Preparations for the Trek begin!
I can't believe it's only just over three months until May. I've been looking forward to this expedition for nearly two years. Ever since I first found out I actually liked walking, the promise of a "terminal trek"--the ultimate long-distance hike--has pulled me onwards.
It's almost here. This year, my "gap year" before university in September, has been my first real chance for ages to do anything like this. We visited Yorkshire and the Lakes in 2003, and James and I did a spot of backpacking in Snowdonia last year, but neither of those holidays were as grand in scale as the one I'm planning now.
Basically, the expedition will take eighteen days, traverse over thirty summits (a good many of the Southern Fells of the Lake District, plus some of the Central and Western ones as well), and cover well over a hundred miles. I'll be backpacking, so that makes me totally self-sufficient and reliant only on the whims of the weather. I'll be camping in a variety of locations, including Sty Head, the place which gets more rainfall than anywhere else in England. Although I'm no rock climber, and draw the line at crags, many of the tracks and passes I'll be following cross some of the roughest terrain in the land. I'll camp in the highest plateau in England and climb the highest mountains. For me, this will be the most demanding--but hopefully the most rewarding--thing I've ever done.
Current preparations are mostly in terms of getting myself physically ready. Although I'm used to walking long distances, I've gotten rather slack over Christmas and haven't been walking as much as I'd have liked to. My previous best for a single day is 21.7 miles. I want to beat that. In addition, I'm going to be implementing a progressive plan of weekly hikes, starting out at 15 miles and progressing up to one 20 mile hike per week, plus any smaller ones I can cram in on days off.
Another big consideration is uphill climbing. Coastal Suffolk is utterly flat and there is absolutely no scope for practising climbing slopes. The best I can hope to do is some serious heather-slogging on Blaxhall Heath, which is nearly as tiring, or forcing myself to walk three or four miles through heavy shingle (which is a damn sight more tiring, let me tell you). Those calf muscles need building up again, or I'll be in for cramps and agony when I try my first ascent.
My gear also needs an overhaul. The tent was damaged in Wales last August and needs a new pole. I need rock pegs, a new backpack, new boots (my current ones leak and have worn-out soles), a new First Aid kit, and a new pair of trekking poles. Then I need to organise a couple of trial camps, once the weather improves, to break in my new gear.
Three months may sound a long time, but there's a lot to organise before May. How I'll find time for writing amidst all this is anyone's guess.
(And, to honour the occasion, I've created a new titlebar graphic for the website. The original image was a photo taken from the Blea Tarn Depression looking down Little Langdale towards Windermere.)
I can't believe it's only just over three months until May. I've been looking forward to this expedition for nearly two years. Ever since I first found out I actually liked walking, the promise of a "terminal trek"--the ultimate long-distance hike--has pulled me onwards.
It's almost here. This year, my "gap year" before university in September, has been my first real chance for ages to do anything like this. We visited Yorkshire and the Lakes in 2003, and James and I did a spot of backpacking in Snowdonia last year, but neither of those holidays were as grand in scale as the one I'm planning now.
Basically, the expedition will take eighteen days, traverse over thirty summits (a good many of the Southern Fells of the Lake District, plus some of the Central and Western ones as well), and cover well over a hundred miles. I'll be backpacking, so that makes me totally self-sufficient and reliant only on the whims of the weather. I'll be camping in a variety of locations, including Sty Head, the place which gets more rainfall than anywhere else in England. Although I'm no rock climber, and draw the line at crags, many of the tracks and passes I'll be following cross some of the roughest terrain in the land. I'll camp in the highest plateau in England and climb the highest mountains. For me, this will be the most demanding--but hopefully the most rewarding--thing I've ever done.
Current preparations are mostly in terms of getting myself physically ready. Although I'm used to walking long distances, I've gotten rather slack over Christmas and haven't been walking as much as I'd have liked to. My previous best for a single day is 21.7 miles. I want to beat that. In addition, I'm going to be implementing a progressive plan of weekly hikes, starting out at 15 miles and progressing up to one 20 mile hike per week, plus any smaller ones I can cram in on days off.
Another big consideration is uphill climbing. Coastal Suffolk is utterly flat and there is absolutely no scope for practising climbing slopes. The best I can hope to do is some serious heather-slogging on Blaxhall Heath, which is nearly as tiring, or forcing myself to walk three or four miles through heavy shingle (which is a damn sight more tiring, let me tell you). Those calf muscles need building up again, or I'll be in for cramps and agony when I try my first ascent.
My gear also needs an overhaul. The tent was damaged in Wales last August and needs a new pole. I need rock pegs, a new backpack, new boots (my current ones leak and have worn-out soles), a new First Aid kit, and a new pair of trekking poles. Then I need to organise a couple of trial camps, once the weather improves, to break in my new gear.
Three months may sound a long time, but there's a lot to organise before May. How I'll find time for writing amidst all this is anyone's guess.
(And, to honour the occasion, I've created a new titlebar graphic for the website. The original image was a photo taken from the Blea Tarn Depression looking down Little Langdale towards Windermere.)
2 Comments:
awesome! that sounds like so much fun! well, enjoy yourselves, bring some fruit, and you should have a 2 man dance party up there. :) hahahahaha. wouldn't that be fun?
*waves* Thanks for visiting, Amy!
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