Flying today from San Francisco to London. Everything is packed: the paper thin but tough and waterproof ultra light backpack, along with smaller equally thin but tough waterproof bags holding a ridiculously minimal amount of clothes, sleeping quilt, toiletries, first aid, electronics, guidebook pages torn out to just take the necessary information are all tucked inside my suitcase. An example of the ridiculousness of my kit is the only one (1) pair of trousers (can’t say ‘pants’, have to start speaking British English for awhile!) that somehow will carry me through 3 months of walking. My pack weighs just under 17lbs, without water and food. I’m excited, happy, nervous, and very tired. There are many moving parts to a trip like this: my kit (thank you Bill & Kimberly for being endlessly patient with me trying to sort out how to keep my pack weight down), accommodation & pub reservations in tiny villages, electronic & technology choices, things settled at home to leave for 3 months, and mostly choosing the path I want to take from a gazillion ways there are to cross Britain. One of the things that originally appealed to me about this walk was the fact there is no specific path- I could choose my own way! However, this ended up causing months of anxiety and many sleepless nights. Which way is shortest? Most scenic? Safest? Has available & affordable accommodation? Which mapping app do I use? How do I use gpx files? How do I conserve battery on my phone while navigating an entire day across fields? Which waymarked National Trails do I use?
This is what I’ve decided upon, and I’m feeling pretty good about it. There's a balance between defined trails, my own navigation, a variety of landscapes, and an ancient pilgrimage route I’ve pined to do. I’ll be starting on the South West Coast Path (sis-in-law Kimberly joining me YAY!), leaving it at Barnstaple to navigate on my own to the start of Offa’s Dyke Path (friend Rachel joining me YAY!), a week on this border path between Wales and England, and then leaving it navigate across Shropshire to the Peaks and Edale where I will start the Pennine Way (endlessly patient hubby Bill joining me YAY YAY!), at the end of that path I am turning east to follow St. Cuthbert’s Way to Lindisfarne/Holy Island on the pilgrimage across the sands, leaving there on the Firth to Farne and John Muir Ways up the coast and around to Edinburgh, and to the routes north through Scotland. I’m pretty sure there will be some alterations; plans never go exactly to plan, do they?
One very important plan already altered was my physical prep work. Four months ago I started working with a personal trainer to build strength, returned to a regular yoga practice for suppleness, clarity and calm, and set out on a progressive walking schedule to get my body used to 15+ mile days of hilly terrain. All went well – until it didn’t. A neuroma developed in one foot, fascia injury in the other, overly tight calf muscles had to be addressed, three different shoe choices tried, blisters to manage, and the most destabilizing of all were two bad vertigo episodes, one severe enough to require a ride in an ambulance and two days in the hospital. So I haven’t walked the miles I was “supposed” to and I’m a little concerned about the vertigo returning when I’m 10 miles between villages on my own. But I kept at the gym so I feel strong (shout out to Julian at https://strongislandfitness.com/ in Berkeley!) and I’ve been to the doctor to mitigate for vertigo the best that I can. Mostly I’m prepared to listen to my body and pivot when necessary, even drastically so should that be the wisest choice. Coping with the challenges getting ready for this journey kinda feeds into the reasons I’m doing it: to move a bit more slowly and become more intimate, genuine and caring with who I am now in my sixties. I guess I’m doing the proverbial thing of going outside to turn inside. There’s been far too much screen time setting all this up, now I’m really looking forward to 8+ hour days of weather, birdsong, flowers and sky. Bring it on!
Here is a photo of Kimberly and me on my last “long” training walk along San Francisco’s beautiful coast - 8 flat miles sans backpack to ease my feet back to the trail.
Setting off from Land’s End April 1st. That’s assuming all is going to plan, of course!
Generally the route I’ll be journeying on.
