Trying to Through-Hike the South Downs Manner – Half 1

100 miles isn’t that a lot. That is what I’m telling myself within the days earlier than setting off to thru-hike the South Downs Manner. Packing and repacking my bag, checking the climate forecast, gazing maps and apps, lamenting the very fact my boots are outdated and the remainder of my gear older, it by no means actually happens to me that strolling 100 miles by Southern England could be, you understand, difficult.

Partly that’s as a result of, emotionally, I would like it to not be difficult. Over the previous few months I’ve been fermenting a daydream-goal a lot tougher that it’d really feel utterly out of attain if this seems to be laborious. Mainly, I’m considering: I would like to have the ability to run 10k comfortably if I need to run a marathon.

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And that’s true, however what I’ve conveniently forgotten is that operating 10k additionally requires effort. And it’s essential really put in your trainers each on occasion if you wish to make it occur. As I heave my pack onto my shoulders at 6 am on a late summer season Wednesday morning I’m successfully placing on trainers for the primary time in 16 years. 

100 miles isn’t that a lot…

On the very begin of the Covid-19 pandemic I bought placed on furlough. Journey was restricted, companies have been closed, individuals weren’t allowed to congregate; somewhat than do one thing constructive, like learn to make banana bread, I spent my time delving into the YouTube labyrinth.

I don’t bear in mind how I ended up there, however ultimately I discovered myself obsessive about watching epic daily-vlog-style accounts of individuals climbing the Pacific Crest Path – Elina “Tip-Faucet” Osborne and Mari “Taco Salad” Johnson, particularly.

The Pacific Crest Path (PCT) is certainly one of 11 Nationwide Scenic Trails in america. Operating from the US-Mexico border to the US-Canada border, it’s some 2,650 miles lengthy and takes 5-6 months to “thru-hike” (climbing from finish to finish in a single journey).

It’s troublesome to know precisely how many individuals try and thru-hike the PCT annually. The Pacific Crest Path Affiliation – the authority on all issues PCT – doesn’t maintain monitor. However it does keep an inventory of people that declare to have accomplished the path. I’ve discovered just a few articles of unsure authenticity suggesting that roughly 60 % of those that begin a PCT thru-hike handle to complete. So, pre-Covid, the PCT was welcoming give or take 1,700 intrepid souls annually. 

Final yr’s numbers have been down and the PCTA refused to acknowledge any finishers in 2020 (as a result of they actually shouldn’t have been on the path) however observe how the variety of finishers has shot up within the social media age; I’m not the one one being impressed by YouTube movies.

Although, I first heard in regards to the PCT within the early 2000s. I used to be residing in Southern California and sometimes hiked sections south or north of Lake Morena County Park. Again then, the variety of PCT finishers hovered nearer 130 annually and I’m keen to guess most of them have been REI workers. Information of the PCT was largely for the laborious core.

I used to be enamored by the considered strolling the size of america. The entire thought of it, and thru-hiking usually, felt unique and surreal and fantastical. I purchased a number of books in regards to the PCT however by no means managed greater than a day hike – partially as a result of, I’ll admit, backpacking appeared kinda scary. The books I’d discovered – written by the laborious core for the laborious core – contributed to that feeling, successfully insisting that one be a Navy SEAL-level survivalist earlier than even contemplating taking up the PCT.

I finally bought over a few of my worry once I returned to Minnesota just a few years later and realized in regards to the Superior Climbing Path (SHT), which runs 310 miles from Duluth, Minnesota (residence of Aerostich), to the US-Canada border. I didn’t ever thru-hike the entire thing however coated some sections on weekend journeys, the final of which going down in late summer season 2005.

Lower than a yr later, I moved to the UK and my gear, which I had gone to the difficulty to convey with me, quickly grew dusty and outdated from neglect. Britons have a distinct perspective towards the outside. Partially that’s as a result of what’s classed as “the outside” is completely different; there aren’t any actually wild locations right here. But additionally it’s the case that partaking with the outside shouldn’t be seen as a common-man kind of factor to do. 

In Minnesota and Texas and California, and just about each different place in america (and Canada), there are few issues extra blue collar/working class than grabbing a tent and a cooler stuffed with beer then heading off into the woods along with your buddies. In Britain, the outside is simply too usually elitist – the dominion of gaunt, middle-class white males (all the time white males) with their socks pulled up over their trouser cuffs, and laminated maps hung round their necks like elementary college youngsters sporting corridor passes on their technique to the toilet.

