hiking

Coast to Coast Day 5 Patterdale to Brampton

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That’s Day 5, Patterdale up and over the highest point on the Coast to Coast to Brampton (via Burnbanks) done. What a day!

We left our BnB (the Old View Inn ) at about 9am after an amazing breakfast with all the fancy things like tea cups and proper spoons and plates and such – in stark contrast to the stinky hikers we are by Day 6 with no laundry other than in a sink to this point!

A tiny bit of road walking to the trail head, and then we were in it right from the jump! Up and up and up on rocky obvious path with bracken (large ferns) to the left and right of us as we climbed. No crazy cliffs and no scrambling, just hard work up with great views back into Patterdale.

We had four milestones to hit today, the first being an include up to Angle Tarn – just keep walking, just keep walking. With my tummy still sore from yesterday for some reason I was not so much Scaredy Bear today but rather Slothy Bear. One step at a time made sure I kept up with my crew. We made it to the 1,500 feet were rewarded with the views of the Tarn!

We hit Angle Tarn, had a micro break – aka sunscreen and some candy – and then made our way to the next milestone, the peak of The Knott at 2,425 feet / 739 m. While still up and up this was a LOT less steep than our first push out of town but no less rewarding. Mostly obvious rocky path with a few soft (thank you!) grass sections.

The real reward was up next, Kidsty Pike at 2,559 feet / 780 m – the highest point on the Coast to Coast and it deserves all the praise it gets. The first photo in this post is all of us up there and in awe of the view and our accomplishments so far!

The walk up from The Knott has some good steep sections but nothing compared to what we have seen on other days, and all on pretty wide ridges and tracks making it my favourite climb so far.

After the last trudge up, we took our lunch break at the top of Kidsty Pike in amazing spirits, sunshine, comfy grass to sit on, and yummy snacks. This right here is why I do this – my happy place.

Ok sunscreen on and lunch on board, we started the long, long descent down to the next milestone Haweswater Reservoir. What started off as a nice stroll down on the grass, soon became a toe crushing descent. Just when the feeling of your feet sliding forward in your boots was too much, it became a rocky near-scramble which felt better … at first until it didn’t. Oh and then back to grassy toe crushing. Good times!

We made quick time of it – no lallygagging on descents for his crew – we had views of our Haweswater Reservoir. The actually loved a town, cemetery and use this spot as a Reservoir. When the water is low you can see some of the buildings from the old town!

We had another micro little break just at the bottom of the descent in the most amazing little spot beside the river. Shar dunked our buffs in the cool water for us to wear on our necks to cool down.

From there it was about a 6km hike along the Reservoir- a bit of up and down along the path, sometimes a little too close to the edge for my liking, but a great trail. The feet and heat were being felt by now so we made quick work of it as there was little to no shade.

On the other side of the water, we had a 2.4km stretch of quiet road to reach our much deserved home for the night, Mardale Inn. Which had manpower on arrival but made us yummy burgers on the generator power, and then were back up and running by 9pm for the WiFi and hot showers before bed!

For those reading on the run …

  • Date: Thursday June 19 2025
  • Trail: Coast to Coast Path, England
  • Day: 5 of 17
  • To/From: Patterdale / Burnbanks (onto Bampton)
  • Start/Finish time: 900am / 615pm
  • Distance: 20.48km (All Trails)
  • Steps: 35,093
  • Terrain: rocks up and rocks down and rocks rocks rocks
  • Weather: perhaps a little too hot at 25C
  • Breaky: scrambled eggs and yogurt
  • Lunch n Snacks: 11siesorange juice, banana, 2sies strawberries, cookies and sandwiches, 2sies strawberries, juice
  • Dinner: steak burger, chips (fries) and salad
  • Tonight’s home away from home: Mardale Inn (fantastic place to stay!)
  • Mood: good, fleeting blessed
  • Body: dogs are barking, hips tight but my tummy issues are gone
  • Highlight: the highest point of the Path and the trail was tough up up up but not Scaredy Bear tough – enjoyable!
  • Lowlight: the descent from the highest point was toe crushing
  • Deep thoughts: there us such thing as too much of a good thing

And we are off on Day 6, see ya on the flip side! (PS had to write this while walking – sorry about the grammar and spelling mistakes!)

Brande

Coast to Coast Day 4 Grasmere to Patterdale

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Day 4 done like dinner! What a beautiful day – from trail to views to weather, wow.

We kicked the day off with another great breakfast at The Swan Hotel – scrambled eggs, porridge, tea, coffee, the works. Then grabbed our kit and made our way the short way back through Grasmere to the Co-Op. A convenience store meets grocery store for small towns and one of my favourite shops for trail side provisions. I found my Prawn Cocktail crisps (potato chips) and was already excited to crack into them on our lunch break. Yummy!

About a kilometer of quiet road walking to kick off the day and then we were back on rocky paths.

Before heading up, we did a quick chat with Ankles. A very nice chap also doing the Coast to Coast that we had seen for the last couple days. Nicknamed (by us) for his two reconstructed ankles and our amazement that he is doing, albeit it looks painful, the Coast to Coast Path. I will officially complain less about my annoying knee brace!

Up and up and up along a rocky path between the trees and bracken, led us to a gorgeous river crossing and our first route decision on our way up to Grisdale Tarn (538m or 1,765 feet), our lunch spot for the day.

To get to Grisdale Tarn you had to go around Little Tongue – a baby ‘mountain’ – and there was the left side that has steeper sections and more exposed path or the right side Little Tongue that is a sustained climb but a way from the edge. Both at about 1.8km before the paths rejoined and all leading to Grisdale Tarn our lunch spot.

