The walk from London to Devon

In March-April 2013 we walked 250 miles from London to Totnes in Devon for charity.

This is us, Alex and Will, on the final day about half a mile from our destination. We're still in one piece after all those miles and 12 and a half days on the go.

Here's the story of our walk from the beginning...

We started at Charing Cross, at the bottom of Trafalgar Square, on a very rainy day in March.

With the constant bad weather we'd been having in March we decided to start the walk a day earlier than planned to allow us an extra bit of "leg room" later on, in case we needed it.

As it turned out we only got as far as Brentford before the skies totally emptied all the rain in London on us.  Luckily for us though, this first day was the only really wet day of the whole trip.  Better to get it out of the way early on when we were still close enough to home to go back and dry off.

Here's the full story about Day (minus) 1

Day 1

With some of the London-based walking under our belts, we returned to Brentford to start the main walk out of London, following the Grand Union Canal westwards. Destination: Windsor.

Here's the full story... Day 1: London to Windsor

Day 2

The aptly named "Three Castles Path" starts at Windsor Castle and for the next three days we would be visiting each of the three castles.

There was a seasonal shift back to winter and we had a bit of snow, and plenty of ice... And mud.

More photos here... Day 2: Windsor to Winchfield

Day 3

Odiham Castle and the Basingstoke Canal (plus more snow, ice and mud!).  Odiham Castle was built by King John and completed the year before the signing of the Magna Carta. 

Conditions on the ground were pretty slippery for most of the day, but we eventually reached our destination for the night after a long day of walking.

More about this... Day 3: Winchfield to New Alresford

Day 4

On Day 4 we reached Winchester. The Great Hall houses the Round Table (well, a Round Table, not THE Round Table as in the mythical one), which has never left the room in which it was constructed.

Winchester Great Hall marks the end of the Three Castles Path and to our surprise the lady in the gift shop stamped our little guide book to certify we had completed it and gave us a set of postcards.  We've been using them to write thank you letters to our Couchsurfing hosts and people that have sponsorsed us.

Whilst mentioning Couchsurfing, if you haven't done it before, you really should try it! www.couchsurfing.org

After lunch in Winchester we carried on about 10 miles to the village of Kings Somborne where we met our Couchsurfing host for the night, Dan. 

More pictures and info about Day 4... Day 4 Alresford to Kings Somborne

Day 5

The trail to Salisbury is called the Clarendon Way and is a really nice walk. Approaching Salisbury is relatively easy to navigate because the spire of Salisbury Cathedral is such a big landmark on the horizon. From the ruins of Clarendon Palace (where we encountered a herd of alpacas) we were able to walk in a straight line directly into the centre of Salisbury.

More pictures and the rest of the story... Day 5: Kings Somborne to Salisbury

Day 6

We headed out from Salisbury towards Shaftesbury along the old drove road. The track was mostly bridlepath and occasionally potholed roads but it was very easy to walk and being so high up meant it was dry underfoot.

The tree-lined path opened out to great scenery and we walked past lots of farms. One chicken farm seemed to have a sound system wired up into all the barns and was blasting out "Copacabana" by Barry Manilow - does music make hens lay more eggs?

More about Day 6: Salisbury to Berwick St John

Day 7

We joined the Wessex Ridgeway and found ourselves in the county of Dorset. It seemed too early to be in the penultimate county after only 7 days. There were still plenty of miles to cover... And they were to be hilly miles.

By this stage in the walk all memories of the city had faded and it was becoming difficult to imagine a different way of life other than walking in this nomadic style.

Here's more detail about day 7... Day 7: Berwick St John to Shillingstone

Day 8

The walk began with a steep climb out of Shillingstone to reach spectacular ridge top views over Dorset. 

And lots and lots of sheep!

This bunch were particularly curious / friendly...

We passed through Cerne Abbas (famous for the Giant) and after a final push we reached our destination for the evening, Maiden Newton.

