LEJOG 2017

Poste restante is a free service where you can forward mail including parcels to a post office in the UK which you will then collect at a later date. I used Poste Restante to forward supplies and clothing to six different Post Offices between Land's End and John O'Groats. If you want to use Poste Restante in the UK but don't know how to set it up, here's how I did it: First you need to know four things: 1. The address of the Post Office you would like to use. If you're sending letters, any Post Office should accept your request. If you're sending a parcel, you will need to select a larger Post Office which has the space to store it. Select the largest Post Office in the area you intend to visit. This is important. Note: you will need to pay regular postage charges on whatever you send. 2. You need to give them a date on which you expect to pick up your mail. If you cannot give a precise date, give a range, preferably no more than two weeks. 3. You need...

Life after LEJOG Life after LEJOG began on the approach to Inverness during a phone call from girlfriend Sarah. To set the scene, I was still buzzing from crossing the Cairngorms in one hit. Half-jar of whiskey in backpack to be consumed at next camp spot outside Tomatin. Tomorrow, Inverness. All is well. Ring ring, ring - "Guess what -" she said, "I've got a transfer to Torquay. And I'm going to move there. Permanently. Do you want to come with me?" I didn't need to think about that. LEJOG is a very long series of grabbing opportunities when they arise, without dithering. Torquay: friends, seaside, fish and chips, those giant Devon hills - immediately I said, "Yes!" We spoke for half an hour as I made my way towards Tomatin on a path beside the A9, identifying landscape features only ever seen from the plane. And it all made sense. Move to Torquay and begin again, with or without the blessing of my employer. There are higher c...

Day 26: Day 26: it's half nine and I'm lying here in the Stagshead B&B, South Queensferry, admiring the Forth rail bridge (the red one). I can see all the way up the Firth out to sea. The beach is under the window. It's a beautiful day and I made it. I left Innerleithen at 09:00 and walked along a disused railway track for 5 miles to Peebles. From there I found the Old Drove Road that went into the hills, arriving at West Linton at about 3 after some decent climbs. I then walked up into the Pentland Hills, pink with heather, crossed them, and by 5 I had my first magnificent glimpse of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth. Sadly the excellent trail died in the bog which I had to extricate myself from and walk up the nearest A road till I found Kirknewton. By then I'd walked about 30 miles yet there was no accommodation to be had anywhere due to the Edinburgh festival. But I had summit fever by then. Despite her best efforts Sarah could not find me a place to stay so I...

Day 16: Day 16: "Super human effort isn't worth a damn unless it achieves results" - Sir Ernest Shackleton. Yesterday was an example of how not to do it: blind faith in paper objectives, ignoring clues about dead end paths and relying on fitness instead of brains. Today (Sunday) was an example of how to execute a plan properly. Up at 05:30, gear packed and ready by 6, breakfast coffee and maps re-worked by 06:45. Go. I left Whitchurch heading north along the roads to the Peckforton Hills. I had the opportunity to use the Sandstone Trail but recent experience made me weary and I liked racking up the easy miles. Yet by Beeston Castle I was won over by the sheer number of walkers either joining or leaving the trail - always a good sign. It was brilliant: well used, properly way marked and a pleasure to walk. With regret I left the ST at Delamere forest and after deciding that I was strong enough, shaped a course for Warrington. I wanted to complete the second section in ...

Day 15: Day 15: The North. A few miles on and accents are now all northern as in Wigan-Warrington with a little Scouse. The change is sudden, not gradual - which is suprising. So, the storming run of the last two days stalled against the Shropshire Way - back to the slow hedge hopping, field work of before. It's not a bad path. It reminds me of the Wayfarers Walk at home, a good trail but lacking in markers/logic in some key places. This all takes time. Gone are the quick road miles... Now, I wrote that bit before yesterday's (Saturday's) mental collapse. It went like this: I spent about 5 hours bush whacking along the Shropshire Way which I mistakenly assumed was a navigable well-way marked path. It isn't. I should have listened to the first clue: SW sign at Uffington directs across a small meadow then points at a garden. I follow it down to the Severn through the back garden...dead end! Imagine that kind of basic error writ large over 20 miles and you'll see my...