Surprise! I went right and my trusty partner in crime, Hailey, came with me. Also, surprise! Dad and Shar went left for a bit more adrenaline. With a wave and smile we set off.

The Little Tongue route Hailey and I took was absolutely breathtaking! We continued to walk on the very obvious rocky path, with a beautiful stone fence to our left most of the way (in my mind some farmer from way long ago out built it as a safety fence for me, thanks Ned!). We walked up and up and up on a gentle but thoroughly thigh burning incline – the little river or stream crossing every 100 or so feet helped break up the plod.

We left all trees behind pretty quick after the split (and would not see any again along the trail until almost into Patterdale our destination) and wow was it heating up. While still only 15C, we were feeling the sunshine!

A little micro break before the path turned up the incline for the final push over the pass to the Tarn was perfect for some more sunscreen. (You can tell the incline of the path by how we are seating in this photo.) Ankles joined us for this break and we got a bit of the back story on his injuries – soccer – me too!

Nothing to be done but up and over – we were now into Scaredy Bear climb territory – Hailey and I started the hot climb up to the Tarn. Which included lots of those stone steps into the side of the hill for our path and way too many sections that had my heart racing but we made great, steady progress. We were soon in a pretty spot without risk of falling and picking our way through an old rock slide with a smile. (For those from Alberta reading this, it reminded me of climbing through Frank Slide area)

One more final, hot push and we came over the pass at the side of Grisdale Tarn – our meeting spot with Dad and Shar and this side of the hill offered a nice breeze too! We hunkered down for our lunch break. Shoes and socks and knee brace off – felt amazing!

Reunited with Dad and Shar, we had another decision point on the trail today. There are 3 routes to get from here to Patterdale.

  • Striding Edge which is basically a long, exposed path up to a knife’s edge ridge walk then down to town – no thank you from all of us!
  • St Sunday Crag which is a little shorter but still long, exposed path up to a safe, wide ridge for the views then down into town – that was a yes for Shar and Dad.
  • The Valley which is the official route which is a long, decline down through the valley into Patterdale – that was a yes for the Valley Girls, aka Hailey and Brande.

A little photo montage from the Valley! (Highlight was that we could see Shar and Dad make their way up, up and up the climb to St Sunday Crag until there just a little mint and red specs on the hillside!)

A little photo montage from St Sunday Crag!

After a few hours all of us had had our Valley or Ridge thrills, then started to make our way down the long decent (no matter what route you took the toes were feeling it) into Patterdale. We celebrated the end of an amazing day with a cold pint on the patio of The White Lion before making our way to our accommodation.

For this with only a min to spare …

  • Date: Saturday June 18 2025
  • Trail: Coast to Coast Path, England
  • Day: 4 of 17
  • To/From: Grasmere / Patterdale
  • Start/Finish time: 940am / 500pm
  • Distance: 13.8km (Hiiker)
  • Steps: 27,934
  • Terrain: rocks, rocks and more rocks (from boulders to pebbles, we had rocks!)
  • Weather: gorgeous 17c with a few wispy clouds mid afternoon for a short time
  • Breaky: full English / cooked breakfast
  • Lunch n Snacks: 11sies cookie, 2sies half sandwich, Harry Potter candies, 5sies a pint
  • Dinner: baked potato
  • Tonight’s home away from home: Old Water View (wow what an absolute gem!)
  • Mood: feeling good, tired!
  • Body: feet are good, the calves are tight thanks to all this incline
  • Highlight: feet are good, the calves are tight thanks to all this incline
  • Lowlight: terribly sore tummy this afternoon and evening
  • Deep thoughts: it’s really is the little things

Our accommodation is the Old Water View Inn and wow wow wow. This place is an ode to Wainwright himself and stunning. They have a fantastic back garden with picnic tables over looking the river, full bar, baked potato inspired dinner menu, and a resident Red Squirrel (which is quite the treat to spot!)

That’s off on Day 5 up and over the highest point in the trail today in 25C heat! Yahoo?

Brande

4 Sleeps and 4 Peeps

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The next Running for the Gate adventure is just 4 sleeps away! So it’s probably a good time to introduce you to the crew!

Over the next few weeks you are going to see way too many photos of our cute little mugs … so having a little fun here with our introductions using Anime versions of us. Thanks ChatGPT!

Brande aka Doctor Boots

Brande (that’s me!) is an experienced long distance path hiker with over 2,000 clocked between all her solo and group hikes. Brande’s first long distance hike was solo in 2008 on the West Highland Way in Scotland and she was hooked! She hails originally from Alberta, Canada but lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her hubby and their land shark (Jack Russel) named Bella Bean Pup Pup.

With some long distance path kilometers under her belt, Brande offers the following advice about this amazing adventure: You have nothing else to do today but walk to your destination – it’s not a race, it’s a goal. So take your time, take the breaks, take the photos, take deep breath and slow the world down.

Shar aka Early Bear

Shar is addicted to long distance path adventures and particularly loves the ones with big climbs. Her joy is the hard work to get to amazing views! Shar’s first long distance path was in 2013 (Great Glen Way in Scotland with me!) and it lit a fire to do ALL the walks and bag as many Munros and Wainwrights that she can (aka touch the trig on top of the mountains in Scotland and England)! She lives in Canmore, Alberta with her hubby, 2 fantastic teen boys and 2 adorable, also a bit crazy, dogs Mac and Otis.

Thinking back on her long distance path experience, Shar has the following advice to share: embrace the prep and enjoy the process of it! The lead up to the adventure is an adventure in itself! Do research but also do some fun fact finding and have those great conversations about different things that your travel partners pre-discovered about the trail and the areas you are about to visit!

