Tina & Al's LEJOG - Stage 1

In May 2009 I walked the Coast to Coast long distance footpath with my husband, Alistair. We both felt that walking from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hoods Bay in North Yorkshire was a real achievement and at first, we wondered how we'd ever find anything that would live up to it. The C2C walk is really varied, taking you across mountain, moor and vale. You get a terrific sense of passing through different regions with unique traditions, food and drink. Then we thought since we'd walked the breadth of the country, why not walk the length from Lands End to John O'Groats?

So on 5 September 2009 we boarded a train at 08:36 from Stirling station over to Edinburgh. Then caught the 10:05 train to Exeter St Davids, arriving there at 17:47, just in time to catch the 17:57 to Barnstaple. We finally arrived in Barnstaple at 19:13. We then jumped in a taxi to the Premier Inn at Eastern Avenue, Whiddon Valley.

At this point you may be wondering why our journey started at Barnstaple and not at Lands End. Well we put together a few ground rules for our LEJOG and they were as follows: -

1. We would complete the walk in stages (as neither of us could get three months off work to complete it all in one go).
2. It didn't matter what order we completed the stages in, just as long as we always started from the place where we stopped (i.e. when we joined up all the sections at the end, it would form a continuous unbroken line).
3. We couldn't use any boats or ferries. (If there was an estuary in the way we would need to cross it by using the closest bridge, by walking round it or by wading through it).
4. We couldn't get lifts (if we did, we would need to go back and complete the bit we didn't walk).
5. We could use whatever routes we liked (we could use footpaths or roads and as we were walking it in stages, could choose where we wanted to walk, we didn't have to take the most direct route).

So according to rule 2, it didn't matter if we walked from Barnstaple to Lands End or Lands End to Barnstaple, as long as we walked the whole way. The reason we chose to complete it that way was purely down to economics - I could get cheaper train tickets for that direction.

Below is a summary of the walks and mileage undertaken for this stage: -

For interest only, I've also included details of the accommodation we used and travel costs. Please note I'm not endorsing the providers in any way.

Cost of train travel for two adults - £93.00

5 September we stayed at - Premier Inn, Eastern Avenue, Whiddon Valley, Barnstaple, North Devon, EX32 8RY Cost - £69.00

A complete set of pictures from this leg of the blog are available on Flickr