Tag: long distance path

Back home

I’m back home after just over a month away in which I completed two of my challenges. I’ve wild camped in the UK and walked a long distance path in one go.

My wild camping was quite soft really as in Shetland it’s so easy and most of the time I camped near piers where there are toilets and showers. But I did do nine straight nights. I also officially wild camped for a couple of nights on the Great Glen Way as I slept at locks where there are designated wild camping sites (can it be wild camping when it’s a designated site?) and I was able to buy a key enabling me to use the toilets and showers at the locks. I’ve done much wilder wild camping in other parts of the world (particularly Africa) so I know I’m capable of it, I just wanted to break my habit of always relying on campsites when I’m in this country.

As for my long distance walk, I walked the Great Glen Way over 6 days. Technically I finished on the 7th day as I stopped at the campsite in Inverness at the end of day 6. This is right on the route and there seemed no point walking into Inverness just to walk back out again, only to walk back in again the next day to get the train. The walk should have been 73 miles but I did just over 80 as one day there was a 2 mile diversion and I also walked out to both sea locks which aren’t included in the official trail. I carried all my gear for the first 4 days, but set up camp in Inverness and bussed back to the walk for the last couple of days when it was long and hilly. I could have done it with all my gear but would have needed more time. As with the wild camping, I have done longer walks than this and carried more gear in other countries, but wanted to do it here just to prove to myself that I’m still up to it.

So right now, I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself.

Other blogs and websites

Getting inspiration from other people’s websites.

There are a few websites and blogs that I monitor frequently. One is Alastair Humphreys’ website. He pushes the whole motivation thing a bit heavily at times, but he is quite inspirational and I’ve picked up a few ideas from him. When I checked out his site today he had a link to a website belonging to a Swiss couple who spent eight years cycling round the world, more than a year of which was in Japan. This section of their website seemed quite interesting as cycling in Japan is an idea that’s starting to ferment at the back of my mind. Unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of detail, but they do have some amazing photos.

Another website I check regularly is that of the Walking Englishman. He really inspires me to create my own website though I know I’ll never be in his league. At the moment he’s a few weeks in to an 80 day, 1000 mile walk through Scotland and England. Most days he’s updating a blog about it. The update I read today was about the small part of the Great Glen Way he’s walking, including Neptune’s Steps and the route into Fort William. If I walk the GGW in the summer I’ll be doing it the other way round to this, but it’s still more information for me that will help me to prepare.

I do like it when the blogs and websites I look at link in to what I’m doing at the moment.

Alastair Humphreys’ website can be found here.

Verena and Luciano Lepre’s website covering their 8 year cycling voyage around the world can be found here.

The Walking Englishman can be found here and his 1000 mile walk through Britain can be found here.

Julia Bradbury’s Canal Walks

Learning about the Caledonian Canal as I prepare to walk the Great Glen Way.

Julia Bradbury isn’t my favourite walker and I’d rather be out walking myself than watching a TV programme about it. But occasionally she walks in a place I’m particularly interested in and so I’ll download the programme on iplayer and then try to make enough effort to actually watch it. She’s now doing a series on canal walks and the first was featuring the Caledonian Canal and the first part of the Great Glen Way. As this is where I’m hoping to walk in the summer I thought I should download it.

I’ve just watched the programme and I did find it quite worthwhile. It’s useful to see what the places actually look like as then I’ll be better prepared when I come to walk in them. She also gave some history about the canal which was interesting.

The canal was built by Thomas Telford and was on a scale that hadn’t been seen before. It joined up the west coast to the east coast utilising the lochs that were already there. It was the first canal big enough to take more than just barges and was meant to aid fishing boats in their journey from coast to coast as it would save them having to go round the more dangerous coast to the north of Scotland. The canal got public funding which was also a first, because the government were keen to invest in the area to stop migration and encourage business by making the area more economically viable.

The canal ended up being way over budget and taking about three times as long as originally planned. Some things never change! By the time it was ready and functional advances in shipping meant the north coast could be more easily and safely tackled and the railway system was taking over from the canals. So this amazing example of engineering was never used to its full potential and ended up being a bit of a white elephant. It looks stunning though and provides a great walk or cycle and is set to be the UK’s first long distance canoe trail as well. So at least it’s appreciated and well used even if not for the original reason!

Great Glen Way

I’m planning to walk the Great Glen Way and wild camp along the way.

For my long distance walk I’ve decided to walk the Great Glen Way. For it to count as the challenge on my list I have to complete it in one go and not just as a series of individual day walks. I also want to do it whilst carrying all my own gear. As I’ll be camping each night I’ll need to carry a tent, Thermarest, sleeping bag, stove, pans, etc as well as few toiletries and a couple of changes of clothes.

