Special blog!

This is purely to say thanks to the landlord at The Lamb at Llanboidy! Free camping. Ale, tea and then this plate of sausage and chips for £3.50!

Day three 4/5/2011

Alternative title "A day of apple, garlic and a huge plate of chips!"

After an as hoped undisturbed wild camp at Llys-y-Fran reservoir we head east on a roller coaster ride over the hills and valleys east under a clearing sky through wood park, where I find some wood Sorrel to nibble on (tastes of apples!) then on till we reach ffynnongain farm where the path disappeared into a tangle of brambles. pushing through this tangle that appears to have not been walked in decades, we find the path has some excellent council built board walks and bridges that I can't imagine anyone ever has used! Still they suit our purpose. On we go!
Following high banked tiny "b" roads to Llandissilio a mass of spring ransomes (pic... The white flowers!) and "Jack under the hedge" give me the garlic taste to the walk! Followed by pie from Llandissilios bakery yum!
More road walking to Login then a stretch uphill through woodland and farmland to another road section to our night stop at Llanboidy where the taste of chips comes in (see separate post!) and what looks to be another great nights sleep..... After a few pints!

Day two 3/5/2011

After a windy night at new gale campsite, a good fryup (thanks ruth) has us steeled against the fridged wind we have to walk into, up the main a road to Roch  with a quick shop stop, and head out of the village past old roch castle, now being converted into a retreat....... Retreat from what I don't know but I hope the windows facing out over the shear cliff of the boulder the castle is built upon are securely locked!
Farther out of town we pass the site of an old ring fort at plumstone mountain(a hill!) then head down into Treffgarne and Spittal (where the pub has now closed down!) field walking takes us to and through Walton east (no "John boy" comments made!) then down to the cafe at the Llys-y-fan reservoir (pic) and then of to wild camp for the night...... We hope!

Day one 2/5/2011

a day of coastal walking proves just how unfit I am!
Aside from that the views were stunning! Ranging from lovely sea panorama, to a shrine to St Non (?) lime kilns(pic) in inlets and the local flora, which I took pleasure in identifying and consuming some of the edible varieties!
Food and drink stops were good and by the end of the day revitalization was sorely needed!
Rolling into the campsite late we spot Ruth set up for the night! Very handy as the campsite doesn't allow dogs, so alfie could stay in her car!.
Naturally a pub meal later we roll up for the night!

Change of plans!

OK its like this the east west way isn't going to happen...... Circumstances have changed and this has enabled me to bring it forward in time to the beginning of May!
Training? ....er......ok...... None yet! But the maps are printed, a gear check is progressing well, a small alteration to last years tent (see pic) and newer boots are really the only changes made from the lejog kit!
What's even better is that to soften his disappointment for his canceled lejog  JP will be starting his trek west to east at the same time!
Not a lot of time to add to the blog as I've got to scan google maps for the essential stops.... Pubs, spars co-ops etc so I'll leave this days blog as it is....... Can't wait!

What to do on a lazy friday!

Well what else but go for a walk in the sun! And of course stop for a pint amidst the wonderful spring flowers in the Tollermache arms at Harrington! Bliss!
And in blast back to the seventies chicken in a basket for lunch!

St Davids head

A view of the end of the walk .......care of a calendar at alderwoods!

Changes are afoot! (Boom boom)

My apologies for the Basil brush pun in the post header,  but it had to be done!
I'm finally updating the blog and inputting most importantly information about the next walk!.
If your reading this directly from the blog you know already ! this post is just a heads up for anyone who followed last years trail and who automatically gets emails from the blog.
To those who get the email if your interested please come over and look at the blog, its getting a fresh new look and lots of modifications!
The address is the same but the blog is now titled "Chasing the horizon!!" A description I have always given to my long distance walks!
Look forward to any comments
Andy and of course Alfie!

As one ends another starts!

