Recovery

Barney has been to the vet today for an op. - the one males dread! He's 8 years old (yesterday) and a lump has appeared recently, so a trip to the vets for an operation.
We're now hoping that recovery will be swift and complete - only time will tell...
The picture is what he loves best - a patch of snow which he can roll in!

Artistic Endeavour

If you go for a walk with an artist, sometimes you just have to sit (or stand) and wait!
This is going to be one of the images of the long walk - Jos is taking loads of paper which means (we hope!) loads of sketches / paintings!
The beginning & end are recognisable Jos territory (big cliffs / crashing seas) along with the Pennine Way & most of Scotland - but what about the rest? We shall see!
I (Bob) hope to be taking pics of what happens on the way when we stop for the quickfire painting sessions - Barney knows they mostly correspond to food stops so may get treats!

Training walk

19 mile walk with backpacking loads in great conditions across our local moors. We took the bus to Allenheads and then walked home via the Shire. Sunshine just about all the way except one sudden snow shower!

 

Coming back across the final moorland stretch, about 3 miles from home we noticed a smell in the air - muck spreading! Our local farmer has been busy pumping slurry out onto the fields near us and the smell has travelled eastwards on the wind! Glad we're up wind of it at home!

Route Outline

General details of the route can be seen on an earlier post (The Route).
Here is an outline of where we will be over the period of the trip:
26/3 Penzance
27/3 Scilly Isles
30/3 St Ives
2/4 Newquay
9/4 Barnstaple
13/4 Bridgewater
17/4 Near (but not through) Bristol
19/4 Monmouth
21/4 Hay on Wye
27/4 Ironbridge (near Telford)
30/4 Uttoxeter
3/5 Edale (start of the Pennine way)
6/5 Hebden Bridge
11/5 Horton in Ribblesdale
12/6 Hawes
14/6 Middleton
18/5 Home (Allendale - near Hexham)
24/5 Town Yetholm (end of Pennine way)
25/5 Jedburgh
26/5 Melrose
31/5 Linlithgow
1/6 Kilsyth
4/6 Aberfoyle
7/7 Killin
9/6 Fort William
18/6 Near Ullapool
29/6 John O'Groats
30/6... Hoy, Orkney then home

This is all subject to change as we go - with a trip like this it's impossible to be specific due to many factors - vagaries of British weather, injury & illness, Tiredness etc. etc!!
We hope to be posting updates as we go to show better where we are along the way. If you want to meet up, walk with us or any other ideas just get in touch.
To spot us, look out for the big black dog carrying red panniers!

Navigation

How do we know where to go?
We can't ask Barney, so we are relying on two things:
1. GPS

My trusty SatMap GPS will be used to give us route directions, local details and 1:50000 Ordnace Survey map of where we are. It has a full GB map and will contain the route mapped out for us to follow!
The only downside to all this wonderful technology is the need to carry numerous batteries (see previous post)!
However, on balance it's worth it as it makes it less likely we'll get lost!
2. Paper Maps

 

1:50000 Ordnance Survey maps printed out to cover the whole route.

The GPS is great but:

1. It doesn't show very much beyond where you are unless scaled down in which case detail is lost
2. It can break! (I once sat on it by mistake and stopped half the screen working)

Printing out only the map covering the route means we don't have to carry large numbers of folded maps, most of which being unused.
Along with other items, maps are being posted ahead for us to pick up en route (more of this later).

Batteries

What does it take to power a long walk?
Answer nowadays is quite a lot!
Here are the non-rechargable batteries we're using on the trip.
They are mostly for our SatMap GPS which will be used all day, everyday and so needs approx 10 AA lithium batteries per week. This gives us complete 1:50000 OS mapping of the UK and records every detail of the route.
Also needed are a number of smaller AAA lithium batteries to power the tiny pump used to blow up our beds every night!
None of these can be sent off with other items in the parcels we are making up to be sent of to friends for later retrieval en route - they are classified as prohibited items by the Royal Mail so we'll be carrying quite a few at a time!

A Day in the Lakes

Wasdale & Great Gable

The weather forecast suggested 'West is Best' and it was! (although it was also good in Allendale apparently)
A good day for Scafell Pike even though we knew many others would be thinking the same thing.
One of our favourite routes in winter - from Seathwaite, upto Sty Head then the Corridor Route and eventually join the masses on the path to the top from Wasdale. The one awkard bit on the Corridor Route was fortunately completely clear of snow & Ice:

Corridor Route 'Bad Step'

Nobody on the Corridor Route but as you'd expect on a Sunday, the top was very busy, a never ending stream of people clammering to get on top of the pile of stones to take selfies! The main paths up and down were very busy:

Look closely and you'll see the many figures on the ridge!

As usual,  most were poorly equipped with only a couple of other people with ice axes & crampons and many just in trainers! We had crampons on for several hours - Barney didn't need anything! :

Preparation

Today has been a dismal day here in the North Pennines (low cloud) so it's been a day of preparation. Jos has been sorting out her weights (what she is going to carry that is!), I've been getting parcel contents started and Barney has been asleep!
The pic. shows the dehydrated meals and energy bars we are taking divided up into columns which will be sent off to various destinations, hopefully ready for us when we arrive! We're sending a minimal set to english destinations (left) where we expect to be able to resupply en route and more substantial packs for the Scottish sections where we'll not have access to things like shops!
A good number of other things will be added before the packages are complete. We did the same for our Cape Wrath trek for the section from Torridon to Cape Wrath.
Tomorrow, hopefully, we can get across to the Lakes and get up a hill - it'll probably be with a load in the rucksack just to make it difficult!