Shar is the one who chose the Coast to Coast Path for this adventure (if it’s awful Shar, you will never hear the end of it). She had the honour of choosing our path away from home because this walk is actually all about celebrating her 50th and our dad’s 70th!

Hai (trail name TBD)

Hailey is a natural at anything she puts her mind to (from smarts to athletics) and while she has not had a chance to get long distance paths on the list of accomplishments – she is made for this kind of adventure. She summited Kilimanjaro in 2015 (with me!) and loved the experience of getting to a new destination each day with just the power of her own two feet and two poles. Hailey lives in Alberta with her hubster and their three young kiddos (who this Auntie thinks are the most adorable and most entertaining ever!)

Dad aka Steve (trail name TBD)

Steve (Dad, Daddio, Captain) is 70 this year and we are hiking to celebrate his bday. He is the quiet hero of our amazingly loud and dramatic family. Dad lives in Alberta with our Ma, and is the father of 7 crazy kiddos (oldest is almost 50 Shar and youngest is 19). The chance for us 3 daughters to get this much Dad time with so many of us crazy kids about is an absolute treat! Now let’s just hope we can keep up with this guy – he enjoys long runs, regular time at the gym and healthy eating. Bar is high!

I am excited to discover the trail names this long distance adventure will whisper into the hiking realm for Dad and Hai. And to see what their advice would be to other mere mortals who take up this amazing hobby as we approach our finish line. We will see!

Just 4 sleeps! Wow!

Brande

Coast to Coast Day 1 St Bees to Ennerdale Bridge

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Day 1 of the Coast to Coast Path is in the books! The 24 kilometers (which ended up being 25km if you count the steps from our BnB) was a mix of sun and mist, ohhh and ahs, hills and flats, paths and roads. Perfect kick off!

At about 9am (after a delicious full English breakfast) we left the Stonehouse Cottage B&B in St Bees – lovely place. A quick detour to the Post Office Store for our lunch goodies (buns, ham and cheese) and we were on our way.

We took our starting line photo in front of the Coast to Coast sign, christened our boots in the Irish Sea (well actually a small tide pool, the tide was quite a ways out by 9am) and grabbed our pebble to carry on the journey and drop in sea at Robin’s Hood Bay to celebrate our finish!

Then it was up up up a beautiful path to the coast cliffs for the first 7km. Between the sunshine (which we knew was only a treat for us this morning) and the amazing views, we were feeling blessed! Until Dad kicked our butts up the climb and then we had to get serious – Strachan’s can be rather competitive!

(That’s Dad way ahead! Get em!)

The views from the top of the cliff were amazing. The waves were showing off small white caps and the nesting sea birds were everyone tucked into the cliffs. They had a few fenced areas where you could stand from the shelter of the winds and bird watch. Shar and Hai struck up a conversation with a couple and got to borrow binoculars to see Puffins!

At about kilometer 7 (after the St Bees Lighthouse), we took a hard right and started the Eastward 300 kilometer journey to England’s other coast. In a small hamlet called Sandwith (which we of course pronounced sandwich) we took our little 11sies break on some picnic tables outside a closed cafe.

The clouds were now above us and we could feel the change in the weather approaching but didn’t expect anything torrential. To be prepared though, before departing from our break spot we put the waterproof pack covers on, pulled the waterproofs (pants and jackets) out of their compression sacks and put them on top in our backpacks for quick access.

After a bit of quiet road walking, we were onto paths with a mix of fields and track, between farms and sometimes right through people’s farm buildings. The public access rights always amaze me in the UK – wonder how that would work in Canada for us. I would love it!

During our mid day stroll, we passed the ‘Wainright Passage’ sign. He is the guy who created the Coast to Coast Path so of course a quick pic was required. I sent that one off via What’s App as mid-day proof of joy to the family following along back home.

At about 130pm we were ready for a proper lunch stop and were so excited that the timing was perfect to visit St Leonard’s Church in Cleator.

The church often has a Honesty Box of tea, coffee, and chocolate inside. A simple make a donation and enjoy system! Sadly it was not one of those days at the Church but they had a welcome Coast to Coast walkers sign so we took that as a signal that we could respectfully use their covered benches for our lunch break out of the misty rain that had stayed about an hour before.

Gaiters, boots and socks off (so important to give your feet some breathing room after hours in gortex!) and we enjoyed a great lunch. Nothing like ripping open a fresh bun, and tearing off a chuck of cheese when you are hungry, followed by some sweet snacks.

After lunch, we headed for what should have been the big challenge of the day – the 350m climb through the forest up and over Dent Hill. However, it looks like the last couple weeks of thunderstorms wreaked havoc on the forest though and the path was covered in dozens of felled trees. The diversion said there were ‘dangerous trees’ – we had visions of the scary trees that chase Mickey and Donald out of the forest in the Halloween Disney Special but I am sure that is not what they meant.

The Coast to Coast Path team (not actually sure who that is) had a very well marked diversion in place for us – thank you!

Following fluorescent yellow dipped sticks we instead made that climb on a very quiet country lane. It was a climb to a bend in the road, to discover another climb to a bend in the road, and another and another. The long, sustained incline is always extra fun in waterproofs but we made good, sweaty progress. After a couple kilometers, the diversion took us onto a rocky path in the valley between the hills – I LOVED this part! The mist made it feel so quiet and isolated, the sheep dotting the hills and path were adorable and the walking very easy under foot.

Speaking of mist .. don’t actually think we were being rained on all afternoon but rather walking in the clouds or at least thick fog. It was a gentle falling / swirling mist really. Light enough to not want a rain coat but misty enough to need one. We were Care Bears making our way through the clouds – obviously the Care Bears theme song came up often and out loud!

