My Walking Bucket List
In my book Alone on the South Downs Way, I reflected on how I almost scrapped all of my walking plans when I realized just how challenging a simple 100-mile walk across southeast England was for me. I almost gave up and quit the trail at one point, and I almost quit long-distance walking for good. Thankfully, I learned from my experience, and I learned how to make long-distance walking work for me.
I still laugh, though, when I think about how ambitious my walking goals were: 2016, the Camino Francés; 2017, the John Muir Trail; 2018, the Pacific Crest Trail. Other trails on my list were: the Cotswold Way, the Inca Trail, the West Highland Way, the East Highland Way, and the Scottish National Trail. I just consulted my 2015 journal to confirm what was in my plans. Do you know how many of those trails I’ve actually walked? None of them! But they’ve been in the back of my mind ever since.
This year, I had to cancel my walking plans for the Camino. Next year is a holy year in Santiago, so I don’t want to be walking any Camino route—there will be far too many people on the trail, and the Camino is already a much more transited route that the ones I’m used to. So I’ve started thinking about where I want to walk, and when.
2021
I want to walk The Ridgeway for a second time in the spring (before it gets too hot!) and update my book Alone on the Ridgeway. I’m so happy with how the 2nd edition of my South Downs Way came out, and I can’t wait to do something similar with The Ridgeway. However, I will probably walk the trail from east to west, rather than from west to east, as I did the first time. The Avebury area is a much more spectacular ending than Ivinghoe Beacon. While Ivinghoe has great views, Avebury is a much more special area to me, so it feels exciting to walk towards it this time.
Update: I actually ended up walking the Ridgeway from east to west in September 2020!
2022
This year, I want to walk the two trails I couldn’t walk in 2020 due to COVID: the Camino Portugués and the Camino Inglés. I was really happy with my planning to do one in March and the other in September/October, so that’s what I’ve got in mind.
Update: I ended up walking the Coast to Coast with two friends in May 2022.
Smaller adventures
I’ve always wanted to go walking in these UK places:
- Cheddar Gorge
- New Forest (I’ve been reading this blog post on adventures in the New Forest and I can’t wait to go)
- Dartmoor
- Cornwall (I’ve never actually been!)
Beyond
I’ve been wanting to walk the Camino Francés ever since I read Paulo Coelho’s book about it back in 1996. That will happen before too long.
I’d love to walk all of the National Trails here in Britain. There are 15 of them, and so far I’ve only done two of them. This will take a while to complete!
I still really, really want to walk the Scottish National Trail. Though I might start with the Cape Wrath Trail, mainly because that’s the bit of the SNT that freaks me out the most.
The Great Glen Way, the West Highland Way, the East Highland Way, and the Southern Upland Way are also on my list.
Dream list
This is a list of trails that maybe I’ll do…some day.
- The John Muir Trail
- The Pacific Crest Trail
- The Inca Trail
Trails I’ve already walked
What about YOU?
What’s your walking bucket list? Where do you want to go walking/hiking/exploring in the next few years?
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