My first Long Distant Walk

[MarkT]

Hi,

I have just completed my first LDW and during this time have learnt a lot and have come across situations when I wasn't sure what to do.

I've now finished "The Essex Way" a 82 mile way-marked route starting at Epping and finishing in Harwich.  As I live closer to Harwich it was easier to do the route in reverse and broke the route down into 6 stages and over a few months rather than one long slog.  So first question, is doing a LDW cheating doing it over a period of time rather than in one continuous expedition?

Secondly, is 82 miles over 6 Saturdays, really that long? The longest walk was 16 miles and at the end I felt fine, yes my legs were aching a bit but could have walked a few miles more.  So I have learnt more about the distant I can walk in a day.  Plus, some of the days  walks were in the high 20's - low 30's in temperature, so a challenge but gave me a good guide on how much liquid I consume and need.

When I did the first 2 stages of the walk I was using screen shots from plotaroute, it marked the route I was following but didn't[ track me or guide me.  However due to reading posts on this forum and getting a new phone I downloaded Viewranger and although am not paying  for the OS maps, the app has been brilliant in guiding me and tracking where I have been.  However! On the last stage of the walk I had to supposedly follow a footpath across a field.  Viewranger and google maps showed a footpath across the field but it was all ploughed up and clearly no sign of a footpath and hadn't seen a footpath sign indicating so.  I ended up walking around the field as i wasn't sure if I had right of way as I wasn't using an OS map.  However when I reached the other side, 2 runners were running across the next field where again a footpath was shown on viewranger map but no visible path could be seen.  they said it definitely was a footpath across the field. If I was approached by the farmer and disputed the path, without an official OS map, where do I stand?  Are viewranger standard maps official?

Apart from one occasion I was able to use buses to get to the start of the route and get me home on a travel day pass costing me £8.50 a day which I think was good value for money.  I had to plan my walks and timings around the buses but it all worked out well. Well apart from missing a bus by 2 minutes and had to spend time in the local pub waiting for the next one!!

On one occasion I was caught short and a going behind a tree wasn't sufficient!!!  Fortunately I stumbled across a pub and used its facilities but didn't buy a drink.  When i walked out through the pub i was given some stares and felt uncomfortable.  Should I have bought a drink to use their facilities?

Even though the route wasn’t exactly scenic apart from Harwich to Mistley, I recommend that stage due to coastal and estuary stretches, I still want to do the walk in the correct direction and in one big go.  So my last question is about the farmers and camping on their land.  Have people just knocked[ on farmers doors and asked to pitch up or do they phone in advance and ask? Should I offer to pay, say a fiver, or should it be free? Has anyone done wild camping in Essex? Is it allowed, what are the consequences?

An enjoyable experience and am already looking at the next LDW but none others in Essex, I think

[richardh1905]

Congratulations. I don't hold with talk of cheating, Mark; if you found the walk rewarding no matter how you did it then that is all that matters. It's entirely a personal thing.

Many years ago I walked the length of Wales with my wife, from Swansea to Conwy; a route of our own. Tired and wet after a tough couple of rainy days, we decided over a few pints in the Grapes Hotel in Maentwrog get a taxi home, not far away, and get a bus back to Maentwrog the following morning, to complete the last two days walk with what seemed like super light day packs - we were fit after walking for 9 days, and it seemed as if we were walking on air! Is this cheating in some peoples eyes? I really couldn't care less.

Can't help with you with wild camping in Essex, I'm afraid - English law on this seem very backwards to someone living in Scotland. The worst that can happen is that the landowner asks you to leave, but if you "arrive late, leave early, be discreet, leave nothing", you'll probably get away with it. A small drab green tent will help with the discreet bit.