The volume of rain though over the last few days was still very obvious. The path was pretty muddy and many little baby stream crossing were more like impromptu small river crossings. A mix of large leaps across, quick steps on water logged stones or a full on step right in the water (that was me by accident, oops) got us across all of them.

About half way through this valley path, we were reunited with the actual Coast to Coast Path at a place called Nannycatch (which is basically a gate as far as I could make out).

A group of 2 English couples who we had been just behind all day could be seen doing the same river hopping dance as us about 100 yards ahead on the path. I suspect we will be seeing this group a lot the next days on path, we seem to have the same schedule and even accommodations. We had a good chat with them at supper and they are sweet and very seasoned long distance walkers.

After a few more official and less than official Coast to Coast Path markers we found our way to the final stretch of quiet road into Ennerdale Bridge. I cannot believe how many homemade C2C signs we found – from spray paint on rocks, to sharpie markers on red lids nailed to posts, to laminated home printed signs. I love that. Nothing better than knowing you are going the right way!

We made it to Shepherds Arm Hotel in Ennerdale Bridge for about 530pm, checked in, got the wet gear and boots off to the drying room and then feet up with a tea for a bit!

We enjoyed a fantastic meal right at the hotel – roast beef and roast turkey was on special served piping hot. The perfect contrast to my ice cold Lager. Yummy! While at super, we order packed lunches for day 2 and arranged our breakfast time too.

All of us tired and happy we made our way back to the rooms and hit the hay pretty quick around 9/930. Felt good to get flat. What a great day 1 and fantastic start to this epic journey!

A quick Coles Notes for the speed readers:

  • Date: Sunday June 15 2025
  • Trail: Coast to Coast Path, England
  • Day: 1 of 17
  • To/From: St. Bees / Ennerdale Bridge
  • Start/Finish time:
  • Distance: 24km (25.01km Hiiker)
  • Steps: 37,074
  • Terrain: mix of cliff side path, quiet road and rocky (wet) track
  • Breaky: full English cooked breakfast
  • Lunch n Snacks: 11sies cookies, lunch ham and cheese sandwich and cookies, 2sies gummy worms
  • Dinner: crispy pork belly stack with black pudding and bacon and mashed potatoes, a couple of Lakeland Lagers
  • Tonight’s home away from home: Shepherds Arm Hotel (good vibe, great food, amazing shower, soft towels, hard squeaky beds)
  • Mood: feeling blessed with sunshine for any part of today, good company and a healthy family that can do this together
  • Body: feeling good, no blisters yet!
  • Highlight: the path in the valley and confirmation that I am, in fact, a Care Bear
  • Lowlight: the big ole step I took right into the ‘stream’ filling my boot with water
  • Deep thoughts: keep you eyes ahead of your but not so far that you don’t see and enjoy today! Aka don’t worry that tomorrow is a pretty sketchy and remote section of the trail, that’s tomorrow!

That’s a wrap on Day 1, wow! Now off to make my morning tea and pick off Day 2. Roswaithe we are coming for ya.

Brande

8 Sleeps and 8 Tips for the Footsies and Tootsies

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With just 8 sleeps to departure, my mind goes to the final prep and packing – this includes ensuring I have what I need for my feet (socks and shoes) and to treat my feet (blister care).

Walking Long Distance Paths (LDP) can be about the views, the experience, the people you meet, the culture you discover, the health benefits, the goal, etc. Everyone has a different reason or reasons for taking the first step on their LDP of choice, but one thing is true for all of us … our feet are stars of the show here, they are making the magic happen! Step by step.

When I think of our upcoming Coast to Coast Path walk and how many steps it might be, it’s a lot! At over 300km and assuming the average km is 1,400 steps, that’s a whopping 420,000 steps, at minimum. With how hard I will be making my tootsies and footsies work, I better take care of these little beauties.

With just over 2000 km of LDP steps under these feet, I thought I could share my footsie and tootsie care tips to see if one or some may also help you on your long or short distance journeys!

Before you go …

  1. Pick the right shoes! Don’t opt for a backpacking boot if you only need a trail runner, and vice versa. Consider a trainer instead of a boot if you are mostly walking on footpaths and quiet county roads, rather than up and over mountain passes. The bigger, the more robust, the more waterproof, the heavier (and expensive). That’s, of course, perfectly fine if you need that, though. Go into an outdoor store where outdoor people work and give details on your adventure for the best advice!
  2. Train, train, and train! This is incredibly important for your joints, strength, and stamina, as well as your footsies. They will get used to a lot more steps if you give them a little runway before you head out. And I don’t mean a couple of big hikes or a single weekend on the mountain either. I am talking sustained and regular hiking over weeks before you depart. You are NOT looking to jump-start your tootsies; rather, you are looking to build up their resilience. Check out my 20-Week Training Plan, which has never failed me for a 300km trip lead up.
  3. Discover your sock combo! The goal of your training is half getting your body ready, and the other half is finding your perfect gear! As you train, try out different sock types and combos. My sock combo has changed a few times over the years with different shoes and trails, and the ole body (including my feet) getting older and wider. I have been a liner and medium hiking Smartwool, I have been a light single Smartwool, and am currently an Injini (the socks with individual burrito toe pockets) gal. Find your combo through trial and error, most importantly, before you go!

