.
(*Actually, to us the mess generated by the Bushbuddy is the big downside of it. I often got myself filthy using it (my carelessness, rather than it being an inherently messy device) and Mick had the job of trying to scrub the outside of the pots clean, which in turn covered his hands in soot; that soot only comes off the hands using soap and water, which is a bit of a faff when you're out in the wilds.)
Friday, 1 August 2008
LEJOG: Cost
How much does it cost to walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats?
Well that very much depends upon how you go about it and how long you take over it. But, I can now say how much it cost us.
Before we set off I came up with a ‘budget*’ that suggested that it would cost us about £4,250. That allowed us two B&Bs per week, two meals out per week; at all other times the budget assumed that we were on campsites and buying groceries.
The reality was that we stayed in fewer B&Bs than budgeted, but ate out a lot more and drank much more beer than planned (the budget was obviously flawed in the latter respect – this was a holiday after all!). Fortunately the eating and drinking out was outweighed by the generous amount I had allowed on a daily basis for food, even though I had not appreciated before we set off how much we would find ourselves eating, nor how expensive it is to shop on a daily basis in little village stores.
Having gathered up my notebooks and completed another spreadsheet, I can now say that the trip cost £3,450.
Not bad for a three month trip for two people, I’d say!
If you take off the estimated amount that we saved by not being at home (i.e. savings on utilities, running a car, weekly food shopping etc.), then the real cost of the trip reduces to £2,225. A positive bargain for three months of good fun!
A few notes about the calculated cost:
1) It doesn’t take into account the cost of the 100 dehydrated meals that we pre-prepared, because the ingredients either came out of the store cupboard or were bought as part of the weekly groceries and so the cost was not separately identifiable. Looking at some example meals, I reckon the average cost per meal (including the dehydrating process) was between £1 and £1.25 (note that all of my meals were veggie, and dried pulses are very cheap indeed, which is how we achieved a low average cost). Of course, if we hadn’t dehydrated the meals before we went then the cost of food would have been a few hundred pounds higher.
2) It doesn’t take into account the cost of any gear, either bought on the way or beforehand, as I didn’t consider kit to be a cost of this trip specifically. Most kit was pre-existing; the kit we bought for this trip will mainly be good for other trips too.
3) It doesn’t include the cost of posting used maps home (don’t know why I didn’t write that down, but I consistently omitted it)
4) We did get a few beds for free, mainly thanks to friends and family (and thanks to Adrian & Deborah who put us up even though they’d never met us before). Obviously in the absence of such kindness the costs would have been higher.
5) It does include the postage of the re-supply parcels.
6) It does include the cost of gas canisters.
Because I’m quite sad (no, really!), all of the costs were categorised, so I can come up with some facts and figures as to how much was spent on what (although I’ll resist sharing the graphs with you!):
- I budgeted £60 per B&B night; we averaged £59.
- I budgeted £9 per camping night; we averaged £6.50 (helped by 16 nights wild camping, which brought the average down somewhat; take the free nights out of the equation and the average campsite cost was £9.15). The most expensive campsite was £15; the cheapest was £4 (both of which were good examples of the axiom ‘you get what you pay for’).
- Food and drink (which category includes eating out, beer, tea and cakes, and groceries) averaged just over £19 per day.
- The cheapest pint of Lime and Soda that we bought cost just 25p (at a rather well-to-do sort of a pub and on a very hot day when Mick had run out of water; it was the best pint of pop of the whole trip!); the most expensive pint of Lime and Soda was £2. The most common price was £1.20.
- It cost £200 more to get back from John O’Groats than it cost us to get to Land’s End. That would have been a lot less had we been able to book our return travel a couple of months in advance. Thanks go out to CPM Group Limited of Frome, who kindly paid for our train tickets home.
Finally, note that all of the above figures are for two people. It doesn’t follow that it would cost half the amount for one person (so save money and go with a friend).
(* I use the word budget in a loose sense here; our choice of accommodation and eating out was guided by the budget, but we weren’t going to sacrifice the enjoyment of the trip for a few pounds here or there.)
Well that very much depends upon how you go about it and how long you take over it. But, I can now say how much it cost us.
Before we set off I came up with a ‘budget*’ that suggested that it would cost us about £4,250. That allowed us two B&Bs per week, two meals out per week; at all other times the budget assumed that we were on campsites and buying groceries.
The reality was that we stayed in fewer B&Bs than budgeted, but ate out a lot more and drank much more beer than planned (the budget was obviously flawed in the latter respect – this was a holiday after all!). Fortunately the eating and drinking out was outweighed by the generous amount I had allowed on a daily basis for food, even though I had not appreciated before we set off how much we would find ourselves eating, nor how expensive it is to shop on a daily basis in little village stores.
Having gathered up my notebooks and completed another spreadsheet, I can now say that the trip cost £3,450.
Not bad for a three month trip for two people, I’d say!
If you take off the estimated amount that we saved by not being at home (i.e. savings on utilities, running a car, weekly food shopping etc.), then the real cost of the trip reduces to £2,225. A positive bargain for three months of good fun!
A few notes about the calculated cost:
1) It doesn’t take into account the cost of the 100 dehydrated meals that we pre-prepared, because the ingredients either came out of the store cupboard or were bought as part of the weekly groceries and so the cost was not separately identifiable. Looking at some example meals, I reckon the average cost per meal (including the dehydrating process) was between £1 and £1.25 (note that all of my meals were veggie, and dried pulses are very cheap indeed, which is how we achieved a low average cost). Of course, if we hadn’t dehydrated the meals before we went then the cost of food would have been a few hundred pounds higher.
2) It doesn’t take into account the cost of any gear, either bought on the way or beforehand, as I didn’t consider kit to be a cost of this trip specifically. Most kit was pre-existing; the kit we bought for this trip will mainly be good for other trips too.
3) It doesn’t include the cost of posting used maps home (don’t know why I didn’t write that down, but I consistently omitted it)
4) We did get a few beds for free, mainly thanks to friends and family (and thanks to Adrian & Deborah who put us up even though they’d never met us before). Obviously in the absence of such kindness the costs would have been higher.
5) It does include the postage of the re-supply parcels.
6) It does include the cost of gas canisters.
Because I’m quite sad (no, really!), all of the costs were categorised, so I can come up with some facts and figures as to how much was spent on what (although I’ll resist sharing the graphs with you!):
- I budgeted £60 per B&B night; we averaged £59.
