In my last post I mentioned I had made some progress in the search for my great-grandfather Herbert.  Unfortunately the death certificate I ordered listed the occupation of the deceased as “Engineers Fitter”, a poor match and so this plus a small discrepancy in age led me to the conclusion that this was a false lead. Nevertheless I’m optimistic the British Postal Museum and Archive will shed some light on what happened to Herbert after he left the army in 1924.  If their Herbert Clifford is my Herbert Clifford then his last known whereabouts will be Windsor in 1938 … and Windsor is smack dab in the middle of my proposed walking route.

News from Blurb.com: If you’ve been thinking about publishing a book through Blurb then you may be interested to hear that they’ve now added eBooks to their list of publishing options.  At the moment the eBooks are only viewable on Apple IOS devices (ie. iPhones and iPads) but I’ve been told an Android version will be available before long.  The eBook option provides an inexpensive alternative to the pricier paper versions.  I’ve just added an eBook version of End to End in 2010 to my Blurb bookstore for $4.99.  If you’re contemplating purchasing any eBook through Blurb I suggest you ensure you’re running the latest version of iBook (Apple’s free eBook reader). Also, be aware that currently all Blurb eBooks appear as a two-page spread in landscape mode and so some zooming may be required to read small text.

If you followed my LEJOG blog last year you will know I dedicated it to the memory of my great-grandfather Herbert Clifford. He disappeared in 1920 and I’ve spent the last 15 years trying to unravel the mystery. A few years ago I discovered that after he returned to Britain he joined the Cheshire Regiment and served until 1924. When he returned to civilan life he gave an address of Neston Road in Willaston. That is where the trail went cold and finding new clues has been like searching for a needle in a haystack … but if you look long enough you might just find that needle.

Last weekend I decided to search for my great-grandfather in the London Gazette, something I’ve done before, but this time I found a reference to a Herbert Clifford joining the Post Office in 1928. They gave the address as Heswall Hill, Liverpool. I knew that Liverpool was very close to Willaston but when I checked Google Maps I found out that Heswall Hill was only a few miles from Neston Road!

I then found more records that showed he worked for the Post Office for at least 10 years and that by 1938 he had moved to Windsor. I can’t be sure if this Herbert Clifford is my great-grandfather but my intuition tells me it is, and so a visit to The British Postal Museum &  Archive in London has now been added to my itinerary. Feeling I was on a bit of a roll I decided to concentrate my search in Merseyside and northern Wales and in doing so I found a death record for a Herbert Clifford in Denbighshire in 1942.  It’s possible Herbert returned here when war broke out.  I’ve ordered the death certificate and by this time next week I’ll be watching my mailbox closely.

Something else that I’ve been spending a lot of time on lately is a fantastic new website called Historypin. If you love history, and especially if you love old photographs, you must check it out.  It was developed by a UK non-profit company called WeAreWhatWeDo in conjunction with Google.  The idea is to provide a home where people from different generations and backgrounds can share photos and build stories about their communities.  The site launched in July and already has over 60,000 photographs with hundreds being added every day by archives, community groups and local history geeks like me. But historians beware! Historypin is the antiquarian’s equivalent of crack cocaine.

Photographs are pinned to a map in the location they were taken and can be filtered by year, from 1840 to present day.  If the photo was taken at street level then it can be superimposed over the current Google Streetview image and faded in and out using a slide tool.  I have yet to demo this to anyone who hasn’t thought it was very cool.  But Historypin isn’t just a cool way to view old photos, it has much loftier aims. Here’s an excerpt from an excellent Q&A with CEO Nick Stanhope on Smithsonian.com (but I suggest you read the whole article):

We talk a lot about there being a difference between “bonding” social capital and “bridging” social capital—bonding being between similar social, economic or cultural groups and bridging being across different groups. Something like Facebook is great for the social capital between people that know each other and have a connection, but it doesn’t make links beyond that. We have a very long way to go, but the aim of Historypin is to start conversations about something that is shared between people who didn’t necessarily think that they had something in common.

I’ve been pinning a lot of photos, mostly of Victoria BC, and you’ll find a gallery of them on my Historypin Profile page.  I’ve also created a few collections, including one  dedicated to an RCAF Flight Sergeant who died in Vancouver in 1944.  This time last week I had never heard of Richard Lyford.  Now I have the photo album that tells the story of the last 6 years of his life … a story that will be shared and not buried in an attic somewhere.  I encourage you to get on board too. Autumn’s shorter days and longer nights are a perfect time to dig out those old photos and postcards, fire up that scanner and start pinning!