My walking in Exmoor last week was the start of my training towards this. I’ve been worried about my knees and whether or not they’ll hold up to walking consecutively over a week. I’m also not sure if I’m fit enough and strong enough to carry all my gear. I tried to carry a fairly heavy bag each day I walked in Exmoor and after a while I did ‘forget’ I was wearing it. My bag on the GGW will be a lot heavier though and more bulky, so I’ll have to do some training with this too.

My knees are going to be the biggest problem. I had to take two rest days in Exmoor. Each time was after a 15 mile walk with a lot of descent. I’m not too bad on the uphills – I can take short breather breaks if I need them – but the downhills are real killers. I walked slowly and used two poles but still had a lot of pain and swelling and later on stiffness in my knee joints.

One of the reasons I’ve chosen the GGW is because it’s only 73 miles so I should be able to keep most of my walks along it to a 10 mile maximum. Also, the first few days walking will be fairly flat. By the time I hit the descents I should have a lighter pack (I will have eaten away at the weight) and be more than half way there. I’ll take my poles and a stash of ibuprofen and will hopefully be able to complete it.

I’d like to combine my wild camping task with the long distance walking task. There are actual ‘official’ wild camps at some places along the route. Do they still count if they’re official? On some nights I will have to find my own wild camp though, so whether or not the official ones count, I’ll still be completing this task.

I’ve been googling the GGW to try to get as much information on it as possible. I’ve found a detailed blog from a few years ago, some general information sites and a very good photo diary on flikr. The photo diary in particular is good because it means I can see what the various bits of the route look like and how feasible it will be to camp along the way.

Now I just have to do more training, get a map and a guidebook, sort out train tickets and arrange to leave my car with a friend in Glasgow.

Wild Camping

Considering the possibilities of wild camping on the South West Coast Path.

As I walked along the Exmoor stretch of the South West Coastal Path I thought about how I would do the walk if I was doing it in one go rather than as a series of day walks. Most camp sites are a bit of the way off the path so would add a few miles walking to each day. Not something I’d particularly want to do. There was actually one campsite that the path went through and it had signs up saying hikers could camp for one night only on their way through for £4. Usual price being a mind-boggling £13 a night! It did say that this was for 2 people, but as there was nothing about prices for individuals it sounded like if I’d stayed here instead of Porlock I’d have had to pay for a non-existent second person as well as myself.

But, to get back to the main point, if I was walking this section in one go I would have had to wild camp on some of the nights. Much of the walking was through wooded areas that sloped upwards and downwards either side of the path, so there was really nowhere to fit a tent. This was particularly true on the first day’s walk when the only flat, clear bit seemed to be at the section where the path crossed the path leading to County Gate. This was a bit of busy area and so not ideal.

Between Minehead and Porlock it would have been possible to camp on the moorland, but this would have meant a very short day’s walking. The other stretches of the walk were similar in not having many appropriately placed areas to wild camp in.

I’m planning to wild camp on the Great Glen Way in the summer, so I hope it’s easier to find places than this!

Combe Martin to Ilfracombe

A short walk with plenty of time to sit enjoying the views.

My final day’s walking was a short one at just over 5 miles. I parked in Ilfracombe and took the bus back to Combe Martin. It was the same bus I’d picked up to go to Lynmouth yesterday so my walking start time was much earlier.

I’d had chance to have a brief look round Ilfracombe before catching the bus, but wasn’t impressed. It looks like a run-down seaside town with an abundance of cheap shops and takeaways, but little in the way of character. Not what I was expecting at all.

I started walking from Combe Martin by following a sea front path which quickly led on to the road. This is a main busy road and not particularly pleasant to walk along. After a while I was able to leave the road and get back on to proper paths. After walking round a bit of a harbour the path climbed and I was able to sit for a while at a wonderful viewpoint. It felt great not to have to be clock watching and instead to be able to sit and enjoy the view.

This part of the path is flooded at high tide

Honest! It’s England!

The view from a well-placed bench

Soon it was back to road walking again. The final section of the path took me back to the coast where I again enjoyed good views from a well-placed bench before descending back into Ilfracombe.

Although this was only a short walk today, and it had some not so good bits along road, it still took me most of the day. This is because of the amount of time I spent sitting and admiring the view along the nice coastal parts of the path.

Lynmouth to Combe Martin

A funicular railway, rock formations, feral goats and breath-taking views.

This was my hardest day’s walk. It didn’t help that I had a late start. I didn’t want to be rushing to get the last bus like I was when I walked from Porlock to Lynmouth so I decided to leave my car in Combe Martin and get the bus back to Lynmouth and the start of my walk. This also made sense with the bus times as the last bus back from Combe Martin was very early. However, the first bus of the day only leaves Combe Martin at 9.40 and doesn’t arrive in Lynmouth till an hour later.


