I felt I needed to get back on the horse that bucked me! I’ve had a pretty rotten year when it comes to long distance walking. I’m shockingly unfit, overweight and seem to have little motivation to change either situation, but I still feel the pull of the long path! Although I cancelled my walk along the Southern Upland Way, which I deemed to be too hilly and to include too many long days (20+ miles), I felt something more achievable was needed – I pulled up my virtual map and began riffling through options.
I wanted something scenic, but not too hilly, somewhere fairly close, but not right on my doorstep, somewhere with good accommodation options but not likely to be busy with tourists. In the end I decided to revisit the River Ure and follow one of my own guide books. the Yoredale Way. It would be great to see the river in a different season, the trees shedding their leaves, the days shorter and colder, perhaps with more water in the river.
I booked my trains and five nights in B&Bs and hotels and I start walking on Saturday 5th October. For ease of logistics I’m starting at Garsdale Head rather than Kirkby Stephen, so I miss visiting the source of the river and the first mile or so of it’s journey, but I will be following the rest of it as far as Boroughbridge.
Only time will tell whether I actually finish this walk or not, but I feel fairly positive about it. Having said that, I felt positive about the Cape Wrath Trail and about the Ravenber and looked how they turned out!
7 thoughts on “Getting back on the horse!”
I think a big part of this is returning to the type of landscape you love without the pressure of a long walk through unfamiliar terrain. I’m sure it will be fine.
Good stuff, Stuart. I’ve had a quick peek at the stats and at 72 miles it sounds do-able if you’d had a long lay-off. Good luck with it, mate, and I look forward to your report!
I’ll be blogging along the way, warts and all, the good and the bad 🙂 Let’s hope its more of the former!
Sounds like a great walk Stewart! Has a lot of appeal to me, as I have finally reached the saturation point this year re long/challenging walks. Just back from walking the Larapinta Trail (with Ben) and now thinking a gentler ramble, with some UK rain even, would be ideal. I am beat! 🙂
Wow, you’ve done some miles this year! Couldn’t you find two long trails any further apart? I’m ready for rain in October, but hoping for watery sunshine instead 🙂
This sounds doable and yet a reasonable challenge- look forward to reading all about it. Have you walked the Cleveland Way? I love this and it’s a great walk for the winter too. Vivien
That was the idea – something low level and scenic. I’ve done lots of the Cleveland Way, but not in one go. It is on my to-do list though 🙂