LEJOG 2017

Planning I want to try and avoid talking about my plans for LEJOG with the fanaticism of a prepper reviewing shiny new kit. And I want to keep this simple so there's less to screw up. The end-to-end on foot challenge breaks down into simple units which can be dealt with separately: experience, health and fitness, timescales, navigation, where to stay and what to carry. Note: the objective is to get there quickly by covering as much distance as possible as efficiently as possible. Experience I haven't done a thousand mile thu-hike before. 1,000 miles was my total mileage in 2016. Doing it in one go will be a different experience. I have some experience with multi-day walks involving O/S map navigation and rough camping - and I'm treating LEJOG in the same way, on a larger scale.   Health and fitness I've been distance walking since 2011 and have notched up a few thousand miles worth of experience. Training in 2016 laid the foundations for distance walking i...

2017 in miles, hours and boots Note: I wasn't planning on training for LEJOG until early 2018 with a proposed start date of 29th March. However in April an opportunity arose meaning I'm on for LEJOG this summer. Training has therefore been brought forward: January  29th December (Thursday) 2016, Training route,  24 miles , 6 hours 42. 2nd January (Monday) 2017, Training route,  24 miles , 7 hours 15. 8th January (Sunday) 2017, Basingstoke to Winchester,  23 miles , 7 (hard muddy) hours. 14th January (Saturday) 2017, Reading to Basingstoke via Calleva/Silchester, 7 hours, about  23 miles . 21st January (Worting Road to Kingsclere via Cottington's Hill/Hannington and back), 5 hours 45,  17.6  miles. 28th January (Saturday) (Cottington's Hill and back; hill training, 3 ascents) 6 hours 40,  22 miles . Turned my right ankle on a divot. Ouch. 29th January (Sunday) training route full circle (with various shortcuts)...

The boots intended for LEJOG 2018 arrived at my local Blacks on Wednesday 22nd March 2017, 1 year and 8 days before the intended start date. That might seem a bit premature but it isn't - here's why: Boots are a big deal. It took two years of experimentation to find what works; trial and mostly error cost between £700 and £1,000. When I got it wrong I suffered pain that can be quantified by the total number of 200 mg ibuprofen tablets taken to counter it (over 100), plus the disappointment of getting it wrong and the envy of seeing my walking buddy find the right pair. And now I've found boots that work I'm stockpiling in case the manufacturer does something cruel like change or discontinue the line. Time, money, pain, disappointment, envy - lessons that taught me to listen to my feet: New (left) and old after 6 months/470 miles. Getting it right matters because getting it wrong matters more.  My walking buddy and I walked the Great Glen Way in September ...

LEJOG or JOGLE? The idea of walking north until the end of the land fascinates me. So I'm a LEJOGer. Pat Jilks decided to walk the end-to-end from north to south and flew from Gatwick to Inverness, catching buses to Wick and John o'Groats. "It was just how I wanted to do it," she said, "and psychologically, I'd be walking towards home."   Why LEJOG? "Because it's there."  That famous quote has been attributed to George Mallory in his response to a journalist from the New York Times who asked him why he wanted to climb Mount Everest.  Because it's there is the sort of answer I expect an educated man like Mallory would have thrown at a reporter to shut him up. It's glaringly scant for a mountainous challenge like the first ascent of Everest, or even for LEJOG, and  I'd be doing Mallory's expedition a disservice to use that phrase out of context. Wade Davis t he historian who wrote  Into The Silence  ab...

I've posted my walking calendar for 2016 because it outlines what walking means to me in its most basic units: time and distance. It also hints at fitness, stamina, endurance, fortitude and other nice words. Some of the day walks were done alone. All of the larger multi-day walks involved my walking buddy. Note: these are bare-bones calendar entries and they miss out the details that made those walks unique. January 23rd Jan (Sat): 25 miles (Basingstoke circular/training route) TOE INFECTION - OOA until - [correction: it was gout as I suspected; I was misdiagnosed by the GP] February 21st Feb (Sun): 10/12 miles (Sarah's route around town) 27th Feb (Sat): 25 miles (Basingstoke circular/training route) March 1st March (Tue): 15 miles (work and back x 5) 4th March (Fri): 18 miles (out to Sherfield on Loddon via Wildmoor Lane and back) 6th March (Sun): 20 miles (Winchester to Basingstoke) 13th March (Sun): 23 miles (Reading to Basi...