Retrospective
Looking back over my shoulder, to the year behind us, I see a bit of a mixed back of walking achievements. I had a good first half of the year and fairly mediocre second half, with almost no proper walking taking place after mid-September. I blame that decline on a combination of consistently poor weather, especially at weekends, and a lack of motivation on my part. In the early part of the year, any lack of motivation was overruled by the enthusiasm of my walking companion, Chris, who was always eager to get out and walk the Peak District hills. Later in the year our diaries drifted apart, and it’s been difficult to get together at the weekends, so I’ve also drifted.
2023 Local Walks
I have many scenic little routes quite close to home and it’s easy to walk anything from 4 to 10 miles right out of my door. The year started well, with 23 such walks in January – slowly building up my average pace as my fitness improved. I vowed to avoid the mistake of a couple of years ago, where I walked at least 4 miles a day, every day for 90 days straight and ended up injuring my foot quite badly. This year, I started out by trying to average 5 days walking each week, with an average of 35 miles walked. That would typically be a 7-mile circular for three days, and a couple of longer walks at the weekend – either local walks, or ‘proper’ hill walks.
Since the end of February, my average pace has never dropped below 4mph and as of today, I’ve walked 924.0 miles on local paths. In August I got a 10-year anniversary present from work, a Garmin Forerunner watch, and I love how it tells me how long it’s taken me to walk the last mile. If I do ever drop below 15 minutes, I’m gutted, and I push a bit harder to catch up the deficit. It has by far and away the most accurate GPS I’ve ever encountered on a device, and I now know, almost to the step, when my next mile announcement is coming up. This has led me to walk the same path each day too, which is quite satisfying in many ways – I can now line up previous walks on the Garmin website and watch me compete against myself – different days playing out on the same track.
2023 Longer Walks
My goal this year was to walk the Rob Roy Way, complete the second half of the Southern Upland Way, walk the South Cheshire Market Towns Trail with a couple of new walking buddies and walk a Frankenstein Scottish trail with Chris. I managed the first and second, almost completed the third, and never even got close to starting the fourth.
The Rob Roy Way was OK. There were some quite awesome stretches, the scenery was mostly excellent, but the path surface was all too often tarmac or cycle path hardcore. I’m glad I did it, and the final day was quite something – it really pushed my mental and physical condition and I’m pleased to say I came out of it smiling.
The Southern Upland Way has been my nemesis for 10 years – I’ve started and failed to finish twice, first in 2013 and then again in 2015. I was determined to complete it this year. I decided not to start again from the beginning, but to pick up where I left off in 2013, in Moffat. I’m again, pleased to say I have now vanquished my old foe and it was a fantastic walk. The SUW is easily the best of Scotland’s Great Trails, mainly because it hasn’t been made ‘accessible’ – you can’t push a buggie along it, and although you could mountain bike along it, most touring cyclists would never get beyond the outskirts of the towns. It’s a proper walkers’ trail, and all the better for it.
Steve, Andy and I have completed three sections of the South Cheshire Market Towns Trail, with one left to do. We’ve done a couple of other walks as well, and we’ll probably complete the SCMTT, but not until the mud has died down a bit. I’ve taken them up Shining Tor and Shutlingsloe, both of which they enjoyed, but I almost had a revolt on my hands when I took them up Doctor’s Gate to Bleaklow and Cock Hill – we will have to work our way up to that sort of walk again, I think! It’s been great getting out on the hills with new walking companions, and we may even get one more in before the end of the year.
2024 Planning
So, what about next year? I hear you ask. Well, until this time last week, I’d resigned myself to not walking any long distance path at all. I’d tried to find an appealing trail in Scotland, but it looks like I’ve done all the ‘good’ ones. The ones that remain are not especially inspiring or are too short for me. I spent two days trying to plan another jaunt along the Great Glen Way, I even added two days to the end of it, walking down the opposite side of Loch Ness. In the end, the lack of accommodation scuppered me. I could probably find somewhere in every town along the way, but some places wanted over £100 for one night’s B&B and I’m not prepared to pay that much. Maybe I’d pay that much for one night, if all the others were a reasonable price, but there were three or four stops that came in at that price.