In Wales, I discovered that, regardless of being surrounded by hills and inexperienced areas, the overwhelming majority of residents didn’t have interaction with the pure world. Once I would inform individuals about my need to go backpacking they both expressed bantering disdain on the thought or informed me that such a factor merely wasn’t doable anyplace in Her Majesty’s United Kingdom; you possibly can spend a day trudging up a hill within the rain, maybe, however no true journey was available right here.

For essentially the most half, I (foolishly) purchased into that narrative till motorcycling launched me to Scotland. I purchased a sleeping bag and went on a handful of in a single day journeys with my spouse, nevertheless it was not till the spring of 2020 that my long-dormant fascination with thru-hiking was reawakened – because of movies of cheerful individuals strolling from Mexico to Canada. 

This reawakening of curiosity ran parallel to my lastly (and painfully) untangling myself from crippling debt. I had realized/was studying how you can management my funds and will now think about thru-hiking situations with a higher sense of: “Yeah, that really might occur. No, actually. I really might do this.”

Fascination with PCT movies shortly gave technique to fascination with hikers’ tales from the Appalachian Path (AT), a route that covers some 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. You’ve most likely heard of the AT. Invoice Bryson wrote a e-book about failing to finish it, which bought changed into a film with Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.

I bought hooked on following the adventures of Jessica “Dixie” Mills and, later, Lisa “Tex” Parker and Kelly “9 Lives” Hays amongst others. You’ll discover all these individuals have nicknames. That’s a factor that appears to have developed since I first realized in regards to the PCT virtually 20 years in the past: everybody who hikes these lengthy trails will get a “path title,” a nickname (historically) bestowed upon them by the parents they meet alongside the best way.

The paths, it appears, have turn out to be a wayfaring neighborhood. Individuals kind “path households” to help each other and share the load; earlier finishers, “path angels” present up alongside the route providing “path magic,” sodas or beer or meals offered freed from cost to hikers; and everybody chugs together with the mantra that “The Path Supplies.”

It sounds wonderful.

I’ve determined that I need to hike the Appalachian Path once I flip 50. I don’t need to say that doing this can be a “aim” as a result of I’ve grown bored with all the time failing to satisfy my targets, however, yeah, it’s a aim. Luckily, I’m nonetheless fairly just a few years away. I’ve time to plan and practice. I could also be naive and given to overconfidence in my bodily potential however I nonetheless perceive that the AT isn’t one thing you deal with efficiently with out prep.

So, as I say, right here I’m on a Wednesday morning in the summertime of 2021, setting off to thru-hike the total 100 miles of the South Downs Manner (SDW). Cash shouldn’t be my pal in the mean time, so I’ve bought the most affordable backpack that Go Open air sells and crammed it with gear that largely dates to that summer season journey on the SHT again in 2005. Identical REI tent (now discontinued), identical Therm-A-Relaxation sleeping mat (additionally discontinued), identical steel tenting mugs, identical pocket range, identical Leatherman. A minimum of my cheap-o sleeping bag is barely 6 years outdated.

The historical past of the SDW stretches again centuries, with some sections having been used for greater than 8,000 years. However the path as we all know it as we speak dates from 1987, when a related route from Winchester to Eastbourne was accomplished. The SDW is predominantly off-road and mixed-use – accessible to walkers, horse riders and cyclists who get pleasure from rocky terrain – with just a few quick sections of nation highway. Kind of spanning the width of South Downs Nationwide Park, its route passes simply 3 miles north of my home. However attending to its japanese begin level from the place I stay means spending an hour and a half hopping trains.

You may most likely guess precisely what is going to go fallacious with my SDW try once I inform you that my plan is to finish it in 4 days. Which means strolling 25 miles a day. With 15 kilograms of drugs on my again. I’m 16 years older than I used to be the final time I went backpacking and even again then I by no means tried 25 miles in a day.

•••••

At its japanese finish, the SDW formally begins at a easy cafe referred to as The Kiosk, about 1.5 miles from Eastbourne practice station. I get misplaced looking for The Kiosk, then misplaced once more inside 50 toes of hitting the path. Finally, although, I settle onto a well-trodden path that hugs chalky white cliffs overlooking the English Channel.

Quickly I’m approaching Beachy Head (mile 1.8) – a 531-foot cliff that looms over a sea glowing so brightly with daylight that it’s virtually disorienting. The morning is heat sufficient to have already shed just a few layers and the solar so intense that I’m a anxious about getting sunburn. 