Last but not least a hearty congratulations to Ken Klug who completed his 89 day LEJOG and to James Aukett for his 6 day bus journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats!

Oddly enough I’m not aware of any JOGLEs (John O’Groats to Lands End) currently underway. July and August are traditionally when most begin and I suppose some are underway but have chosen not to blog. However one unique journey I did learn of a week ago is James Aukett’s Bus Country trip from Land’s End to John O’Groats … using public transit! I’m really intrigued by this 6-day journey (starting August 22), possibly because it’s only been done twice before or perhaps because I rely on buses to get around. I’ll be fascinated to see how his detailed schedule works out and look forward to his Tweets and Facebook entries.

I’ve spent the last few weeks hanging out on Walkingforum.co.uk and it seems a very friendly place. There are lots of interesting threads and some fantastic walking photos are being posted all the time. If you are keen on walking in the UK I recommend you check it out (fyi my username is RambleOn).

The big news this time around is that I’ve made a decision! After months of faffing about I’ve come to the conclusion that a shorter, but annual, UK walking trip is at this point a more practical option than a 3 or 4 month trip every few years. This doesn’t mean another 1000+ mile walk isn’t in the cards, only that it’s not going to happen in 2012 or 2013.

Once I make a decision I don’t hang about and so I’ve already booked a flight for next April. Over the next few months I’ll enjoy pondering which walks I should do. At this point I’m thinking I’ll stay in England or Wales and then venture back to Scotland in 2013. One option is the Channel Islands Way (and thanks to Brian C. I now have the recently published guidebook) and another is the Thames Path plus something else, possibly the Ridgeway. I like the idea of flying into London and then walking out of it, and I always enjoy walking along water. I have some family history to research in the Forest of Dean and so the Wye Valley Walk (after the Thames Path) is another option. If any of you have walked the Thames Path or Wye Valley Walk I’d be interested in hearing from you.

I recently found a book entitled Best of British, “a humorous collection of all things quirky about Britain and the Brits”. Apart from spelling ‘humourous’ incorrectly it’s a great little book and I couldn’t help but think their page on British Summertime described our own situation rather well.

I haven’t made much progress on planning my next UK walk but I did subscribe to Ordnance Survey’s GetaMap service which allows me to plot routes, organize them and print them out. It can also overlay a variety of ‘Points of Interest’ including accommodation and pubs. My initial impression is that it is well worth the £18/year subscription (a special promotional price … I believe it normally costs £30/year). Note: Getamap requires the Microsoft Silverlight plug-in be installed on your browser.

I just joined a UK walking discussion board which I look forward to participating in. I’m also trying to get my hands on a new book called “The Channel Islands Way” although for some reason the publisher won’t let Amazon.co.uk ship to overseas addresses. I’m trying to contact the publisher directly but the email address I was given apparently doesn’t exist . At this point I’d be more than happy with an e-book version for my iPad.

I’ve also been reminiscing about last year’s LEJOG as I follow some excellent blogs. They are listed on my links page but here they are again in case you haven’t seen them yet: Jack Frost’s 2011 End to End, Ken Klug’s My 1200-mile Summer and Charlie Lee’s Epic Walk around Great Britain.

I’ve been giving my next walk some serious thought lately. I’ve suffered some health problems in the past few months and although I’m feeling much better these days it has underlined the importance of seizing the day. Had I been an attempting a LEJOG this year I would have been forced to cancel my plans at the last minute. I mention this only in case you are reading this and contemplating your own LEJOG. My advice: if the walk really is important to you then don’t procrastinate! Just make it happen.

My long-term walking plans have flip-flopped between an annual but short term (3-4 weeks) walking holiday and a less frequent but multi-month walking adventure. The former is definitely easier to organize but the fact is I’m a sucker for a good adventure and love living an alternate lifestyle, even if it’s only for a few months every few years.

I’ve been trying to come up with an interesting route that is as challenging as a LEJOG but one that covers new ground … and I think I may have found it. I’ll share the idea here once I’ve given it a bit more thought. I’m tentatively scheduling it for early 2013, assuming I can arrange another short-term leave of absence from work.

I leave you with a link I stumbled upon this morning. If any of you are planning a walk in the Scottish Highlands you might appreciate this Midge Forecast sponsored by a Midge repellent company.

I had been contemplating a book for quite some time however I wondered how worthwhile it would be considering the detail I included on my blog. In the end I felt this was one adventure that deserved the extra effort and in publishing the book I’ve crossed another item off my bucket list.

