A day trip to Bath

Our guidebook gives two routes to connect up to the Pennine Way from the southwest corner of England. One is the way we’re going, which is over Offa’s Dyke Path and visits Wales, the other is through Bath and through the Cotswolds. Offa’s Dyke offers more interesting hiking, but I really wanted to see the town of Bath!

Will lived there a few years for school, and he was willing to show me around. It only took about an hour by train away from our trail.First things first, a Scottish smoked salmon sandwich to fuel the sightseeing.The Circus, iconic row houses in downtown Bath.Seeing more of downtown and the weir on the River Avon. I learned what a weir is.After walking a bit, Will took a book to the pub for a couple hours and I saw the Roman Baths. They have an audio tour similar to Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. Some parts include audio from Bill Bryson, kind of like he’s on the tour with you.The original complex was quite large with an attached temple to Sulis Minerva, who was a mash up of the original Celtic local hot springs goddess with the Roman goddess Minerva.The Gorgon’s head from the temple pediment – if you want to know more about that, you’ll have to google it yourself. But what an amazing artifact.Roman coins found in the area, they threw in coins just like folks do today at fountains. But also inscriptions of curses and various silver or tin offerings that have survived over time.Sulis Minerva, the original bronze head which was dug up in the 1700s – that’s kind of ridiculous that we have this.Overflow drainage sewers that go out to the river.Hypocaust floors, which I instantly recognized from high school Latin class.And then I went to see the Bath Abbey, found Will, and we headed back to trail.

I’m very glad to have gotten the chance to see Bath! It worked out very well, and we still got in a few more miles that evening. It was a great way to work it into the trip.

Working our way up to Offa’s Dyke Path, Cheddar to Shirehampton

Our stay in Cheddar was brief but very necessary – it was the first time we’d done proper laundry, the week before we just did the best we could with some hot water at a campsite.The way out of the town of Cheddar took us up above Cheddar Gorge, a natural feature of the area. There were a fair number of people out exploring it, despite the damp weather.And the route took us by Thatchers, a 100 year old cider company. They were having cider tasting and cheeses in honor of Somerset Day (this was the first annual Somerset Day), which roped me in.So we sat for a spell.Walking through their orchards beside the brewery.These friendly horses walked with us as far as the could. I put my hand up defensively when one got too close, but he just started scratching his forehead up and down against my arm. Rather feverishly, and I burst out laughing. It was pure joy. Will must have thought I lost my mind because I was laughing so much.These cows also walked with us as far as they could, even though they were on the other side of a ditch.And pressed up against the gate when it blocked their way!I’m sure some folks are aware of it, but many of the classic British red phone booths have been converted to one purpose or another as pay phones have died out. They’re too iconic to just get rid of. Most seem to have been made into small neighborhood libraries, and I’ve seen two or three holding defibrillators. I left my sci-fi book in one after having finished reading the book on trail.

Into Somerset

This lighthouse at Hartland Point marks the beginning of the Bristol Channel which is between us and Wales. We will eventually cross it (on foot) to hike up Offa’s Dyke Path along the land border of England/Wales.Clovelly is an idyllic fishing village built on a small, steep, sheltered bit of coast. During the summer it would be packed with tourists, but our experience was a very quiet one. I got in around 8pm, found Will, and managed to get a burger just before the pub closed up.Getting into some wooded hiking for a while felt great. Being in the trees felt welcoming and natural to me, and there’s not so much wind! Lots of slugs though.We’ve hiked late a time or two while looking for good campsites.Carrot, ginger, coriander, and orange soup. With a hearty chunk of bread. I’ve never had this kind of soup with the added orange before – delicious!Exmoor National Park treated us very well, it’s high compared to the rest of the local area, but tops out at only 1700 feet at Dunkery Beacon, pictured two below. The moors are typically very soggy and blustery, but we did fine without any trouble.Hiking through some more lovely woods.Saying goodbye to Cornwall with a local stout. We crossed through Devon county pretty quickly and entered Somerset.Sitting for a minute in city of Bridgewater. We had some KFC for dinner, and the Mighty Bucket for One really only sedated my hunger for about an hour. We followed that with a stop at a pub, where I ordered the chicken tikka masala and Will got a double stacked burger.Making our way over the flatlands of the Somerset Levels. Most of the farmlands are separated by these drainage ditches, so there were lots of footbridges and gates to go over. This will probably be the easiest portion of the hike, and we made the 19 miles into Cheddar before lunch.Waiting at The Bath Arms until the Youth Hostel opens and we can get a shower. It will be the second shower I’ve had in England after being here two weeks… ! 

