Pre-Walk Statistics

Before we set off, I thought I would post some pre-walk statistics based on my walk to work this morning:

Distance logged by Garmin GPS = 10.1 km

Steps recorded by Nike Fuel Band = 10,800

= 1,069 steps per km

Distance from John O'Grats to Land's End = 1,760 km

Therefore, the number of steps required to walk the distance is 1,760 x 1,069 = 1,881,440

So, near enough 2 Million steps......with a back pack.

Final Preparations

With just a few days to go now, I am delighted to say that we have received lots of incredibly generous donations for our charities from friends, family and work colleagues.  By the time we finish our walk we are guarenteed to be handing over a fantastic total to Willen Hospice and Help for Heroes.
We are now in the process of final checks to kit to try and decide what is essential and what can be left behind.  Over the course of the last year, all kit has been carefully researched and chosen based mainly on being as light as possible.  The one exception being the rucksack, the MacPac Torlesse 50 is not the lightest, but it has a very comfortable harness and looks to be robust enough for a trip like this.  My pack is still heavier than I would have liked and looks like it will be near to 14kg which I can testify is a bit like carrying a 5 year old child around on your back and not something to relish doing for 25 miles at a time, although at least my pack won't be saying "are we nearly there yet?" for the whole journey.
Kit worries aside, I'm happy that I have done enough walking in training to prepare myself for this.  The walks to work and back are good preparation and prove a time efficient training method.  The biggest worries are always going to be illness or injury, either of which are capable of ruining the best laid plans.  If necessary we may need to be flexible and revise daily mileages and rest.
Worries asside, this walk has been a long time in the planning and I can't wait to just get going now!

One Week to go - New Boots

I can't quite believe it, but with just one week to go before starting an 1100 mile walk, I'm buying new boots!  I know that this is a classic mistake that could end up with nasty blisters on the first day, but I don't really have any alternative.  I had planned to set off in a pair of Salamon Quest 4D GTX boots that I bought last summer and have spent the best part of a year breaking in and until now feeling very comfortable with.  However, in the last week during my daily 20K walks to and from work, I have inexplicably started feeling my toes touching the end of the boot.  I can only think that my feet have expanded with the extra walking.  Either that, or the boots have somehow shrunk.  Either way, this it is a problem that can only be resolved by buying new boots.  I have decided to get the same model again, half a size bigger and to see if I can break them in in the 7 remaining days.  If not, then I'm going to be in for an especially painful first week or two of this trip!

Blister Prevention

Thanks to Nick for sending me a lovely picture of what happens to your toe nails if you walk for 20 miles in ill fitting boots.  After careful consideration, I have decided not to share this on my pages.  However, it has spurred me to buy some Leukotape, hopefully this will be slightly better than wrapping my feet in gaffa tape which has been suggested by some people.

