I am off to stretch my legs in the Great Britain.

It is definitely time to get out and go for a damn long walk so Kay and I have hatched a plan to meet in London then head off to walk from Bristol to Edinburgh. We decided to walk in the UK because the trails are easy and reasonably flat (compared to most of New Zealand). Are we getting soft on our older ages? Maybe? The decision on where to walk was difficult as there are hundreds of well established walking trails throughout the country. People have been going on damn long walks there for a damn long time. Britain has been populated for over 500,000 years. The first inhabitants were six-foot tall Homo heidelbergensis. Shorter, stockier Neanderthals visited Britain between 300,000 and 35,000 years ago, followed by the direct ancestors of modern humans. Namely, Kay and I. So my theory is that they should have the signage perfect by now and we will not have any problem finding our way.

So why Bristol to Edinburgh? My daughter, Laura, lives in Bristol and my grand daughter, Hope, has recently moved to Edinburgh. So that gave us a starting point and an ending point. Kay is currently in Spain finishing a Camino and will meet up with me on Thursday morning (If the plan goes to plan.) Unfortunately Laura is not actually going to be in Bristol as she is heading to Korea for some of her own walking, therefore we will meet up at the end when we finish these trails. We may go to Iceland together if the volcanoes stop erupting over there. I also have some visiting to do, so if you are one of my mates over that way get in touch.

First we will walk Offa’s Dyke Trail – 285km – 12 days – This goes along the English / Welsh Border following a dyke built in about 500AD to keep out marauding interlopers. It starts in Chepstow, Wales, close to Bristol and finishes in Prestatyn, close to Liverpool, where my mother was born.

Then Lady Anne’s Way – 160km – 6 days. Skipton To Penrith through the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria

The third walk is the Kentigern Way – 240km – 10 Days starting in Annan in England then onto Glasgow in Scotland

We will finish by picking up the John Muir Way -146Km – 7days near Glasgow and ending at the coastal town of Dunbar near Edinburgh.

With travel in between we will be in Edinburgh in about 45 days time around 20 July 2024.

Kay then flies home and I stay on for another month. Below is my poor attempt at a map.

So I head off today with a marathon of flights, buses and train rides that will see me arrive in Chepstow on Thursday, hopefully all bright and ready to start walking, having met up with Kay enroute from Heathrow airport. Hopefully we will not have any jetlag and be ready to start walking on Friday morning. I am usually ok for plans to go astray but I would rather plane travel goes to plan. There aren’t many nice hunters hanging around in the sky to pick me up!

Being an accountant, I have made a spread sheet to get me through the next 48 hours. See you on the other side!