- I budgeted £9 per camping night; we averaged £6.50 (helped by 16 nights wild camping, which brought the average down somewhat; take the free nights out of the equation and the average campsite cost was £9.15). The most expensive campsite was £15; the cheapest was £4 (both of which were good examples of the axiom ‘you get what you pay for’).
- Food and drink (which category includes eating out, beer, tea and cakes, and groceries) averaged just over £19 per day.
- The cheapest pint of Lime and Soda that we bought cost just 25p (at a rather well-to-do sort of a pub and on a very hot day when Mick had run out of water; it was the best pint of pop of the whole trip!); the most expensive pint of Lime and Soda was £2. The most common price was £1.20.
- It cost £200 more to get back from John O’Groats than it cost us to get to Land’s End. That would have been a lot less had we been able to book our return travel a couple of months in advance. Thanks go out to CPM Group Limited of Frome, who kindly paid for our train tickets home.
Finally, note that all of the above figures are for two people. It doesn’t follow that it would cost half the amount for one person (so save money and go with a friend).
(* I use the word budget in a loose sense here; our choice of accommodation and eating out was guided by the budget, but we weren’t going to sacrifice the enjoyment of the trip for a few pounds here or there.)
Thursday, 31 July 2008
LEJOG: Average Distances
Of course, I couldn’t just close the spreadsheet once I’d worked out our total mileage. I did a few sums to look at the average daily distances that we walked.
Overall we walked on 80 days, covering 1240 miles, so on the simplest level we covered an average of just over 15 miles per day. But that’s a skewed figure, because in lieu of taking rest days, we had some short days (the shortest being just under 4.25 miles).
So, to give a truer figure, I categorised our walking days into ‘full’ and ‘half’ days. A bit of an arbitrary categorisation, with the definition of ‘full’ being over 10 miles, and half being 10 miles or under.
Working on that basis, we averaged around 16.5 miles per day on a full day and around 7.5 miles per day on a half day.
Mick not only did some rather more complicated sums, but he also did some pretty pictures to illustrate. The graph above shows our five day running average mileage for the duration (Miles are up the side, the day number is across the bottom; you can spot where the short and the rest days fell!).
Overall we walked on 80 days, covering 1240 miles, so on the simplest level we covered an average of just over 15 miles per day. But that’s a skewed figure, because in lieu of taking rest days, we had some short days (the shortest being just under 4.25 miles).
So, to give a truer figure, I categorised our walking days into ‘full’ and ‘half’ days. A bit of an arbitrary categorisation, with the definition of ‘full’ being over 10 miles, and half being 10 miles or under.
Working on that basis, we averaged around 16.5 miles per day on a full day and around 7.5 miles per day on a half day.
Mick not only did some rather more complicated sums, but he also did some pretty pictures to illustrate. The graph above shows our five day running average mileage for the duration (Miles are up the side, the day number is across the bottom; you can spot where the short and the rest days fell!).
LEJOG: The Distance
The route that I plotted to take us from Land’s End to John O’Groats, via the Lizard and Dunnet Head, was 1252 miles long.
Some of that route, when viewed on paper rather than on a 17” screen, didn’t make sense and some of it wasn’t feasible. Sometimes the route looked perfectly good on paper, but when we got there we found from the lie of the land that we could cut off a corner and omit some road walking. Barely a day passed when we didn’t make some modification.
I’ve just finished plotting the route that we actually walked.
The final ‘official’ mileage of 1240 wasn’t wildly different from the plan.
That of course is based on measuring OS maps using Anquet Mapping. I’m convinced that we actually walked further. Some of those paths alongside lochs are shown as very straight indeed. In reality they are not. Likewise where we went over pathless passes, we undoubtedly meandered more than I can reflect with a line on a map.
That’s not to mention the couple of occasions (in places where the navigation couldn’t have been easier or more obvious) we put our minds in neutral and found ourselves walking 180 degrees in the wrong direction – but I don’t think that we can really count those aberrations as part of our overall mileage!
Some of that route, when viewed on paper rather than on a 17” screen, didn’t make sense and some of it wasn’t feasible. Sometimes the route looked perfectly good on paper, but when we got there we found from the lie of the land that we could cut off a corner and omit some road walking. Barely a day passed when we didn’t make some modification.
I’ve just finished plotting the route that we actually walked.
The final ‘official’ mileage of 1240 wasn’t wildly different from the plan.
That of course is based on measuring OS maps using Anquet Mapping. I’m convinced that we actually walked further. Some of those paths alongside lochs are shown as very straight indeed. In reality they are not. Likewise where we went over pathless passes, we undoubtedly meandered more than I can reflect with a line on a map.
That’s not to mention the couple of occasions (in places where the navigation couldn’t have been easier or more obvious) we put our minds in neutral and found ourselves walking 180 degrees in the wrong direction – but I don’t think that we can really count those aberrations as part of our overall mileage!
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Podcast Bob
Since the very first Backpackinglight Podcast (now The Outdoors Station Podcasts) I listened to, I’ve been a fan.
In my opinion, you just can’t beat Podcast Bob for listening material when lying in a sleeping bag in the wilds or when out running.
I arrived back from our little walk knowing that I would have some listening to catch up on and thinking that it would force me to get back into the running routine.
I’m afraid to say that I failed to resist temptation. I didn’t use the Podcasts to bribe myself into going for a run, but rather overdosed with a couple of days of listening whilst wielding a paint brush.
In particular, I listened to the Cape Wrath series. Here's the player thingy for Part 1; you'll find Parts 2 to 5 on the Audio Podcast Page at The Outdoors Station:
I now want to go and walk the Cape Wrath trail (or at least a good chunk of it, up to Cape Wrath). I even came up with a plan to fit it in this year, but Mick put his foot down and pointed out that we already have enough scheduled in.
If you’re not familiar with what The Outdoors Station has to offer, then I recommend that you pop over for a look and a listen. And I challenge you to listen to the Cape Wrath Series and not want to go and walk it!
(Oh, and if you look carefully you may find a Podcast that I recorded with Bob the week before last; I can’t possibly recommend that one because I’m a harsh critic of myself in the medium of recorded speech; I much prefer the written word for conveying my own thoughts – but it’s there if you want to listen to it.)
In my opinion, you just can’t beat Podcast Bob for listening material when lying in a sleeping bag in the wilds or when out running.
