Summary of walk by year

2011 SUMMARY

Start:                          South Haven Point             End:                            Outer Hope

Days 2011                12                                           Days Total                12

Miles 2011               190                                         Miles Total               190

Miles/day 2011      15.8                                       Miles/day Total      15.8

Hours 2011              73                                           Hours Total              73

 

2012 SUMMARY

Start:                          Hope Cove                            End:                            Nanquidno

Days 2012                14                                           Days Total                26

Miles 2012               199                                         Miles Total               389

Miles/day 2012      14.2                                       Miles/day Total      15.0

Hours 2012              80                                           Hours Total              153

 

2013 SUMMARY

Start:                          Nanquidno                           End:                            Porlock

Days 2013                18                                           Days Total                44

Miles 2013               239                                         Miles Total               628

Miles/day 2013      13.3                                       Miles/day Total      14.3

Hours 2013              97                                           Hours Total              250

 

 

2014 SUMMARY

Start:                          Porlock                                  End:                            Chester

Days 2014                18                                           Days Total                62

Miles 2014               289                                         Miles Total               917

Miles/day 2014      16.1                                       Miles/day Total      14.8

Hours 2014              110                                         Hours Total              360

 

2015 SUMMARY

Start:                          Chester                                  End:                            Ravenglass

Days 2015                17                                           Days Total                79

Miles 2015               262                                         Miles Total               1179

Miles/day 2015      15.4                                       Miles/day Total      14.9

Hours 2015              97                                           Hours Total              457

 

2016 SUMMARY

Start:                          Ravenglass                           End:                            Barrowburn

Days 2016                12                                           Days Total                91

Miles 2016               170                                         Miles Total               1349

Miles/day 2016      14.2                                       Miles/day Total      14.8

Hours 2016              60                                           Hours Total              517

 

 

 

2017 SUMMARY

Start:                          Barrowburn (Day 96)        End:                            Hartlepool

Days 2017                12                                           Days Total                103

Miles 2017               173                                         Miles Total               1522

Miles/day 2017      14.4                                       Miles/day Total      14.8

Hours 2017              63                                           Hours Total              580

 

2018 SUMMARY

Start:                          Hartlepool                            End:                            Killingholme

Days 2018                12                                           Days Total                115

Miles 2018               198                                         Miles Total               1720

Miles/day 2018      16.5                                       Miles/day Total      14.9

Hours 2018              68                                           Hours Total              648

 

2019 SUMMARY

Start:                          Killingholme                         End:                            Cromer

Days 2019                12                                           Days Total                127

Miles 2019               191                                         Miles Total               1911

Miles/day 2019      15.9                                       Miles/day Total      15

Hours 2019              65                                           Hours Total              713

 

 

 

2020 SUMMARY

Start:                          Cromer                                  End:                            Butley Ferry

Days 2020                6                                              Days Total                133

Miles 2020               98                                           Miles Total               2009

Miles/day 2020      16.3                                       Miles/day Total      15.1

Hours 2020              33                                           Hours Total              746

 

2021 SUMMARY

Start:                          Butley Ferry                         End:                            Pitsea

Days 2021                14                                           Days Total                147

Miles 2021               205                                         Miles Total               2214

Miles/day 2021      14.6                                       Miles/day Total      15.1

Hours 2021              75                                           Hours Total              821

 

2022 SUMMARY

Start:                          Pitsea                                     End:                           Rye

Days 2022                16                                           Days Total                163

Miles 2022               247                                         Miles Total               2461

Miles/day 2022      15.4                                       Miles/day Total      15.1

Hours 2022              90                                           Hours Total              911

 

 

 

2023 SUMMARY

 

Start:                           Rye                            End:                         Sandbanks     

Days 2023                15                               Days Total            178                               

Miles 2023               235                             Miles Total           2696                 

