i spent most of my youth travelling, hiking and hitch-hiking around the world. i'm comfortable with spending a few days/weeks walking with much more weight in my pack than i'm planning for this trip.
food-wise i'm planning on a large bag of oats with spirulina, protein powder, and some nuts and stuff inside, which will serve as emergency food that can see me through 4 -6 days fairly blandly, but comfortably by just adding water. enough that i could make the entire hike with just that if needed, although not very comfortably.
Sleepwise i'll bring my hammock, so i can travel light, rather than heavily loaded. Water, i have an MSR dromedary bag and a water filter so i can collect from any sources i come across
i'll be hiking as part of publicity campaign for the launch of my communities Public Happiness app, doing activities that make communities a little happier as i go - which is why i want to pass through cities and towns, and ask people ahead of time if they'd like to meet me, walk together, and bring water and food. In towns i'll probably use people's couches.
Walking-wise i'll aim to only walk between 8am till 7pm. especially as my route won't be optimal for distance/time it might end up being longer than 10 days. Perhaps 12 days so i can aim for 10hrs/day with a few hrs spare each day for any extra walking needed.
I'm leaning more towards the A1 route now:
Stevenage
Cambridge
Peterborough
Grantham
Newark on Trent
Doncaster
York
Darlington
Newcastle
Jedburgh
Edinburgh
and finding local hiking routes between each to avoid the main roads except when passing through a town