I decided not to rewrite my blog entries but to restrict myself to minor edits such as typos and removing references that made little sense in book form. I’ve complemented the original text with maps and over 250 photos, some of which were not featured in my online gallery. I’ve also reflected on many aspects of my journey in other sections of the book, including the chapter introductions.

I published the book through Blurb.com and they include a slick little preview tool that lets you browse a small version of the entire book. The motivation behind the book was not a monetary one but I have decided to offer the book for sale through Blurb’s online bookstore. They offer a print-on-demand service and so even though the book was written in Canada and published through a US company it will likely be printed in your own country (my copies were printed in Calgary and shipped to me by Canada Post). I believe copies purchased in the UK will be printed in the UK. I’ve found the service extremely quick, in fact I received my first copy of the book within 4 business days of submitting the order … amazing!

It’s been a fun experiment and in the end I have a great souvenir of my End to End walk. If you’re considering a book of your own and have any questions please feel free to ask.

I’m like one of those Japanese soldiers they found hiding in the jungle in the late 1940′s who refused to believe that the war had ended. Also, my LEJOG has become my point of reference in time, and I find myself thinking  “I haven’t seen him since LEJOG” or “it wasn’t like this before LEJOG”. Worst of all are the reminders, like my backpack which sits in the same closet I open every day before I go to work.  It mocks me like a ventriloquist’s dummy who refuses to go back in his case. “You’re getting fat!” it screams as I shut the door. “We should really go for a long walk.” “You never take me anywhere!”.

Sure I need help but therapy is expensive. The only sane option is to start planning another trip, even it is at least two years away.

As much as I’d like to plan another walk for 2012 it’s very unlikely I’ll be able to get away until 2013. That gives me plenty of time to mull over my options and to convince family, friends and employers how much better their lives would be if I were several thousand miles away (this is not always as difficult as you might think).

At this point there are a handful of route options messing with my head:

1. A JOGLE or another LEJOG (but using a different route)

A JOGLE is a logical follow-up to a LEJOG but having already done an End to End walk I’m keen to explore other options first.

2. A walk around Ireland

I really haven’t thought this one through but it’s intriguing.  I haven’t visited Ireland since 1983 and it would give me an opportunity to research some of my Irish roots.

3. A walk that includes the entire coast of Wales

I’ve read that the Welsh government has set 2012 as a target date for the completion of a coastal path running around the entire country.  I’ve also read that the Pembrokeshire Coast Path is stunning. I’d love to hear from anyone who has walked this or any other coastal path in Wales.

4. A walk that includes the southern half of the South West Coast path

I enjoyed walking the northern half of the SWCP so much that I’m very keen to walk the southern half.  I could link this walk up with the Welsh coastal walk.

5. A walk that includes the entire Thames Path

Instead of travelling to Penzance I could start from the Thames Barrier in London and then walk to the river’s source in the Cotswolds.  From here it would be a two day walk to Wales and the start of the coastal path.

6. Link a Wales coastal walk to a Coast-to-Coast walk.

At this point I haven’t done any research into walking from Liverpool to St. Bees.  Although I’ve been to the Lakes a couple of times I’ve never visited the coast.  Should the Blackpool Illuminations and Morecambe Bay be added to my bucket list?

I feel better already!  I’m open to other suggestions so please let me know what you think.

If Andy & Alfie are reading this … have you got “Fantasy Footpaths” up and running yet?

I’ve fulfilled at least part of my promise to share the story of my great-grandfather Herbert Clifford. My new site includes a section dedicated to his contribution to the war effort.

I’m looking forward to reading next year’s crop of blogs, in the meantime I’ve been reminiscing by watching slide shows of my LEJOG. The 1200-mile walk takes just under 45 minutes and can be enjoyed from the comfort of my recliner. It seems like years ago since I set off from Land’s End and I look forward to the day I can begin planning another long ramble. In the meantime, happy walking!

Estimated length of route: 1094 miles
Actual length of route: 1172.8 miles

Estimated days to complete: 72
Actual days to complete: 72

Estimated number of rest days: 15
Actual number of rest days: 9

Average daily distance: 16.3 miles
Longest day: 29.0 miles (Day 54 – Uphall to Kilsyth)
Shortest day: 7.7 miles (Day 45 – Haltwhistle to Housesteads)

Earliest start: 7:35am (Day 54 – Uphall to Kilsyth)
Latest start: 11:00am (Day 26 – Bridgnorth to Codsall) and
(Day 41 – Middleton-in-Teesdale to Langdon Beck)

Earliest finish: 11:30am (Day 45 – Haltwhistle to Housesteads)
Latest finish: 6:00pm (Day 12 – Clovelly to Barnstaple)

