Monday 25 April 2011
One Week to Go!
Well I am going to take the plunge and disappear for almost a fortnight starting at Minehead. Today I booked the first 5 days of campsite and that means I am definately going! I am so excited I can hardly sit down. I put the tent up to air in the garden from my last adventure and it just made it worse! I am going to go to Minehead on May day Monday and I am taking my son's dog with me - poor thing isnt going to know what has hit him but it will be fun!
Thursday 14 April 2011
back home and a little saunter!
Well it is 3 days since my adventure and I went a walk along the coast line from Ramsgate to Margate via Broadstairs (9.2 miles) and it took me forever!! Well 5 hours mind you I was hardly pushing myself and stopped many times to take photos and chat to other doggy people!
However I must admit I was rather shocked that it had taken me so long - doesnt bode well for the SWCP! The good news is that my blisters feel non existant so that is a bonus - however think I need to make a point of buying some Compeed or else it could really impact upon my walk.
Still my sons dog Hiro loved it!
Tuesday 12 April 2011
Practice Walk Hastings to Brighton 11 April
Good morning campers!!!
Well I slept very well last night woke up once and didnt even think about the mummy sleeping bag!
It took ages to move and very slowly I started to pack up. But at least I could do it standing up! This was to be the last day of my adventure! I felt very tired but considerably cheered when my neighbours emerged saying that they had slept badly as they had shared a sleeping bag in a bid to travel light! Blokey then admitted it had been a hard travel the previous day - they had walked from Eastbourne but had walked all the way. I suddenly felt incredibly smug as I had carried my back pack - perhaps not as far but it was heavier and they were 20 years younger he he he!
Anyway coffee less and only museli AGAIN I set off with the plan to get the first cafe I find at Newhaven 2 miles down the route. I go past the forgotten village of Tide Mills and into Newhaven and find Walleys Cafe is a fantastic workmans cafe a BIG breakfast and coffee I am ready to really start my journey after all it was only 11.30 by then.
Now just let me find my way - only let me sort out my pack better as it is already bugging me!
I don't know whether it was because I was tired or had badly packed my rucksack but the bloomin tent was not staying where it should. And to make it worse I couldnt find my way regardless of the map or anything! So I called at a charity shop and bought two belts which eventually helped once I got them set ( must buy bungeees!) and accosted an older lady who cheerfully told me the direction and said that she had walked that route a couple of years back! Cor this should be easy!!!! Thank heavens cos yesterday was definately hard work. Funny how people can be deceptive!
It was easier and relatively well signed but it did seem a long route. Thankfully the wind was in my face and it was hot and there was lots to see and people to chat to. My only difficulty was in trying to work out where each cove was and get my head round the distances!
I was really glad to get to the Saltdean Lido and felt really relieved once I had soaked my feet in food bags with water and meths! If you havent tried it - do! It worked a treat and really eased off the blisters. By now I had a 2inch square blister on my left foot and one of equal diameter on the right but it crawled under my toes - not very comfy! But the soaking did work and as I put on my boots I felt that I had new feet - well until I had walked about 200 metres and then I felt the squelch of a burst blister but funny enough it was easier than before! Gory I know but it was all part of the pleasure of the journey!
About 10 minutes later the weather had changed to needing a jumper and a decidedly stormy looking sea - how quick was that? 2 miles later I came to the Brighton Marina IT IS HUGE and a full village - I walked up over the hill above it and I was grateful having to walk through might have tempted me to stop as I hate town walking! Only downside was that the bus I would need to take back to Eastbourne was passing me every 10 minutes!!!
But I did walk to the pier entrance just so that I could honestly say that I had walked to Brighton - but I was seriously glad to get on the bus and aim for home.
This stretch was aproximately 12 miles therefore in total 34 miles not as much as I thought but to be honest a very creditable adventure!
Given that I had travelled 22 of these miles with my back pack I feel that it was quite a test! And none too shabby at that - I weighed my pack when I got home and it was a 29 LB weight so my packing was not too over the top - unfortunately my own weight was not impacted but hardly the end of the world!
Well I slept very well last night woke up once and didnt even think about the mummy sleeping bag!
It took ages to move and very slowly I started to pack up. But at least I could do it standing up! This was to be the last day of my adventure! I felt very tired but considerably cheered when my neighbours emerged saying that they had slept badly as they had shared a sleeping bag in a bid to travel light! Blokey then admitted it had been a hard travel the previous day - they had walked from Eastbourne but had walked all the way. I suddenly felt incredibly smug as I had carried my back pack - perhaps not as far but it was heavier and they were 20 years younger he he he!