Beachy Head is the place Phil Daniels’ character trashed his scooter in Quadrophenia and, sadly, scooters aren’t the one issues that get thrown off the cliff. Individuals generally select to do the identical with themselves. That is apparently one of the vital widespread locations on this planet to finish one’s life, with dozens of suicides going down right here annually. 

The Beachy Head Chaplaincy Staff patrols the world in any respect hours, hoping to intercept individuals and provides them an opportunity to assume and discuss issues by. On this morning, although, all they’ll do is supply espresso and counsel to the law enforcement officials and search and rescue personnel who’ve been referred to as in to take care of the loss of life of a 49-year-old girl. Native information will later report that hers was the second loss of life in lower than 24 hours.

The scene fills me with unhappiness. I’ve been in darkish locations and may empathize. I really feel unhappy that somebody has slipped by the chaplaincy crew’s fingers, but in addition unhappy for the chaplaincy crew who could really feel they’ve in some way failed, and unhappy for the police and response officers who’re having to take care of this on Wednesday morning. And I do know that is type of foolish nevertheless it strikes me as deeply unfair that this has occurred on a phenomenal, calm summer season morning.

I’ll spend the remainder of the day feeling unsettled, some a part of me needing to place as a lot bodily distance as I can between myself and Beachy Head. 

•••••

Finally I chill out sufficient to take my first remainder of the day. I settle right into a spot just under the crest of a hill – out of the wind – and dig into my bag for a chocolate Hobnob. I’ve determined that I’ll permit myself 4 cookies a day, the rationing of meals and breaks having been the main target of most of my preparation.

Which has been a foolish level of focus. I’m not going to go hungry. The world surrounding the SDW is closely populated. I doubt there’s a single level on the route that’s greater than a mile from some type of civilization. As a rule the SDW runs close to or proper by cities suffering from cafes, pubs, markets, grocery shops and B&Bs. Certainly, I’m solely carrying meals for the mornings and evenings, as a result of I look forward to finding my lunches alongside the best way.

Equally, there is no such thing as a want to hold a water filter; along with all of the cafes, etcetera, the place one can politely ask to have water bottles refilled, there are 12 consuming water faucets alongside the route – a mean of 1 each 8.3 miles. The AT this isn’t.

Through-hikers are straightforward to identify: laden with monumental packs that stand out amid the cheerful households, day ramblers and runners that give the SDW a bustling really feel. I’ve not but come throughout thru-hikers going the identical means as me however I’ve encountered just a few who’re ending their west-to-east adventures. A pair from Eire. An Jap European couple. A cheerful quartet of individuals from the Netherlands.

SDW hikers don’t get path names and there’s no path magic except you’re collaborating in one of many dozens of charity occasions that happen on the route annually (like Oxfam’s Trailwalker Problem). However there’s a willingness to cease and chat, and a way of connectedness in mission that permits thru-hikers to ease, if not essentially drop, their typical social boundaries.

One factor that can strike me over the approaching days is the variety of younger individuals on the SDW. Most are taking part within the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (extra generally often called the “D of E”), a program geared toward inspiring younger individuals. A part of attaining the award includes occurring an “expedition.”

I do know this makes me sound like I’m 103 years outdated, however I can consider no different technique to say it: it’s pleasant to come across these younger individuals on the path. Seeing them makes me really feel higher about the way forward for Britain and the universe usually.

Often they’re climbing in teams of three or 4 however generally I encounter packs of a dozen or so girls and boys, enjoying music on their telephones or recording posts for TikTok – invariably led by a child who’s the very definition of the phrase “strapping younger lad” dwarfed by a comically monumental pack. At one level I’ll encounter a child burdened by a pack so massive that I’ll ask him if he’s, in actual fact, carrying a coracle.

He’ll, after all, do not know what I’m speaking about.

All the youngsters are fresh-faced and I’d be stunned if any are older than 18. Usually it’s The Manner Of Issues that these youngsters wouldn’t even hassle to have a look at a 45-year-old man, not to mention cease and converse with him. However on the SDW they’re chatty – asking how far I’ve walked, how far I’m strolling, if I’ve seen sure wildlife (“We noticed a badger final night time!”), and so forth.