Day 8: Shillingstone to Maiden Newton

Day 9

The day of coming up against footpath closures!  The first part of the day was relatively flat because we chose to follow the route of the trackbed of a former railway line (the Bridport Branch Line). Although there is a project underway by Sustrans to open the route officially as a trailway, some of the walk is not yet particularly accessible.  

We had to take some diversions but we still managed to make good time and get to Bridport for lunch.

At West Bay we picked up the South West Coast Path and almost immediately had some fairly challenging inclines. The total height was nowhere near the heights we'd been walking on the Ridgeway but the steepness of the climbing was much more noticeable. We climbed the highest point on the South Coast, Golden Cap, and overlooked the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.

After more footpath diversions due to collapsed bridges and landslides we eventually made it to Lyme Regis at dusk. Luckily the clocks had changed to Summer Time so we had an extra hour of light in the evening.

Here's more detail about this part of the walk... Day 9: Maiden Newton to Lyme Regis

Day 10

Just past the beach huts of Lyme Regis the SW Coast Path follows a rather impressive undercliff route towards Seaton, with dramatic views out to sea.

The sun shone and spring was in the air as we continued along the coast path. After getting some knee problems on the sharp descents we decided to take to the beach for the final mile and a half into Sidmouth. The signs of recent mudslides and rock falls were a bit alarming - and we even saw a couple of upside down trees!

Read the full story and see more photos... Day 10: Lyme Regis to Sidmouth

Day 11

The penultimate day of the walk, and we'd covered more than 200 miles already. With a few minor aches and pains starting to creep in, the reality of the distance we'd covered hit us. 

When we reached Exmouth we had to catch the boat across the estuary of the River Exe to Dawlish Warren.  This seemed a little bit like cheating because we wanted to do the entire walk without using any other form of transport.  However, this crossing route across the estuary is officially part of the South West Coast Path, so we satisfied ourselves that this was perfectly acceptable.

We crossed through the nature reserve at Dawlish Warren and after following the very scenic stretch of railway line along the coast, we reached Dawlish, our destination for the day.

More about Day 11: Sidmouth to Dawlish

Day 12

Time to muse upon how when you set about to do just one thing for a fixed period of time (in this case - walking) how perception of time and distance gets warped.  In so many ways it felt like we'd been doing this walk forever, in other ways the adventure was still fresh and it felt like we could easily just keep on going.

All good things must come to an end!

We were so lucky with the weather over the 2 weeks.  Although it felt like we'd had all four seasons during the time of our walk, two major things worked in our favour; the Easterly wind was behind us the whole way, and it didn't rain apart from the first day.  We didn't mind being cold, but being cold AND WET isn't fun.

As we made the final approach into Totnes a little flurry of snow fell and we commented that this did in fact seem like the right time to stop,

We arrived at The Royal Seven Stars in Totnes and a small welcoming party was there to meet us - it was great to meet our Totnes supporters who had been following our progress all the way, sending messages via Facebook and tweeting.  It was time for a pint!

Thanks to everyone that has sponsored us and supported along the way! Please donate to Macmillan and RMH Bristol. Our sponsorship page will stay open for a couple of months past the end of the walk - and this is the link: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/walktotnes

Day 1: London to Windsor

Starting in Brentford we picked up the Grand Union Canal and followed it pretty much all the way to Windsor.

We passed over some aqueducts, under some motorways and over quite a lot of railways. At one point we had all three bridges at once (railway below the canal and a road over the top).

We walked about 18 miles, to add to the first 10, so we're now 28 miles into the walk - over 10% of the total!  That makes it all seem quite a small amount, I'm sure we can do 10 times what we've just done.  Is that how it works?

In other news

These amazing handmade badges arrived thanks to Karen and Rupert, and we'll be able to give everyone who sponsors us or people we meet along the way one of these.

If you would like a badge please send us a message via the comments below, or Facebook or Twitter

Day (minus) 1: Parks and paths of London

This is it... The walk begins...

