Author Topic: Your longest day walk?  (Read 4929 times)

ninthace

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #30 on: 09:33:10, 15/11/19 »
My longest single walk actually lasted more than a day.  It started at Boscastle and went SE across Bodmin Moor. including going over Brown Willy, to cross the A30 then roughly E to Dartmoor and Princeton.   Then we went via a series of waypoints across Dartmoor to arrive near Ashburton.  The straight line distance is about 68 miles but the across the ground distance was quite a bit further, probably in the high 70s.  It was supposed to be a multiday walk but we elected to do it in one stint.  If I recall correctly we arrived about half past three the following afternoon.  How much we did in the first day I have no idea but I recall in the early hours of the next morning, after about 17 or 18 hours walking, spending a couple of hours in my bag in a pile of roadside gravel somewhere near Launceston before setting off again.
I was a teenager at the time so it was pre gortex and high tech clothing.  I seem to remember an Aran jumper, corduroy trousers and a grey canvas over the head anorak with a natty yellow lining.
« Last Edit: 09:37:30, 15/11/19 by ninthace »
Solvitur Ambulando

ninthace

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #31 on: 09:36:16, 15/11/19 »
Feshiebridge to Feshiebridge on a circular walk through Glen Feshie, Glen Geldie, Lairig Ghru, Loch an Eilein and moor of Feshie to return....around 100 Kls. I think. :-)
  That's just over 4kph for 24 hrs.  Not a bad day's walking!
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pleb

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #32 on: 10:50:04, 15/11/19 »
Blimey I feel so inadequate  ;D
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strawy

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #33 on: 10:58:29, 15/11/19 »
Must say, i,m very impressed with some of these distances.
My longest is a paltry 15 miles,Cow Green to High Cup & back,one of my very few "there and back" walks,i prefer "circulars" of around 9-12 miles,anything more and i think i,d lose a bit of the enjoyment and after all,if you dont enjoy it,its not worth doing  O0

vizzavona

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #34 on: 12:22:39, 15/11/19 »
Apologies... I guess that I have incorrectly counted the grid squares...long before the days of electronic devises:-) probably nearer 65-70 kls.  the weather was right ...no wind and a warm day in July.
Anyway it was grand day out with a 4am start and back for evening dinner ...45 years ago.
Next time that we went that way we had an overnight stop at Corrour bothy.

jimbob

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #35 on: 12:30:53, 15/11/19 »
i think i,d lose a bit of the enjoyment and after all,if you dont enjoy it,its not worth doing  O0
Spot on.
Too little, too late, too bad......

benp1

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #36 on: 12:41:18, 15/11/19 »
I did 28 miles with the dog walking some of the coastal path on the white cliffs around Dover and Folkestone. That was hard, legs were broken by the end, lots of up and down. I was walking like John Wayne towards the end and my dog was absolutely knackered!


Also did 40 miles of the south downs way in about 24 hours including a bivy out en route. Another john wayne day!

Islandplodder

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #37 on: 12:58:54, 15/11/19 »
I think my longest was the Yorkshire 3 peaks, which I think is 24 miles. I remember at the top of Ingleborough sitting at the summit cairn and thinking that there was absolutely no way I could do the last 5 miles back to Horton in Ribblesdale.  But as that was where the car was, there wasn't much choice.I was 60 then, and I have done a few 20+ milers since, but not with so much up and down in them.  I am another one who reckons I can walk further now than I could when I was younger, though possibly not so fast. 
On the other hand, I prefer thinking in terms of 12-15 miles a day.  I need a reason for long days, accommodation, bus back to the car, finding myself not precisely where I intended to be or something.  I am definitely not enjoying it after about 18 miles, and as far as I am concerned enjoyment is the reason I am out walking.  Though I have noticed, however long or short the day is, when I realise I only have another mile or so to go I feel suddenly very very tired and wonder how I am going to manage the last bit!

harland

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #38 on: 13:20:44, 15/11/19 »
And have you noticed that guidebooks always underestimate the distance of the last mile or so!

Islandplodder

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #39 on: 13:34:01, 15/11/19 »
Yes, most of them are two and a half miles easy!!

vghikers

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #40 on: 14:24:36, 15/11/19 »
The perception of walk length and vigour can also vary according to whether you are a day walker or a backpacker, especially a wild-pitching backpacker walking a multiday trail.
In recent years my long days of 20-odd to 30 miles on undemanding trails were not at all strenuous because I had the freedom to start walking early and pitch the tent late, with no commitments or distractions in between, averaging an enjoyable leisurely pace of around 2 » 2˝mph. In younger fitter days this regime allowed some pretty demanding routes of 20+ miles too, having built up the required stamina beforehand over time.
Typically day walkers have to travel to the start and are often committed to a rough schedule for the finish, naturally limiting the distances.

forgotmyoldpassword

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #41 on: 14:32:23, 15/11/19 »
I'll take it you mean hiking/backpacking rather than running.


34 miles with 44lbs on my back was probably the top for me, fairly undulating terrain as I started the day on top of a munro.


Must say I didn't enjoy it and was gassed by the end.

WhitstableDave

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #42 on: 15:30:45, 15/11/19 »
32.3 miles. When I'm not walking with my wife I walk while she's at work. One day in April this year I set off at about 9.30am intending to do about 20 miles. I felt good so I kept going and arrived home 7h 50m later - I didn't stop and my average speed was 4.1mph.

I agree that it's an age thing... I'm 67 now and there's absolutely no way I could have done that distance and time when I was younger!

Did you really mean that?  ???

With me it's the other way round. As I get older the distances I walk are getting shorter.

I really did mean that.  :)

I stopped smoking at the age of 63 after 20-a-day for about 44 years and I was never more than moderately fit. I began 'serious' walking a few months after giving up and I'm fitter now than I've ever been (or perhaps I've just got more stamina!).
Walk, Jog, Run : our YouTube video channel.

gunwharfman

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #43 on: 20:01:51, 15/11/19 »
I find oddly that distance walking for me these days seems to be easier than when I was younger. When on a hike I'm less inclined to feel a whinger about myself, maybe it's just an age thing and knowing that time is always slipping past me? I can still walk from dawn to dusk (obviously depending on the terrain) and still enjoy doing so, I did this on a couple of days when hiking the Two Moors Way earlier this year. My recent Rosthwaite to the top of Great Gable and back again was for me a most enjoyable day, was not tired at all by the end of all. I can still get a personal kick out of feeling exhausted, makes a beer, a meal and then a good sleep really worth the effort. Only this time I didn't get good sleep, I was too cold, but still, two out of three was good enough!

myxpyr

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Re: Your longest day walk?
« Reply #44 on: 20:41:46, 15/11/19 »
I'm not one to do a day's walk to see if a can crack a given distance.
Surely, and this will probably depend on individuals, there comes a point where the effort involved in striving for a distance detrimentally outweighs the enjoyment of a walk.
Just my thoughts. :D

 

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