More of Cornwall

We had a little trouble crossing this estuary, and spent a bit more time walking in the sand and water than may have been necessary. But it worked out of course. Made it into the tourist town of Newquay and barely found a space to camp out on a blustery peninsula. Basically hiding, or stealth camping, as a thruhiker might call it. Packed up early and went into town for breakfast!Spent the next day or two in rain. It didn’t slow us down at all, and made the Sunday ‘carvery’ meal below all the more appreciated. I had roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, plus loads of veggies.Almost by chance, we were in the town of Padstow for the Mayday celebration, known as Obby Oss. Here’s the full Wikipedia page of the event. It’s an extensive thing! And the pubs were full at 9:00 am. We stuck around for a little while and had something to eat, watched the Obby Oss creature go by with accompanying accordions and singers. I’m really glad we caught this and I got to see a very traditional event of Cornwall.Passing through a farm on the hike.Fantastic cider, by far my favorite! Everyone else can stop making cider, we have a winner!These farm ruins are dated as far back as 1085. Whaaaaat.Will indulged me and agreed to sit by a cafe while I explored the ruins of Tintagel Castle. It’s directly on the Coast Path. The rock has been settled on and off for centuries, but its claim to fame is the association with King Arthur. The craziest thing to me, was that there is a fresh water well in the very center of it. That kind of boggles my mind, considering it’s such a small piece of land.In the tiny village of Boscastle, just stopped in for an ice cream mostly. Had a sit in the sun.An adder, the only venomous snake in Great Britain. It was warmer than usual and sunny this day, so he was out on the trail. I got too close and upset him, sorry about that.This was in a hut built by an English poet, Ronald Duncan. He had to make over 100 trips up from the valley in order to build it originally. Recently renovated by his daughter.

First 4 days on the South West Coast Path

It was -75 degrees outside at 39,000 feet.My pack in a box from the grocery store. Didn’t get stopped by customs, but I did have assure the airline check-in folks that it was just a pack and nothing else.We started from the town of Penzance, and had a full days walk to get to Land’s End.But had a Cornish breakfast first. The blood sausage was probably my favorite bit (small dark piece in the top right corner of the plate). Surprisingly nice texture, spiced and fragrant.

Stopped for an afternoon ‘cream tea’ on the way. Two scones topped with thick cream and jam can be quite filling.

So around this point of the first day, we hit Land’s End, but I don’t have a photo to share. Will has one on his point and shoot camera.

Just outside our tents at the first campsite. Thankfully, horses don’t seem to mind sharing their pasture for a night.Cornish pasties, stuffed with beef, ground pepper, potato, and some gravy. Makes for a good lunch to take out to the trail, similar to how the mineworkers of the area took them to the tin & copper mines.This church building originally dated back to the 1100s.I fly all the way to England to do some hiking, and I still can’t get away from cows!Traditional English breakfast.We’ve crossed a couple beaches that would be slammed during the hot summer months.

There’s been a lot of up and down! Every river or creek valley that drains to the sea has to be crossed.

Another English breakfast, this time with local milk from here in Cornwall.Kept pawing at me for more scratches. Wish I could take ‘er with me.

We’re roughly 83 miles in, and taking the days quite easy. Eating lots of food and letting the rhythm develop. It’s been cold and windy at night, my 35 degree bag isn’t very comfortable, but temps are supposed to rise this week. That would be great!

Couple things before leaving

A strong US dollar against the pound is helping out.

10 year chart.

5 year chart.

I remember researching travel back in college (2007) when the pound was worth two US dollars. It’s down to 1.45 dollars as of right now. It’s a good time to go to the Eurozone as well.

