Advise

[JDP]

Morning All


New to the site and looking for advise more than anything.


Each year I do a charity hike around Christmas for Dementia, and am looking to push myself as always that little bit further this year.


Last year I did walking home for Christmas from my Keele office in Staffordshire to Leek, roughly 16 miles a day after work, taking the bus in each day. This went well and I raised 1800£.


This year I would like to take it that next step and walk home from my London office. I have looked on Google as my only point of info, and it says to walk from Gresham Street to Leek is circa 150 miles. I would hope to do this across 5 days at 30 miles per day, arriving home on Christmas eve.


Has anyone ever walked from London to the midlands or further, and if so, can it be safely walked?


Cheers


James

[bricam2096]

Sorry, can't help you regarding the location. No idea what surface you would be walking on but 30 miles a day even on tarmac at that time of year will require quite a lot of walking in the dark due to the early nights so bear that in mind.

[JDP]

Appreciate the time of the year, I would anticipate 10/11 hours walking per day which will mean a dark start circa 7 am and dark finish circa 5 pm 

[glovepuppet]

Also, I've just checked on The AA Routeplanner, it reckons about 162 miles, putting average daily distance to about 33 miles per day (ie: about a further 1 hours' walking per day).


But that is using a lot of dual carriageways and motorways that might not be suitable for walking on, especially in the dark and possibly in poor weather. Roads without a pavement could be quite dangerous at that time of year.


Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to dissuade you, but 33 miles per day in possibly poor conditions on dangerous and busy stretches of road might take some doing. Is it better to find a safer, if slightly longer, route, and maybe stretch to 6/7 days?

[jimbob]

Apart from the darkness hours as stated , the road system rarely caters safely for walkers.

However the old canal system lends itself perfectly to your walk. Grand Union (London to Birmingham), Birmingham to Stoke then the Caldon Canal to Leek.

Canal towpaths rarely have long steep rises. There are frequent pubs for meals.
More importantly they are fairly safe .
traffic wise.


The downside would be that they meander through the countryside so your mileage would be higher than that on the roads.

[Ridge]

Great idea of jb for you to use the waterways but as he says it increases the distance, I just found this http://canalplan.eu/cgi-bin/canal.cgi canal route planner which gives the London Eye to Leek as 212 miles 5 furlongs!

[JDP]

That's a great Idea, it was the route I was concerned with to be honest, as I didn't want to walk the busy roads. I will take a look at that option, thanks for your help

[bricam2096]

I hope you don't think people are trying to put you off, it's more a case of your safety. Canal side walking can be boring, muddy and just a plod but I'd rather do that (especially in the dark) than walking along busy roads and constantly be worried about the traffic 

[jea_p]

As advice above I would advise against walking on motorways (not sure about dual carriageways), as you'll likely be picked up by the police -


https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/motorways-253-to-273#rule271


Rule 271 - Rule 271You MUST NOT pick up or set down anyone, or walk on a motorway, except in an emergency.
Laws RTRA sect 17 & MT(E&W)R reg 15