I arrived back from our little walk knowing that I would have some listening to catch up on and thinking that it would force me to get back into the running routine.
I’m afraid to say that I failed to resist temptation. I didn’t use the Podcasts to bribe myself into going for a run, but rather overdosed with a couple of days of listening whilst wielding a paint brush.
In particular, I listened to the Cape Wrath series. Here's the player thingy for Part 1; you'll find Parts 2 to 5 on the Audio Podcast Page at The Outdoors Station:
I now want to go and walk the Cape Wrath trail (or at least a good chunk of it, up to Cape Wrath). I even came up with a plan to fit it in this year, but Mick put his foot down and pointed out that we already have enough scheduled in.
If you’re not familiar with what The Outdoors Station has to offer, then I recommend that you pop over for a look and a listen. And I challenge you to listen to the Cape Wrath Series and not want to go and walk it!
(Oh, and if you look carefully you may find a Podcast that I recorded with Bob the week before last; I can’t possibly recommend that one because I’m a harsh critic of myself in the medium of recorded speech; I much prefer the written word for conveying my own thoughts – but it’s there if you want to listen to it.)
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Two Weeks
Looking rather pleased to be at JOGPhoto* courtesy of Luke Unsworth
Can you believe that it's only two weeks ago that we reached the end of our walk? It seems like half a lifetime ago.
Roll on the next trip!
(* It's rather a good photo, I think, having caught us completely unawares. It's worth clicking on it to see the bigger version)
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Dartmoor Goes Awry
Actually, that heading is perhaps a bit misleading. I imagine that Dartmoor today is exactly as it should be. It was just our day that went awry.
Just a couple of hours after I posted yesterday’s report, I awoke to find Mick writhing in pain and looking somewhat less than well.
After a couple of trips out of the tent, we spent the rest of the night with the doors unzipped so as to disturb less our neighbours and Mick spent a poorly night. We assume it was food/water/unclean implements poisoning.
So, instead of a lazy start to the day and a pleasant amble back across the moor to our starting point, we had very little sleep and at 4.45am, as the day was getting light, I figured I may just as well go and get the car, park it at the nearest road and evacuate Mick to the nearest hotel with en-suite bathroom.
It’s not the ideal circumstances in which to be out walking at that hour of day, but it was a mighty fine morning for it. The sky was clear, the moon was still up and a heavy mist clung to the fields below me, with the higher ground poking out. I did break stride to take a photo, but it just doesn’t do the spectacle justice.
A sea of cloud over the fields
Given the circumstances, I didn’t take the scenic route. I went to the nearest road, power walked along it for a mile or so and then picked up the disused railway line – at the very same point where we had picked it up during our LEJOG. I had said, those three months ago, that I’d like to return to Dartmoor. What I didn’t expect, after an excellent day yesterday sampling the place, was to be repeating part of the LEJOG route early this morning.
The notable thing about the railway track was that it was quiet, and I don’t mean an absence of people (I would have been very taken aback to have met anyone there at 5.30 on a Sunday morning!). There wasn’t even any bird song. Rabbits did abound, but that only gave me a visual diversion.
I covered the 5.5 miles or so in very good time and just before 7am, as heads were starting to poke out of other tents, I arrived back to pack away and to bundle an even poorlier looking Mick out of the tent.
We didn’t book into the local Travelodge as planned. Mick insisted that he would be fine to make the 3 hour journey back north, and admittedly early on a Sunday morning is one of the better times to contend with the motorways. My brake pedal was not used between joining the A30 and leaving the M5, about 170 miles later.
I’m pleased to say that he’s all better now, and we’ve both caught up on that sleep we missed last night.
An unfortunate end to our weekend away, but we agreed that even with the less-than-ideal weather, yesterday was a very good and very enjoyable day, and that it was good to catch up with John Hee, Aktoman, Darren, Alan Sloman and Litehiker and to meet Martin and Martin.
Just a couple of hours after I posted yesterday’s report, I awoke to find Mick writhing in pain and looking somewhat less than well.
After a couple of trips out of the tent, we spent the rest of the night with the doors unzipped so as to disturb less our neighbours and Mick spent a poorly night. We assume it was food/water/unclean implements poisoning.
So, instead of a lazy start to the day and a pleasant amble back across the moor to our starting point, we had very little sleep and at 4.45am, as the day was getting light, I figured I may just as well go and get the car, park it at the nearest road and evacuate Mick to the nearest hotel with en-suite bathroom.
It’s not the ideal circumstances in which to be out walking at that hour of day, but it was a mighty fine morning for it. The sky was clear, the moon was still up and a heavy mist clung to the fields below me, with the higher ground poking out. I did break stride to take a photo, but it just doesn’t do the spectacle justice.
A sea of cloud over the fieldsGiven the circumstances, I didn’t take the scenic route. I went to the nearest road, power walked along it for a mile or so and then picked up the disused railway line – at the very same point where we had picked it up during our LEJOG. I had said, those three months ago, that I’d like to return to Dartmoor. What I didn’t expect, after an excellent day yesterday sampling the place, was to be repeating part of the LEJOG route early this morning.
The notable thing about the railway track was that it was quiet, and I don’t mean an absence of people (I would have been very taken aback to have met anyone there at 5.30 on a Sunday morning!). There wasn’t even any bird song. Rabbits did abound, but that only gave me a visual diversion.
I covered the 5.5 miles or so in very good time and just before 7am, as heads were starting to poke out of other tents, I arrived back to pack away and to bundle an even poorlier looking Mick out of the tent.
We didn’t book into the local Travelodge as planned. Mick insisted that he would be fine to make the 3 hour journey back north, and admittedly early on a Sunday morning is one of the better times to contend with the motorways. My brake pedal was not used between joining the A30 and leaving the M5, about 170 miles later.
I’m pleased to say that he’s all better now, and we’ve both caught up on that sleep we missed last night.
An unfortunate end to our weekend away, but we agreed that even with the less-than-ideal weather, yesterday was a very good and very enjoyable day, and that it was good to catch up with John Hee, Aktoman, Darren, Alan Sloman and Litehiker and to meet Martin and Martin.
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Boggy Yomps on Dartmoor
We've sat down for over a week now. It felt like time to get out walking again, and what better excuse was needed than to join a planned meet up of some of the Outdoor Bloggers.
It didn't start too well. We arrived at the car park in the rain, which made me reach for the contact lenses even though our walk in to the proposed camping spot was short. That's when I found out that I only had lenses for my (stronger) right eye with me. It was a bit of a dizzy and lopsided walk in.
