Time Team Special

So .. if Alan's LEJOG was the "guidebook to pubs & restaurants" and Mick & Gayle's was "guidebook to being chased by farming animals", it looks like Geoff's is going to be the Time Team one. Good one.

Geoff’s Journey

All-round good egg, Geoff “LiteHiker” Gafford is soon off walking from the bottom bit left bit of the UK mainland to the top right bit. He’ll be keeping his blog up to date with his progress, but even before he goes, he has almost reached his sponsorship target of £2,000 for The Multiple Sclerosis Research And Relief Fund.

Gayle heading south

Somewhere between Edinburgh and Berwick listening to Bob's interview with Gayle after Mick and Gayle's LEJOG walk. Nice to hear thoughts on walking the length of Britain.

Mick & Gayle LEJOG 2008

Download MP3 File

What Can Be Achieved in 84 Days

So, what did you achieve in the last 84 days? I hope you didn't waste your time online, watching tv, getting het up by work and annoyed by the blox on the box.

Mick and Gayle walked from Land's End (bottom left bit of the British mainland) to John O'Groats (top right-hand corner). So, that's the length of England, length of Wales, and length of Scotland. In passing by them on the mainland, this includes the length of Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Hebrides (inner and outer).

It's a long sodding way. At the moment, they have also raised £4,110.30 for charity. You can still donate if you wish. Many people have donated along the way. You can read about the nice people and the walk on their blog.

Well done to Mick and Gayle.

I,252 miles was the planned route. I think they walked more than that.

Chris Townsend in Aboyne

Just had a pleasant time with Chris Townsend in Hilltrek in Aboyne. He signed my well-thumbed "backpacker's handbook" and i bought a signed copy of his new book "guide to walks in the north-west highlands". Over free tea and shortbread, he told me tales of derring-do about being a mountain and wilderness writer and photographer. And the scoop? Well, that's private.

All i will say is that he is taller in real life.

Robert Hausam interview pt 2

This BPL.com interview focuses on the kit that Robert used, travelling lightweight with a load of 24 pound/11kg load - not baseweight.

On packliner, question starts "Scotland is supposed to be notorious for its rainy weather..."

Choice of tarp instead of tent discussed, and the UK attitude to tarps (eg Bob Cartwright of BPL.co.uk

Andy Howell mentioned, when midges talked about ... and described for the US audience. Classified as a "no see um" sort of swarming insect "a flying mouth".

"What weather were you prepared for?" "Almost anything, down to a few degrees below zero °c ... prepared for high winds ... rain gear was fabulous...". He uses the Montane Quick-Fire jacket too.

"Success with the BushBuddy stove, and found another hiker, Colin, using one too." "Even though a wet climate, you had no problem finding fuel?" "Quite a successful experiment".

"Lairig Ghru was the most spectacular part of the trip", said Robert... "bailed out of tarp, and stayed in bothy [Bob Scott's presumably] along with a few other people who had tents." The interviewer, again, asked about the bothy construction (so as to compare with State-side trail shelters).

"Was finding water a problem?" "It's something Scotland is blessed with in abundance ... just get from a stream ... carried at least a litre of water, but normally not a problem".

"Did you do any food-hanging?"

Seems strange to consider these techniques that people use to keep food from bears. Something that many people need to do in other parts of the world.

Hmm ... linked a third pole to his trekking poles to make a tripod. Robert had worked on the linkage with a friend. Sounds a good idea, and hope to hear more of this.

"How many hours of daylight?" "Surprisingly...even to people from other parts of UK...light enough to be useable to about 10 at night"

Conversely, I keep forgetting how dark it gets down south in the UK.

I laughed when the interviewer used the term "civvies" to describe non-hiking clothing.

Yet again, another cracking podcast, and nice to hear things that I take for granted being discussed as being out of the ordinary. One day I will trek in the US, and have to hang food from bears, not eat the main meal near the pitch, and cross a 'real' river. I look forward to the challenge.

