Ready for off (?)

Well, I’m more or less ready for the off. It’s the last day at work tomorrow and, despite the gremlins conspiring to set eleventh hour cripplers, I’m hoping for a mid-afternoon flyer.

The baggage is ready for the pack, the maps and guides are sorted, the boots are clean and the lift to St Bees is arranged. Using the C2C Packhorse service simplifies the task of preparation with far fewer constraints: just bung life’s little luxuries (shirts, pants and socks) in the bag. It’s much easier than back-packing proper.

I should be in St Bees by early afternoon on Thursday, so hope to walk the first four miles to Sandwith before tea. If I do, I’ll catch the morning bus back to Sandwith on Friday, making for an easy first day to get into gear (I googled for the local bus timetable).

The preparations seem to have been reasonably successful.

My feet and boots are now on speaking terms. After lots of experimentation with various types of walking socks, footbeds and the like, the combination that works best is liner socks matched with low-tech Odour Eater inserts (when I think about it I used a similar permutation on the Pennine Way some years ago). It also helps my toes enormously if I stop every five or six miles to take my boots and socks off and air my feet. Not a pretty sight for passing innocents, but effective.

I was chastened by last year’s sciatica attack, but haven’t had any worrying twinges of late – walking was recommended to improve back health, but I was cautioned against compressing my spine carrying too heavy a rucksack.

My weight remains stubbornly at around 14st 10lbs, but I feel much fitter than I did a couple of months ago. It’ll be interesting to see which wins out, big breakfasts and pub suppers or the increased exercise. I’d like to think the latter, but guess it will be a draw.

As a concession to ageing I bought myself a pair of Pacerpoles. I’ve used a single trekking pole for years now, but only recently tried twin poles; and Pacerpoles at that. The handles are of an unusual design and call for a completely different technique. I’ve just about mastered them now, although it’s not recommended to get too close when I’ve got them fully deployed or when I’m attacking a stile. I’ve not actually tripped over them of late and they do seem to help on longer walks. They exercise the upper body too.

The weather forecast doesn’t look too promising for the weekend. It seems my wet weather gear will be getting an outing. I still hope to try one or two of the more adventurous alternatives, but only if the conditions are suitable. I was rather hoping that September might tilt the rainfall statistics back towards the average. We’ll see…

I don’t have the technology to post on a daily basis during the walk but will catch up when I get back.