We started here, at the statue of Charles I at Charing Cross. It's the point to which all distances to London are measured, making it the official centre of London.

The more famous landmark of Mr Nelson can be seen towering above.

Hang on, you've started walking already?

Yes! With the threat of some rather unreasonable weather we thought it might be a good idea to start the walk a day early.

We've split the first day into two, to save our feet from too much hard surface walking.

Remember this time last year we had a drought and a hose pipe ban? This year it's the opposite. Sleet and snow and lots of rain.... It can only get better, right?

One week to go!

It's the final countdown to the big walk.

Thank you to everyone that has already sponsored us and all the messages on the sponsorship page.

Training update

Yesterday we pushed 20 miles in just over 5 hours, which was possibly slightly over-doing it. Feeling the after affects today!

Fortunately there will be less time pressure when we're doing the real walk, so we can spread the miles out over the full day. Good to know we can push a fast pace if we need to, though.

What weird weather, all 4 seasons in one day! At least there are a few signs that the sun might come out and stay out...

Training continues...

Just 3 weeks to go until we set off on our epic walk.

We've both bought new walking boots (hooray!).  The other day we took them out and initiated them with mud.

Richmond Park

Visiting Richmond Park for the first time is one of those "why have I never been here before" moments. It's easy to forget you're in London.  It felt more like being on Dartmoor than being in the city.

Our training walk took us from Richmond station through the town to the riverside. Climbing up the hill, we reached Richmond Park and followed a route we'd created using a new GPS route app.  Embracing the technology!

We didn''t spot any of Richmond Park's famous deer (perhaps we weren't looking in the right places). However we did see plenty of these noisy characters...

And should you want to fly model aircraft, apparently this is the place to do it... As long as you observe this board which looks like it has been there since the birth of flight.

 

What's this in aid of?

In 3 weeks time Will and Alex are embarking on a 250-mile walk from London to Devon in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support and RMH Bristol.  Find out why

Can you spare a few pounds?  Sponsor at Virgin Money Giving

Green chain walk

We have been exploring the Green (and in some places brown and muddy) Green Chain walk around south London.

Green Chain Walk

Friday's walk took us from Brixton to Eltham via Crystal Palace and Elmstead Woods.

We met quite an array of different wildlife on this walk, including ducks and dinosaurs, as you can see!

This was quite a hilly route and was good preparation for the hilly stretches of the walk.

We like company on our walks so feel free to join us for part of a training walk one day. Contact us for details.

More like ice skating! An update...

Hello!

Here is the latest news from training and preparations for the walk.

We're gathering more and more support in the form of sponsorship (uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/walktotnes) and also "donations-in-kind" (all the super people who are offering to help us raise money and awareness).  See the ways you can help for info and ideas about how you can get involved besides sponsoring the walk. This extra support is really vital and we really appreciate all offers of support, no matter how small you think it might be.

A suspected broken toe

Bad news. Alex broke his toe! This has put a dampener on training this week. Let's hope it heals quickly and we can get back into our training regime soon.

Training on ice

Last week, before the broken toe incident (and not related) we went out on a very icy circuit of South-East London.

South-east London circuit

For most of this walk it felt like ice skates would have been more appropriate than walking boots and there was a bitterly cold wind. This 11-mile route took us past Severndroog Castle (see photo below) and Eltham Palace, around Lewisham and up over Blackheath.

Severndroog Castle

More news soon!  In the meantime, keep up to date with us on Twitter and Facebook

A mission to photograph the "Totnes Walk" sign

Camberwell to Hampstead

via Totnes Walk

 

Whilst researching our route for the London to Totnes walk we Googled "Totnes Walk" and it turns out it's a road in north London.

So we walked there - and took the photo that is currently the cover photo adorning our Twitter and Facebook profiles.