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Teresa is going to be very busy while I’m gone. She’s going to India as a faculty member of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative:

 An educational program specifically designed to teach modern science to Tibetan monastics, ETSI began when His Holiness the Dalai Lama invited Emory University to collaborate with the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. The idea to create and implement a comprehensive modern science curriculum for use in monastic institutions in India  […]

So she’ll be staying at a major Tibetan Buddhist monastery in India, established after the exile from Tibet back in the 60s. Teaching through a translator, to monks who are in a six year program of their capital degree.

Because back in 2006, the Dalai Lama wanted to update their 600 year old curriculum – how cool is that??

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This NYT article was just published, and is strangely relevant to my trip. He discusses public rights of way in a European vs American  context. Couldn’t help but think about all the no trespassing signs along the CDT.

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I’m STOKED to have new zipper pulls and some cuben tape on my ZPacks Hexamid. After 5500+ miles, the canopy had some pinholes that would splash just a little during heavy rain. Not enough to be a problem, but I might as well patch it. I can’t believe how light the tape is and how well it applies. Just fantastic. This tent has more miles in it.

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Direct flight from ATL to LHR tonight. Been playing around in Google Earth.

Will pointed out to me just how far north we’re going to be. In Edinburgh, at the summer solstice of June 21st, the sun sets at 10:03 pm and rises at 4:26 am.

John O’Groats is still almost 200 miles north from there as the crow flies. Combined with summer twilight periods, which are longer than winter twilight periods, we’re going to enjoy some major daylight hours.

Heading to the United Kingdom

I’m flying out to London on April 25th — LAND’S END TO JOHN O’GROATS!

Will and I have been chatting all winter about what adventures might be in store this year for either of us. My own ideas have ranged from: not much ( just working ), to mountain biking the Southwest ( cheap ), to southbounding the AT ( get that triple crown ), to sticking with something logistically easy and familiar, like one month on the Colorado Trail.

I have an additional limiting factor now as compared to the past two years. I’ve taken a reserve position with FEMA, for which I could be called up at any moment to travel and do disaster response work. Part of the deal though, is that I can request up to 90 days off per year where I am blocked out and left to my own devices. That is my kind of gig.

The more Will and I chatted, the more I realized how much I would like to get to Europe. I’ve never been. I even applied to grad school in the UK a few years ago, but it wasn’t right at the time and I never pulled the trigger.

Wait, who’s Will? We originally met on the PCT and I’ve mentioned him here before.

Last day on the Pacific Crest Trail, September 2nd, 2014.

We crossed again for a brief moment on the CDT in Yellowstone last year, going in different directions.

I’ve looked at many of the UK National Trails and considered linking a few of them. Land’s End to John O’ Groats allows for doing just that. It’s a choose your own adventure idea, even more so than the CDT, because the goal is only to go between the two most distance points of Great Britain. Lucky for us, one Mr. Andy Robinson has published some information on recommended routing (Cicerone guidebook).

Total length tends to fall around 1200 miles. At a not very swift pace of 20 miles per day, that’s a two month hike across the countryside of England and up into Scotland. Along the way, we’ll hit three of the most iconic trails!! Starting on the  cliffs of the South West Coast Path, crossing through seaside towns on a daily basis. The Pennine Way along the backbone of England, which is predominately high moorland and crosses over Hadrian’s Wall into Scotland. And the West Highland Way, a classic path through Scottish valleys that ends near Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK. These are just a few parts of the whole.

I got a good deal on a direct flight from Atlanta, logistics aren’t very difficult with frequent towns, and a hike of ~two months sounds just about right to me at the moment.

Making last minute gear decisions.

 

 

Permit 2, St. Mary to Waterton! DONE

  Getting one’s feet wet in a stream crossing isn’t a big deal for a thru hiker, but I was a little surprised that the ranger that issued my permit didn’t mention this bridge was out. My assigned campsite was at Gunsight Lake, pictured above. It was 10 miles out of my way, but hey, I’m in Glacier and getting to see a different part of it than most thru-hikers! I can do the extra miles.

  Then I made my way back to Going-To-The-Sun and continued up to Logan Pass to catch the Highline Trail.

