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#25 RARE WELSH BIT

Well, it’s the only stage that starts and ends in Wales. Day 25 (Sunday 29 July 2018) Chepstow to Monmouth (17½ miles) Cumulative: 355 miles Facts: Time on walk: 5 hours 55 minutes. Average speed: 2.96 mph. Weather: Overcast from start; heavy rain in afternoon followed by intermittent showers. Warmer and sunnier at end of […]

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#24 FRIESIAN STANDOFF

Thus far, grazing dairy cattle have been very much part of the supporting cast in the tale of 50FootHead, adding about half a mile to my journey on day 7 and about 1½ miles to day 19. Today, however, they bustled their way into a starring role, delaying me by 1¼ hours. The highlight of […]

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#23 “….AND WELCOME TO THE LATEST EPISODE…”

…of 50FootHead Chart Music. Or, in full: [very broad Nottingham accent] “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYUP YOU POP-CRAZED YOUNGSTERS, and welcome to the latest episode of Chart Music.” The man with the accent is Al Needham, who is interviewed about the podcast here. The collective of former Melody Maker journalists is (in order of appearance) David Stubbs, Sarah Bee, Taylor […]

#88 YOU’LL NEVER FORGET THIS

You always walk alone… until The End – LEJoG Day 88 LEJoG Day 88 pre-amble Knowing for a while that today’s post title had to begin with Y, I was originally going to call it “You Know, John o’Groats isn’t actually…”. As in, JoG isn’t actually the most northeasterly point on the island of Great […]

#87 XX – K(E)ISSING THE HEAD HELLO

The penultimate episode – LEJoG Day 87 Day 87 pre-amble Well there’s your X title sorted out. Nearly 4 years* after “kissing the arse goodbye” in Birmingham, I’m kissing the head hello. And hey – the penultimate stop on the journey from foot to head almost spells ‘Kiss’. *This post is also published exactly 4 […]

#86 VIEW FROM THE END OF THE MAP

Life at the extremes… LEJoG Day 86 Day 86 pre-amble “But Arron, you’re not the end of the country yet. How can you be at the ‘end of the map’?” Allow me to explain… A couple of days ago, I said that Ian Botham was the first LEJoG walker I became aware of, in 1985. […]

#85 PARTING LIKE THE 9’N’99

Two Thousand Two Two, journey (nearly) over Oops, (almost) out of time LEJoG Day 85 Day 85 pre-amble A music obsessive almost to the very end, I’m obviously playing on the lyrics to Prince’s ‘1999’ with today’s post title. But why? Well… the main event on this, the shortest stage in 40 days over THREE […]

#84 JUST ME & ‘CHART MUSIC’ VERSUS THE ROAD

“Ay up you pop-crazed youngsters, and welcome to…” the last episode before I finish LEJoG… Day 84 Day 84 pre-amble Prelude: yesterday’s teaser… My first awareness of anyone walking from Land’s End to John o’ Groats was Ian Botham’s walk for leukaemia research in November 1985. He walked the other way in fact, something I […]

#83 DUNROBIN (NOT YET DUNROAMIN)

Five years, my feet hurt a lot… LEJoG Day 83 Day 83 pre-amble Well actually, they don’t. Not right now, a week after this walk. And not during the walk either, though they did hurt a bit four days later. The heel seems a lot better this year – my weekly mileage remains down, which […]

#82 PUTTING UP WITH… STUFF

Goodbye to 2021… One Year Left! LEJoG Day 82 Day 82 pre-amble This was an attractive walk, and the clouds largely behaved themselves. There were golf courses at the start and near the end, hence my now rare venture into a punning post title. I look back at the 2018 posts and see that I […]

#81 WHEN THE WEATHER BREAKS

The luck of the Scottish runs out, on LEJoG Day 81 Day 81 pre-amble Ever since the heavy rain on the canals in August 2020, my Scottish journey had been blessed with remarkably good weather. Crucially, I felt not a drop of rain along the West Highland Way or Great Glen Way. Astonishingly, the one […]

#80 MISNOMERLAND

HINO (Highlands In Name Only) – LEJoG Day 80 Day 80 pre-amble Might as well warn you now – this is one of those entries where the walker (and therefore the reader, my apologies) wonders why he’s bothering! A very dull walk, comparable to Day 31 but longer. The worst foot pain so far. And […]

#79 BLACK ISLE BENEATH BLUE SKIES

The sun continues to shine, on LEJoG Day 79 Day 79 pre-amble Not just the sun, but Lady Luck too. This was the thirteenth consecutive day of walking in Scotland with no rain. And the only day it did rain (very heavily) was my pre-planned rest day at the Kingshouse Hotel. Most of a long […]

#78 BLAZING THE LAST TRAIL

You’re on your own, after LEJoG Day 78 Day 78 pre-amble As in, you no longer have a guidebook. This is the last day on which I was able to follow a Trailblazer guide. It’s also the last day on an officially-recognised National Trail. The full record is: South West Coast Path (Days 1 – […]

#77 30C AT 57N

LEJoG Day 77 – it’s a matter of degrees Day 77 pre-amble Today was a hot one. Not just “very warm”, and not even “warm for Scotland”. It was hot, almost all the way through the walk. The mercury wasn’t quite up there with the day after Alston in 2019 (still a record-breaker I think). […]