Daily Schedule

Daily Schedule

01 John o'Groats to Mid Clyth - 26 Miles - 8 Hours

02 Mid Clyth to Helmsdale - 30 Miles - 11 Hours

03 Helmsdale to Dornoch - 30 Miles - 9 Hours

04 Dornoch to  Alness - 21 Miles - 7 Hours

05 Alness to Inverness - 20 Miles - 7 Hours

06 Inverness to Balbeg - 30 Miles - 10 Hours

07 Balbeg to Clunes - 30 Miles - 11 Hours

08 Clunes to Fort William - 18 Miles - 6 Hours

09 Fort William to Kingshouse - 25 Miles - 9 Hours

10 Kingshouse to Tyndrum - 19 Miles - 6 Hours

11 Tyndrum to Inversnaid - 21 Miles - 9 Hours

12 Inversnaid to Drymen - 20 Miles - 8 Hours

13 Drymen to Twechar - 24 Miles - 7 Hours

14 Twechar to Linlithgow - 25 Miles - 8 Hours

15 Linlithgow to Edinburgh - 23 Miles - 8 Hours

16 Edinburgh to Peebles - 22 Miles - 7 Hours

17 Peebles to Melrose - 25 Miles - 7 Hours

18 Melrose to Jedburgh - 16 Miles - 5 Hours

19 Jedburgh to Byrness - 21 Miles - 7 Hours

20 Byrness to Bellingham - 17 Miles - 6 Hours

21 Bellingham to Haltwhistle - 20 Miles - 7 Hours

22 Haltwhistle to Alston - 14 Miles - 5 Hours

23 Alston to Langdon Beck - 17 Miles - 5 Hours

24 Langdon Beck to Bowes - 23 Miles - 8 Hours

25 Bowes to Hawes - 26 Miles - 8 Hours

26 Hawes to Horton-in-Ribblesdale - 14 Miles - 5 Hours

27 Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Skipton - 25 Miles - 8 Hours

28 Skipton to Hebden Bridge - 25 Miles - 8 Hours

29 Hebden Bridge to Diggle - 17 Miles - 6 Hours

30 Diggle to Padfield - 18 Miles - 7 Hours

31 Padfield to Edale - 21 Miles - 7 Hours

32 Edale to Castleton - 5 Miles - 2 Hours

33 Castleton to Dovedale - 29 Miles - 9 Hours

34 Dovedale to Uttoxeter - 16 Miles - 6 Hours

35 Uttoxeter to Penkridge - 27 Miles - 9 Hours

36 Penkridge to Wolverhampton - 11 Miles - 3 Hours

37 Wolverhampton to Bewdley - 27 Miles - 9 Hours

38 Bewdley to Worcester - 21 Miles - 7 Hours

39 Worcester Tewkesbury - 20 Miles - 7 Hours

40 Tewkesbury to King's Stanley - 26 Miles - 8 Hours

41 King's Stanley to Old Sodbury - 22 Miles - 7 Hours

42 Old Sodbury to Bath - 18 Miles - 6 Hours

43 Bath to Midsomer Norton - 11 Miles - 4 Hours

44 Midsomer Norton to Glastonbury - 20 Miles - 7 Hours

45 Glastonbury to Taunton - 21 Miles - 10 Hours

46 Taunton to Tiverton - 26 Miles - 9 Hours

47 Tiverton to Crediton - 17 Miles - 6 Hours

48 Crediton to Oakhampton - 23 Miles - 8 Hours

49 Okehampton to Launceston (part2) - 7 Miles - 3 Hours

50 Okehampton to Launceston (part1) - 16 Miles - 5 Hours

51 Launceston to Bodmin - 32 Miles - 10 Hours

52 Bodmin to Truro 28 Miles - 9 Hours

53 Truro to Helston - 19 Miles - 6 Hours

54 Helston to Penzance - 19 Miles - 7 Hours

55 Penzance to Land's End - 10 Miles - 6 Hours

 Now then, the more observant of you may have noticed (yes, even Tim has spotted this!) that there are no rest days planned in this schedule and on top of that, I haven't even got 55 days off work.  The reason for this is that I couldn't be bothered to plan an exact route myself, instead I copied the route from someone who had actually done it before and at a sensible daily mileage.  However, what this means is that we are going to have to be flexible with the schedule and wherever possible, ensure that we cover 25 miles a day, regardless of the 'outline' schedule shown above.  That will get us to Land's End before work starts asking if we are actually planning on returning.  But there still won't be any rest days so I guess we'll just have to keep on moving.

What Route to Take

 

What Route to Take

In the previous "General Considerations" post I weighed the pros and cons of LEJOG vs JOGLE.  There are many permitations of what overall route to take, for example, some people choose to do the entire journey by the shortest possible route, sticking to A roads.  This for me sounds like hell and I would need to question the reason for undertaking the journey in the first place if all I was going to see was a constant stream of heavy traffic.  Some of the main route planning questions I asked myself when planning the route were as follows:

• Should I make use of long distance footpaths like the Pennine Way, Great Glen Way, Cotswold Way etc. or stick to footpaths and bridleways, quiet roads and Sustrans routes?
• Should I divert around the busy A9 & A99 in Scotland, adding an extra day to the journey?
• Should I follow guide book routes or published GPS trails of others that have completed the walk?
• How many miles should I cover in a day?
  (I have decided to have a daily target of 25 miles, this will cover the 1,100 miles in 44 days).