    
  They sold cookies, so I had lunch. Actually ended up purchasing 8 of them total. If I recall correctly, they were 340 calories each.     The Highline Trail was easy walking with killer views despite the clouds.

My next campsite was at Flat Top Mountain, where there are some very unruly deer that will keep you up all night.

This was Goat Haunt, about 5 miles from the Canadian border, where I stopped to chat with the posted ranger and two guys from Homeland Security. The border guys are there to process Canadians who come down the lake on tour boats.

The ranger  did me a huge favor – I had decided to skip my last permitted campsite because there was enough time left in the day to finish the CDT (!!!!!!!!!). She called Waterton and arranged a permit for me to camp in the Canadian park so that I wouldn’t have to stress about getting all the way to the town of Waterton.

She also asked if I met the deer at Flat Top Mountain. Yes.

 And I did it! Finished on September 19th, shortly after 5 pm!

I kept track of every day’s mileage, and my grand total was 2716 miles.

   

 This was a very emotional moment for me! Probably more so than on the PCT. Not just because it was a harder trail with a shorter and more demanding window in which to finish. But also because I did somewhere around half of the trail solo. And I finished solo. I think that finishing alone was very important to me. I allowed myself to recall the journey, the challenges along the way this year, and to appreciate how much I believe I matured as a hiker on this one.
   
My campsite that night was shared with a Canadian woman and a Dutch man. They shared their campfire, some wine, smores. Best smores of my life! They were great to hang out with. I’m so glad they were there and I got to share the events of the day with them.

I initially thought I would spend some time in Waterton and day hike the Canadian park since I was there. As soon as I sat down for breakfast the next morning though, I realized that was not at all going to happen. I was done.

  So I started making my way back to the States. Check out the photo above. I went to the Waterton visitor center to ask about a shuttle south to the border crossing. It wasn’t running, so the park employee made me a hitching sign! So great. I put my thumb out, but within 5 minutes, the other employee in the photo came out with car keys and offered to drive me down herself. SO GREAT. I LOVE CANADA.

  Crossing was easy. Although I did get sternly admonished for walking on the side of the road. You know, like a pedestrian. Instead, they wanted me to walk in the middle of the lane among the cars. Oh okay, my bad…

From there I caught 4 more hitches back to East Glacier! Brownies Hostel was an easy choice – by far the best place to stay in the area. $20 a night, friendly staff, great wifi, a bakery and pizza downstairs. Yeah, I like this place!

 Tragik, Viper, myself and Spaceman. I’ve seen 10 other hikers come through, and doled out advice for getting though Glacier.

So from here I’m catching a train to Portland for the annual Gathering put on by American Long Distance Hiking Association (West). I’ll see quite a few folks there over the weekend, and see the Triple Crown awards given out.

Then Teresa is coming to Portland for about 5 days, and our plan is to drink coffee and read books mostly. Then we’ll fly back to Atlanta together.

Just for context and to share with you – this blog got around 7,500 views last year on the PCT, and around 4,000 this year on the CDT. I know a lot of the traffic last year was driven by the PCTA.org’s Journalist page, so I’d say we did pretty well this year without having that source to funnel readers. I have no idea what’s next, or when it will be, but eventually there will be more adventures. Subscribe at the top of you want email alerts for postings.

Adios for now! 

Permit 1, East Glacier to St.Mary

There’s one small fire closure along the CDT route that is still in effect inside Glacier National Park. Going around it requires exiting the park to the east, so I had to get a second permit at that point to finish the hike.

   Cresting the trail from East Glacier down to the Two Medicine campground.

  Fall colors are definitely showing up.  

   This is Triple Divide Peak, where the three different slopes of the mountain flow to three different water sheds. The Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson Bay.

   The round of precipitation that came while I was at the hostel in East Glacier left some snow on the high points.

  

  I ran into Mountain Spice and She-Ra on trail, and we shared two campsites along this section. I met Mountain Spice last year at the Mann’s house, and we actually started the PCT on the same day. Hadn’t seen her since then. I met She-Ra last year at the ALDHA-West Gathering, though it took us a few minutes to figure that out.