While you are hiking…

  1. If it’s hot, you stop! Any tiny rub or pebble or sock bunch or hot spot or odd pain or odd twinge from your feet as you are on the trail is a sign! Stop, drop, assess, and treat! Even if you are hiking in a group, do not hesitate to drop and check things out – people don’t mind, you would stop for them! So don’t wait for lunch or until you get to y or see x. Right now! The best thing you can do for your feet is prevent a blister from ever happening – once they are there, you go from a little hot spot happily protected with a Compeed to an open wound that has the potential to hurt, get infected, ruin your time, and maybe even your trip. Yeah, that sounds dramatic, but for all those in the crowd who have been there, it’s for real! As you work on opening up to the sounds and feels of nature, keep a few of those senses tuned in on your feet, too. There are a number of ways to treat blisters. Deep dive into some YouTubes and try what works for you – everyone has their own trick.
  2. If you sit, your socks come off! Your feet need a break, too. When you stop for snacks at 11-sies, lunch, late lunch, 2-sies…whatever your schedule…give your feet a break from their shoe and sock prison. Take the shoes off, open up the laces, and pull back the tongue to get some air in there. Then take those socks off, lay them out to dry (from sweat or rain or both). Finally, do a little footsie and tootsie inspection. Wiggle the toes, give each a little rub, and give your foot a rub too. While feeling for any issues, also visually check things out. Treat what you find. Wash those hands, and then have your break while your feet are up! Don’t hang your feet down off a ledge or sit on them, pop ’em up on your backpack or a stump, or at least beside you on the picnic bench. Before you set off again, give your tootsies one more inspection, then put on dry socks! Either change out the ones you had for new dry ones, or the ones you had if they feel dry).

End of your hiking day …

  1. Put those feet up or cool them down! When you arrive at your destination, put those feet up for 15-30mins! In a hotel or BnB, literally lay on the floor or bed and put them up the wall OR in a tent, lay on the ground and get em up a stump or fence! Pulling off the shoes and socks before you do is extra special, and some nice slow ankle rolls and toe wiggles feel amazing, My sister (my usua. LDP companion) and I like to use this time to sip a post hikng day tea and a little debrief of the day as we wiggle our toes in the air. The other option is a cold soak. If you hae a place to stay with a foot bath or tub, cool if not cold water and a 15min soak will be your best friend. Heck even in a river works. Your feet have done a lot today, this is a big thank you to them and a gentle ask that those tootsies not swell up on you from all that they went through today.
  2. Use your sleep to recover! Take advantage of the time you are of your feet and in bed to further thank your feet and prep them for the next day. A nice massage with some moisturizer before you turn off the night-night light. Put one of your pillows down the bottom of the bed and sleep wth your feet slightly elevated. If you do have swelling, toss on a pair of compression socks too.

Before you step out of bed …

  1. Gently welcome your feet to their next day of hiking! Before you even put a foot out of the bed, stetch those feet, wiggle the tootsies, rub the arch and stretch the toes. I also like to do a few leg, hip flexor and upper body stretches before I even sit up. Nothing like a slow, quiet morning stretch to get you ready for another adventure day. You may also want to do another footsie inspection just to make sure any spots you were watching or treated yesterday are looking good. I keep my blister care items and next day socks beside the bed and update my blister prevention and put on my socks before I even get out of bed to get the day started.

The love you give your footsies and tootsies matters. They can make each step a joy, a chance to look up and around, to be amazed at all you get to see and experience OR they can have you wincing each step counting down to how soon you get to your designation and can make the pain stop.

I know many a hiker that can go a full LDP of 100kms without a single blister – thats the goal!

8 sleeps folks, just 8 short sleeps – England here we come!

Brandé

West Highland Way, Drymen to Rowardennan

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That’s day 2 of 8 wrapped up on the West Highland Way, we made it from Drymen to Rowardennan. Today was the big Conic Hill climb day and it lived up to its reputation! The extreme winds didn’t help mind you.

The crew started the day with yummy breakfasts in our respective B&Bs and everyone started their day at their own pace and time and somehow a bunch of us still ended up finding each other along the Way.

Cheryl, Charmaine, Shar and I had a great full Scottish breakfast at the Shandon Guest House at 745am then set out for the day at 830. The wind was crazy (kicked up on the middle of the night) and we wondered if it was going to bring the storms or clear the storms.

The day stared with about a Km of road walking and then quickly turned to forest track which was just amazing. A couple of Km into the forest track we were so excited to come upon Kristi and Lori, creating our fantastic crew for the day!

You can see in the background here the infamous Conic Hill, a 371m – our destination from this path! The walking was fantastic through the forest and then moorland paths – the views amazing!

Once we hit the Conic Hill approach, the path got real! So well groomed but it was definitely up and up and up across sand and small rocks with large boulders to step up and reduce erosion. The wind was in our favour pushing us up the hill – thank you!

Once at the trail top, a few of the crew took the additional 5-10mins to the very top of the hill for the 360 views! After a bit of time feeling such gratitude to be standing looking over Loch Lomond with the sun shining on us – we started our way down. The wind continues to blow hard, a couple times I had to lean into the hill – felt like I was gonna blow away.

The way down took me what felt like forever with this knee – I felt really good about myself when kids were running past me in sandals. Great confidence boost! lol

Just after coming down from the Hill, we had a short forest walk and then we arrived in Balmaha, a great little Loch side town, where we had lunch at Oak Tree Inn.

After a great lunch, toasties and pints, we were back on the Way to tackle the 11km to our home for the night, Rowardennan Hotel. The path was forest track or right along the Loch. Other than the clegs (horseflies), midgies and black flies it was a fantastic walk. The up hills were frequent and much tougher than usual thanks to the Conic Hill burn from earlier but wow what an amazing section of the trail!

We arrived at the Hotel at about 5pm, already talking about ghosts seeing the place was established in 1696, and showed up for a nice dinner and rehash of the trail all together!

Brande

West Highland Way, Milngavie to Drymen

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An exciting first day on the West Highland Way for our merry band of 12 Canadian rock star ladies. Most of which who have never done a long distance hike before! West Highland Way was my very first long distance back in 2008 and I am so exited to do it again with this crew. I bet it also won’t be their last. I can see the long distance bug building already!