Anyway coffee less and only museli AGAIN I set off with the plan to get the first cafe I find at Newhaven 2 miles down the route. I go past the forgotten village of Tide Mills and into Newhaven and find Walleys Cafe is a fantastic workmans cafe a BIG breakfast and coffee I am ready to really start my journey after all it was only 11.30 by then.
Now just let me find my way - only let me sort out my pack better as it is already bugging me!
I don't know whether it was because I was tired or had badly packed my rucksack but the bloomin tent was not staying where it should. And to make it worse I couldnt find my way regardless of the map or anything! So I called at a charity shop and bought two belts which eventually helped once I got them set ( must buy bungeees!) and accosted an older lady who cheerfully told me the direction and said that she had walked that route a couple of years back! Cor this should be easy!!!! Thank heavens cos yesterday was definately hard work. Funny how people can be deceptive!
It was easier and relatively well signed but it did seem a long route. Thankfully the wind was in my face and it was hot and there was lots to see and people to chat to. My only difficulty was in trying to work out where each cove was and get my head round the distances!
I was really glad to get to the Saltdean Lido and felt really relieved once I had soaked my feet in food bags with water and meths! If you havent tried it - do! It worked a treat and really eased off the blisters. By now I had a 2inch square blister on my left foot and one of equal diameter on the right but it crawled under my toes - not very comfy! But the soaking did work and as I put on my boots I felt that I had new feet - well until I had walked about 200 metres and then I felt the squelch of a burst blister but funny enough it was easier than before! Gory I know but it was all part of the pleasure of the journey!
About 10 minutes later the weather had changed to needing a jumper and a decidedly stormy looking sea - how quick was that? 2 miles later I came to the Brighton Marina IT IS HUGE and a full village - I walked up over the hill above it and I was grateful having to walk through might have tempted me to stop as I hate town walking! Only downside was that the bus I would need to take back to Eastbourne was passing me every 10 minutes!!!
But I did walk to the pier entrance just so that I could honestly say that I had walked to Brighton - but I was seriously glad to get on the bus and aim for home.
This stretch was aproximately 12 miles therefore in total 34 miles not as much as I thought but to be honest a very creditable adventure!
Given that I had travelled 22 of these miles with my back pack I feel that it was quite a test! And none too shabby at that - I weighed my pack when I got home and it was a 29 LB weight so my packing was not too over the top - unfortunately my own weight was not impacted but hardly the end of the world!
Practice Walk Hastings to Brighton 10th April
Good morning world!!!
Well last night was different first of all I have decided that I dont sleep well in a mummy sleeping bag -I wriggle too much! Next I ended up making up a hot water bottle a total of 3 times! Ok have a laugh I took a little hot water bottle with me - I always have a hot water bottle! Anyway I was cold!
It was 7.0 when I did get up and had my cereal - I had been advised by an internet friend to consider making up packs of museli or porrage with powdered milk so it just needed water and that proved to be good advice! 2 cups of coffee and a large bowl of museli and a bannana baguette did the tirck I packed up my camp and got ready for the heavy end of the walk!
I decided that the map was telling me to go virtually through the entirity of Eastbourne and it would be all street walking and I needed to find somewhere to dummp the car - SO I CHEATED! I took the car to the far end of Eastbourne and started my fully loaded back pack for my first ever gallvant and I had picked Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters to do it!!! My goal was for Seaford - this was in the end pure fantasy!
Beachy Head was my first goal and I was surprised to find it so close to Eastbourne granted it was all uphill but it was very enjoyable and as it was the first time I had ever been ther Iwas pretty impressed! I must admit I didnt get too close to the edge - Ive never been that keen on cliff edges -something to do with the height thing! Anyway the pub was nice and the visitor centre was kind and a little dubious that I was heading for Seaford (at that point I was in blind enthusiasim that I would do this!!!)
I carry on full of the joys of spring it is hot and I am down to t-shirt and thankful I am on a cliff top with the wind blowing gently in my face. I reach Belle Tout Lighthouse and onwards to Birling Gap - how can a distance just to THERE seem so long? By the time I get there all I want to do is jump in for a paddle but 2 things stop me 1. you have to go down a really high set of steps and then back up and 2. there are a really high set of STEPS which puts me off from heading for the shale beach.
By now I am realising that this is no walk in the park - ok so technically it is the 7 sister park but you know what I mean!