The tent village was already set up when we arrived; our tent swelled it to a tent town and later arrivals made it a tent city. 
Today didn't dawn with any improvemment in the weather. Heavy showers were passing through and it wasn't looking a happy walking day.
Luck was with us. By the time Mick and I were packed away the skies were clearing and the day was showing promise.
Four of us set out at the same time, but in different directions, only to meet again half an hour later, from which point we spent the day together, variously in short periods of sunshine and equally brief periods of showers.
We'd just all donned full waterproofs with hats and gloves when we were passed by a couple wearing cropped trousers and vest tops. We had to wonder if there was a warmer microclimate a hundred yards to our right!
The route we followed had been designed by Mr. Sloman. It was an interesting route. Bogs features quite prominently, along with knee length grass hiding big holes. Quite an adventure really. I was rather pleased to be feeling quite fit at the moment, else it could have been hard work!
By the time the tent city reformed at a different location (with further swollen numbers, 9 tents tonight) the day was brightening up - indeed it even became sunny as we all wandered around being very sad, oohing and aaahing at other people's gear. 
We've now retired to a pub to consider the day's activities over a pint of beer. A fine way to end a good day of walking.
(Post Script: I would have added some photos of the walk itself, except that I really excelled in taking poor photos on this particular day, so just the two of the tent cities will have to suffice.)
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
LEJOG - Re-Living the Journey
Even though I’d printed my own maps on A4 paper, which seemed at the time to be a disposable entity, when it came to the walk I couldn’t bear to throw those pages away. They’d taken me an absolute age to print and cost a small fortune in ink, so I decided instead to post them home in batches and to justify the keeping of them I annotated them with our actual route where it deviated from the plan.
I’m now just going through the process of re-plotting the route. It’s not a necessary exercise, but I want to know the measured mileage of the route we actually walked, rather than what we planned to walk, and in the absence of an internet connection to keep me occupied in an evening, it’s keeping me out of trouble.
It is an exercise that’s turning out to have an unexpected benefit: I get to re-live the journey over again.
I’m surprised at how many of the days I remember in quite some detail now I look at the maps again. I’m sure that detail will soon fade.
So, just now I’m on Day 12 and see the name of ‘Thorverton’. It immediately conjures up the picture of a gorgeous sunny day and a village street with stone-cobbled ‘pavements’ (I think there may have even been a stream running down the side of the road – or perhaps I’m making that bit up), and of a village post office that has been relegated to a portacabin in a car park.
At the east side of the village there’s an immaculate triangle of a village green, with a stream running along one side and a convenient bench upon which weary walkers may rest.
It was a ‘shoe off’ break on that green, combined with a fruit snack, but I resisted bathing my feet in the stream!
Just up the road was a family who enquired whether we were walking the
Oh, I could go on… Happy days!
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Shoes, Books and Shopping
After seven days of sitting around doing nothing, this morning we were to be found ambling along a canal into Wolverhampton (which is where we’re temporarily living). It wasn’t simply a matter of getting out walking for the fun of it; we were on our way to the train station to pop over to Cotswold Outdoor in Birmingham for new footwear.
Last time we took the route of this canal (in March this year) the notable thing about it was that it looked unused. As with so many of the canals we encountered on our jaunt through Britain, it had no boats, moored nor moving. Today, being a glorious sunny day (and my goodness, it’s noticeably warmer down here than we’ve been experiencing in Scotland in recent weeks), both of the first two locks we passed had boats in them, heading uphill towards the city. Bet they were both in for a shock when they got one lock further up to find the canal behind empty of water – particularly as there’s no turning point. However, I digress.
Over to Birmingham we went, and contrary to my usual practice of trying on every piece of footwear in the shop, I was quick in my choice, buying the second pair I tried. They weren’t stocking the Salomon XA Pro XCR, which is what I had intended to buy (in a half size bigger than the toe-eating pair with which I set out from Land’s End). I came away with the Salomon Elios Mid XCR – hardly a comparable shoe to the XA Pro, but I fancied giving them a try.
Mick was equally precise in his selection. They were catering better for boys in the XA range, so he was able to get a straight replacement for the pair that he wore out quite comprehensively during April and May. Pity about the colour of the replacements; I preferred the garish green of his old ones.
He also came away with a pair of Keen Hybrids (a cross between a sandal and a shoe).
Already flinching from the thought of how much this little lot was going to come to, I managed to make it from the shoe dept (right at the back of the store) to the till without being distracted by any other goodies.
The plan then was to go straight back to the station.
Is it possible to walk past a big branch of Waterstones without falling inside? Do they have some form of person magnet?
Having accidentally stumbled inside of this immense store, I headed straight for the travel section, my mind thinking towards a copy of North to the Cape and a few other Cicerone titles. Alas, despite it being the biggest bookshop I’ve been in, they let me down. Not a single title that I wanted.
Mick heaved a sigh of relief. I won’t be plotting any more walks this week.
Last time we took the route of this canal (in March this year) the notable thing about it was that it looked unused. As with so many of the canals we encountered on our jaunt through Britain, it had no boats, moored nor moving. Today, being a glorious sunny day (and my goodness, it’s noticeably warmer down here than we’ve been experiencing in Scotland in recent weeks), both of the first two locks we passed had boats in them, heading uphill towards the city. Bet they were both in for a shock when they got one lock further up to find the canal behind empty of water – particularly as there’s no turning point. However, I digress.
Over to Birmingham we went, and contrary to my usual practice of trying on every piece of footwear in the shop, I was quick in my choice, buying the second pair I tried. They weren’t stocking the Salomon XA Pro XCR, which is what I had intended to buy (in a half size bigger than the toe-eating pair with which I set out from Land’s End). I came away with the Salomon Elios Mid XCR – hardly a comparable shoe to the XA Pro, but I fancied giving them a try.
Mick was equally precise in his selection. They were catering better for boys in the XA range, so he was able to get a straight replacement for the pair that he wore out quite comprehensively during April and May. Pity about the colour of the replacements; I preferred the garish green of his old ones.
He also came away with a pair of Keen Hybrids (a cross between a sandal and a shoe).
Already flinching from the thought of how much this little lot was going to come to, I managed to make it from the shoe dept (right at the back of the store) to the till without being distracted by any other goodies.
The plan then was to go straight back to the station.
