Well, day 30 from the original estimate of two months would indicate halfway, but I have completed up to map number 54.5 out of 100 which would put me slightly ahead of schedule. I sm not trying to set a record, but it will be interesting, as a matter of self satisfaction, or otherwise, to see how it works out against the estimate.
Day thirty, and I must have had the following conversation thirty times:
"I am walking round the whole of the Welsh boundary"
"Where did you start?"
"Fishguard"
"Where will you finish?"
"Fishguard"
"Oh!"
Today, so far, I have had a backpacker's dream day:
Well motivated to arise at 6:15am.
No rain.
A shop within the first hour and a half for breakfast.
Totally simple navigation on minor toads through picturesque scenery.
A fair sized and attractive town cropping up at lunch time (Knighton in this case) where almost any required items may be bought including a cafe (bacon butty and tea etc).
Several people met and chatted with along the way.
A tourist information office THAT WAS OPEN! Advance information obtained about a camp site incorporated with a pub of good reputation located at the ideal distance to complete a day's walking.
This latter item is important. There is a vast difference between walking to a destination where you know there will be a satisfactory place to spend the night compared with walking on in uncertainty.
I am at The Barron of Beef in Bucknell.
An interesting point arose on the day I walked from Forden to White Grit. In following the erratic border at the end of the day I was only 3 kilometre grid lines south of my starting point.
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on your last point - when looking at your route day by day on Bing maps (a much-lamented substitute for Multimap) the marked border leaps about like something from eastern Europe in 1919 as one changers scale - even putting Lake Vyrnwy in England at higher magnifications - so it is hard to know where you are or are going - Fishguard i hear it said - and the places themselves move about so very unwise to use Bing as a guide - back to the old OS I think.
ReplyDeleteWhat have you got against toads? But then the scenery was picturesque (Aaargh!) and perhaps you imagined some form of reaction was necessary. And I suppose they were Welsh toads.
ReplyDeleteKnighton isn't too far away.
Gimmer - Suggest you buy Memory Map at 1:50 for whole of England, Scotland, and Wales. Not sure of cost. Perhaps £150 or so, but well worth it. Not sure if it can go on Mac, but you can run it on Parallels or similar. Almost any name that occurs on the os map can be searched for and pinpointed, and os grid references the same plus many other attributes. Anybody with your interests would never regret it. Another great advantage is that you can print off any area you want to visit at different magnifications rather than carrying a large, unwieldy map around 90% of which you do not need at that time.
ReplyDeleteBB - navigating on a toad: I see one of those cartoon pictures on the front of a sci fi mag with a character sat on a huge toad clad in some bizarre armour trying to level the horizon, or whatever is the appropriate expression, with an eccentric looking kind of sextant.
I understand about the use of adjectives which fail to convey what was presumably in the mind's eye of the writer, but I used this adjective in a list of generalities and it did not refer to a specific scene that could have been more graphically described.
I will phone you today, hopefully, re the question of proximity-it depends on having a proper signal. I am writing this in cafe in Presteigne with no signal. Heading for Walton.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
is is legitimate to comment on a comment on a comment - actually, the OS have a site in which one can make maps of 'anywhere' at upto 50000 - and thus have field boundaries - seems a bit sluggish but it works - and keeps the borders static - and one can save them and/or print them off.
ReplyDeleteI haven't gone further with this yet but appears definitely promising - but, knowing you, you have probably explored it and pronounced it deficient in some obscure yet vital aspect.
I too was exercised by your use of toads as a form of progress but withheld reporting you to the RSPCA in deference to local custom and/or fear of dragons and other reptiles.