Do Something

A few days ago I was gripped by the need to do something. Something beyond the usual humdrum daily grind of walk the dogs, work, work, work, cook, clean, eat, read, sleep. I decided I needed an adventure, a challenge to work towards that I would enjoy and get a real sense of accomplishment from.

It's spring in southwest England, and the mornings are, by and large, glorious. Those early walks with the dogs are really special and the further we go and the longer the walks last, the happier the dogs are. And I am too.

So I started to look into walking. Long walks covering vast distances over many days. I pored over internet images and stories of the Southern Upland Way. Do you know it? It's a 212-mile hike from Portpatrick on the southwest coast of Scotland to Cockburnspath on the east coast. Oh, I could see myself trekking up hill and down dale - or whatever it is the Scottish call dales. A 10-14 day hike. Wow.

I started to plan when I could fit such an event into my busy year and picked September as an ideal month for an outdoor adventure. But 212 miles divided by 14 days is more than 15 miles a day. And to do the Upland Way in 10 days (which I thought a nice round number) would mean at least 20 miles a day. 20 miles a day! Have you ever walked 20 miles? Well I have, but not for many years, and I'm not sure I would have chosen to repeat the experience at the time.

You know what's coming, don't you? There is no way I'm going to be walking the Southern Upland Way in 10 or any other number of days by September. That would give me less than 6 months to get ready, and believe me there's lots of ready I need to get. So the Upland Way is more a bit of a vague dream for next spring, maybe. In the meantime, I've got a plan!