Hill 1 sees me stop for lunch - out comes my trusty stove and beans and coffee here we come as well as a little sun bathe/ catnap!
hill 2 I can do this but it is going to take some doing hill
hill 3 what do you mean there are 3 more to go???
hill 4 I just gave up a lovely young German boy came up the hill I think he thought I had collapsed on the hill going down! We held a really good conversation about the route and how there are no refreshments at the Exceat end - hardly an incentive to finish that part of the route! Anyway keep going there are only 2 more to the end!
hill 5 sees me asking a couple if it is much further to go and then asking someone else if it really is still 2 more to go! Mind you the second person I asked was ex army friendly and rather nice!!!! so it was worth asking if only for a chat!
hill 6 seemed like forever and then
finally number 7 and down the hill to Exceat as the tide is inconveniently in and therefore I cant walk across the river :(
As I walk to Exceat there is a sign for Foxhole campsite so I trail off up this farm track to find noone available to let me stop so back down the path and along this unmotorised path to the pub - the Golden Galleon! I was just deciding whether it was worth asking if there was anywhere else to camp but it was rather busy being as it was a red hot summer Sunday evening. But the Gods were upon me and a bus comes trolling up heading for Seaford and I decide that this is giving me amessage! I catch the bus and get off just outside of a Tescos -ahhh food! a £2 special which I devour before checking out where the campsite is - 1 and 1/2 miles beach side walk grrrr. I try to catch a bus who says "bus doesnt go there" so it is walking again I go - by now my feet are killing me and I know I have a blister on my feet and it is hurting!
I walk along, find the campsite and pitch up - have you ever tried to pitch up on your hands and knees? Well I had that experience! Still after a shower and a chat with the next tent I start to get ready to do beans for tea only to discover that my matches are wet and by that time I feel that I could do a quick'ish walk to a shop - errr no that is back to the Tesco's which is 1 1/2 miles back where I came from - Sod it I will drink water and eat museli and think nice thoughts!!! By 8.30 I am asleep with 2 layers of clothes tonight 'cos I cant have a hot water bottle - now I was really sulking about that!
Never mind tomorrow is another day!
Found another site (Saturday Walkers Club) that says that Eastbourne to Exceat is 9.2 miles and has a 10 out of 10 for toughness! Add to that the walk to the campsite (which was all en route) I have done 10 3/4 miles - it seemed a lot further but it was all hills and not much else - fantastic views though and I am proud of having done it - bit gutted about missing the Exceat to Seaford stretch but still you cant do everything! Now done a total of aproximately 23 miles
Well last night was different first of all I have decided that I dont sleep well in a mummy sleeping bag -I wriggle too much! Next I ended up making up a hot water bottle a total of 3 times! Ok have a laugh I took a little hot water bottle with me - I always have a hot water bottle! Anyway I was cold!
It was 7.0 when I did get up and had my cereal - I had been advised by an internet friend to consider making up packs of museli or porrage with powdered milk so it just needed water and that proved to be good advice! 2 cups of coffee and a large bowl of museli and a bannana baguette did the tirck I packed up my camp and got ready for the heavy end of the walk!
I decided that the map was telling me to go virtually through the entirity of Eastbourne and it would be all street walking and I needed to find somewhere to dummp the car - SO I CHEATED! I took the car to the far end of Eastbourne and started my fully loaded back pack for my first ever gallvant and I had picked Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters to do it!!! My goal was for Seaford - this was in the end pure fantasy!
Beachy Head was my first goal and I was surprised to find it so close to Eastbourne granted it was all uphill but it was very enjoyable and as it was the first time I had ever been ther Iwas pretty impressed! I must admit I didnt get too close to the edge - Ive never been that keen on cliff edges -something to do with the height thing! Anyway the pub was nice and the visitor centre was kind and a little dubious that I was heading for Seaford (at that point I was in blind enthusiasim that I would do this!!!)
I carry on full of the joys of spring it is hot and I am down to t-shirt and thankful I am on a cliff top with the wind blowing gently in my face. I reach Belle Tout Lighthouse and onwards to Birling Gap - how can a distance just to THERE seem so long? By the time I get there all I want to do is jump in for a paddle but 2 things stop me 1. you have to go down a really high set of steps and then back up and 2. there are a really high set of STEPS which puts me off from heading for the shale beach.
By now I am realising that this is no walk in the park - ok so technically it is the 7 sister park but you know what I mean!