PS - I would have bought a drink! Any excuse 

[Islandplodder]

It doesn't matter which way round you do an LDW, there isn't really a correct way, just the way the guide book's written.  Some books include a short summary at the end of each section for people going the other way.
How you do them is really up to you as well.  I have done a fair few long distance walks, most of them as a continuous journey, but I did the Dales High Way in bits using the Settle Carlisle railway, and I am currently doing the West Highland Way in separate days using the bus up the A82.  It's a different experience, but I think it has it's own validity, and it's a lot cheaper!  I seem to have settled into doing one a year as a complete expedition, and having another on the go as a series of one or 2 day hikes.
I admit to having sneaked into the odd pub or campsite loo.  I always reckon it's better than fertilizing the landscape!

[Ridge]

I don't think it is cheating but the only person you cheat is yourself anyway.


If I went in to a pub/cafe to use the facilities I would definitely buy something.


Wild camping is not allowed in almost all of England, and nowhere in Essex. I think the problem that you will have is finding somewhere discreet enough.

[Dovegirl]

When I did the first 2 stages of the walk I was using screen shots from plotaroute, it marked the route I was following but didn't[ track me or guide me.  However due to reading posts on this forum and getting a new phone I downloaded Viewranger and although am not paying  for the OS maps, the app has been brilliant in guiding me and tracking where I have been.  However! On the last stage of the walk I had to supposedly follow a footpath across a field.  Viewranger and google maps showed a footpath across the field but it was all ploughed up and clearly no sign of a footpath and hadn't seen a footpath sign indicating so.  I ended up walking around the field as i wasn't sure if I had right of way as I wasn't using an OS map.  However when I reached the other side, 2 runners were running across the next field where again a footpath was shown on viewranger map but no visible path could be seen.  they said it definitely was a footpath across the field. If I was approached by the farmer and disputed the path, without an official OS map, where do I stand?  Are viewranger standard maps official?

The free maps on Viewranger are very useful but it's the OS maps that show whether a path is a Public Right of Way (PROW).  Note that a PROW, although shown on the OS map, may not be visible on the ground.

[gunwharfman]

To me, doesn't matter how you did it, in bits or in one go. Its what you think that matters. Well done, I hope you will go on to do more.

[Jac]

Firstly congratulations you've caught the LDW bug - life will never quite the same again - just better

No it's not cheating - you play by your own rules, adjusting them as necessary to enjoy your walk.
Go in which ever direction you like. To fit in with public transport it's sometimes necessary to go in both direction at once 
Wild camping - it maybe not so easy to be unobtrusive in Essex but, though technically illegal, I'm sure possible.
Invisible paths or PRoWs - recent ploughing would naturally obliterate a path and unfortunately often they remain unreinstated even when crops grow. Personally I would prefer to have OS mapping handy to avoid doubt but even the OS map can be wrong if paths have been diverted.

Using the loo without buying a something - depends on the circumstance and your struggle with your own conscience.

[MarkT]

Thanks for comments and replies.

[astaman]

What the others have said is quite right. You can do an LDP in any way you choose: in sections of whatever distance you have the time and ability to manage over as many days as you wish. I also like some of the LDPs that pass through more populous areas. The mountains and wild places are wonderful but there is also a great deal to interest the walker in more domesticated countryside. A number of years ago I walked the Thames Path from the Allhallows marshes in Kent to Kemble in the Cotswolds. Living in London at the time I did the early stages as day walks on Sundays until I got far enough up river to need to do overnighters at the weekend in B&Bs and, in more lonely stretches of bank upstream of Oxford, in a bivi bag under hedgerows. I developed an interest in the history of domestic architecture along the way and read Three Men in a Boat and Wind in the Willows along the way - two great novels of life along the river bank. (Later I read Rob Roy on the WHW). I never felt the need to be honest with anyone other than myself. Well done on your achievement.

[BuzyG]

Job well done.  My wife and I are slowly working our way around the SW coast path.  There are sections we walked years ago.  No plans to walk them again unless the mood takes us on the day. You set your own goals. They don't have to match what the book says or what someone else decided was their goal.


Enjoy your walking.