Miles/day 2023      15.7                           Miles/day Total  15.1                   

Hours 2023              83                               Hours Total         994        

Day 178 – Highcliffe to Sandbanks: 13.3m: 4.5h

We’re almost back at our starting point which we left just over twelve and a half years ago. For this final leg, we’ll be joined on the walk and/or at the celebrations afterwards by our wives, some of our children (along with three of their girlfriends) and a few other family members and friends who have been with us on several days of the walk – from Richard on day 12 through to Mark on days 176 and 177. The rendezvous for most of the group is the Canford, a pub/restaurant with rooms which is about 2 miles inland from Sandbanks. As well as being the venue for our celebratory dinner this evening and where those coming to the dinner will be staying overnight, John has booked a minibus for 10:30 this morning to take us from there to Highcliffe. As regards arrival of the core team, John got to the Canford yesterday with Helen (and elder son John with girlfriend Sophie), as did Mike with Irene. Gary stayed overnight with Sally at a B&B on the edge of the New Forest, and they arrive this morning just before 10 o’clock. Ben has spent the weekend with the family at a place on Selsey Bill. On their drive west today, Cath drops him off at Highcliffe along with daughter Jen and son Will plus girlfriend Ellie, and arrives at the Canford (with son Jamie in a separate car) a few minutes after 10:30. The minibus leaves with 13 passengers on board and we meet Ben and his group in the Highcliffe car park with Ben remarkably having followed the progress of the minibus via live location on WhatsApp. We go down the steps to the beach, and set off for Sandbanks at 11:15. Excellent admin. After a 30 minute stroll along Highcliffe beach, we arrive at Mudeford Quay and await the ferry to Mudeford Spit. There’s plenty of room on board for all 17 of us and it’s only a short crossing to the spit which, given its name, can’t justifiably be regarded as falling within the jetty/pier exemption. So we walk north around the spit and then back south to Hengistbury Head before turning west to continue along the beach towards Southbourne. From there, on our way to Boscombe, we meet John’s younger son Simon and his girlfriend Maria. The original plan was for them to join us earlier at the Canford but, following delays to their flight from Palermo to Stansted yesterday, they decided to leave London this morning a few hours later than previously intended. The route onwards continues to be both straight and straightforward, along beaches and promenades through Boscombe and Bournemouth where John stops to purchase a pair of swimming shorts – although he ultimately postpones his plan to use them in the sea this evening to tomorrow morning. Also postponed, but not by choice, is a rendezvous en route with Carine, Dinks and Roxy the dog (see day 158). Despite the use of live location, albeit not by the now IT savvy Ben, we miss them as we go past Southbourne and don’t meet up with them until we’re approaching Sandbanks. After 4 hours of comfortable underfoot conditions, the final mile or so includes a stretch of shingle, and the last corner at the southernmost tip of Sandbanks involves a bit of scramblage or paddling, but everything is safely negotiated and, at 4 o’clock, we arrive at the ferry finishing line. Or, more accurately, a finishing tape produced and held by Irene and David’s wife Judith, who also produce paper cups and bottles of fizz by way of immediate celebration for all. After toasting completion of the walk, and several photographs, the 23 humans and single canine make their way to the Canford, some by bus and some on foot. A few drinks are consumed in the bar; Jamie, Jen, Will and Ellie leave to drive back to London; and the remaining 19 of us (and perhaps Roxy) prepare for dinner at 7 o’clock. And a wonderful dinner/celebration it proves to be. Mike makes a lovely speech about joining the walk and his time on it and, by way of thanks, presents John, Ben and Gary with cloth badges incorporating the outline of England and the very marginally overstated (by 4) figure of 2,700 miles. The food – various pre-ordered starters and mains – is excellent and is washed down with numerous bottles of white and red. Several people then switch to the walk’s traditional post-supper stickies, but everyone retires to their rooms a little bit later than the walk’s traditional window of 9/9:30. Well, there’s nothing to do tomorrow morning apart from breakfast, a no doubt bracing swim for John and Carine, and for everyone other than Gary and Sally (who are staying an extra night) checking out. The end of an extraordinary journey, and time to think about the next one and the next……….??

Day 177 – Lymington to Highcliffe: 16.1m: 5.5h

Good news for Mike. Burnley’s second goal was disallowed (an apparently contentious VAR hand ball decision) and the game ended 1-1. Not such good news for John and Helen. They have had hardly any kip due to a combination of noise from the street, a rattling window in the strengthening wind, and somebody upstairs who spent more time walking around his/her room than sleeping. The keyboard equivalent of pencils being sharpened for a review of the hotel is already under way.

The early travel and breakfast admin has involved John leaving the A&BP at 6:15 to drive his and Helen’s car to Mark and Natalie’s house near Barton on Sea for collection by Helen on our route later this morning. Natalie then drives John and Mark back to Lymington High Street to rendezvous with Helen, Mike and Gary at 7 o’clock for bacon sarnies and cups of tea/coffee in Gregg’s. We leave there just after 7:15, meet Ben who has decided to give the Gregg’s offering a swerve, and wander back down the High Street to the King’s Head. The strong winds which were predicted have materialised and, not surprisingly, become stronger as we walk down the west bank of the Lymington River towards the coast by the marina. Here we turn west to follow the path towards Keyhaven. For the most part, the wind is now in our faces, but the meandering nature of the path affords occasional relief. Also, the underfoot conditions are good, and the rain which had been forecast hasn’t appeared. So…could be worse!

Our plan is to get to Keyhaven for the first ferry of the day (at 10 o’clock) to Hurst Castle, walk along the beach/shingle and then back along the spit connecting the castle to the mainland at Milford on Sea. But despite the wind, we make good progress and arrive in Keyhaven around 9:15. We’re told by a couple of locals that the ferry will almost certainly be running but, rather than waiting 45 minutes, we walk the short distance to Milford. John, Ben, Mike and Mark say that they will go to the castle via the spit and come back the same way. Gary treats this out and back route as the well-established pier/jetty exemption, and decides to repair with Helen for cups of coffee in the Lighthouse bar/café instead. In fact, the return of the intrepid foursome is effected by ferry and they arrive at the Lighthouse around 10:45.

The weather is now pretty wild. The wind could well be blowing at 50 mph, and waves/spume are coming over the sea wall. Fortunately, no rain is falling, although it is in the air. We continue westward towards Barton on Sea, with Helen leaving us just before Barton Golf Course to meet Natalie and collect the car. It’s not certain that, once we’ve passed through Barton, we’ll be able to stay on the coast all the way to Highcliffe. This depends on whether we can walk through a holiday park and, when we reach it, a high fence and a combination keypad on the gate provide the answer. We have to walk north to the main A337, west past the Chewton Glen Hotel, then back south alongside Walkford Brook, through woodland and the Chewton Bunny Nature Reserve, to regain the coast to the east of Highcliffe. A bit irritating, but it does provide 30 minutes’ relief from the coastal wind – and still, remarkably, no rain. And when we do get back to the coast, we are able to spend the final stages of today’s walk with a bit of beach action.

Just before 1:30, we reach a set of steps leading up to a car park at Highcliffe Castle where we’ve arranged to meet Helen and Natalie in their respective cars. We only have to wait 5 minutes for their arrival and we say goodbye to Natalie and Mark. The train which Ben, Mike and Gary are catching from Hinton Admiral doesn’t leave for another 90 minutes, so they are dropped off by John and Helen at the conveniently located Cat and Fiddle pub. Plenty of time for a couple of relaxed pints before a 10 minute walk to the station. The train leaves on time, Ben and Gary disembark at New Milton to catch the service to Clapham Junction, and Mike continues to Southampton for his connection to Reading and from there to Taplow.