The journey started at 11am on the morning of Wednesday March 10th
2010 when I left a cold and windswept Lands End heading north on the South
West Coast path. 7 days later I ticked off my first County Top,
Cornwall's Brown Willy on Bodmin Moor.
My first goal was to reach the east coast, which was
achieved when I walked into Sheringham on day 41. Three days
walking the Norfolk coast path followed as I made my way along the sea
defences to Kings Lynn. Then a day walking in a
straight line both vertically and horizontally! 14 miles along the
banks of the Bedford Cut to Huntingdon.
Aran Fawddwy in Mid Wales
Now time to head back west to my second goal, the high point of Pembrokeshire, Foel Cwmcerwyn in the Mynydd Preseli
which was completed on day 73. The highlights of this section being
the ridge walks along Pen y
Fan and Fan Foel in the Brecon Beacons.
My journey then took me north to Holyhead with another
great ridge walk along Aran Fawddwy in mid Wales with views west to
Cardigan Bay, north to Snowdonia, east into Shropshire and south to
the Brecon Beacons. Snowdon was ticked off on June 1st, day 84; the
only day that week when the clouds were down! My third goal
was completed when I crossed the border back into England on the
outskirts of Chester on day 91.
Crossing the Humber Bridge was my next targe,t then it was north
across the Pennines to the Lake District and Scafell Pike, the
highest point in England, which was conquered on day 119, before
heading through the rain to Northumberland my final county in England.
Crossing the border into Scotland
I crossed the border into Scotland on the morning of Saturday
July 17th, day 130. Two days later my troubles began; walking along Dere Street my legs started to feel sore and heavy and by the time I
reached Newton St. Boswells I could walk no further, so I
decided to
take an early holiday and headed home for a week off. I returned the
following week to complete the Lammermuir and Moorfoot Hills
before finally running out of steam in the Tweed Valley near
Pebbles. I had to return home to seek professional advice and
was told to take at least a month's rest. The podiatrist also
diagnosed planar digital neuritis in my left foot. It was time
to drop the word "continuous" from the job description and plan to
complete the journey in 2011.
It was two months before I felt fit enough to resume the journey
in October and complete the Border Hills. I arrived in Sanquhar on
October 18th where it was time to hang up my boots for the winter
and return to Dollar to pick up my Community Council duties and by helping
to organise the annual fireworks display and publish the winter
edition of Dollar
News.
In summary I completed 60 of the 84 counties and walked 2311 miles in 132 days walking during
which I climbed 275, 544 feet, that's over 9 times up Everest.
Even though I say it myself, not bad for a 60 year old!
The remaining 24 Scottish counties and 1100 miles in 2011 will be
completed this year. This is when "the going gets tough and
the tough get going"!