  

  These were really nice 20 mile days. Way more relaxed than the previous section, and the trails in Glacier are very well maintained.

  At St. Mary, I bought more food and arranged my final permit through the Park to the Canadian border. My second permit would start with a walk on the main artery of the park, Going-To-The-Sun Road. I know it’s an odd name, but it’s grown on me. The road is 53 miles long and took 12 years to build. Wikipedia says the winter snow can be up to 80 feet deep where the road crosses Logan Pass!

Anaconda to Helena to Benchmark to East Glacier

Elinor and I didn’t stay in Anaconda, just passed through to eat some pizza and resupply.

This was the same weekend that the bow hunting season opened for elk, and there were loads of hunters out. Quite a few on the CDT. Things turned dramatically cold and we got hit with about an inch and a half of snow. The hunters were stoked because it’s very easy to follow fresh animal tracks in fresh snow.

Early one morning, right out of camp, we heard some elk bugling close by. Walked right into them on the trail, so they dashed up the mountain. RIGHT around the corner were two bow hunters with an 8 year old son. They didn’t say anything about it, but I pretty sure I ruined their morning. Their truck was several miles away, so I take it they had been out since the VERY early hours for opening weekend. Sorry guys.
    
    

  I’m proud of this photo above – there was a surprisingly long waterless stretch of ridge walking. Was gonna have to figure something out. I picked out a spot on the map where I thought water might be, off the ridge and trail, and where there would be reasonable options to get back on the trail, based on the topi. Elinor followed me down and it was looking very dry. Then BOOM, clear spring water pouring out of the rocks. AW YEAH.

We had different resupply points, so Elinor and I ended up hiking separately from this area.  

  It was pretty neat to hike across Lewis & Clark pass after listening to the audiobook of Undaunted Courage. Their party had split into four groups at this point in order to explore more ground, so Lewis went over this pass and Clark did not. But it was a big moment because it represented passage back across the Rockies, and easy flatland to the Missouri River to make the successful return trip. Lewis & Clark didn’t particularly enjoy crossing these mountains with their hundreds of pounds of gear, trading goods, ammunition, and food rations. I think that’s understandable.

Not too far north from there, the evening light started to put on a show.  

 What can I say? This sunset blew me away. I stopped in my tracks for the night, ignoring my previous intention to go at least two more miles. 

What I thought was a cairn down below me on the trail turned out to be another hiker, Andy, whom I’ve only just now gotten to know. His dad really helped out Elinor and I back in Helena by driving us around a bit. I was so excited for someone else to have been out there to see the sunset. Andy and I geeked out over the the colors before settling down to sleep.

We also dicovered a handful of mutual friends, and figured out that last year at the PCT Kickoff, we were sitting about three or four feet from each other during the opening presentation. Kinda cool!   

  The Benchmark area was deserted. Picked up my box from a bear proof container, and continued on. There’s a family that brings boxes up from Lincoln for $25 each, which in my opinion is totally necessary.  This was an approximately ~240 mile section between towns, shower, laundry, etc.  Two Forest Service employees were going out with a pack train to do trail work. They were the only human beings I saw in Benchmark. They freaked me out though. Said the weather was gonna turn! Couple inches of snow coming in! I was very concerned that if any significant snow came in, Glacier National Park would close the high routes to Waterton, Canada. That’s the most scenic and preferred finishing point of the CDT, and I might miss it by just a few days. So I turned on the jets.

    
    
  

The Chinese Wall in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  This ranger station was wrapped for protection against the very recent wildfires. Many hikers before me did not get to go through this area and had to deal with smoke.  

   

Bigfoot, whom I had been calling BiggieSox for fun, left some trail magic at Marias Pass just before East Glacier. He got off the trail after finishing Wyoming, but is on a huge motorcycle trip. I missed him by 24 minutes at the pass!! What a guy though. The teddy bear and an orange soda were for Elinor, but she was somewhere behind me at this point.

So I got to East Glacier last night after doing just over 240 miles in 8 days. The 6 middle days averaged to 32 each day. It was the most sustained push that I’ve hiked. And it rained last night while I was in the hostel! WOO HOO I’m in Glacier National Park!