On-street advertising for our charity walk

Totnes Walk is just north of Hampstead Heath so we set off from Camberwell on a walk which took us up through central London to Camden, then Kentish Town and almost as far as East Finchley. See Totnes Walk on a map

We thought about starting the walk in March from Totnes Walk N2.  It's either that or we'll be starting from the centre of London (at Charing Cross, because distances to London are measured to/from there).

"Totnes Walk to Totnes - walk"

Maybe that's a bit confusing to explain!

I think we'll stick with "London to Totnes walk".

Anyway, we got our photo and had a good walk in the process. It was just a 13.5 mile stroll and we felt we could have kept going and exploring for longer but we had to cut it at Hampstead tube station to get to somewhere else by a certain time.

Camberwell to Hampstead via Totnes Walk

We might return to Hampstead and use the heath as the start or end of another walk as it's good to get a few hills involved in our training. We really need to get out of London for some proper hills like ones we'll encounter in Dorset and Devon.

The training continues....

16.7 mile South-east London circuit

Interesting circular London walk route

Camberwell - Dulwich - Peckham - Lewisham - Deptford - Surrey Quays - Bermondsey - Camberwell

In preparation for our 250-mile walk we're doing a series of training walks to get our fitness levels up.

The aim of this walk route was to pass through as many of south-east London's parks as we could find whilst walking a circuit heading anti-clockwise from our starting point in Camberwell.

With this rough plan in mind, we set off and headed through Ruskin Park.  Next, we went via East Dulwich to Peckham Rye Park. We then wove our way towards Brockley where we climbed up to Hilly Fields Park to find the Stone Circle.

Stone circle in Hilly Fields Park

From here, we dropped down to Lewisham and followed the creek up to Deptford where we joined the Thames Path, heading west.

View where Deptford Creek joins the Thames

Passing through two small parks, Sayes Court Park and Pepys Park, we reached Greenland Quay and spotted Russia Dock Woodland so we diverted from following the quayside to keep up the theme of walking through as much greenery as possible.

After Canada Water, we reached Southwark Park and followed Jamaica Road to Tower Bridge. Pit stop for lunch in the Bridge House, then south via Burgess Park back to Camberwell. The idea here was to roughly follow the route of the former Grand Surrey Canal.

The final park of the day was Myatt's Fields Park, which we skirted the edge of, back to our starting point and completing the 16.7 mile round-trip.

Our walk route

It was a very chilly January day when we completed this walk so this kept us moving at quite a pace. I would happily retrace a similar walk in Spring or Autumn and allow time for exploring the parks in more detail.

Training session route (Woolwich and the Isle of Dogs)

A circular walk with two foot tunnels

Woolwich - Greenwich - Isle of Dogs - Silvertown - Woolwich

Training route

Starting at the top of Shooters Hill Road it's a nice downhill stretch for a couple of miles through Greenwich Park and into Greenwich.

Next to the renovated Cutty Sark we found the entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

The Cutty Sark

Walking through the tunnel, the acoustics down there are a little confusing - you can easily find yourself having a phantom conversation with someone many metres ahead or behind you as if they were standing right next to you.

On the other side of the river we headed north towards Canary Wharf and got a bit lost around some new hotel/housing developments and ended up following the main road for quite a time.

This was a fairly unscenic part of the walk, mostly following the concrete sky train structure that is the Docklands Light Railway along North Woolwich Road. When we came to Thames Barrier Park after a couple of miles the sight of greenery and the prospect of being able to walk next to the Thames drew us in. Strangely topiaried lines of hedges led us towards the view of the Thames Barrier.

Thames Barrier from Barrier Park

Unfortunately there was no way to continue alongside the river from Thames Barrier Park, so back to the main road and continue east aiming to find the Woolwich foot tunnel.

Passing the second of the Tate & Lyle factories the smell of Golden Syrup was in the air. Before we knew it we'd reached the entrance to the foot tunnel to take us back to Woolwich and to complete our circuit with the climb back to the top of Shooters Hill.