Planning a walk

It's been a lovely day, I've been outside a lot. Cleaning and waxing my walking boots and wiping the mud from the bottoms of my waterproof trousers. I also took my office outside for a while as I wanted to do some research into possible accommodation for the forthcoming walk. I have a lot of tourist information brochures so I checked through them and made a list of B & B's along the proposed route.

It's taking me a while to sort out a suitable route, I have a rough idea of the places I will be going through, but as I look into it further I might have to tweak it a bit. Nothing is certain until I actually do the walk. A lot of the decisions will be based on timing and how far away is the next overnight stop. As I walk I am constantly watching the time and working out how far to the next village or town. Ideally I would like to walk an average 18 miles a day, starting at 9am and finishing at 6pm, but it won't always work out like that, because there won't always be accommodation where I want it. I remember when I really wanted to stop at 7.30pm because I was so tired, but had to keep walking until 9pm to get to the next town. On the other hand I had an early finish one day because I'd had enough and there was a bed available in a B & B, so I took it. Swings and roundabouts, horses for courses.

The plan so far is to start at the Humber Bridge, I hope to get a lift there as it would save time rather than catching two buses. On the first night I am aiming for Pocklington, but I may only get as far as Market Weighton. Getting to Pocklington in one hit is doable, it's 25 miles, I did in in reverse when I came back that way once, depends what time it is when I hit Market Weighton, I might stop there.

From there on to York, Easingwold, Thirsk, Bedale, Leyburn, Aysgarth, Hawes, Kirkby Stephen, Appleby in Westmorland, finishing at Penrith. Haven't worked out the mileage, at a guess 140 ish. So, this time I shall be walking out and getting a train back.

Now I've got to go over the Ordnance Survey maps again, looking for possible paths and tracks, and check river crossings. When is this going to take place? Soon. If anyone thinks they may be able to meet me please leave a comment with your details, place and phone number, which I won't publish, and I will contact you. You can email if you like. I have just changed the address on the side, for some reason I can't access the emails to the other address on this small computer.

This will be my seventh long walk and I am looking forward to the challenge. As long as my health and fitness hold out I shall keep walking. I love the freedom of setting off not knowing where I will be sleeping that night. I'll be carrying minimum gear, probably wear the same clothes the whole time, ha ha. Don't get too close, and I will be reporting in every night, signal permitting.

I'm going to have an hour on the settee reading a book now. Toodle pip.