We started the day at 8am dropping our carry forward bags (all the stuff we don’t need for the actual day of hiking) with Travel Lite. This company will drop our bags off in Drymen, our destination, at our respective B&Bs.

From there the crew had breakfast together at the hotel restaurant – many trying a Scottish breakfast for the first time. Not the best one I have had by far but does give you a good idea on what is available (but yummier) on the trail ahead. Mmm black pudding.

We made our way from there to the start of the trail, the obelisk near the center of town (pictured above) and after a photo montage and setting up our various and preferred hiker apps, etc we were on our way at about 945am.

The path quickly turns from city to park path and after just a couple of kms we had our first excitement – a little detour to the Mugdock Castle Ruins. About 2kms out and back off the trail, and of course with a large hill (castles are always on high ground) but totally worth it!

Back down from the castle and on the Way again, we started to all find our individual pace and the groups that matched to establish the day’s hiking mini-crews. All of us were heading to the Beech Tree Inn or Turn up the Beet cafe’s in Dumgoyne just over half way so would see each other again there are or at dinner tonight. Walking your own pace is really important on these hikes – the body will thank you for it everyday!

Quite a few of us made the quick detour to the Glengoyne Distillery just before Drumgoyne. An easy detour on a nice day – involves maybe a 300m walk across a sheep field. We tried a 12yr old and an 18yr old whisky and both were equally disgusting to me but other visitors seemed to be enjoying it. Ha ha

From there it was just a few mins walk to Beech Tree Inn for our delicious lunch toasties and maybe a pint 😉 before heading back on trail. We were at 11km already and had only 8km or so to go before reaching tonight’s destination in Drymen. No problem!

Much of the last few kilometers of the day were on tarmac minor roads which makes the dogs bark a little (feet hurt) but allows for a nice pace and good conversations. Nikki, Shar, Mama Debster and I (my walking crew this afternoon) were having some pretty awesome laughs as we rambled on. We loved the one little community (self proclaimed the Shire) that set up a bunch of signs here and there playing on The Hobbit theme!

We rolled into our town for the night, Drymen, at about 545pm and clocked at 23km ready for a quick shower and change before dinner.

Most of the crew is staying at Kip in the Kirk B&B a converted church hall, the Hillview B&B of the Shandon Farmhouse B&B (about a kilometer out of town). We are at the Shandon and the hike up and out of town was totally worth it – what an amazing place!

For dinner we had 630pm reservations at The Clachan, on of the oldest bars establish in 1796 and wow was it amazing! The building had all the fun touches of being very old giving it a great ambience and the menu was amazing. Who needs to think about calories after walking that far? Not us!

We had a nice dinner on the restaurant side, then a few of us popped over to the bar side for a final night cap before making our way to our respective homes for bed. All of us pretty excited to get the feet up!

Here are the stats:

  • Trail: West Highland Way, Scotland
  • Day: 1/8 Finished!
  • To/From: Milngavie/Drymen
  • Start/Finish time: 9:35am/5:40pm
  • Distance: 19km + Detour trail (24.5 Hiiker)
  • Steps: 31.009
  • Terrain: mostly flat some steep inclines largely path or rail bed some road walking
  • Weather: 21C overcast not rain
  • Breaky: Full Scottish Breakfast
  • Lunch n Snacks: cheese n ham toastie with chips and a pint
  • Dinner: carbonara
  • Pints: 4
  • Tonight’s home: Shannon Farmhouse
  • Mood: smiling
  • Body: feeling good, blisters from knee brace and heat rash
  • Highlights: Mugdock Castle detour
  • Lowlights: road walking
  • People of interest: the old Scotsman Patrick Murray sitting outside the castle telling stories
  • Spontaneous dancing: not today
  • Deep thoughts: I have one pace when walking, is this me in life too?

Next stop Rowardennan .. just past the challenge of Conic Hill.

Brande

Speyside Way, Grantown-on-Spey to Aviemore

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Day 5 of 5 of Speyside Way is complete with our finish line reached in Aviemore, Scotland!

A pleasantly long 26km trek that included a tea break, a lunch break, fantastic trail, amazing scenery, loads of clouds but not a drop of rain – yahoo us! What an epic finish line day.

We started the day from the oh-so-cute Brooklyn Guest House in Grantown-on-Spey and made quick work to back track the couple of blocks to the Way where we would kick off our day on a forest track. Here we filmed our morning video, made some hot-spot compeed fixes on the feet and I did my usual brace strap adjustment process. Walk 20 steps adjust, walk 30 steps adjust, and then onwards and upwards kinda thing. Let’s go!

The first leg of the trek, a nice 9.3km (according to the trail book) took us to Nethy Bridge where we had our sights on a tea and scone with feet up and shoes and socks off. There is nothing better to a hiker than a mid day break followed by dry feet and socks to kick of the next leg.

The trail was easy going through forest and then onto the grassed-over rail track bed and finally some country roads past the Balliefurth Farm. This farm has a little shop in Nethy (where we were headed) but has been featured on menus where we ate in the last couple of days for their beef and chicken and lamb. I may have eaten their yummy friend at the Speyside Hotel the night prior as my Bangers and Mash entree and was a little worried the cows we passed would know. ‘Hey, that lass ate Barry’ was on the tips of their tongues I know it.

We loved that the Farm had a sense of humor with this sign posted at the first gate …

We did not see Fergus sadly, he is quite shy, but imagined hearing him as the steam train went by whistling it’s whistle. Good fun!

Once in Nethy Bridge, we did enjoy that tea and scone, shoes and socks off break and it was amazing. They may have given me too much cream for my scone but who is complaining!? Also what is too much cream?

