On Sunday May 23rd 2004 completed my walk around the coast of England and Wales. When put like that it may sound impressive but less so when I own up to the fact that it will have taken me 20 years and 278 days to complete the 3550 miles (6000km). For anyone who knew me 20 years ago and are having a panic attack with the thought that you may have generously sponsored me 10p/mile, please relax, it was completed for purely hedonistic reasons.
It was fantastic fun. Thank you to all friends and relatives who were unfortunate enough to live by the coast, fed and watered me and even put me up. Watch out if you live by a mountain – it may be your turn next! To those who occasionally joined me for a walk I think I must apologise – the sections where I had company never seemed to be the most inspiring – my wife, Margaret, is always reminding me of the section she walked with me around Port Talbot.
I was still working for the same company when I finished as when I started, Courtaulds, though like me it’s been through some changes – its got smaller and I’ve headed in the opposite direction. It seems that whenever I passed by one of the company sites it had either closed, had been sold or reduced in size: Greenfield, Bridgewater, the tiny International Paint testing station in Devon – where the paint was peeling of the sign, Silvertown, Grimsby, Felling and Lancaster.
I’ve generally walked the lazy way – with just a daypack and therefore had the added fun of needing to get back to pick up my car at the end of the day. I suppose therefore in a way I will have been around the coast twice. I’ve never had to walk all the way back to the start though occasionally its been close to that. Thanks to all those great characters, e.g. Dorothy Squires’s pianist, who have stopped and given me lifts when I was hitching. Otherwise it has been a case of using public transport; buses, trains and ferries – it does exist and generally works well.
The one thing that has always surprised me is that you don’t need to get far out of a busy town before reaching mile after mile of tranquil coast. Best bits – Pembrokeshire, Lleyn Peninsular and the whole of the SouthWest path around Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. Hardest walking – North Cornwall – sorry Margaret – never knew you were pregnant at the time. Sussex was probably the most unexciting – lots of promenades. Essex went on forever and I must admit to being a little disappointed with Northumberland.
Some things have changed: Youth hostels now serve breakfasts in with the price of a bed rather than foist a mop on you and tell you to clean the kitchen, campsites are posher and less accepting of the single male camper for fear he may be some sort of deviant, oh, almost forgot, I got married and had two children who don’t like walking – how did that happen? Other things remain the same – B&Bs are as variable as ever ranging from the superb to the frankly laughable. The world has also changed; the chunky Kit-Kat has been invented, coffee is served frothy and TV newsreaders stand up.
Sometimes I meet others when walking such as Keith Floyd the cook at his Devon pub looking surprisingly sober and the naked hiker on the Pembrokeshire coastal path going in the opposite direction – I always wonder how far he got.
So why did I do it? Well, I spent my childhood in Cardiff and then lived in Swansea for six years. After a year in Minnesota I returned to the UK and got a job in Coventry. Living here does have its advantages; it’s in the middle of the country and therefore easy to get to places, but it is pretty flat and a long way from the sea which I missed desperately.
Walking the coast sequentially meant decision making in terms of what walk to do next was removed from the equation – I always started from the very spot I stopped last time – even if this meant some rather bizarrely looking strolls across car parks. Just having to keep the sea on my right also made navigation easier.
My rules were quite simple:
· Walk on the closest right of way to the sea. This usually meant the beach itself or coastal path. In places where one is forced inland one is generally not too far from the sea. Towns can be tricky to navigate which explains my collection of A-Zs.
· I walked around any island connected to the mainland e.g. Anglesey, South Hayling and the adjacent Thorney Island which is occupied by the MOD but I persuaded them I’d only be doing this once and I think they were so stunned they let me through the gates.
· I would cross the rivers and estuaries using the nearest available bridge and not allow myself to take ferries. This often meant large detours inland, sometimes a few days walking, but walking tranquil estuaries made a great contrast to the busier coast.
