Damian Hall - Long Distance Walking in Britain

Long
Distance
Walking

IN BRITAIN

Long
Distance
Walking

IN BRITAIN

DAMIAN HALL

ROBERT HALE

Contents

Acknowledgements

Putting this book together was a genuinely heartwarming experience that made me feel grateful and proud to be a part of the outdoor community and indebted to a great number of fine people in it. To make this guide happen, many have gone well beyond reasonable levels of assistance in providing their time, expertise, words and photos, all without charge. I thank you one and all, and I hope you can take some satisfaction in the final product.

Those amazing people are (deep breath ): James Alsop, Sioned Bannister, Sandra Bardell, James Begg, Shane Benzie, David Binney, Emma Black, Lesley Blundell, Andrew Bowden, Debby Braund, Ian Brodie, Krysia Brodie, Mike Brockhurst, Anthony Burton, Genni Butler, Euan Calvert, David Canning, Alan Castle, Bryan Cath, Brian Cowan, Jenny Davidson, Adam Dawson, Sally Dench, Paddy Dillon, Becky Duncan, Keith Foskett, Ross Gemmell, Tristan Gooley, Tony Gowers, Sheila Gordon, Stuart Greig, Chris Grogan, Tony Grogan, Iain Harper, Leigh Hatts, John Henderson, Sophie Hewitt, Dave Higgins, Alastair Humphreys, Rick Jillings, Dennis Kelsall, Susan Kevan, Louise Kyle, Andrew Lafferty, Sian Lewis, Tim Lewis, Sarah Matthews, Dave Maclachlan, Renee McGregor, Keith McKenna, Cameron McNeish, Jacquetta Megarry, Laurence Mitchell, Mark Owen, Robert Peel, Simon Pilpel, David Pitt, Heather Pitt, David Pott, Paul Prescott, Rachele Quayle, Kev Reynolds, Carol Rowntree Jones, Ian Ritchie, Fiona Russell, Colin Saunders, Ron Scholes, Keith Sharp, Brian Smailes, Phoebe Smith, John Sparshatt, Tom Stevenson, Roland Tarr, John Tennant, Julie Thompson, George Tod, Ashleigh Tooth, Chris Townsend, Ronald Turnbull, Anne Urquhart, John Urquhart, Martin Wainwright, Julie Welch, Philip Werner, Steve Westwood, John White, Vyv Wood-Gee and David Yates.

Also, a big heartfelt thank you you all know why to Alexander Stilwell, Lavinia Porter, Jonathan Manning, Jenny Walters, Mario Cacciottolo, Alyssa White, Paul Simpson, Celso de Campos Jr, Elizabeth Leader, Clair Reynolds, Paul Hansford, Ryan Sengara, Tessa McLean, Vickie Bevan, Bevo, Jo, Kelvin, Barbara, Amy, Indy and Leif.

Picture Credits

All images Damian Hall, except for (Iain Harper).

CHAPTER 1

Why Go Long Distance Walking?

To tell you the truth, Im amazed weve come this far, he said, and I agreed. We had hiked 500 miles, a million and a quarter steps We had grounds to be proud. We were real hikers now. We had shit in the woods and slept with bears. We had become, we would forever be, mountain men.

Bill Bryson, author of A Walk in the Woods

Whats This Book All About Then?

I remember my first multi-day walk fondly. Of course, when I say fondly, I mean it makes me wince, shudder and want to bury my red face in my armpit in shame. It was all my own stupid fault.

My girlfriend and I were shopping for lastminute supplies in Launceston, Tasmania, before embarking on the 82 km/50-mile Overland Track. Well need sleeping mats as well, she said. With a macho streak I hope I havent exhibited before or since, something made me snort, Pah. Sleeping mats are for girls! I dont need one.

I did need one. I needed one for every one of the five, long, cold, uncomfortable nights of the otherwise massively enjoyable trek. If only I had a book, I thought, during one of those long, dark, cold uncomfortable nights, inexplicably trying to lay the blame for my chronic folly elsewhere. A phantom wise, learned book, all about long distance walking for beginner types, that could have told me I definitely needed a sleeping mat. I think I felt a bit better once I blamed it squarely on a book. A book that didnt exist.

After the trek, I went looking for a sleeping mat, some humble pie and a book that might advise me better on long distance or multi-day walking. I have since bought a sleeping mat, several in fact, and the humble pie didnt taste that great really so Ive tried not to eat it much since. But the book I never did find.

However, as I hiked all over the world from New Zealands Southern Alps to the Andes, and the Himalayas to the Pennines I kept looking and, more importantly, I kept learning (a euphemism for making mistakes, of course; Ive learnt a lot) until I realized that really, over a decade later, I knew enough now to write the book I couldnt find. So here it is. Finally.

And if it tells you nothing else useful (though hopefully it does) about long distance walking, let it be this: if youre camping or bivvying out, only a massive buffoon would do so without a sleeping mat.

Wessendon Reservoir on the Pennine Way, Englands oldest National Trail.

Yes, Very Amusing, but Who Is This Book for Exactly?

Well, you, really. If you already enjoy a walk and after all who doesnt enjoy a leisurely stroll somewhere pretty? but have yet to try a long distance trail, or even if you have walked long distances before, this book is for you. Im about to tell you why completing a long distance footpath is about the best thing you can ever do. Well, you know, apart from have children, travel the world and get over ten likes on Facebook.

Multi-day walking is no longer a niche sport. In 2007 (the most recent figures), some 16 million people 38 per cent of the population used a long distance trail in Britain in some way. Hopefully this book gives you everything, including the encouragement, to help you to join all the people having a brilliant time on the countrys many, excellent, long distance footpaths.

Long distance walking is called different things around the world, around this country and even throughout this book. And the words are used fairly interchangeably here. People will have their own definitions about what a long walk is 5 miles is a legitimately lengthy stroll to my 5-year-old daughter. What this book concentrates on is multi-day walks. So thats usually trails of upwards of 20 miles, often many more. These distances arent comfortable for most people to cover in just one day, so the route is usually covered over several days though many people tackle long distance paths in stages; a day here, a weekend there, maybe a week next time around. Whichever way its done, theres a very real and specific joy, and a lasting sense of accomplishment and satisfaction to be had in completing a long distance trail. For many, its life-changing.

Why Go for a Long Distance Walk? (It All Sounds a Bit Tiring )

Yes, walking can be tiring sometimes, especially if hills are involved. But it never needs to be exhausting. Besides, the best things in life dont come easily and the pay-off is well worth it. And anyway, all that tiring stuff is making you incredibly healthy and fit.

Few things are more certain in this world than the simple, irrefutable fact that walking in green places is utterly brilliant. You see butterflies, rabbits and big dramatic views, feel a bit smug because its all so ridiculously healthy, and have a pint afterwards or some chocolate during (ideally both) without feeling guilty about it.

However, if you spend a day in the great outdoors, then retreat back to civilization (as places with TVs tend to get referred to) for the evening and call that job done, youre only getting a small taste of the experience. What about that starry sky, that ethereal pre-dawn light, that frolicking-fawns-at-dawn scene I paint in a few paragraphs time (that I probably should have written about earlier for this bit to really make sense)? You want a bit of that, dont you? Think how happy a walk in the countryside normally makes you. Then imagine doing that again the next day. And the next. And the next Its about exploration. A sense of achievement. Vital, meditative time in green places. And much more.