Is it possible to walk past a big branch of Waterstones without falling inside? Do they have some form of person magnet?
Having accidentally stumbled inside of this immense store, I headed straight for the travel section, my mind thinking towards a copy of North to the Cape and a few other Cicerone titles. Alas, despite it being the biggest bookshop I’ve been in, they let me down. Not a single title that I wanted.
Mick heaved a sigh of relief. I won’t be plotting any more walks this week.
Sunday, 13 July 2008
A Final Weigh In
Before unpacking my bag (just to sort through a few things and wash a few things, before packing it all back up to go away next weekend) I thought I'd weigh it. Whereas most people may find themselves ditching items as they make their way on a long walk, I found myself adding little bits and pieces.
The final weight, without any food or water, but with half the tent (I finally decided to shoulder my fair weight and took half the tent (the light half!) from Peebles) and with an almost full gas canister, was 7.5kg.
That's ridiculous isn't it? To think that I've lived for three months out of a bag weighing less than your average person's bag weighs to go for a weekend city break!
Of course, food and water added significantly. Particularly during the final two or three weeks. My left shoulder is just thinking about whether to forgive me.
The final weight, without any food or water, but with half the tent (I finally decided to shoulder my fair weight and took half the tent (the light half!) from Peebles) and with an almost full gas canister, was 7.5kg.
That's ridiculous isn't it? To think that I've lived for three months out of a bag weighing less than your average person's bag weighs to go for a weekend city break!
Of course, food and water added significantly. Particularly during the final two or three weeks. My left shoulder is just thinking about whether to forgive me.
Saturday, 12 July 2008
Home Again, Home Again...
Having slowly wended our way home (even more slowly than intended due to a ‘failed freight train’ ahead of us yesterday), via friends in Elgin for a few days, I finally hit my own sofa in the middle of today.
I am now sitting on my own sofa with a rather nice glass of red wine in my hand. I drank some very nice beer indeed during our walking adventure. I drank some truly dreadful red wine. It’s been nice this last week to discover that nice wine does still exist. But I digress.
Tonight I will sleep in my own bed for the first time in two months. Tomorrow I will sleep in it for a second consecutive night. I’m still hankering after sleeping in the same bed for three consecutive nights, but I’m going to have to wait a while - our house became occupied by Eldest Stepson, girlfriend and child in our absence so we’re off to stay elsewhere as of Monday. That will leave me without an internet connection (or at least without a reliable and legal one) for a while longer.
In the last few hours of sofa-bliss, the photos have been downloaded and I’ve been through them a few times. I am a dreadful photographer. Quite why I am in charge of the camera when I have not a single artistic bone in my body, I know not. I really have taken a lot of very poor photos.
However, there are some that do reflect well the intended view. I was particularly pleased with this one, which Mick and I both voted the best view of the trip.
This one of our best pitch isn’t bad either.
I will start working on the photos to post some soon.
What else has happened in the last week?
Well this beard which was untrimmed during the 3 month jaunt was promptly removed upon arrival in Elgin:
(It was a self-photo taken by me, which explains why it's from a funny angle and the forced expression!)
Mick now looks about 12 rather than 62.
We weighed ourselves. At the time of finishing Mick was 1 stone lighter than when we started. I was the same weight (a good thing, but I’m definitely thinner – I’ve never been so muscular; I even have muscles in my arms, which have always been a particularly pathetic part of my physique). We reckon that had we been able to weigh ourselves a week earlier we would both have been lighter; we really did put a lot of dedication into eating massive amounts in that last week, mainly thanks to some B&Bs and eating establishments.
We’ve also been rejoicing the joys of a change of clothes and clean underwear. The very first thing we did on arriving in Elgin was to pop to Asda for a new outfit (a shopping trip that due to a lack of long sleeved attire in the store saw me buying an Age 11-12 school jumper; I refused Mick’s request to buy the short skirt to go with it!).
As if being clean shaven and having clean clothes on isn’t exciting enough, tonight I cooked fresh vegetables. It involved a knife and a chopping board. From the depths of my mind I recalled how to use both. It was a joy.
All of that is great. But I’ve not been for a walk for five days now. I’m ready for the next outing. Not a long one, just a short trip out …
…but I am looking at that weather map and focussing on the south-east corner and the north-west corner. Mick’s not biting…
…yet.
I am now sitting on my own sofa with a rather nice glass of red wine in my hand. I drank some very nice beer indeed during our walking adventure. I drank some truly dreadful red wine. It’s been nice this last week to discover that nice wine does still exist. But I digress.
Tonight I will sleep in my own bed for the first time in two months. Tomorrow I will sleep in it for a second consecutive night. I’m still hankering after sleeping in the same bed for three consecutive nights, but I’m going to have to wait a while - our house became occupied by Eldest Stepson, girlfriend and child in our absence so we’re off to stay elsewhere as of Monday. That will leave me without an internet connection (or at least without a reliable and legal one) for a while longer.
In the last few hours of sofa-bliss, the photos have been downloaded and I’ve been through them a few times. I am a dreadful photographer. Quite why I am in charge of the camera when I have not a single artistic bone in my body, I know not. I really have taken a lot of very poor photos.
However, there are some that do reflect well the intended view. I was particularly pleased with this one, which Mick and I both voted the best view of the trip.
This one of our best pitch isn’t bad either.
I will start working on the photos to post some soon.
What else has happened in the last week?
Well this beard which was untrimmed during the 3 month jaunt was promptly removed upon arrival in Elgin:
(It was a self-photo taken by me, which explains why it's from a funny angle and the forced expression!)Mick now looks about 12 rather than 62.
We weighed ourselves. At the time of finishing Mick was 1 stone lighter than when we started. I was the same weight (a good thing, but I’m definitely thinner – I’ve never been so muscular; I even have muscles in my arms, which have always been a particularly pathetic part of my physique). We reckon that had we been able to weigh ourselves a week earlier we would both have been lighter; we really did put a lot of dedication into eating massive amounts in that last week, mainly thanks to some B&Bs and eating establishments.
We’ve also been rejoicing the joys of a change of clothes and clean underwear. The very first thing we did on arriving in Elgin was to pop to Asda for a new outfit (a shopping trip that due to a lack of long sleeved attire in the store saw me buying an Age 11-12 school jumper; I refused Mick’s request to buy the short skirt to go with it!).