My favourite of the teams I meet will likely be a trio of ladies utilizing compasses, rulers and pencils to work out their precise location on a map. The SDW is so well-trodden and signposted that I’m not even carrying a map, and on the specific level the place we meet the trail is bordered by fence on one aspect and bramble on the opposite.

“I’m fairly certain you don’t want the map right here,” I inform them playfully. “There’s nowhere else to go however straight.”

“Yeah, however map studying is part of the problem,” says one of many women. “We don’t have to do it. But when we don’t, we’ll know that we haven’t. And we need to do the problem correctly.”

There may be hope for us all.

••••• 

The Southern England coast is precisely because it seems in footage. Which is to say you don’t have to show your head in a sure means, don’t should concentrate on a particular level, don’t have to use a particular filter to seek out your self strolling by the panorama that you just’ve seen in lots of of photographs: undulating inexperienced hills abruptly disrupted by pristine white cliffs that drop straight all the way down to a glittering blue ocean. The air is clear and contemporary, a lightweight saltiness hanging on the tongue with every deep breath.

The SDW wanders by some 7 miles of this earlier than turning north and following the meandering River Cuckmere inland. The path begins to climb towards the ridge line that it’s going to observe for a lot of the remainder of the path, giving a hen’s eye view of the lazy, ox-bowing Cuckmere, which on this specific afternoon is stuffed with novice paddleboarders. 

If I have been climbing the AT, the prevailing recommendation at this level can be that I ought to search for a spot to arrange camp. Including within the miles walked to and from practice stations I’ve put in roughly 10 miles thus far. On the AT you’re purported to take issues straightforward in your first week or so, permitting your physique to acclimatize to the problem of strolling lengthy distances. I’m not on the AT, however the entire “not having backpacked in any respect since George W. Bush was president” factor means I ought to most likely be following the identical recommendation. 

I don’t.

Not that I essentially might, anyway; there’s no place to cease. One of many some ways wherein Britain’s Nationwide Trails differ from america’ Nationwide Trails is within the absence of free campsites or areas the place dispersed tenting is allowed. Legally, the one place you’ll be able to pitch a tent alongside the SDW is at one of many handful of business campgrounds scattered close to however not essentially on and even near the path.

Cue my normal rant about tenting within the UK. As I wrote in my article about using a Harley to Britain’s most westerly level: 

“Campsites within the UK, and Western Europe usually, are a disappointment to anybody who’s ever been to a state or nationwide park in america… Campsites listed here are usually simply open fields, manicured lawns, on which you’re left to pitch your tent in no matter spot you could find – as a rule with the excessive danger of getting some group of Londoners or Brummies who’ve by no means earlier than been outside pitch up 3 toes from you and keep awake till 4 am consuming, complaining about midges.“

Moreover, British campsites are stupidly costly and – particularly within the case of these positioned anyplace close to the South Downs Manner – too incessantly booked up months prematurely. So, I’m planning to wild camp, ie., pitch my tent in no matter subject or wooded space the place I believe I can get away with it. Technically, wild tenting is illegitimate outdoors of Scotland. However in practicality, fortune favors the courageous. I used to work for the UK’s nationwide parks and the overall perspective of park rangers was: “If I don’t know I don’t care.”

In different phrases, choose a quiet spot out of sight, don’t draw consideration to your self and depart no hint.

Key to not drawing consideration to oneself is ready till nightfall to arrange your tent – when low gentle makes you troublesome to see from a distance and there’s unlikely to be anybody else about. It’s lunchtime now. However I do at the least cease to eat at a restaurant subsequent to the Seven Sisters Nation Park customer heart (mile 8.5).

The continuing pandemic in some way means the cafe isn’t serving any of the sandwiches or sizzling meals marketed on the menu boards, and the apologetic lady behind the counter informs me that I’ve sadly arrived simply after a busload of vacationers ransacked the place. All she has left is a single sausage roll of questionable age and a few pink velvet cake. I buy each, together with a packet of crisps and a type of overpriced Italian lemonades, then gobble every little thing down in lower than 5 minutes.

•••••

This is not going to be the primary time my plans have gone awry. Actually, that’s just about normal working process for me. Off the highest of my head, I can not consider a single journey in my life the place one thing didn’t go at the least just a little bit fallacious. 

You’ll assume, then, that I might be higher at contingency planning or would have developed the power to regulate my plans in line with the truth of my state of affairs. Not a lot. As a rule, I undertake a Welsh perspective towards issues: clearly and precisely assessing the state of affairs, then doing nothing to vary it.