Hill 1 sees me stop for lunch - out comes my trusty stove and beans and coffee here we come as well as a little sun bathe/ catnap!
hill 2 I can do this but it is going to take some doing hill
hill 3 what do you mean there are 3 more to go???
hill 4 I just gave up a lovely young German boy came up the hill I think he thought I had collapsed on the hill going down! We held a really good conversation about the route and how there are no refreshments at the Exceat end - hardly an incentive to finish that part of the route! Anyway keep going there are only 2 more to the end!
hill 5 sees me asking a couple if it is much further to go and then asking someone else if it really is still 2 more to go! Mind you the second person I asked was ex army friendly and rather nice!!!! so it was worth asking if only for a chat!
hill 6 seemed like forever and then
finally number 7 and down the hill to Exceat as the tide is inconveniently in and therefore I cant walk across the river :(
As I walk to Exceat there is a sign for Foxhole campsite so I trail off up this farm track to find noone available to let me stop so back down the path and along this unmotorised path to the pub - the Golden Galleon! I was just deciding whether it was worth asking if there was anywhere else to camp but it was rather busy being as it was a red hot summer Sunday evening. But the Gods were upon me and a bus comes trolling up heading for Seaford and I decide that this is giving me amessage! I catch the bus and get off just outside of a Tescos -ahhh food! a £2 special which I devour before checking out where the campsite is - 1 and 1/2 miles beach side walk grrrr. I try to catch a bus who says "bus doesnt go there" so it is walking again I go - by now my feet are killing me and I know I have a blister on my feet and it is hurting!
I walk along, find the campsite and pitch up - have you ever tried to pitch up on your hands and knees? Well I had that experience! Still after a shower and a chat with the next tent I start to get ready to do beans for tea only to discover that my matches are wet and by that time I feel that I could do a quick'ish walk to a shop - errr no that is back to the Tesco's which is 1 1/2 miles back where I came from - Sod it I will drink water and eat museli and think nice thoughts!!! By 8.30 I am asleep with 2 layers of clothes tonight 'cos I cant have a hot water bottle - now I was really sulking about that!
Never mind tomorrow is another day!
Found another site (Saturday Walkers Club) that says that Eastbourne to Exceat is 9.2 miles and has a 10 out of 10 for toughness! Add to that the walk to the campsite (which was all en route) I have done 10 3/4 miles - it seemed a lot further but it was all hills and not much else - fantastic views though and I am proud of having done it - bit gutted about missing the Exceat to Seaford stretch but still you cant do everything! Now done a total of aproximately 23 miles
Practice walk Hastings to Brighton 9th April
Awake at 6.30am and ready to face the world and enjoy a bright sunshiny day! I can hear the sea lapping on the stony shore at Eastbourne and I get out the map with my coffee - suddenly I realise this is for real and I have 3 days of walking in front of me and I have to sort everything as I am going to be camping and stuff this is really going to be a test of the bright idea! The first job was to pack the rucksack and see what is actually in it - and when I do I feel quite confident that I might just do it rather than survive it! All I need to is go and buy a tent and a torch/light and some food for my first camp meal.
After a very enjoyable breakfast - full English is the only way. I jump in the car and head off to buy a tent and find a campsite. This is as basic planning as you can imagine.
Milletts here I come and I am going to buy a tent - not just look but actually buy! It is 8.45 and I am virtually banging on the door of Milletts as they open. "Good morning! Can I help you" for once I dont look like a rabbit in the head lights "Yes" says I, "I want a tent just for me and not too heavy as I am back packing. Oh and not too pricy as I am only just trying this out" Away he goes and finds me a tent - " This will be perfect - the backpacker - last years model £30 and any of this selection at 1/2 price and do you want a mallett as the ground might be a bit hard?"
"Yes please! The tent will be lovely and yes to the mallett and the wind up light it will be a perfect 1/2 price thing!" Little did he know that I wanted a light and that I had been ruminating over the backpacker for ages!!!!
9.05 I am out of the shop feeling even prouder of myself than you could believe.
940 I am at a campsite where the warden is slightly confused that I want a pitch for one night and it is only me!!!!
Now to set up the tent and to be honest it went up easier than I thought. For a first time but it still took me a good three quarters of an hour!
I leave the tent and get a bus to Hastings for the first part of my adventure. I am only taking a day pack as the tent is already up. I know where I have to head to and it is also the first day of a proper walk in ages so I think I should break myself in gently.
I get off the bus and find the tourist information to buy a card to keep as a record of my journey and to ask just how far it is to walk and whether I can actually walk along the coast all the way. "ummm errr yea I think so and it is about 16 miles I think!" So I was none the wiser I had thought that it was about 12 so 16 is only a little bit further isnt it???? I gave up there and ended up buying post cards from a souvenir shop but on asking about the actual whereabouts of the picture I was vaguely answered that it must be in the old town and that is just dodwn the road- I am talking about a cliff lift - are you really telling me that we are a nation that doesnt know where significant points in our own town are??? This is depressing!