As if being clean shaven and having clean clothes on isn’t exciting enough, tonight I cooked fresh vegetables. It involved a knife and a chopping board. From the depths of my mind I recalled how to use both. It was a joy.
All of that is great. But I’ve not been for a walk for five days now. I’m ready for the next outing. Not a long one, just a short trip out …
…but I am looking at that weather map and focussing on the south-east corner and the north-west corner. Mick’s not biting…
…yet.
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Who Was It?
As we were waiting for the bus out of John O'Groats this morning the photograph man left his signpost and came over to ask if the other three people had found us yesterday afternoon - three people who went and asked him whether we had arrived.
As I described yesterday, Steve came and found us, and he must have been one of the three.
But there was apparently another couple asking after us.
We have no idea who that might have been.
Who was it? We'd really like to know.
As I described yesterday, Steve came and found us, and he must have been one of the three.
But there was apparently another couple asking after us.
We have no idea who that might have been.
Who was it? We'd really like to know.
The Day After - Duncansby Head
(The following was typed on the Pocketmail this morning whilst waiting for a bus to take us from JOG to Inverness. It's a long old way north is JOG, isn't it? Three hours on a non-stop bus. Phew. It'd take a while to walk that far wouldn't it...)
At 6.45 this morning we were stood by the lighthouse on Duncansby Head - in dense fog.
As we approached we could hear the sea but couldn't see it and knew that there was a lighthouse but had no idea whether we were 100 yards away or half a mile.
It finally appeared out of the gloom. We took photos and our journey was over.
Around we turned to walk back to JOG and suddenly the fog lifted - not far but enough to be able to make out some of the nearer cliffs.
So, am I pleased that it's over?
Not in the sense that I was itching to stop walking. Had our route been longer we would happily have carried on walking.
However, I am pleased to have finished what we set out to do and I am quite happy to stop walking now that we've done that (no considerations of walking home!).
Would I do it again? In principle, I absolutely would. It has been a fantastic experience of which I have positively enjoyed almost all.
But for now I shall enjoy living a more normal life for a while.
The next significant outing will be Coast to Coast in September - much shorter but still something to which to look forward.
Over the next few weeks I will put together further thoughts and reflections on the trip and the gear.
I hope you've enjoyed the daily blog of the trip and a big thank you goes out to everyone who has donated to Macmillan Cancer Support in recognition of our efforts - I have been overwhelmed by the generosity. (And for anyone who hasn't but wants to add a few pounds to the pot, then it's really easy via Justgiving; just click on the link on the right.)
At 6.45 this morning we were stood by the lighthouse on Duncansby Head - in dense fog.
As we approached we could hear the sea but couldn't see it and knew that there was a lighthouse but had no idea whether we were 100 yards away or half a mile.
It finally appeared out of the gloom. We took photos and our journey was over.
Around we turned to walk back to JOG and suddenly the fog lifted - not far but enough to be able to make out some of the nearer cliffs.
So, am I pleased that it's over?
Not in the sense that I was itching to stop walking. Had our route been longer we would happily have carried on walking.
However, I am pleased to have finished what we set out to do and I am quite happy to stop walking now that we've done that (no considerations of walking home!).
Would I do it again? In principle, I absolutely would. It has been a fantastic experience of which I have positively enjoyed almost all.
But for now I shall enjoy living a more normal life for a while.
The next significant outing will be Coast to Coast in September - much shorter but still something to which to look forward.
Over the next few weeks I will put together further thoughts and reflections on the trip and the gear.
I hope you've enjoyed the daily blog of the trip and a big thank you goes out to everyone who has donated to Macmillan Cancer Support in recognition of our efforts - I have been overwhelmed by the generosity. (And for anyone who hasn't but wants to add a few pounds to the pot, then it's really easy via Justgiving; just click on the link on the right.)
Day 84 - Dunnet to John O'Groats
7 July
Distance: about 20 miles
It was an early alarm and an early hour as I stuck my head between the curtains hoping for sunshine. It was raining.
By twenty to nine we were standing on Dunnet Head, taking a self-photo (there was no-one else around at that hour to take one for us). If the distances on the road signs are to be believed, we kept up an incredible speed to the Head. We didn't quite believe the road signs.
My focus by this point was purely on getting to JOG. Mick kept telling me that I was marching away, but being so close I didn't want to dally.
We didn't pause for second breakfast or elevenses, but did make the time to pop into the hotel at Mey for tea and biscuits (which cost the same as our extensive breakfast yesterday morning), then it was back onto the road (soon turning onto a minor one for traffic avoidance) for the last 7 miles.
About five miles out, the sky started to show signs of brightening. An island started appearing out of the gloom off the coast. Twenty minutes later it was bright enough to see that there were houses on that island. It looked like I could get my wish for a sunny walk-in afer all.
With my knees and Mick's feet aching from the constant fast road walking we paused for lunch with a couple of miles to go. I really hope that that's the last time in a long time that I have a lunch that involves oatcakes, cheese or sardines!
When the 'end point' at JOG comes into view it is hardly an overwhelming sight. A collection of buildings that look less than attractive. The views off-shore are undeniably good (and the weather was decidedly fine by now) but that was the case further up the coast too.
Nevertheless, JOG was where we were headed and before we knew it we were there. Across the car park we walked, having spotted the all important finish-line sign post.
Just then a car pulled up alongside. A window opened and Mick was asked if he knew where the finish was. He was about to answer when he realised that this was someone he knew.
My cousin and her husband and my aunt and Maurice had decided, way back when, to take a holiday in Scotland this week with the hope that they could come and surprise us. We were indeed surprised (very very pleasantly so) and they could not have timed their arrival better.
Photos were taken at the sign-post (timed at this end so that the arms were there and so was the man with the letters) then off we went to find celebratory drinks.
The JOG hotel is no more so we were back down the road to the Sea View just a quarter of a mile away.
We were just supping a bottle of bubbly when appeared a chap who asked if we were Gayle and Mick who had just walked from Land's End.
We soon learned that this was Steve. He originally hales from half a mile up the road from Land's End, but now lives up here. It was his sister's B&B in which we stayed the night before we set out and having heard from her about our journey has followed the Blog and came to meet us. It was one final really nice surprise meeting, so thank you Steve for coming over.
He also left us with another £20 for the Macmillan fundraising.
We should now be in the tent as we were meant to be camping tonight. That plan went awry when Mick went to the bar and accidentally ordered a double room with the pint of beer. Hey ho. I suppose I'll just have to put up with another comfy bed...