I looked at walking the Pennine Way again, but after a frustrating couple of hours looking at accommodation options for the end of day 1 and day 2, I gave up.
I tried to create my own walk in Northumberland, but the lack of accommodation options was startling, even in places you would expect to find a couple of B&Bs. Those that remain appear to be able to charge whatever they want – which is typically more than I want to pay. After a couple of days of fiddling with routes, I gave up.
In the end, I planned about 20 circular walks in 4 or 5 different locations and vowed to spend a series of long weekends in the van, bagging hills and trig points. Almost going back to what I was doing a few years ago (but without the van).
Then at the back end of last week, I put my foot down with myself. I changed the way I was thinking, I spent a couple of days tweaking an old route, looking at accommodation – looking at bus routes and taxi options for places where there were no B&Bs and I now have a plan. I’m doing the Pennine Way!
I turned the route on its head – something I’d promised myself a long time ago – so I’m walking from North to South. I’ve walked the traditional route twice, starting in Edale and finishing in Kirk Yetholm. I completed the full route in 17 days in 2010 and I walked in sections in 2013 and 2014 when I updated the definitive Pennine Way guide book for Trailblazer.
I know I still don’t have the mindset for doing 17 or 18 consecutive days away from home, and besides, I doubt I could get that many days off work in one go, so I’m going to have to break it down into two sections. I’ve already planned and booked both sections! I’m walking from Kirk Yetholm to Bowes, over nine days, in mid-May and then I’m heading back to Bowes, to walk to Edale, again over nine days, in mid-August.
The Pennine Way in 18 days is a proper challenge! The only concession I’ve made to the 17-day schedule I walked in 2010 is that I’m breaking the 26-mile stretch between Kirk Yetholm and Byrness into two days, using a pickup service that meets you at Trows, resulting in a 15-mile first day and a 17-mile second day. I remember thinking that the walk was a physical challenge, back in 2010 when I was only 44 – I will be 60 when (if?) I finish it next year. I need a challenge though, I think. I need something to focus my training on – I need to get properly fit for it, and that means getting some of the winter weight off and building up the hill legs. I think if I’d sat back and planned on the long weekends in the van, it wouldn’t have felt like the compelling event that the Pennine Way does. I would have half-heartedly stepped up the training in January and never really got back into shape for the summer. Now I know I have to!
I’m ridiculously excited about walking the Pennine Way again – I’ve not anticipated a walk this way for years. I know I will be walking over old ground, but I don’t care – the Pennine Way feels like an old friend that I’d lost contact with and have only just reconnected.
Some things have changed a lot since the first time I walked the route – in 2010 the accommodation cost me £556 for 17 nights – this time round the cost is £1,076. My most expensive B&B in 2010 was £45 and I paid that twice. In 2024, my cheapest room will be £55 and my most expensive £93.50!
11 thoughts on “2024 Planning”
I finally found your website again and read it from start to end. I have drifted from walking buddies as family and work gets in the way, this gave me little reason to walk. But since some successful surgery late last i got my first lake district walk in this weekend for almost a year. It was hard made me realise a lot of fitness has gone but like you determined to make something of it and planning is what i need. Never thought of planning a full year but small steps to get back in the hills. Also will continue reading your inspiring blogs.
Thanks Andrew – always glad to hear someone else gets something useful out of my ramblings. As Churchill said
Hello again Stuart,
Happy New Year to you, and I hope you enjoyed the break!
Yes, please do share your booking notes on the PW. Realistically, though, I’ll have to break the route down into two sections of 9-10 days each.
I’d also be interested in your pack list for such a trip – over the past few weeks I’ve been seriously looking at reducing the pack weight, and wonder how little I can get away with over 9-10 days – but perhaps that’s for another thread?
I’ve done exactly that – two sections, each of 9 days. Kirk Yetholm to Bowes in May and then Bowes to Edale in August. I may do a separate PW planning post, it sounds like that may be useful.
I’ve shared a link to my B&B kit list, so hopefully that should give you a feel for my approach at the moment. I have my pack weight (w/o consumables) down to 5.6kg and I could get that down to 5kg if I really wanted to. That kit has seen me through a 7-day walk and it should suffice for a 9-day walk too. Once you add water and a bit of food it comes in at about 8Kg.