From Nethy Bridge we were on our way to Boat of Garten, a further 7.7km away through the Abernathy National Nature Reserve. This may be my favorite section of the entire trail. Quiet forest track, well groomed with bird song all around, and we maybe say a half dozen humans! I like trees more than humans lol. I feel so grateful for the chance to hike these hikes and live this life especially when I am on track like this!

At Boat of Garten, after having our sweet (dessert) in Nethy, we grabbed lunch-lunch. A sandwich and small salad with a half pint. We sat outside in mostly sunshine watching hikers and bikers and steam train passengers bustle past the Hotel patio where we hunkered down. We could have stayed all day especially with a sock change and chance to again air out the feet while eating.

From Boat of Garten we were just 9.1km from our finish line in Aviemore. This too proved to be a fantastic section of trail! More forest track, a bridge tunnel or two, and we were walked pretty much along side or in sight of the Strathspey Railway (the historic steam train) almost the whole way.

Knowing we were in reach of the finish line, even if things hurt on the ole body a bit it was nae bother. The conversation was flowing, there may have been some spontaneous singing once or twice, and loads of laughs!

Coming into Aviemore, we headed for our finish for a ‘for the record’ selfie before heading for a celebration pint!

An amazing walk, no bad days to be honest. The usual up and downs, on trail and in our own heads or bodies, but smiles each day and just an overall sense of gratitude to have had a chance to walk the Spey together.

The stats:

  • Trail: Speyside Way, Scotland
  • Day: 5/5 Finished!
  • To/From: Grantown-on-Spey/Aviemore
  • Start/Finish time: 9:06am/5:59pm
  • Distance: 26.5km trail (28.6km All Trails)
  • Steps: 29,020
  • Terrain: flat mixed with undulating
  • Weather: 14C overcast not rain
  • Breaky: Full Scottish Breakfast sans Haggis and Black Pudding
  • Lunch n Snacks: tea w scone/cream/jam and a Brie bacon sandwich w salad
  • Dinner: noodle soup and a ham/cheese croissant
  • Pints: 1
  • Tonight’s home: Eriksay B&B and Glamping
  • Mood: smiling
  • Body: feet are sorest today, crazy heat rash
  • Highlights: the options to stop for a break
  • Lowlights: nothing open for dinner
  • People of interest: the B&B owner from
  • Brooklyn Guest House, just an amazing women so clearly in the right business
  • Funny bone: learning Rosa sings just as much as me
  • Spontaneous dancing: a wee bit
  • Deep thoughts: why wait, eat the cake first

Now we will take a couple days to try and get rid of the heat rash on both of my feet and under my knee brace, see if I can get the swelling down on my right foot so both feet again have an arch and just be plain old tourists for a day or two. Did someone say steam train?

See you in a couple of days when we kick off the West Highland Way. All 12 of us!

Brande

Beyond the Bonk

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Excited to share a guest post by one of my hiking besties, Cheryl aka Impossible Turtle …

We’ve all been there: You’re partway through your day on the trail and you find yourself checking your watch (or phone or AllTrails or Ken – aka Cairn) to see how many kilometres you have left. And it never seems like the “right” number. Then it slowly hits you, that realization that no one wants on a hike: You fell out of love with this sh*t five or six km back.

Dammit. This, my friends, is the wall. The bonk. The “why am I even out here” moment. And it sucks.

But let’s not mistake it for more than it is. It happens to everyone at some point. It doesn’t mean you don’t still love hiking or long distance walking, it just means you need a different game plan for this hike and this day of walking. That’s it. And believe me when I say you can spend five or six or ten kms trying to talk yourself out of it and find your trail joy again or you can embrace the suck, acknowledge where you are (in all the ways – literally, metaphorically, emotionally, physically), see it as temporary and get sh*t done.

Before I delve into the ways I battle the bonk, I should mention there are plenty of perfectly logical, sensible ways to prevent bonking.

Here are a few:

  • Get adequate sleep the night before your hike
  • Drink (and bring) plenty of water, some with added electrolytes if it’s hot or you’re a sweaty mess like me
  • Eat a good, but familiar breakfast. Think something filling that will hold you til elevenses but not something heavy or bothersome for your guts.
  • Bring plenty of snacks. (Protein like beef jerky or pepperoni is a go to for me. Salty is good. Candy is also good, but we’ll get to that in a minute.)
  • Relax. This is the hardest one, I know. But if you can stay in the moment and keep your head on the trail (not at home with your daily stresses), you’ve got a better chance of feeling the pre-bonk feelings and saving yourself some grief.

Now, let’s say you (*cough*me*cough*) did all of these things to the best of your ability, given the circumstances and still, you’re feeling. It. All.

Muscle pain. Fatigue. Joint pain. Heat. Anxiety. Guilt.

It’s all beating down on you like the 28 degree sun but there’s no cream that blocks that junk out. You feel like you hit your limit.

(Side note: I’m willing to bet you’ve never actually hit this limit. I’ve let the negative part of my brain convince me I’ve been at that edge many times, on many trails. But it’s lied to me every time. There’s a way to finish. I promise.)

So what do you do? What did I do? I got angry with myself. That sounded a little like this: “You’re in the Cotswolds, for god’s sake! C’mon, Ashworth, you’re in England, in area of outstanding natural beauty, how dare you not love this? Do you know what your family had to do to make this work?” Uhm, that’s not exactly a motivational speech, friends. That kind of self talk doesn’t make the 10 or 15 kms left feel breezy. 😉 But I had to have that moment to hear the ridiculousness of it and then I had to say it out loud to mg trail buddies to hear it sound even more ludicrous. And then it was out of my system. I’ve admitted it. This afternoon, this moment in time on this small section of the Cotswold Way is not my friend. I admitted that, I owned it and I tried to let it be. I couldn’t change it. I loved the day before and would probably love the day to followed. Not loving this bit right here and right now doesn’t define my walk.