LEJOG walkers met along the way: 7 (Alfie included!)
JOGLE walkers met along the way: 1

Weather summary
Sun: 24 days
Cloud: 14 days
Mix of sun and cloud: 20 days
Showers: 10 days
Rain: 4 days (including 1 snowy morning)

Very Windy: 14 days
Very Hot: 5 days
Very Cold: 2 days

The Experience
The euphoria felt when reaching the signpost at John O’Groats lasted about two seconds but was quickly replaced by the realization that I enjoyed the 72 days of plodding far more than I thought I would. This may seem like an odd thing to say considering the time and money invested in an End-to-End walk, but I reckoned that after a month or two I may have had enough and that some serious mental fortitude would be needed to see it through. But this wasn’t the case at all, I loved almost every minute of it. OK, the A9 was no fun and at times finding accommodation was very frustrating, but in the end those were just tiny roadblocks in what was a truly fantastic experience.

Route
I stuck pretty close to my intended route in England and never altered it all in Scotland. I tinkered with the distances I walked each day and this resulted in the occasional detour, Nether Stowey, Hartington and Tideswell come to mind. I was very happy with my decision to start with the South West Coast Path as it was one of the most spectacular sections of the entire walk. At times it was a real slog but when I completed it I felt I was ready to tackle anything else that lay ahead of me. I also enjoyed the few days I cobbled together along the Pennine Bridleway before picking up the Pennine Way at Diggle. Sections of the Yorkshire Dales and all of the West Highland Way were really crowded and so finding b&b accommodation was very difficult. The A9 was a march, simple as that.

If you read my blog it’s no surprise that I preferred footpaths to roads. To each his own of course but I felt the experience of walking along a footpath was markedly better. Farm lanes and rarely used b-roads were fine although the hard surfaces were still tough on the lower body. I enjoyed walking 15 to 18 miles days but the 20+ days were hard work and I found I didn’t get much time to enjoy the countryside I was walking through.

LEJOG vs JOGLE
I never really considered walking north to south so it was always going to be a LEJOG for me. The main benefit that I experienced was that the sun at my back for almost the entire trip. This was great for photographs and it meant I didn’t spend weeks squinting into the sun … although I’ve been told its not always sunny in Britain?!

Time of Year
How can I not be happy with my decision to walk in the Spring when I had such glorious weather!? Trust me, I know how lucky I was. My only caveat is that it appears that the popularity of End-to-End walks is growing exponentially and it can only be a matter of time before non-campers will have a hell of a time finding accommodation in the peak LEJOG season (March to June). The West Highland Way is already too popular for its own good. If I was doing it again I might consider tinkering with the time-frame and then pray for decent weather.

B&B vs. Camping
I’m happy with my decision to B&B it rather than camp. It meant a few less kilos in my backpack and a shower every night. I also met some wonderful people along the way. Obviously this is not the low-budget way to do an End-to-End walk but if you’re from overseas then you’ll have already dropped a couple of $K before you even set foot on a path. But you shouldn’t underestimate the time required to secure accommodation along the way – this was the only part of my daily routine that I didn’t look forward to. If you have family or friends who are willing to help then I suggest you take them up on their offer. If I did another End-to-End walk I would seriously consider investing in an ultralight tent and sleeping bag to provide some flexibility in those difficult sections, but I’d leave the cooking kit at home and find food along the way.

The quality of accommodation varied quite a bit although most of the privately owned B&B’s and Guesthouses were very friendly and offered good to excellent value for money. Unfortunately I found this was not the case for many of the pubs and hotels I stayed at, some notable exceptions include the excellent Exmoor Forest Inn in Simonsbath and the Abbey Hotel in Tewkesbury.

Budget
My daily expenditure fluctuated but when averaged out I managed to stay within my budget of £45-50 per day. A b&b with a shared bath cost £25 to £35 per night while en-suite rooms fetched £35 and up. I opted for the former whenever possible but I found most places add bathrooms when they remodel and then raise their rates accordingly.

I took full advantage of the large breakfast included in the price and rarely needed to eat again before supper. B&B and Guest House owners take pride in their breakfasts and the vast majority of them were excellent. In some places, especially Scotland, a fresh fruit salad was on offer – a nice break from the traditional fry-up. A good pub supper accompanied by a pint (occasionally two) set me back £10 to £12.

I had separate budgets for trains and buses but these were negligible when compared to the overall cost of accommodation and food. Getting to Cornwall and home from Scotland cost much less than I thought because I booked my train online and many weeks in advance. I occasionally used buses to commute back and forth to points along my walk and although bus fares in Britain are expensive they really didn’t add up to much.