Hi Stuart, nice to read what you’ve been up to, I don’t seem to have seen much from you this year for some reason. Probably my fault.
Well done for completing the SUW, that’s one I’ve been thinking of for years, but have never done anything with…
Also, have you seen anything from Chris recently? He rang me about something 6 months or so ago, but seems to have disappeared now…
Hi Chrissie, I pretty much stopped posting on Twitter this year, which was probably the easiest way to keep up with what I was doing. I post blogs when I’m on my long walks, but don’t tend to do much on there otherwise. Twitter was great for posting a micro-blog update, but I strongly disagree with what it has become, so like Facebook a few years ago, I’ve walked away. You’d love the SUW I think – it’s Scotland’s Pennine Way basically – very similar scenery, length and difficulty – it was great to finish it off.
Great to hear that you’re tackling the PW again! I have been looking at medium long walks for next year and I’m stuck with many of the same issues – I start the planning then have to abandon it when I discover a gap in accommodation somewhere that can’t be overcome, ( in know that it’s possible to get taxis or public transport to deal with this but I hate the thought of having to be in a certain place at a certain time to meet a deadline for pickup) or I tot up all of the costs – trains, accommodation etc and then do a sharp intake of breath. I’ve almost settled on the Cumbria Way next year as that seems doable on public transport from Northeast Scotland but still having to weigh up the train costs to get to the start and then home from Carlisle. We’ll see what happens. Good luck for your 2024 plans!
Hi Janet, I’m with you on the ‘walking to a deadline’ problem, but I have to admit, I’ve handled it well over the last two or three years – it’s either that or not do the walk in many cases. I couldn’t have done most of the walks I’ve completed in the last three years without taxi/bus/pickup options. Hope the Cumbria Way works out for you, I doubt I’ll be going back to the Lakes for a while now, at least not in the high season, but I have it my mind for a late autumn / early winter walk one year. I did four days of the Westmorland Way in December a few years ago and although I got very wet, I loved how quiet it was. Cheers, Stuart
I’m with you as far as The Lakes in high season is concerned – my idea of not much fun. Hopefully it will be late April or May but I have some unfinished business with the MBA – working on a bothy in Argyll (and one on Rum) so that may well take precedence – we’ll see how it goes. I’ve often considered the SUW but struggled with lack of accommodation in certain stretches. Trying to work out a plan for a big walk in 2025 to celebrate getting my bus pass!
Good to hear from you again, Stuart – and a great plan for next year!
It sounds like you regard the Pennine Way as an old friend – it’s a good sign that you want to rewalk an old favourite, even if it’s in reverse. That’s kind of how I feel about the West Highland Way – I loved it when I first did it in 2004. The difference, though, is that I probably wouldn’t dream of doing it again, mainly due to the sheer numbers walking it – it’s become far too popular for its own good. That crappy path they’ve made puts me right off too.
But the Pennine Way… other than a very short stretch at the beginning (Edale – Jacob’s Ladder – Kinder Scout) when I was in the area anyway, I have not set foot on it. I think the PW is one of those ‘rites of passage’ for British long-distance walkers.
You’re right about the B&B prices, some prices are just silly for single rooms. I suspect it’s partly due to Covid – not every establishment made it through the lockdown, and those that did are, as you say, just charging what they want.
Have you ever thought of heading overseas? I’ve read there are some terrific ones all over Europe, and not just the ‘numbered’ ones (GR5, etc). Something I feel I have to do before I hang up the old boots (which is hopefully some way off yet!).
Hi Stuart, I spent the best part of 8 months living and breathing the Pennine Way, back in 2013/14 when I was rewriting the Trailblazer guide – it has a special place in my heart. I’ve seen only small parts of it since then, so it will be great to engage with it properly again. I agree about the WHW, when I was thinking about walks this year it never even crossed my mind to revisit that one – it was great, but it was too busy even in 2008, I shudder to think what it’s like now! If you want to see my booking notes for the PW, I’m more than happy to share them, perhaps help you get it booked yourself!?! A friend just spent 10 days walking through the Black Forest area in Germany and he loved it, but I must admit, walking overseas doesn’t interest me. Perhaps if the logistics of UK walks become ever more painful I’ll have a look. Cheers, Stuart