Our journey is not entirely over. Tomorrow we will get up early and make the jaunt over to Duncansby Head, just for completeness. Having carried my bag every step of the way from Land's End to John O'Groats via Lizard and Dunnet Head, my left shoulder will rejoice at an unencumbered stroll tomorrow.
Once we've completed those couple of miles I will give my overall thoughts of the journey. I will also see if I can finally bully Mick into using the Blogging Device and saying a few words too.
Distance: about 20 miles
It was an early alarm and an early hour as I stuck my head between the curtains hoping for sunshine. It was raining.
By twenty to nine we were standing on Dunnet Head, taking a self-photo (there was no-one else around at that hour to take one for us). If the distances on the road signs are to be believed, we kept up an incredible speed to the Head. We didn't quite believe the road signs.
My focus by this point was purely on getting to JOG. Mick kept telling me that I was marching away, but being so close I didn't want to dally.
We didn't pause for second breakfast or elevenses, but did make the time to pop into the hotel at Mey for tea and biscuits (which cost the same as our extensive breakfast yesterday morning), then it was back onto the road (soon turning onto a minor one for traffic avoidance) for the last 7 miles.
About five miles out, the sky started to show signs of brightening. An island started appearing out of the gloom off the coast. Twenty minutes later it was bright enough to see that there were houses on that island. It looked like I could get my wish for a sunny walk-in afer all.
With my knees and Mick's feet aching from the constant fast road walking we paused for lunch with a couple of miles to go. I really hope that that's the last time in a long time that I have a lunch that involves oatcakes, cheese or sardines!
When the 'end point' at JOG comes into view it is hardly an overwhelming sight. A collection of buildings that look less than attractive. The views off-shore are undeniably good (and the weather was decidedly fine by now) but that was the case further up the coast too.
Nevertheless, JOG was where we were headed and before we knew it we were there. Across the car park we walked, having spotted the all important finish-line sign post.
Just then a car pulled up alongside. A window opened and Mick was asked if he knew where the finish was. He was about to answer when he realised that this was someone he knew.
My cousin and her husband and my aunt and Maurice had decided, way back when, to take a holiday in Scotland this week with the hope that they could come and surprise us. We were indeed surprised (very very pleasantly so) and they could not have timed their arrival better.
Photos were taken at the sign-post (timed at this end so that the arms were there and so was the man with the letters) then off we went to find celebratory drinks.
The JOG hotel is no more so we were back down the road to the Sea View just a quarter of a mile away.
We were just supping a bottle of bubbly when appeared a chap who asked if we were Gayle and Mick who had just walked from Land's End.
We soon learned that this was Steve. He originally hales from half a mile up the road from Land's End, but now lives up here. It was his sister's B&B in which we stayed the night before we set out and having heard from her about our journey has followed the Blog and came to meet us. It was one final really nice surprise meeting, so thank you Steve for coming over.
He also left us with another £20 for the Macmillan fundraising.
We should now be in the tent as we were meant to be camping tonight. That plan went awry when Mick went to the bar and accidentally ordered a double room with the pint of beer. Hey ho. I suppose I'll just have to put up with another comfy bed...
Our journey is not entirely over. Tomorrow we will get up early and make the jaunt over to Duncansby Head, just for completeness. Having carried my bag every step of the way from Land's End to John O'Groats via Lizard and Dunnet Head, my left shoulder will rejoice at an unencumbered stroll tomorrow.
Once we've completed those couple of miles I will give my overall thoughts of the journey. I will also see if I can finally bully Mick into using the Blogging Device and saying a few words too.
Blogging Delays
There's a blogging conspiracy going on in John O'Groats.
We finished the walk, I finally typed the blog post and then couldn't post it.
It turned out to be the only point on the whole route where no telephone would work to send the posts. Full signals on both mobiles wouldn't get them through and not even a pay phone (which has been the fall-back in other places) would work.
So, sorry for the delay to anyone who has been waiting to read about our last day and a bit.
I'm now on a real computer (first time in 2 months!) and am about to re-type my posts. It could take a while. I'm so used to the Pocketmail keyboard that I'm now struggling with a proper sized one!
We finished the walk, I finally typed the blog post and then couldn't post it.
It turned out to be the only point on the whole route where no telephone would work to send the posts. Full signals on both mobiles wouldn't get them through and not even a pay phone (which has been the fall-back in other places) would work.
So, sorry for the delay to anyone who has been waiting to read about our last day and a bit.
I'm now on a real computer (first time in 2 months!) and am about to re-type my posts. It could take a while. I'm so used to the Pocketmail keyboard that I'm now struggling with a proper sized one!
Monday, 7 July 2008
Day 84 - Mission accomplished!
Mick and Gayle arrived at John O' Groats at 2.40pm today.
Gayle will post later once they're done celebrating (and when they've got a decent phone signal).
Gayle will post later once they're done celebrating (and when they've got a decent phone signal).
Sunday, 6 July 2008
Day 83 - West of Watten to Dunnet
6 July
Distance: 17.5 miles
No. of killer wee dugs: 1
No. of overly frisky cows: lots of herds, fortunately all the other side of fences.
Distance: 17.5 miles
No. of killer wee dugs: 1
No. of overly frisky cows: lots of herds, fortunately all the other side of fences.
There is a rule that says that the earlier we want to get away, the longer it takes us to get through our morning ritual and get on the road. Today we proved that the opposite is also true.
Today our schedule was dictated by the fact that the shop in Watten, which we needed to visit, doesn't open until 10am on a Sunday, as a result of which we had arranged breakfast at the Brown Trout Hotel for 9am.
That meant that we didn't need to leave the campsite until 8am, which gave us a bit of a lie-in.
Predictably, with time on our side, we were ready to go in record time. Then, despite trying our best to dawdle along the road, we kept up too fast a pace. We found ourselves in Watten at just ten past eight.
The hospitality at the hotel was fantastic. We explained that we were in no rush and they happily let us take a very leisurely breakfast, staying in their dining room until 10am. During that time we had orange juice and cereal and toast and tea and a huge cooked breakfast and more toast (we were quite hungry, even though we'd already had first breakfast at 7am) and more tea, followed by more tea. And the charge for this huge breakfast? Well, let's just say that I've paid more for a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits. We left very happy indeed.