Day 14: Day 14: 'There's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee - that says fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me - you can't get fooled again' - George W. Bush. My thoughts exactly on the local footpath network which I stuck two fingers up at and plotted a parallel course using roads all the way from Ludlow to Shrewsbury. This built on yesterday's plan and resulted in another 28 miles in the pot. Cost? Hardcore nervous traffic avoiding for 10 hours, fast paced, hard on the feet, requires total concentration and ability to work with drivers to make sure all concerned are safe. What does that mean? It means the walking brain is in control. It makes me put my shoes on after the shower before all the other clothes. It makes me use a compass to take a bearing on the pub in case I get lost. It prioritises feet over food. Anyway - Ludlow is beautiful. I fell asleep looking at Clee Hill across the valley. Loved it. Thank yo...

Day 13: Day 13: 'Pizza makes me think that anything is possible' - Henry Rollins. Two hard days. Illness. Fatigue. Low morale. Ticks. Tens of miles of bushwhacking through the crappy local footpath network. Along comes Pappa John's of Hereford with a large pepperoni deep pan pizza - the only solid food item available that still had any appeal. I managed 8 of the 10 slices before giving up. I then studied the maps to plot an alternative all road route to Ludlow avoiding all of the crappy footpaths I had originally planned. I woke up feeling strong. Change of tactics: carry all of today's water (3 litres) so I don't have to stop and hunt for it. Result? I walked like I normally do back home: from A to B non-stop. Reached Ludlow (25 miles) in 7.5 hours. No navigational errors. And Ludlow is the prettiest town yet. I'm even risking a cider to celebrate. I am finally enjoying this. Happy :) DAY 14 Ludlow. A note about the blog I must b...

Day 12: Day 12: 'Fate gives you the finger and you accept' - William Shatner. Another lower mileage day from Monmouth to Hereford (20 miles) whilst continuing to recover from an expressively volatile stomach. The other challenge today was navigating through the mysterious local footpath network, heavy and slow going across difficult terrain with unreliable or non existant markers, disused paths and impassable obstacles (style inside a wall of thorns; giant pile of manure squeezed inside a choke point), really tiring edge of the field type paths with concealed ankle twisters under every step that require constant reference to map and compass. This was slow, tiring work. The rewards were a call from the Basingstoke Gazette (keep an eye out for the next edition) and a room at The Merton Hotel (thank you Sarah/base camp director). Although I just found tick #13 of Lejog. Lyme disease anyone? DAY 13 A note about the blog I must be the only LEJOGer without a smart pho...

Day 11: Day 11. Monmouth. About 22 miles inc the screw up. Felt sick all day. Upset stomach. Weak and fatigued. Taking Immodium. Have little appetite. I hope this sickness will end soon. Met 2 other LEJOGERS near the end; cycling. Im done.  Goodnight. DAY 12 Chepstow Castle. Tintern Abbey from the Devil's Pulpit, Offa's Dyke.  A note about the blog I must be the only LEJOGer without a smart phone. This means I don't have the ability to update this blog when I'm on the trail. My support team back home kindly offered to update the blog for me, so this will be communicated by text message and written up on my behalf. It will therefore be brief and without photos. I will expand on this when I get back from my journal entries, dictaphone recordings and photo journal. The detailed account will be published as a book which will be available on Amazon. Charity Thank you to everyone who has made a donation to  Helping Hands for the Blind , a re...

Day 10: Day 10: Travelodge, Severn View (M48 bridge). Back to the luxuries of life I normally take for granted - a bath, drinking water on tap, the ability to wash and dry clothes, electricity...bed! I slept until 09:00! I had a delicious breakfast of branch chain amino acid, 48 grams of whey isolate followed by 50 grams of soy protein isolate/carbohydrate recovery mix fortified with vitamins and minerals and a BLT. Went up to the lookout point nearby for some trophy photos. Then to Burger King to take advantage of the Travalodge 20% discount (I've been walking for 9 days so I can pardon this dietary crime). I really pushed hard these last two days to get here in good time; maybe that wasn't smart with the longer goal of JOG in mind, but injury-wise I got away with it. I need to remember, there are still 700 miles left to walk. Be careful. Right, time for a beer! DAY 11 A note about the blog I must be the only LEJOGer without a smart phone. This means I don...

