Walking from London to mid-Wales
The numbers:
Route:
Today got off to an inauspicious start, being greeted on the first footpath of the day by a memo that I managed to miss during myextensive preparations:
At least this only wasted a quarter of a mile. Speaking of the East West Rail Phase 2, I assume this is it:
Some hours later I was somewhat taken aback to discover a heap of horse manure, about 10 feet high and 30 feet wide, completely blocking the footpath. No way to go around, and no way was I going over.
To think I used to be put off by footbridges like this one:
The next challenge was courtesy of some new build houses on the outskirts of Brackley:
I thought this was a badly run tip when I first saw it, but there are new builds to the right
One footpath I decided not to take:
A couple of miles from the hotel I was rather downcast to discover this swamp with handily placed extra-slippery logs to tempt the unwary into crossing.
And finally, the only obstacle to defeat me today. I went out of my way by over a mile to avoid this 400 yards of wall to wall stinging nettles.
It brightened up my day to see this sitting on it own in the middle on a gigantic field:
Stats:
Route:
Today was a much more challenging day route-wise than yesterday, as I was mostly in the countryside. I had predicted a 22 mile walk, which with good access should have taken between 6 and 7 hours. As it was I covered 24 miles, taking nearly 9 hours.
Instead of laying out my own route, this was my first experience of following a slowways route. Slowways is a new initiave, launched this year to connect every settlement in Great Britain with walking routes. I used it for the overall planning of my walk, from settlement to settlement, aiming for a roughly straight line. For example yesterday covering Enfield-Potters Bar-Hatfield(-Flamstead). However, I’ve mostly used the actual routes Slowways gives as guidance, and optimised them myself – primarily to reduce the overall distance (and I’m generally happy walking on roads so long as they’re not too busy).
But today I followed Winlei one, between Leighton Buzzard and Winslow in Buckinghamshire. It wasn’t a great success – follow the link and see my review for more details.
I got here eventually though, and am now safely ensconsed in the quaint Bell Hotel, Winslow. Their specaility is pies, so given I didn’t manage to find one last night, I’m expecting great things tonight.
Things I have learnt today:
Route:
To answer the evitable question, “How was day one?”:
All so English? How so? (Don’t worry I’ll come back to my feet!)
Thoroughly English and a good day. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
My feet? Well, they hurt. This happens 10-15 miles in to every walk I’ve ever done. The pain starts with the soles of my feet, and radiates up my ankles and into my calves. Every step is painful, but I get used to it, and so long as I keep going nothing really terrible seems to happen, so that’s good. What else can I do – stop? I’m 175 miles away from home! I now know why marathon runners do that weird thing with their hips towards the end of the race, as it they’re actually flinging their legs forward with the action – I think they are. (Don’t worry I’m not under the impression that my athletic endeavour is anything like running a marathon.)
If I stop once I’m well into the walk even for a few minutes everything seizes up and it takes a few minutes to ease back into it, but I get there. I seem not to get blisters (something else to be grateful for), but I did notice a little trickle of blood running down from one of my nails when I stook my socks off. Of well, I suppose the nails will go black and fall off so I don’t have to worry about them anymore. Fine by me.
KPIs:
Route:
Updated: a day ago
I’ve been commuting semi-weekly between my home in mid-Wales and my employer’s office in Enfield, north London for about 14 years. I’ve often wondered, while stranded at Euston station because the West Coast Mainline has been closed, or stuck in infernal traffic jams on the M1 and M6, whether I could walk it. Not that I plan to do that every week (nor perhaps more than once) but could I do it, if push came to shove. I was planning to try it in 2020, but the various COVID-related restrictions (not to mention a massively disruptive acquisition of my employer) put paid to that. Now it’s 2021, it’s time to give it a go.
My training has consisted of walking in the vicinty of my home, not far from the pictureque Lake Vyrnwy, and amongst the southern peaks of the Berwyn mountains, during the end-2020 and early-2021 COVID-19 lockdowns. I walked my first marathon up to, around, and back from the Lake between Christmas 2020 and New Year 2021, and have continued to put the miles in since then.
Fast forward to June 2021 I’m now finally putting my money where my mouth is, starting the walk from the picturesque Travelodge Enfield in the early morning of Saturday 26th June. The plan is that I get home by the end of Sunday 4th July, having taken one day off in the middle, walking the 200 miles across 8 days.
This blog will document my progress. As well as containing details about the route, challenges I face and overcome, and any interesting incidents, I expect it to include food. That’s really the reason for all of the walking. Rucking 25 miles a day for over a week, with 20lbs on my back and a bodyweight of 190lbs to shift means I can eat around 5,000 calories a day without any concerns about putting on weight. Awesome.
Here’s the route I ended up taking: