46000 steps and now we can't move.

Today was our longest day, 23 miles. We had been worrying about it since the start of the trip. It's not that there was much elevation gain, just that it takes so damn long that your feet take a pounding. Plus there was road walking which is really a killer.

On these kind of days you need a plan and then you get your mind adapted to the plan, and then you do it. Plan the hike, hike the plan. So we had a plan. We would leave early, 8:00, take a big lunch so we wouldn't need to do a long pub stop, and we would attack the day in three 3-hour stages with a 30 minute break after the first stage, and a 60 minute lunch break after the second stage. We each brought a second pair of shoes to switch into after lunch. Maybe a tea in the middle of the last stage depending on how we felt. And make sure we don't get lost cause we can't afford the time loss.

Plan the hike, hike the plan; just like flights, dives and software schedules.

Anyway we woke up early, had the bags packed before breakfast, started eating at 7:30. had the big English bfast as we figured we'd need the energy. Ready to go at 8:00 but then April couldn't find her hiking shirt. She thought she had it in her day pack, but couldn't find it. I check the room, not there. She had her hiking boots on so couldn;t get into the room and she's tearing her duffle apart, can't find it. The owner checks the room, can't find it. Aprils steaming now, "I know it's in the room!", she's taking her boots off and I think, hey, maybe it's in my duffle. We had some clothes washed last night and maybe it somehow ended up in my duffle. Sure enough, we looked and there it was. I suggested she put it there. I got the "LOOK". All married men know the look.

So off we go at 8:20 and we're booking. Goal is to hike about 3/mph, but we were going faster than that. But then we had to stop and read the guide book, and check out our two maps. The thing is there are tons of options/turns/paths/stiles/fences/fields/etc. Sometimes you step over a fence and then have 2-3 paths as options. So you have to read the directions very carefully. Everyone on the trail hikes with their map and books around their necks or in their hands.

The route today went thru all the farmland, lots of crossing fields and edges of field, along hedgerows. This was rural working England, not natl park stuff. Paul Flessner, you would have been happy, it was just like Illinois.

Here's a real example from our book on the route today:

"Now follow a field-edge path to a hedge gap, and through this walk around the end of a field to a stile giving onto a concrete slab bridge. Cross the next two fields, often cropped over, and eventually deal with a couple of stiles either side of a sleeper bridge just before the Moor House Farm. head for a stile just before a gate. Go thru the gate, and around the farm perimeter to reach another gate. Thru this, go left to a track junction, and left again past Red House farm, and walk along a broad track to reach the B6271."

Huh!??? Now you know how crazy this shit is. And we have pages of this for every day.

But anyway back to the hike. First part goes smoothly, we pay attention like crazy, walk like fiends and make our snack spot at Danby Wiske, by 11:30. Skills. Had our snacks, air out our socks/feet, review the next stage.

At this point April reads it more carefully and suggests we follow an alternate route, which has less road walking but it's about 1 KM longer. The trick will be it won't be signed well, but we have those wonderful directions. We decide to go for it, many miles on roads is pure punishment. Your feet/brain do better when they have variety on the path, as you hike along you scan the path, your brain adjusts, your feet adjust and it's interesting and rewarding. It's kind of like tetris but with your feet. I'll write a more detailed analysis of the actual movement in some future entry. Betcha can't wait!

Remember the adage "plan the hike, hike the plan; throw that out the window, down we go on the new route. First set of directions: go 600 meters down a road then turn right on a path. I counted off my steps. I take smaller steps cause I have this hip clicking thing going on. I take 500 steps for 400 meters. So I count off my 750 steps and there on the right is a corn field. No path. We're fucked.

But wait, about 50 meters ahead is a path next to the next corn field. We take it. It was super important to get this started correctly. After about half a mile we hit a section that was perfectly described in the book so we knew we were good. And then we met some hikers going the other way, more confirmation. Yea baby!

It turns out this alternate route was awesome. Very pretty. Beautiful field walking. Birds all over. Some wheat, oats, corn, clover, stubble, grass, some pea like thing that they had burned, some hedgerows, gorgeous trees, little streams. Sweet. Plus this map thing is getting really fun. It's like a little puzzle and we're getting better at understanding what the authors/maps really mean. Anyway the whole stage goes according to plan.

We get to Bolton-on-Swale (gotta love the names) even early at 2:30. Sit and had our lunch. Now we switched shoes. Left for the last stage at 3;20.
We figured the middle stage would be the hardest cause the last stage we thought we would feel the pull of the end, kind of like cows going to water, for those Louis Lamour fans.

Again we started booking, going at least 4 mph. We were swinging and planting our poles with every step. This is sort of unnatural on the flats, you kind of feel like a machine, but you really get going. I bought these new poles that have a grip on the top that fits your hand rather than the standrd strap. they're called Pacer Poles. Look 'em up on the internet. April laughed at me when I bought them but it turns out they're very good. I think it's a good advance, and of course April wants to use them when she really needs the poles/arms to contribute. Wankster.

About an hour in on this last 3 hr stage, we conked. Too freaking tired. feet hurt. Scenery got shitty. Too industrial with lost of roads nearby. It was getting late. Directions sucked. April starts wimpering with every step. Not really, but she was hurting. We slog thru the second hour.

Then we hit a section where the dirctions weren't clear at all, and we hit a trail with a big red sign: "TRAIL CLOSED", it was heading down this muddy path in deep dark woods. It was late, about 5:00. Fuck it. We're taking it. We slide down it, it was the right trail, but it was terrible, super muddy, but we made it down and out to the road. Then we had a sidewalk and headed about 1 more mile into town, Richmond. To get to our B+B we had to head up the killer steep hill, insult to injury, but finally we made it at 6:10. Right on plan.

Success! "How sweet it is!" My father used to love that from Jackie Gleason.

Beautiful B+B. Nice room. Wifi. Tiny shitty shower like all English places.

Now unfortunately part of the plan was to skip dinner. We've been eating too much and realize we don't need the three big meals/day. the big English breakfast carries us to about 2-3:00 PM. Yet when we've gone to dinner we can still eat a ton, but as part of the plan we were going to skip tonite.

So we make some tea, eat my extra sandwich, processed corned beef that tasted like Spam, munch a bunch of butter cookies. I really wanted to go to an Indian restaurant that they had here (it's a large town), but April was having a hard time just getting to the shower.

Minor notes.

In one cemetery we passed they claimed there was a guy, Henry Jenkins, buried there that had lived to 169.

Also passed a building that had been a Hospital for 800 years!

Tonmorrow we have an easy stage, 10.5 miles.