OK mine ending is pushing the term a bit but I'll get away with it this time as I have finally handed in my lejog completion/ end to end club paper work at lands end!
Now onto one beginning........
The one mentioned is my good lady Ruth who as you can see from the pic is going to cycle to John O'Groats starting tomorrow the 29th of August, it goes without saying that she has my best wishes for her tour and all the luck in the world!
She's planning on taking about three weeks to complete where upon I will have the pleasure of re exploring my route north to pick her up from the end,only this time in the comfort of my truck!

Congratulations Alderwood!

Having been invited to Alderwoods award ceremony I was surprised to find that it its also their tenth anniversary how time fly's congratulations to the third A Alderwood!

Blog Maintenance

Now that the walk is done the blog is going through a lot of changes!
All of the days blogs will be tidied up! and a lot more photos will be added, so far I have just worked out the exact distance walked. by taking a day to replot my route with the excellent "Maps to GPX" website.
Our original distance was going to be about 968 miles but now even after taking a few shortcuts and allowing for     getting lost going astray whatever! our final distance walked is a whopping 1013.51 miles!!!!!!! very pleased to have broken the thousand mile mark!

all distances have also be put into a new spreadsheet and the route in google maps is also available via links in the right bar, interesting to see !

So keep an eye on us here and see what else happens!

oh i am considering a new challenge already but other than via word of mouth i'm keeping quiet about what it is!
All in good time.

Two of two or the end ! 15/6

Not sure what to say yet will update the end blog asap , but job done !

Ok about time this was done I think! (24/6!!!)

The day started with a quick walk into Wick where a great little Cafe allowed Alfie In!  John and I full fried breakfast later hit the road (A99) out of Wick to the road NE to Ackergillshore where as the tide was out we were able to clamber over the rocks below the pier , made a nice find here of a massive sea urchin. >

.A bit further along and Alfie nearly got an early supper of young Cormorant luckily he came away when called, and the bird just got a bit shocked!, John then put the bird into the sea where it swam out to a rock where its mother waited.

Just above the the bay is the Impressive Ackergill Tower, more of a castle really!

Here a path enables you to avoid the rocky coastline and we started to make better progress, the beach here is sublime! and next to no one else was here, for any one planning a similar route there is a river cutting through the beach into the sea but when we walked through it was only boot deep so no great problem.

Coming off of the beach at Keiss views along the coast show the impressive ruin of old Keiss castle, but as lunch called a drink was taken at the local hotel, before the A99 lead our feet for another 5 miles or so to Freswick, where the bay is fronted by the formidable Freswick house which dominates the bay.

The last hill totally obscures the view of end of the walk till the you get within the last mile or so, but i doubt anyone would be concerned as the views of the Orkneys (weather permitting) are astonishing!

John O'Groats itself is surprisingly large albeit well spread out, with the last kilometer taking you to the now boarded up Hotel where the official finish line is, Why has no one taken over this old Hotel? surely there's an investment here?, Meeting up with Ruth again here (after she had met us on the road near Freswick!) and with the end sign post photos taken, a celebratory beer was had at a hotel up the road where we met up with Chris (lejoger) who was staying at the hotel till he headed home tomorrow.

For me and Alfie a few nights in a large tent with all needs catered for Thanks Ruth!!! were bliss full tho it had to come to an end. so as promised we gave John a lift back to Stafford where he picked up his train and the M6 took us back to the midlands and home.

I suppose the question I've left unanswered is would i do it again? well the answer is certainly not no! but at the moment its not yes either!

 in time when my finances allow I may well reverse the route or find another (stirling looks good!(yes looking already!)) but for now i'm letting my knees recover they seem to be very stiff now that i'm relaxing more!, 

the feet? well i suppose i've been lucky as other than lots of silly little blisters they've been fine!.

At the start of the walk I weighed a whopping 14+ stone (ouch!) by the end I'm considerably more trim weighing in at 12.5 stone so its safe to say I lost two stone or one seventh of my body mass during this expedition, hope I can keep this weight!

Alfie has amazingly had no problems at all during the entire walk! the only thing to slow him down was hot days and a quick dunk in a river or trough soon sorted him out!.

Biggest challenge now for me is work, I dont have a lot ! so if anyone needs an Electrician................