Four years ago, in the summer of 2007, I set off to walk the Coast to Coast in the usual direction from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. There would be nothing remarkable about this—lots and lots of people do the almost two-hundred mile walk every year—except for my being a most unlikely soloist for such an adventure.
I failed gym in high school, paid a fine not to take it in college, have a such a poor sense of direction that sometimes I have to stop and think about "right" and "left," am useless with a topographic map, and, at the time, had not used a hand-held GPS. Oh, and I was sixty-four years old.
I did try to join a group, but the groups were full, so on a crazy whim I decided to go alone. Why? The very names St Bees and Robin Hood's Bay, were as irresistible to me as were the sirens' call to Ulysses. And, since there was no one to tie me to a mast, I had to go and that was that.
People ask, "Weren't you bored? What did you do all day?"
No, I was not bored, not for a second. I spent every step terrified that I might, at that very moment, be lost, or that I was about to get lost, which did happen plenty of times, making me even more anxious, and the total distance well over two hundred miles.
But with the experience of days, my skill with the GPS improved to the point where the little device became a genuinely useful instrument. It helped beyond measure that my daughter, Alex, had found Wainwright's Coast to Coast 514 waypoints Needless to say, will be using them again this year.
Although I walked alone most of the time, I met people along the way with whom I occasionally teamed up, sometimes for a couple of hours, sometimes for a day or two, and every afternoon's arrival at the B and B was a sweet victory.
The scenery was gorgeous—lakes, dales, moors, and then there were the sheep, the low, grey, stone walls that go on forever, wild flowers, and tiny villages. All of it I loved.
The following summer, with a friend, I did the Tour de Mont Blanc, in 2009, Offa's Dyke, alone; last summer, again with a friend, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Trail. I decided to repeat the Coast to Coast because the variety of scenery makes it a truly great walk. Besides, I wanted to see what it would be like to do it now that I am, one could say, a bit more seasoned.
That, in brief, is the back story. In a few days, I will post the first real chapter, "Getting Ready." Once I arrive, on July 13, whenever I can get wi-fi and have energy and time to spare, I will write about my adventures, from a "mature" point of view, you understand. Please visit and comment. I will welcome the company.
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