Route Planning

So where do you start when trying to plan such a long route?  Well, the answer is that there is enough information available to mean that you do not need to scrutinise OS maps and work out a detailed route yourself.  Instead, you can check out some of the published routes of people who have done this before.  Some of the books that almost everyone undertaking this challenge seem to come across are as follows:

• The Land's End to John O'Groats Walk by Andrew McCloy ISBN-10: 1871890594
•  The End to End Trail by Andy Robinson ISBN-10: 1852845120
• John O'Groats to Land's End: The Official Challenge Guide by Brian Smailes  ISBN-10: 1903568188

 These provide useful information from different perspectives.  Andy McCloy's book provides details of scenic routes on quiet routes, wheres Brian Smailes book focuses on the shortest possible route, sticking to A roads.
The most useful resources that I found when researching the route were blogs and published GPX tracks from people who had completed the journey.  I managed to find a complete published track across the country which I used as the basis of my route.  It was still necessary to reverse the route for each day, tidy up any diversions, waymark campsites etc. but having the entire route essentially in place was invaluable.  I shall include my own route for download if and when I complete it successfully.

Websites that proved incredibly useful when planning this trip were the following:

• Dave Greenwood's Blog
• Milkman Gary's Blog
• Michael Walter's Blog
• Mark Moxon's Blog

General Considerations

General Considerations

When considering travelling the length of the country, there are many things to consider, here are a few of my thoughts around the challenge.

Mode of Transport

The End to End challenge has been done in more ways than you could imagine, some so bizzare, the mind boggles as to how on earth they could be done, these include:

• Skate board
• Pogo stick
• Wheel barrow (two brothers who then changed over and went back the other way) 
• Teeing a golf ball all the way
• By bus pass

 Obviously all these methods were going to be out of the question, so this left the following options:

• Cycling - 10 to 20 days
• Running - 30 to 40 days
• Walking - 45 to 55 days

 After having cycled it back in 1985 and having enjoyed every minute, I really fancied having a go at running it this time.  However, the logistics of running proved to be too much, this would require a support vehicle to carry all my gear, every day for up to seven weeks and I didn't have anyone able to do that.  Therefore the only viable option was to walk it.

North South, or South North

This is always a matter of much debate, most people seem to do LeJog rather than JogLe.  If I was on bike then this would definitely be a LeJog to take advantage of the prevailing winds, but on foot that's not so important.  In the end, it is a matter of personal preference and there is no right or wrong way to go.
Here are some of the pros & cons:

South - North (LeJog)

Pros:

• Prevailing winds - can save a whole day if on bike.
• Maps will always be the right way up.
• Established route guides in this direction.
• Sun on your back rather than in your face.

Cons: 

• It gets cooler as you head North.
• Some big hills and midges saved for the end.

North - South (JogLe)

Pros:

• It gets warmer as you travel South.
• Gets midges and the busy A9 and A99 out of the way in the first week.
• You get to finish the walk in surfer country.

Cons:

•  The sun and wind will be in your face.
• Maps will always be upside down.

Alone or Accompanied

Many people choose to do this walk alone, possibly because they can't find anyone else mad enough, or able to spare the time off work to join them.  The prospect of travelling 1,100 miles on foot alone could be quite daunting to many people and perhaps the monotony of some parts is better having someone to share the experience with.  Ultimately this is a matter of whether you think that you need a travelling companion, or prefer break the trail and its many experiences alone.

Conclusions

I decided to do JogLe rather than LeJog because I wanted to finish in a warmer part of the country where I'm used to having summer beach holidays and because I've done LeJog before, so this would be a different experience.  The prospect of doing the journey by foot is certainly a daunting one, but many people complete this challenge every year and some people do it in ways that make my attempt look like a Sunday afternoon stroll!