Anyway the campsite is at Pevensy Bay which is a bit closer so it must be do-able. I had never realised just how long a beach can be! I walked virtually the entire way on a promenade with just a few detours onto the actual beach.
At Bexhill I walked along a fair stretch of the shoreline when I met a little boy in tears on a bike shouting to his mum. Obviously I thought he was tired and had lost the will to ride his bike ( I later found out it was a sulk to get an ice cream - trust me to interfere!) Anyway I dared him to race me to mum - that distracted him enough to get on his bike and ride! Then he followed me as I walked on and I said he still hadnt beaten me as he hadnt gone past me next thing he is off like mad and going way in front of me and his mum is now catching up and walking along with me as he is going at a rate of knots! Mum tells me that it is walkable to Cooden but she wasnt sure about any further. He was dead chuffed that he beat me as he had taken it that I was racing him to the next road - miles away!!!!
Next person I met was a lady ex Deal resident who chatted about the coastal path that was now on the beach. Who informed me that it isnt that far to Eastbourne and that she has once walked it and it is a lovely day out. And that most of it is proper promenade after Normans Bay. I pass Coodens Beach Hotel and instantly recognise it as the place I did my first training on my old job and had cursed it then but now I was looking at it with fresh eyes!
I then found Normans Bay which was very annonomous (I now realise that it is a nudist beach!) And not one naked body was seen - gutted! Still I was flagging so too much excitement might have upset me!
The last stretch of my walk that day was Beachlands which was tiring and I was getting sure that it wasnt just me but that this was now over 10 miles that I had walked. I called into a caravan park and bought an ice lolly and asked directions by now I was convinced that I had missed Pevensey Bay but no it is a mile down the road and you cant miss it! I now rememered that I had not bought any bread or anything for my tea apart from a tin of beans this was not promising to be a tasty and well earned meal!
I finally got back to my abode tent sweet tent at about 5.30 and felt shatttered - I had been walking since 12 and not really stopped. It had been warm and slightly hard to do with all the shingle and stony paths but I had done the first part of my mission and I was alive! Amazing how a wash and a cuppa revives you! Nipped to Asda got food and a cup for my coffee - something I forgot!
Just googled the Cooden Beach Hotel and found this walk!!! http://www.walkingclub.org.uk/book_3/walk_66/index.shtml
Grr why didnt I find this before - consolation is that it marks my walk as 12 miles and that Beachlands is very heavy going!
Practice walk Hastings to Brighton 8th April
The next 4 blogs are all part of the same blog but I want to be clear on how the weekend went.
Friday - planned D day to go walking with a friend who calls off ot 2pm with horrible cold/flu thingy and had kept thinking she was getting better but not!
I spent the next 2 hours growling, feeling sorry for myself and thinking how gutted I was and to make it worse the family had rearranged their plans for me to be able to go away! So I then decided that I would look at whether I could get accommodation cheaply as I only had a 3/4man tent if I were to go - Anyway by 7pm the B&B was booked and off I went. Planning what to pack was a little hit and miss - things had already been stuffed together over the week as I had believed I was going but joint stuff was still to be grabbed as this one was going to be solo!
I still didnt have a walking tent and I didnt have a light of any format so this was going to be a learning curve. It took everything to remember to get the directions to Eastbourne. As it was I had to go back to the house twice as I forgot my camera and my phone charger all lifes little essentials!
I booked in and fell asleep in very quick succession and dreamt adventureous thoughts.
Cooking pots and stoves! should have blogged it as the 4th April
Well last week I went to my brothers in Kings Lynn and we went to a car boot. Now normally I am the last person to succeed in the wonders of car boots but this time I really won out! I got a brand new Trangia-esque stove and pots! Still with the tissue paper etc I was so made up with it as I had been researching what to buy and this was on my wish list but my eye on the budget had made me hold off.
Anyway this week we had to try it out - when I say we I mean my family who all decided that it was essential that I try making a drink and then fried egg sandwiches! Blow me it was a success although perhaps I should have washed the kettle out first and it had the new taste on it!
Well it has been videod so I will add it when I find out how! Now all I need is a tent and ... and ... and ...!
Anyway this week we had to try it out - when I say we I mean my family who all decided that it was essential that I try making a drink and then fried egg sandwiches! Blow me it was a success although perhaps I should have washed the kettle out first and it had the new taste on it!
Well it has been videod so I will add it when I find out how! Now all I need is a tent and ... and ... and ...!
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