Public Declaration of Intent

Summer 2014, I will walk across England.

Should be a piece of cake, right? I'm not the fittest I've ever been, but there are 65 weeks between now and then, so it's entirely doable.

FAQ

Why 2014?

I turn 50 in December 2013. So summer 2014 is my 50th summer. I'll have to do a whole blog post on where I was all the other summers.

DC will also be 50. DC & I will have been married for 25 years. My in-laws will have been married for 60 years. My stepfather will be 80. My niece will be 10. It's just a significant year. And not one I'm willing to just loll through.

What Route?

Wainwright's Coast to Coast. It's a hike across a reasonably narrow part of the UK, from St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay. A total of approx 200 miles through some stunning areas of England...the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, North York Moors. About 14 miles of hiking per day, with enough terrain that it's the altitude-equivalent of hiking up and down Everest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_to_Coast_Walk

Why the Coast to Coast?

Oh goodness knows! How the heck did the idea even occur to me? It's in my DNA--daddy did crazy stunts like this. As a teenager, I was dragged along for one of them--walking the length of the Kennet and Avon canal, while it was mostly a disused, nettle-infested museum to industrial Britain. He, at least, had some sense of pacing. We did chunks of it a weekend at a time. I have no such sense. I will do the Coast to Coast in one gloriously blistering trek.

I have no recollection right now of why I thought of this specific expedition. There must have been a TV show or a blog post or a dare-after-a-couple-of-glasses-of-wine. I will mine my email archive for the truth.

On Your Own?

Well, not ideally. At this point I'm sure DC will join me. MC says he will. KC is saying no way. RL & FL are threatening (FL in a team support role, meeting us for lunch, bringing us supplies, cheering us in at the end of each day).  DC's friend ChCh is saying he's interested. MM & IM are interested. VS maybe? The idea of an American mob marauding across the UK is very attractive, but I suspect in the end it may come down to mostly DC and me.

Are You NUTS?

Yes