Much of the day was unremarkable once we got back on the road. The early mist turned to drizzle, slowly getting us wetter and wetter until we changed our windproofs for waterproofs. A while later I had to concede that waterproof trousers were required. Then it started to rain in earnest and out came the overmittens. This was not what the forecast said we would get.
On we sped, along various little lanes requiring minimal navigation and with little of interest except for herds of cows so frisky and stampeding that they had me quite nervous even though they were on the other side of (very flimsy looking, low) fences.
Then we approached Reaster and our day took a surreal turn for a short while.
First there was the ramshackle collection of buildings, with a large collection of old pony-traps, in various states of decay, lining the road. It was here that we were accosted by two friendly dugs and one wee killer dug.
Around the next corner, we were overtaken by an old-fashioned open-topped London Bus. This wasn't a main road we were on; it wasn't a B-road. It was an obscure little lane. The bus seemed somewhat out of place.
Then we went around another bend and towards us was walking an old woman. She was wearing wellington boots, a plastic rain hat, a mackintosh and under the mackintosh she apparently had on a nightie, even though it was 1pm and she was walking up a remote lane in the rain.
At best she looked eccentric, and maybe she was, but she also turned out to be a very nice woman indeed.
She stopped us to ask where we were walking from and to and we had a good chat with her. When she learned what we were doing she turned around and walked back with us to her house where she told us to wait by the gate. Off she trotted and a few moments later came back with £6 for Macmillan and a big bar of chocolate for us. She then shook us by the hand, wished us well and we continued along smiling at another random encounter with kindness - and at the surrealness of the previous half an hour.
At Greenland (really, check the map, we weren't in the wrong country!), in spite of the mist and rain, we got a glimpse of the sea. The sea off the north coast of Scotland. That was a very pleasing moment.
After about 15 or so miles of tarmac, we exercised those liberal access rights that apply in Scotland and cut across the Links of Dunnet, exactly as I had assumed in my route plotting that we could. The path marked on the map was not evident beyond the first hundred yards or so, but the going was easy - and it was very pleasant to get some softer ground under my boots.
Across this ground I had a chat on the phone with Vic. She's helped us out with lots of Googling as we've made our way north and I had one more request. Having missed out on our planned B&B in Watten last night and given the weather, we thought that it would be nice to have a bed tonight instead (getting soft, you see, now we're near the end). Vic duly Googled and having walked half a mile or so into tomorrow's route, we're now at the Northern Sands Hotel in Dunnet.
Yes, we have hit the north coast.
We still have a distance to go on our route, but I think that technically we can now claim to have walked "end-to-end".
Tomorrow we will make an early start for our final push for both Dunnet Head and John O'Groats.
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Day 82 - Before Dalnawillan Lodge to Outside Watten
5 July
Distance: about 18 miles
Distance to go: 38 miles
No. of people seen out walking in last 7 days: 0
Distance: about 18 miles
Distance to go: 38 miles
No. of people seen out walking in last 7 days: 0
The road goes ever on and on...
That's how it felt a couple of miles into this morning. The landscape had become completely flat featureless moorland, with the middle-distance and beyond obscured by low cloud and a mist, so the only notable thing we could see was the estate dirt-access road stretching out in a straight line ahead of us, seemingly forever.
Now, I'm quite a fan of bleak moorland, but being so flat and featureless this tested even my usual enthusiasm for such wide open spaces.
Finally reaching the end of the estate track, we deviated from our plotted route. Looking at the map last night we decided that the riverside route was probably more trouble than it was worth when we could just take the minor road that ran alongside it. I'm all for road avoidance, but this bit seemed to just be making our lives more difficult than necessary for no appreciable scenery or terrain gain.
However, I did decide, on the spur of the moment that we should cut off a small corner of the transition from the road back to the route by traipsing across country.
After the wet grass and heather we encountered on the way, not to mention the odd bog (plenty of those around here!) we reached the track with our trousers drenched to mid-thigh and our boots letting in water.
The yomp had also warmed me up. From yesterday's short shirt sleeves and trouser vents open, this morning I was wearing long-sleeves under two jackets and hat and gloves. Once on the track I stopped to remove a jacket and mentioned a bar of chocolate (hungry day today).
Left to my own devices I probably would have had the chocolate on the move, but Mick got out his sit mat and sat down - and it turned out to be a very good thing that he did.
Sitting there trying to make half a chocolate bar each feel filling, we surveyed the map and rather belatedly realised that if we had stayed on the road and modified our route, we could get to the campsite 2.5 miles outside of Watten.
When the Watten accommodation crisis arose we had explored all sorts of options, but had discounted the campsite as a 2.5 miles out-and-back detour was too far at the end of a 21 mile day and we could see no obvious way of cutting across to it from our route.
The reason that I missed the obvious was that it involved wandering off the edge of the map twice (the downside of A4 maps; at least with full size OS maps you're only likely to wander off them once in a day!).
Once we knew we could make it to the campsite within a reasonable mileage the decision easy, even though it involved road walking. In fact, I was positively excited at the thought of a shower and facilities.
It's not that I have an issue with wild-camping. Indeed, in my opinion it has many benefits over campsites. However, my limit is about 3 nights out, after which I like to get a proper wash*. Added to that, we're now in the lowlands, which makes the drinking water issue a bit more tricky.
So, ruing the fact that we'd unnecessarily yomped through wet grass and got ourselves wet, and that we'd walked a bit further than we needed to, we turned left along the track instead of right and went back to the road.
Traffic was not an issue on these roads. We were passed by half a dozen cars on the first stretch of and maybe a dozen on the next.
Then we wandered off the map again, which required a little bit of fingers-crossed that the tiny road would come out where we needed it to.
Fingers were then crossed that the campsite existed, that it took tents and that they had room for us (and that it was where we thought it was; we could just see the tent symbol on the edge of the map, what we didn't know was whether there was an arrow pointing to somewhere on another off-the-map road).
Luck was on our side. After some remarkably fast walking (it was the shower thought that spurred me into almost a trot for the last 8 miles) we arrived to find that the campsite was where we needed it to be. They did squeeze us in. The shower was hot and I was able to use the washing machine (to remove half a peat bog from my trousers) for free.
Even better, a phone call to the Brown Trout Hotel in Watten, which had no room for us tonight, has resulted in an agreement that they will serve us a cooked breakfast in the morning.
All in all, it's been a rather good day!
(* Had I known yesterday that I would be able to shower today, I wouldn't have run naked into the River Thurso for a quick wash down last night. That was one bracing experience!)
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