Equipment
I put a lot of time into testing my gear before I left and so everything performed as expected. Every bit of kit I carried was used except for the emergency bag, a sink stopper and most of the stuff in my first-aid kit. I only used my fleece cap once and so it went home with my first batch of maps. The only items I purchased in the UK were a cheap pen knife and two pairs of socks. I collected a few bits of paper along the way and so I figure on most days I was carrying about 12kg. plus water which weighed an additional 1-1.5kg.

Two pieces of equipment that merit special attention were my Osprey pack and my Ecco shoes. The Osprey is easily the best pack I’ve ever owned and I would not hesitate in recommending it to anyone. It’s dependable and well-made … it required no repairs and I had no problems with zippers, straps, webbing, etc.. I put over 1500-miles on my Eccos and reckon they had a couple hundred more left in them. They deserved a better fate than an Edinburgh landfill but they were surplus to requirements once I was reunited with my spare pair of shoes. They are a fantastic piece of kit and worth every penny of the $200 I spent on them. I only suffered with blisters once and that was down to a 26.5 mile march just 12 days into my walk.

Maps
I purchased 50 Explorer series (1:25000) maps last year and used 44 of them during my LEJOG. That’s a lot of money to spend on maps but at the time (2009) the electronic versions were even more expensive. I expect this will quickly change and that within a few years everyone will be using digital maps for their End-to-End walk. I love the detail of the Explorer series maps but I will admit that the less detailed Landranger series (1:50000) would be fine on well-marked national trails such as the SWCP and in most of Scotland.

I brought all of my maps with me to Britain and then posted most of them to a friend who kindly offered to ship them on to me at various stages throughout my walk. I usually carried 8 or 9 maps with me at any one time (weighing roughly 1kg) and then mailed the old ones home by surface mail when I picked up a new batch. The Poste Restante service worked well and the maps were always there when I went to pick them up. Moving this paper back and forth obviously cost more money and so it’s not a terribly cost-effective solution of finding your way around Britain.

Although I took two guidebooks with me I rarely ever used them. They were great for planning my route but on the day I preferred to find my own way using my maps and GPS.

Rest Days
I broke up my 72-day walk with 9 rest days although I budgeted for almost twice as many. At the beginning of my walk I took a day off every 8 to 10 days and purposely held some back for later in the trip. While it makes sense to keep a few in hand in case of sickness or injury I felt rest days became less important as the walk wore on. In the end I finished my walk about a week earlier than planned.

Fitness Training
I began my training nearly a year before my trip. I started out with 10-mile walks with a very light pack and gradually increased the distance until I was walking 18-miles with a full pack. I did these walks every 3 weeks, in addition to the several miles I walked every day to and from work (I don’t own a car). While this training regime didn’t prepare me to walk an average of 18 miles every day for nearly 3 months it did accomplish several things. Firstly, it helped me break in my walking shoes (I put 150 miles on two pairs of Eccos) and toughen up my feet. Secondly, it conditioned my mind to walk for 5 to 6 hours and to ignore the inevitable aches and pains. Lastly, it gave me ample opportunity to test all of my equipment in a variety of temperatures and weather conditions. I’m sure I would have been even better prepared had I walked more often prior to my trip but in the end my training regime did the trick.

Blogging
I’m really glad I blogged. It was great to share the journey with others and to know that so many enjoyed following along. I made a lot of new friends and met many fellow walkers along the way. Best of all I have a very detailed account of my adventure which I can re-read in the years to come. I encourage you to blog too but don’t underestimate the time it takes to keep on top of it. I spent one to two hours every night writing mine up.

Technology
I have to give my little HP netbook a pat on the back. I wasn’t too sure how my $200 investment would work out but in the end it did everything I asked of it. I’m not a big fan of Windows but the performance was reasonable as long as I made sure it had lots of memory to play with. My iPod Touch was my electronic Swiss Army knife and worth every gram … even if I rarely listened to music. My Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZR1 camera took a lickin’ and kept on clickin’. I dropped it more than once and it spent the whole trip in my hip belt exposed to the elements without a case.

Finding a Wifi signal was easier than I expected and so there were only a handful of nights where I found myself without an internet connection. I’d estimate that 75% of the b&bs and Guest Houses I stayed at offered their residents free Wifi and I can’t imagine it will be long before every establishment does. If they didn’t have it I often “borrowed” a signal from a neighbour, even if it meant setting up in the bathroom! When all else failed free Wifi was always on offer at a Wetherspoon’s pub.