So now what?

Candy. I wish I was kidding. Moments like this are what Skittles were made for, my friends. A little glycogen for the muscles, a little sugar straight to the brain brings back some semblance of motivation. I discovered Skittles without the shell in the UK and they saved me several times. Despite condensing themselves into one giant candy clump in the heat, I could always rely on these for a sweet little kick in the butt.

My second saviour will seem like a real trail rule breaker to some and that’s fine! I get it. But music motivates me like nothing else. When you really, truly need something to push you forwards, I know you have a go to song. For Wales & Cots, mine was Free by Florence and the Machine. I don’t often have headphones in my pack, but I did throw them in for the last few days on the trail. (Persistent muscle troubles and some joint pain will have you reevaluating and carrying bits & bobs you otherwise might skip.) I always have my phone, for maps and for emergencies, so at least once, on my really down day, I pulled out my headphones and set Florence to repeat. I think Shar relied on some Motley Crüe one day – whatever floats your boat or moves your feet!

Above all, the biggest thing to remember is the cheesiest platitude I have for you: This too shall pass. It will. It does. And when it happens next time, you’ll know it won’t beat you. It never has. The bonk never wins.

As long as your feet are still in your boots, you can bust through any bonk.

Cheryl

Cotswold Way, Day 8 Cold Ashton to Bath

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Looking back on Day 8 of 8 on the Cotswold Way – yes that’s right, finish line day!

We clocked this day in at 15 kilometers and just over 5 hours back in July – wrapping up before the sun was sweltering but still warm enough that the cold ‘finish line’ pint in the ONLY pub with air conditioning in all of Bath felt amazing. In fact, it felt epic!

We kicked the day off as early as possible as part of our continued ‘beat the heat wave’ strategy. We were staying in Bath so had to arrange taxi transport from our B&B back to Cold Ashton to start our walk back to Bath (where the finish line is for the Way).

Our walking company had arranged the taxi to pick us up at 930am originally but in light of the 35C temps we expected by noon that was no longer going to work! Chatting direct with the taxi company, they agreed to change it to 6am for us. We had to skip our included breakfast at the B&B but totally worth it! We were on the trail for 630am and the temperature was really comfortable of hours. That 3.5 hour difference would likely mean a 10C difference – that’s a big deal!

Much of the day (morning really) was spent walking though fields of cattle or crops. Most had wide open views of the hills and other fields around us – the sense of being small in such a big space was fantastic!

The path today was ‘easy’ in that it was a lot of rolling up and downhill – not the dramatic, heart pumping climb in and out of every town we had grown used too. The trail and the views were still spectacular mind you! Recognizing that we would soon be playing in Bath and London and the views would be all city scape and not these beautiful green hills – we had to snap one more selfie ‘up top’. So lush!

A little bovine excitement …

One of the fields we crossed had a ‘Bull in Field’ sign. While we appreciate the heads up, the warning can make you a little more nervous than is maybe warranted. I could have probably crossed this field blissfully unaware that Mr Bull was present but the sign had me on high alert. (Refer back to terrifying Bull vs Brande of 2008 on Hadrian’s Wall incident here for background lol)

We stayed together walking with a pep in the ole step to the rock stile (steps up and over the field’s rock wall perimeter) where we would leave the field behind – no reason to dilly dally even if Mr Bull was being entertained by his ladies in the far corner.

As luck has it though, when we stared our trek across the very long field, the cattle also made their move and started to make their way to the same end of the field we were headed towards. But no worries folks – our graceful, stealth like hiking skills had us at the rock fence well before the beef arrived. In fact, we were so non-pulsed by the walking steaks and hamburgers heading our way that we hung out at the rock wall a while for a little photo shoot. We knew we could just pop over the fence quickly if the beef headed our way.

Little did we know, the fence was not complete. The beef walked right through the gap to the very next, again long and large, field we were also heading into. Another field where we had to walk to the far side of AND then walk the length to the farthest corner (where the cattle were heading too) to reach the next stile to leave said beef filled field behind. Yikes! We double timed it a little more seriously this time … just in case Mr Bull heard us laughing at him and took exception to our tom foolery!

We made it and little did we know that would be some of the last livestock we would see as we wrapped up Cotswold Way. Soon we were in more urban settings, passing though a golf course (where we took a nice snack break), then city parks and finally the city itself.

By the time we did get into Bath late morning, we were smoking hot – the temp was already in the low 30s and the approach into Bath was full of steep hills and little shade. An emergency iced latte was required from the cutest coffee shop called Hungry Bear before we even approached the finish line.

Rested a bit and refreshed a little, we made our way to the Bath Abbey where the Cotswold Start/Finish is located – a circular plaque on the ground with an acorn in the center, matching the one we started at in Chipping on Campden.

Unfortunately the Abbey was in full swing all week for local university graduations so we couldn’t visit the actual Abbey (as many do when they finish or start) and we had to act like bouncers to get some time with the acorn plaque without a grad in the frame. So while not quite what we expected – it felt pretty amazing all the same.

Right, well there is the Cotswold Way wrapped up with a spectacularly hot finish but what a long distance adventure! While not listed as difficult or even moderately strenuous in guide books, the Way should not be underestimated. There is a good amount of work on the trail to be done – you cannot achieve great views without great climbs. Most definitely easier that the Offa’s Dyke Path but still a heck of a work out and but felt great to finish.

Ok now let’s go find a celebratory pint …

Brande