Sitting within the bustling backyard space of the cafe, stomach stuffed with sausage roll and pink velvet cake, I do know that my plan to stroll 25 miles as we speak is unrealistic. My physique is making this painfully clear. The straps of my bag have been digging in and now my shoulders are tender to the contact. I’m conscious of sizzling factors on every foot the place my outdated boots are rubbing my toes and heels, and blisters are forming.

I’m drained. I need to discover a good patch of grass beneath the shade of an oak, pull off my boots and take a nap. However my thoughts can’t settle. I really feel like I’m delayed. Which I know is foolish as a result of I don’t have a schedule. There’s nowhere particular that I should be on the finish of the day.

And right here’s the factor: there’s nowhere particular that I should be for the following 11 days. I’ve informed myself that I need to accomplish this in 4 days however there’s completely no must do such a factor. I’m not making an attempt to cram it right into a small trip window; I’ve a great deal of time. I don’t should be pushing myself on this means and I do know that I don’t should be pushing myself this manner. But I really feel a panicked urgency, an nervousness about… one thing. So, I heave my pack onto my shoulders, wincing as its weight digs in, and begin trudging north.

Ten and half miles from its japanese trailhead, the SDW passes proper by the village of Alfriston. In planning this journey I promised myself that I might cease and have a pint on the George Inn, a quintessentially English pub that has been working since 1397. That’s not a typo; it’s been in enterprise for 624 years.

However standing at its door I abruptly really feel dumb. I really feel self-conscious and embarrassed – about what, although, I can not actually inform you. That I’m operating behind on my made-up “schedule?” That my gear is outdated and doesn’t look cool? I don’t know. I actually have no idea why I’m having just a little freakout proper now. No matter I’m feeling is mindless.

Some a part of me is aware of that I might be OK if I might simply cease and assess my state of affairs. Simply cease and have a pint. However I don’t. The extra I give it some thought the extra I really feel the white-hot mind fuzz of tension and embarrassment; I simply need to get out of the village, out of the sight of individuals.

The time I didn’t go to the highest of the Eiffel Tower, the time I didn’t dance the polka with Miss El Cajon, the time I didn’t cease for Black Forest cake when using the Schwarzwaldhochstraße… add the time I didn’t cease for a pint on the George Inn to the checklist of my life’s regrets.

•••••

Past Alfriston the SDW largely sticks to chalky gravel tracks or grassy footpaths that run by ridgeway farmland. I finally fall right into a rhythm and handle to begin really having fun with the truth that I’m out doing this. I’m strolling the South Downs Manner, man. I’m thru-hiking. I’m doing the factor I stated I wished to do.

Type of. 

I’m nonetheless not stopping. Over the following few hours I’ll go quite a few spots that might make good locations to camp for the night time.

“Look, simply cease right here, prepare dinner your dinner and hang around along with your boots off till sundown,” I’ll assume.

However I press on.

Paragliders and cling gliders soar overhead, generally swooping shut sufficient that I can see the pilots’ faces. Because the afternoon wears on I begin recognizing different hikers and bikepackers staking out their spots for the night time – sitting a number of meters from the path, gear unfold out however tent not but erected lest somebody come and inform them to maneuver alongside.

In a single case I cease and chat with an older bikepacking couple who’re consuming wine while stretched out on a blanket. They determine just a little tuft of bushes about 50 meters away the place I might arrange my tent, however I press on.

On the Firle Beacon trailhead (mile 15) there are greater than half a dozen campervans parked up and really clearly not going anyplace for the night time; people are grilling their night meals on outside barbecues. Very clearly, I might discover a quiet place close to right here, as a result of if nobody’s going to maneuver them alongside they’re positively not going to hassle me.

However I press on.

I’m to the purpose of limping in ache once I drop all the way down to Southease (mile 18.3). I refill my water at a faucet tucked behind the village church, then promise myself I’ll cease on the first place the place wild tenting appears viable.

Three miles later it isn’t a lot that I discover a great spot however that I get to the purpose of simply not caring. On an open stretch of hill, inside plain view of the village of Kingston – lower than half a kilometer away however down a steep hill – I throw my bag to the bottom and arrange my tent within the dying gentle. I’m too drained to prepare dinner dinner, so I inhale the big piece of flapjack (oats and raisins baked right into a type of breakfast bar) I had deliberate to eat tomorrow morning, then fall into one of many heaviest sleeps of my life.