Equipment Part 2 - Boots, Boots & more Boots

Which boots to take?

1. Bob & Jos

Bob's boots option!

 This is a difficult one - previous long distance walks have been with fairly heavy leather boots suitable for going anywhere in the Scottish Highlands.
There's almost nothing worse on a long walk than having problems with boots. We were out for a 6 day backpacking expedition in the Cairngorms covering Munros we hadn't already done a few years ago when, on the 2nd day, one of the lace hooks broke on my new Zamberlan boots. Fortunately I was able to relace the boot and continue walking.
For this walk we've gone for lighter Brasher boots, at least for the first half. The second half may change depending on how the Brasher's stand up to the trek.

2. Barney

Barney's 'boots'

Yes, Barney has boots!
Only 2 however!. These are a 'just in case' measure should any problem occur to his paws and they need protection. Hopefully they'll not be needed.

Collecting for Charity takes on a life of it's own

I must admit we didn't start out with the intention of making the walks aim raising money for a charity - it still isn't, but this part of the organising does seem to be developing into a challenge in it's own right!
It started simple enough - from two questions:

1. People keeping asking 'What are we collecting for?'
2. We ask 'How do we get into pubs when we've got a dog?' (only joking - many pubs are now happy at taking dogs)

Given that we have a history of sight loss in our family, the answer quickly became apparent - collect for Guide Dogs for the Blind!
That was just a start though - further questions arise :

1. How do we collect money when lightweight backpacking?
2. Where do people find more details?
3. People that donate want to know how we're getting on as the walk progresses.

I (Bob speaking) sit in front of computer screens all day - I develop and test software so I don't have much choice! Mobile phones and online access are the last things on my mind when backpacking. It's the simplicity of a day walking to the next place to setup home for the night that's one of the big attractions when out in the wilds. However... this doesn't fit with well with the answers to the questions above. So now, so far, we have :

1. This blog
2. Facebook page
3. Twitter account
4. Specific email address
5. JustGiving page for online donations
6. JustTextGiving facility for mobile donations
7. Cards printed (above) to be distributed as we go
8. Charity pack from Guide Dogs for the Blind
9. Interest from local Guide Dogs for the Blind section
10. Mobile phone apps to allow updates to be posted as we go

and no doubt a whole lot more before we start - we'll keep you posted!

Equipment Part 1 - The Tent

The tent is one of the most important pieces of kit when backpacking - ours is a Hilleburg Kaitum 2:

Not the lightest at 3Kg but very dependable and suitable for long trips for two people and a large dog!
It's large enough inside for comfortable sleeping for all and the two vestibules make for a lot of flexibility. Included are a superlight footprint to reduce wear on the groundsheet and an internal 'dog protector' to ensure Barney doesn't puncture our inflatable beds!
Before we acquired Barney we used a smaller Terra Nova tent but with the addition of a dog we had to upsize! Barney came from the UK Flat Coat Retriever rescue centre so did not cost a lot - buying a new tent however did! It's now completed many trips in the 6 years since Barney joined us including backpacking over 73 Munros.

Where do we stay at night?

Here's the answer - in the tent!
Barney : "I get one end but often manage to slide onto the blow up Thermorests when nobody's looking! I think Bob & Jos are hoping to sneak me into the odd B&B as well!"

The Route

For those of you who are interested,here's the route we are following this spring.
It is mostly off-road and based on Andy Robinson's 2007 guide book 'The End to End Trail' which makes use of National Trails where available:

1. South West Coastal Path from Penzance to Barnstaple
2. Across Exmoor, the Quantocks, Somerset levels & the Mendips to reach Bristol
3. Offa's Dyke south
4. Wenlock Edge, Cannock Chase & a section of the Limestone Way to reach Edale
5. Pennine Way (with diversion to home hopefully on or near Bob's birthday!)
6. Sections of St Cuthbert's Way & the Southern Upland Way
7. Central section of the John Muir Way
8. Our own route to get from Drymen to Fort William via Killin without using the West Highland Way
9. Cape Wrath Trail as far as Ben More Assynt
10. Cross country to join the East coast above Wick and then on to Duncansby Head and John O'Groats

If the weather is ok we intend to take a day trip across to the Scilly Isles to start the trip off (hence the start of walking at Penzance). Hopefully the end will include a sentimental trip across to Hoy in the Orkneys.

45 days to go...

We are at the stage where we should be getting out walking to get the body in a state able to carry packs for long periods of time but also need to do all the organising necessary at this time!
We're backpacking the trip, Barney included - here's what he carries:

The picture was taken a few years ago so both dog and pack look a bit more worn now...

Land's End to John O'Groats!

We have been planning on doing this for a while and finally commited to it when we bought the train tickets to get us to Penzance last week!
We, by the way are Bob & Jos Mahon along with our dog Barney.

Originally it was for pleasure (???), but we soon found out that almost everybody assumes we're doing it for charity! One thing led to another and Barney is now collecting for Guide Dogs for the Blind (Jos & I are doing it for pleasure - Barney's doing the charity bit!).
The train to Penzance is booked for the 26th March & we have a house sitter taking over Hudsriding for the duration.
The countdown begins...