I got to Combe Martin in plenty of time and found a place to park my car. I had a bit of wander round looking for the bus stop but it really wasn’t obvious. The timetable just said ‘seaside’. I asked a lady walking her dog, but she was a bit unsure. Then I asked in the sandwich shop where I bought a sandwich for my lunch. The woman had a rough idea but again wasn’t completely sure. Then I asked a road sweeper who didn’t even know the buses were running. This particular service only runs in summer and had only begun the previous week. Luckily, just then a bus arrived going in the other direction, so I quickly ran across the road to ask the driver and he was able to point out the correct place to me. I was soon joined by another walker who was having a similar problem.

The bus seemed to take a long time and it was quite daunting to realise that I had to walk all that way back. Once in Lynmnouth I had a bit of a look around as I’d not had time to see anything last night. Then it was up the steep track, criss-crossing the funicular railway to get to Lynton way above.

At the top the path turns right and west to follow the North Walk. It’s starts along road but quickly becomes a path leading towards the Valley of Rocks. This is an area of strange rock formations, feral goats and a liberal sprinking of goat droppings. This part of the path was quite busy with families and older people out for a stroll. The path heads towards Castle Rock – an obvious outcrop with a nearby car park meaning lots of people. It was so sunny and warm I sat on a bench for while and chatted to a woman who was just there to see Castle Rock.

The path then joins the road which leads towards the Toll House and then to Lee Abbey. The road goes alongside the manicured grounds of the Abbey before heading into woodland. A short while later the path joined the road again. Soon though, it was back on tracks and over stiles to reach the coast. The wind had really got up by this time and it was so strong I tucked my sunglasses away thinking they might be blown off the top of my head where I’d stuck them. The walk along the side of the cliffs was stunning with amazing views in both directions.

The path turned inland and dropped down to sea level at Heddon’s Mouth. At the inner end there is a pub and a car park so this part of the path had lots of people including people with wheelchairs and pushchairs. I didn’t need to walk all the way up to the pub as about half way up the valley there was a bridge crossing the river so I could walk down the other side to reach the sea again. It zigzagged very steeply upwards and I’d soon regained all the height I’d lost. I followed the coast on a very exposed and windy section before turning inland across fields and then moorland to reach the rises of Great Hangman and then Little Hangman.

Finally it was back down sheltered paths to reach Combe Martin and my car. It was a long day, with lots of up and down including reaching the highest point on the whole of the SW Coast Path. But I’d seen some breathtaking views and felt like I’d had a year’s supply of fresh air.

13 miles
Graded as strenuous by South West Coast Path Association

Minehead to Porlock

A tasty pasty, an impressive sculpture, a baby squirrel, podgy ponies and another knee-quaking descent.

Today was a shorter walk of 7 miles. Minehead to Porlock – the first section of the South West Coast Path. The first bus of the day didn’t leave Porlock until late morning which is why I hadn’t done this section yesterday. I didn’t want to be hanging about all morning on my first day. This morning however, I was glad of the later start as it rained really heavily for most of the morning. By the time I was due to leave for the bus stop it was just a light drizzle and by the time I started walking it had stopped completely and ended up being a nice day. 

When I arrived in Minehead I called in Boots to buy some special tick tweezers in case any more ticks think I make a good lunch. Then I bought a cheese and broccoli Cornish pasty and wandered down to the seafront to eat it. I wasn’t sure where the walk actually started so just walked along the seafront in the right direction. A huge bronze sculpture of a couple of hands holding a map open to show the path in it’s entirety was a pretty big clue. That and big white writing on the pavement saying ‘South West Coast Path’ and an arrow. I was very impressed with the sculpture so stopped to take a few photos of it before starting the walk. 

 

The walk soon headed out of town and uphill into dense woodland. It was beautiful, but like yesterday, there were glimpses of the sea rather than a permanent view of it. There were plenty of grey squirrels and I stopped to watch a baby one playing in front of me seemingly without fear. The path zigzagged upwards until it flattened out onto moorland quite a way in from the sea. At one point I passed a sign pointing to a ‘rugged alternative path’ which seemed to go closer to the coast. The ‘rugged’ bit of the sign attracted me though I thought I should maybe avoid anything too rugged as my knees were still sore from yesterday and I knew I had some more descents to cope with before the end of my walk today. The clincher though, was the ‘alternative’ part of the sign. I didn’t really want to do any ‘alternatives’ unless I had to. The alternative could be saved in case I ever did this walk again. 

 It was a good decision as the moorland walk was lovely with lots of wild flowers and big skies. I even got to see some Exmoor ponies. I only saw a couple of other people the whole time I was on the moor. Of course it had to drop down though and my knees were soon objecting. One bit in particular seemed very steep and I descended very sloooowly saying ouch with each step. As I got nearer the bottom there was a well-placed and welcome bench with a lovely view of the sea. I sat for a while and finished my flask of coffee. 