Day 9: Day 9: 'I'm for whatever gets you through the night, be it a prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of JD' - Frank Sinatra. After pounding out 29 miles on day 8 and needing to pull off similar mileage again, I decided to rough camp at the start of the Strawberry Line at Axbridge. I set up at night on a small steep slope with a skinny un-managed wood acting as a pedestal for an A road (the sort of verge-type place you'd throw litter on from a car window). There was nowhere flat so I had to bivvy on a slope - a slope infested with black beetles, spiders, mosquitoes and slugs. With companions like these, and the inevitable slide down the Thermarest towards the toe-crushing end of the bivvy bag, I wasn't going to get a quality night's sleep. By the time I realised this it was too late for a sleeping pill so I lay there swatting flies glad it wasn't raining. Oh wait...My kit has been wet so many times it stinks. My boots stink. My pack stinks. The tarp and c...

Day 8: Day 8. 'As a mountain you can't grow, but as a human I can.' - Edmund Hillary. Lovely night at a lovely camp site with orchards and bunnies and peacocks. Then a mere 2 miles of easy canal walking till I'm navigating the East Dean Way with boots, gaiters and thunder storm. Walking through the levels...on, and on. And on. On road off road to the Kings Sedgemore Drain. More drains. Great attention to map and compass to avoid costly or dangerous mistakes. Forward, always forward. Pace doesn't have to be quick or pretty but it must be constant, chipping away at the miles. North at Burrow Bridge. Glastonbury Tor visible and avoided. I'm at the Pack Horse in Mark. If I can make it to Axbridge today then I'm at the Strawberry Line, and that gives me a fighting chance tomorrow of reaching Severn Bridge. Thanks to the staff and regulars at this lovely pub. I made it to the outskirts of Axbridge at 21:00 where local resident Nick out deer spotting with his do...

Day 7: Day 7: Somerset. Opened my poste restante at the Angel Hill Guest House, Tiverton. I forgot to pack my nutritional supplements for the Land's End - Tiverton section and have lived off what Ran Fiennes calls 'cafe food' for 6 days. I therefore had a delightful first breakfast of branch chain amino acids, 48 grams of whey protein and a recovery shake fortified with vitamins and minerals. I swapped the full English for oats and berries. I could hear my body thanking me. In return I asked for another 25 miles. This started at 09:35 and the first 10 miles along the Tiverton-Taunton canal - nice easy flat miles - shot by. Until the tow path abruptly ended in a muddy field. Off came the running shoes (sigh) and on went boots and gaiters. It went well until the dwindling markers vanished and I was left with only dead reckoning and a sinking feeling until hero of the day Mark arrived at exactly the right moment. Mark just so happened to be a specialist of the local area ...

Day 6: Day 6. Slept well in the woods. Rain stopped at 4 or 5 yesterday, and it was dry all night until the shower that woke me up at 05:00 - the only significant shower of the day. The tarp and bivvy bag held up well. It is a luxury to be able to lay on wet ground and remain warm and dry. The walk: it was only 18 miles to Tiverton via Black Dog, Puddington, Pennymoor and the steepest most giant hill of the campaign: Huntland. What a bitch. Most of the rest of today was flat. I like flat. Hills, I do not like. Hills give me blisters and shin splints. Hopefully there aren't many more. Overall things are going as planned. I wanted to make Tiverton in 6 days. I've done 142 miles so far. There's about 86 miles left until Severn Bridge, a lot of that is flat ground (my speciality). I should manage that in 4 days. I've been walking for 6 days now. For me that's a record. My longest previous walk was West Highland Way (4 days). I've learned that there are many diffe...

Day 5: Summary, day 4 and 5. I miss yesterday. I night hiked until 11:55 pm to get the miles in (23), crossed the Tamar into Devon and rough camped at Roadford Lake. Woke up to another storm. Today sucked. 25 miles of giant hills(Bratten Clovelly onwards), piddling rain to another rough camp at Blackditch Cross. All road walking. Tomorrow's target is the re supply at Tiverton. Tomorrow is my relax day at 18 miles. Lost a friend today. Goodbye Jess x x faithful till the end. DAY 6 Not as uncomfortable as it looks. A day ends, another begins. Bye Blondie x A note about the blog I must be the only LEJOGer without a smart phone. This means I don't have the ability to update this blog when I'm on the trail. My support team back home kindly offered to update the blog for me, so this will be communicated by text message and written up on my behalf. It will therefore be brief and without photos. I will expand on this when I get back from my journal entr...