hello,
I am new here but I thought I would get involved a bit, rather than just join to see if I can book a place on the arctic thing
So - one thing that I have done recently that I really do recommend no matter what your experience is to walk the coast of the UK.
In stages, obviously, unless you have a year or something to take off to do it.
This summer just gone (well, call it summer... it rained the whole time except maybe a week and a bit) I completed the South West Coast path that stretches from Minehead to Poole, around Cornwall to Land's End.
It is 630 miles without detours to the pub and stuff, so that's 1000km. It took me 8 weeks with every sunday off and a couple of days lost to late nights, uber-heavy storms or fog and that girl I met.
Some of the stretches, I gotta say, were pretty tough. There were parts I didn't want to do in in such heavy rain and other parts where I kinda wished for a shower to cool off a bit. The bouldering around St. Ives was the most fun, but I saw quite a few people that day and so couldn't go at pace.
I probably packed too much as well, and - really - I only cooked a few times when I *had* to and didn't want to have to go to a village to get food at the pub. Lots of pubs, oh yes. Really good food.
I met this girl from holland who was carrying a pack that was even heavier than mine! she had a FOUR MAN tent, blow up mattress and about 10kg of make-up and shower stuff. Mind, she'd only stay on campsites.
Waiting for her at the top of Goldon Cap, I thought *** is she gonna get through her trip with that.
Once she met some other dutch ppl, I scarpered.
Another thing about the pathway, is you always seem to meet people who are from your town or who you know. I met these two guys, Norm (bout 170 years old) and Tim (bout 40something), which was a nice change from teh seasonal worker kids.
They recognised me from when I was in London and there was a karate school next to my place. Norm's one of the 6th dan's and tim's his student, so they recognised me from when their school goes to Highgate for gradings. Weird co-incidence, huh?
Was really nice walking with them and I was sad to see em go.
I don't really need to talk about the scenery because you probably can imagine that it's awesome (esp with the right music. esp when music is a luxury cos of batteries).
Saw a pair of hawks take another bird a few times, a marsh harrier carry of a few voles. otters... fooled a south african bird that a rock was an orca... til her husband got his *massive* zoom lens out and totally spoiled the magic of the moment on their honeymoon...
Cornwall was the best part by far. From St Just / Cape Cornwall to past the Lizard. Best few days of this year, so far
Didn't cost too much, and I reckon - if you did cook for yourself - you could do it forever on jobseeker's allowance. Might be a pain to get back to sign on every other wednesday, though
So there is my recommendation.
If you look at their website (www.southwestcoastpath.org or something) then there is a lot of info and guides and allsorts of useful stuff.
I'm not going to apply to the hall of fame until I have done it from Poole to Minehead next time
Cheers,
Pete
I am new here but I thought I would get involved a bit, rather than just join to see if I can book a place on the arctic thing
So - one thing that I have done recently that I really do recommend no matter what your experience is to walk the coast of the UK.
In stages, obviously, unless you have a year or something to take off to do it.
This summer just gone (well, call it summer... it rained the whole time except maybe a week and a bit) I completed the South West Coast path that stretches from Minehead to Poole, around Cornwall to Land's End.
It is 630 miles without detours to the pub and stuff, so that's 1000km. It took me 8 weeks with every sunday off and a couple of days lost to late nights, uber-heavy storms or fog and that girl I met.
Some of the stretches, I gotta say, were pretty tough. There were parts I didn't want to do in in such heavy rain and other parts where I kinda wished for a shower to cool off a bit. The bouldering around St. Ives was the most fun, but I saw quite a few people that day and so couldn't go at pace.
I probably packed too much as well, and - really - I only cooked a few times when I *had* to and didn't want to have to go to a village to get food at the pub. Lots of pubs, oh yes. Really good food.
I met this girl from holland who was carrying a pack that was even heavier than mine! she had a FOUR MAN tent, blow up mattress and about 10kg of make-up and shower stuff. Mind, she'd only stay on campsites.
Waiting for her at the top of Goldon Cap, I thought *** is she gonna get through her trip with that.
Once she met some other dutch ppl, I scarpered.
Another thing about the pathway, is you always seem to meet people who are from your town or who you know. I met these two guys, Norm (bout 170 years old) and Tim (bout 40something), which was a nice change from teh seasonal worker kids.
They recognised me from when I was in London and there was a karate school next to my place. Norm's one of the 6th dan's and tim's his student, so they recognised me from when their school goes to Highgate for gradings. Weird co-incidence, huh?
Was really nice walking with them and I was sad to see em go.
I don't really need to talk about the scenery because you probably can imagine that it's awesome (esp with the right music. esp when music is a luxury cos of batteries).
Saw a pair of hawks take another bird a few times, a marsh harrier carry of a few voles. otters... fooled a south african bird that a rock was an orca... til her husband got his *massive* zoom lens out and totally spoiled the magic of the moment on their honeymoon...
Cornwall was the best part by far. From St Just / Cape Cornwall to past the Lizard. Best few days of this year, so far
Didn't cost too much, and I reckon - if you did cook for yourself - you could do it forever on jobseeker's allowance. Might be a pain to get back to sign on every other wednesday, though
So there is my recommendation.
If you look at their website (www.southwestcoastpath.org or something) then there is a lot of info and guides and allsorts of useful stuff.
I'm not going to apply to the hall of fame until I have done it from Poole to Minehead next time
Cheers,
Pete