Then it was the final bit of descent before picking my way across farmland and marsh to the turnoff back up to Porlock. This bit wasn’t very well sign-posted and if I hadn’t have started my walk from here yesterday I would have missed it. So if walking here make sure you use your map!

The total descent (and climb) on this section is allegedly 698 metres. No wonder my knees hurt again.  


Porlock to Lynmouth

Marshy bits, ups and downs, a tiny church and a couple of ticks.

I woke up early after a good first night’s sleep in my tent and was raring to go. It would have made sense to start my walking by going to Minehead and walking back to Porlock and the campsite. Minehead is the beginning of the Southwest Coast Path after all. But as the first bus to Minehead doesn’t get in until almost 12 o’clock and I was ready to get going I decided to leave this walk until tomorrow and do the Porlock to Lymouth stretch today.

The way to the beach led through a marshy area

I started by walking down Sparkhayes Lane to the beach which is a good half mile or so. The beach isn’t a sandy sunbathing type of beach, but rather a pebbley and marshy affair. It was getting the full blast of the wind too. In 1996 the natural shingle ridge across Porlock Bay was breached by a storm, resulting in the flooding of the fields behind at each high tide. This means the official path has had to be moved inland a bit. The signs were quite confusing so I just walked on towards Porlock Weir. I thought I’d know if I was on the old path as it would become impassable and I’d have to turn back. However, once I got to Porlock Weir I saw a much clearer sign that pointed out that I had walked the closed part of the path. Hmm, was that why I’d had to wade through that bit of a slippery, green-slime-filled river?


Porlock Weir
Old groynes on the beach. 

Once I arrived in Porlock Weir (about 2 miles further on) the wind dropped and the sun came out. I sat at a picnic bench looking out to sea and ate my breakfast. Then I had a wander round the tiny village – thatched cottages, boats and an old pub – all very pretty. There’s supposed to be the remains of an ancient forest here which can sometimes be seen when the tide is out. Well, the tide was out, but I couldn’t see the forest. Unless of course, I was confusing it with all the old groynes that were around. 

From here the path was clearly marked all the way and very easy to follow. I only needed to refer to my map when I wanted to check distances or whereabouts I was. It became very wooded and was slightly inland. This meant that apart from occasional tantalising glimpses of the sea through the trees, it felt very much like a woodland walk. This was pretty much the theme for the rest of the day.

A couple of short tunnels in the woods

The path from Porlock Weir led upwards and into Yearnor Wood. A short while on I passed the end of the toll road with big arches for cars to go through. The signs said the toll road goes to Lynmouth but I wasn’t sure about this as on the map it seems to finish at the main road a long way from Lynmouth. Next I had to walk through a couple of tunnels and past signs pointing down to the beach. It was too much of a detour though as I had a bus to catch to get back to the campsite. So I had to be in Lynmouth for 5pm. There are so few buses on these routes that, although I enjoyed myself and saw and did plenty, I still felt rushed a lot of the time. 

Culbone Church

I did stop at Culbone Church. This is really hidden on the banks of a river down in a bit of a valley. The church is dedicated to St Beuno  and is apparently the smallest complete parish church in England at only 35ft long. It’s main structure dates from the 12th century. I had a look inside and immediately felt the hush. It made me realise just how noisy it actually was outside in the woods with so many birds everywhere. 

I didn’t see many people on the walk until I got to County Gate which is the border between Somerset and Devon. There is a car park and so a couple of groups of people had wandered down to the Coast Path from there. They didn’t seem interested in actually going anywhere once they got to the path though, so soon I was on my own again.

The path got a bit hillier and there were quite a few detours where the original path had slipped. One detour seemed almost vertical and was very sandy so my feet couldn’t get any grip. There was nothing to grab hold of and even my sticks kept slipping. That was the only tricky bit though, and even that was only a very short bit. 

Lynmouth can be seen in the distance

All in all I walked about 15 miles and climbed 934m (according to the coastal path website). This wasn’t one big climb, but was continual ascents and descents. By the time I was within the last few miles of Lynmouth my knees were causing me quite a bit of pain and I could feel them swelling up. This slowed me down a bit meaning I only got to Lynmouth about 10 minutes before the bus was due to leave, so I didn’t get chance to have a look around. Despite the pain, I’d really enjoyed my first day’s walking.


There were signs up in quite a few places warning of ticks in the area. I’ve been in plenty of places before with ticks but never had any attach themselves to me. So I had another first when I later got ready for the shower and found 2 small ticks firmly attached to my left leg. Tweezers easily got rid of them, so as long as I don’t contract Lyme disease they weren’t a problem.