--

Link to podcast page, featuring written article, photographs and kit list too. My posting about part 1

As Others See You

Listening to part 1 of Robert Hausam's interview on the BPL.com podcast. Robert walked across Scotland earlier this year on the TGO Challenge. This was his first time in Scotland and he came purely on information gained over the Internet, including forums and Bob C's podcasts.

To hear my homeland being described as "exotic" and our wonderful access laws being heralded to the world. The question of "what is a bothy?" is raised, and answered. Taken for granted, i find it strange that they might be "staffed?" B&b "hospitality wonderful".

He discusses his wearing of hiking sandals on the crossing. The nearest experience he has had was in the Alaskan tundra.

Terrain. Scenic. History. Culture. Old civilisations, chatting to folk, getting a feel for local life. Meeting other Challengers on a daily basis. Met some Munro baggers ... "what is a Munro?"... Good recall on that, remembering that Sir Hugh didn't compleat.

Good to hear that overseas visitors are well looked after. Different approaches to hiking in UK hmm, maybe hiking is a bit more common in UK than US. Elevenses not common in the US. Also the ability to go out, climb a couple of peaks, pub for a pint and then home, because of the shorter distances involved. Good to hear that Robert hopes to come back. Large fried breakfasts and pubs mentioned too.

Update - link to podcast page, featuring written article, photographs and kit list too.

tvwalks.com

Read the guidebook? Now see the movie at tvwalks.com.

Is this the future? With the ability to download movies to your portable player, you can see the next day's trail on your iPod and read about it in the guidebook.

I note that Anthony Burton wrote and co-wrote guide books on the West Highland Way and the Southern Upland Way.

Of much lower quality, and minor interest to serious outdoors folk: my video can be freely viewed (heck, download it if you wish) on YouTube.

Many rivers to cross

I caught some of Radio 4's "Women's Hour" today. They talked about an author's book of her struggle to survive being put into "a category that is sometimes described as “inspirational memoirs” ". Is there a comparison here with blogs? The woman in question had had a horrific upbringing, and I wouldn't want anyone's hiking experience to be as traumatic.

I wondered if blogs fit into the category of inspirational memoirs. Do people want to read the mundane? Probably not, as it already happens in their life daily. They want the sensational. Rock slides, fighting against evil empires (or at least businesses that won't complete a contract), wild animal attacks (maybe something a bit bigger bigger), overcoming hardships, etc etc.

Strange - when I look at outdoors media, I look for the empathy. Not the extravagant.

So, while Andy starts a new ultra-lightweight mission, I see Mike "GoBlueHiker"'s pack and read that he's away for 15 days unsupported in Alaska (thanks, Sarah). His pack includes an inflatable raft and lifejacket. It reminds me that the word "river" is like the word "mountain". Recently I was asked about some mountains I had climbed - "none" said I. For me a "mountain" is something big, something dangerous, something that needs special equipment and skills. So, I ask myself today, "how many rivers have I crossed"? None.

Many rivers to cross
And it's only my will that keeps me alive
I've been licked, washed up for years
And I merely survive because of my pride

Background music

Excess Baggage

On Radio 4's travel programme, Sandi Toksvig (sp?) was speaking to a couple of folk about Britain's national trails.

Link, with listen again feature.

Last Strides of the Big Walk

That's Alan Sloman completed his 1687 mile trek from the farthest South on Britain, to the farthest North of Britain; and zigzagging a couple of times to boot. On top of that feat, he has also raised £4,509 to date for Sue Ryder Care. It's not too late to add a donation (link from Alan's site).

Keep an eye on his site, I doubt it'll be his last post.

AktiveMan

Further to my inactivity on the TGO forum. Searching through the forum, I found reference to John being the person to contact. Looking through the profiles, Mr Manning was listed as site admin. His email address is in the "contact us" list on the website.

John's email reply was sent within 30 minutes of my request, and my login worked perfectly.

Well done, that man.

--
And in other news, both Tony Blair and Alan Sloman are completing a walk today. One to hand in his resignation as Prime Minister and the other to complete their Land's End to John o' Groats walk.

Well done, those men.

Summertime Blues

I've been pondering over the last few days, and now come to the conclusion that I can't be bothered with the Wainwright Coast to Coast this Summer. Mainly I can't be bothered with the lack of wild camping. legal wild camping that is. Everyone tells me not to worry, the police have more to do with their time, etc etc. But it is a breach of the law of the land.

And I don't want to walk across a land that doesn't want me sensibly wild camping upon it. They might be happy with me paying for B&B or campsites, but I can't afford it. I also prefer the solitude of wild camping. I can't be bothered hiking across a country that declares such pleasures illegal.

That too rules out Offa's Dyke, and a Welsh coast-to-coast.

The fallback position was to tab it somewhere wild in Scotland and see how many Munros I could get to. Or chose a long distance trail in Scotland.

It isn't an anti-Welsh or anti-English choice; but why visit a country with the intention of breaking its laws? I have more respect for the law than that.

ClipBlast

ClipBlast is a video search engine. Used it to find videos of:

• Jetboil: Java Kit
• Mike "Lion King" - getting started on the Pacific Crest Trail (guest starring hiking umbrellas). More of Mike on MySpace and YouTube
• Flashlite trekking umbrella

Actually, I found little on ClipBlast. But, with more video hosting websites (e.g. kyte.tv) coming to the fore, maybe it have more value in the near future.

Sober Thoughts

I picked up on this story via Two-Heel Drive. Cari 'Sandals' Tucker was medivaced from the Pacific Central Trail because of a blister:

I thought that I just needed fluids and would be fine, but after 5 liters plus high doses of a drug to raise blood pressure, I just kept deteriorating and about 7 pm, I was emergency airlifted to a larger hospital in Bakersfield. At Bakersfield, I spent 5 hours being stabilized in the ER, and then was transferred to the intensive care unit, where I spent a total of 4 days.

The source of the infection was probably a quarter sized blister on my right heel that didn't look any worse than anyone else's blisters--in fact, it looked better than most except for a slight red. I HAD lanced it and dressed it, and in the desert, it looked OK, but over the first 5 days of being in the hospital, it blossomed into a 2 x 3 inch lesion with red swollen areas up into my ankle. The cultures came back as a Staph infection and I had to have some areas of dead and dying skin removed. As far as it getting into the bloodstream--I guess I'm just one of those unlucky statistics.

Sandals writes about her rescue in full in her trail journal.

Top of her ten reasons not to get septic shock in the desert is:

1) In the best of circumstances, you have a 1 in 3 chance of dying (note: the desert does NOT qualify as the best of circumstances)

What an eye-opener. Glad to hear you're alive. Fun photos on the journal - the "Overindulgence" one just reminded me so much of Bill Bryson's dreams of food while on the AT.

Must be a TGO diary

Andy Howell's finished his TGO Challenge diary for 2007. You can read it here. Cracking photographs too.

Cambrian Way

Catching up with Chris Cowell's blog across at Hike Wales. Cambrian Way? I'd never heard of it before. It isn't a national trail, so wasn't in TGO's special on them.

• Map of the Way.
• Walking World's page.

441km, 274 miles. Cardiff to Conwy.

It looks more my cup of tea, away from the farmlands along Offa's Dyke. I'll get some investigating done. Thanks for the inspiration, Chris.

Alan Sloman: Tarfside

I'm still following Alan's progress, as his Land's End to John o' Groats is in the final stages of his TGO Challenge cross-Scotland walk. Link. If you notice on his map, instead of going straight up Scotland, he is doing a 'twiddly bit' from West to East too.

I can't get over the fact that he's walked over 1189 miles and is into his 83 day today (Tuesday). Seems like only yesterday that he set out.

As with everyone on the Challenge: well done, not far now, you're all stars.

CGNP 19th May

1030ish. Walked back to Bob Scott's with a couple of Challengers. Gave them a head start after the bothy stop as i didn't want folk to think i'd walked all that way too. Sorry there was no Telegraph in the bothy, Mr P and even the local papers were out of date.

CGNP 180507

2030hrs. Potential siting of a Challenger. Female of the species. Young. Red/maroon plumage. Determined look on face. Just outside Braemar on Linn of Dee road.