Adam Dawson’s long walk
In Spring 2014, I walked 1,492 miles in 79 non-stop days from Lizard Point at the southernmost point of the UK, to Dunnet Head, at the northernmost.
Along the way, I visited Land’s End, John O’Groats and the three highest peaks of Wales, England and Scotland – Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis respectively. I was walking to raise money for the Scouts and on this website you can learn more about my journey.
So this wasn’t just a normal Land’s End to John O’Groats (or “LEJOG”) hike – it was “LEJOG-Plus”!
This website records the main details of my walk, and on this page is a summary to help navigate through the rest of the site. If you happened to be contemplating your own “LEJOG” walk – this website will give you some ideas how to go about it.
I’d also like to thank my corporate sponsors with their support for this walk:
- ViewRanger – who supplied electronic maps
- Fox’s Outdoor – who gave me a rucksack and sleeping bag
- Travel Places – who donated my stove
- iPrestwood – who set up my website
Scroll down the page to see what’s on this website.
Click here to read my blog and get a day by day record of my walk
My trek took me to some of the most interesting – and remote – parts of the UK. As I was walking, every night I uploaded a blog to this website, which recorded the highlights of the day’s walk, along with photos, statistics and a downloadable “GPX” file tracking the day’s walk.
This page has the complete account in easily readable day-by-day sections.
Click here to find out why I did this walk
I decided to walk the length of the UK after I cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats in 2005 and realised that one day I’d have to go back and do it “properly” – on foot. It took nearly nine years before the time was right finally to set off on this epic hike and this time I decided to raise money as I walked, in aid of the World Scout Jamboree. I camped for 58 of the 78 days and averaged 19 miles walking per day.
Click here to find out how I did this walk – logistics, gear, daily routine
There are no official “rules” for the hike – but I made up a few. Including that I would camp as much as possible, carry all my gear to everywhere I stayed overnight, and that I wouldn’t take ferries to cut off awkward coastal estuaries.
I carried all my gear in a backpack that weighted 38lb when I set off but, thanks to the extra food and water that I was carrying in the remote sections, had increased to 50lb by the end. This section lists all my gear, my daily routine, and how I organised my walk.
Click here to view maps of my route
I’m a bit of a map fan so I’ve produced a series of maps – some of them interactive – which show my route either as an overview or in daily sections. Some of the maps allow you to zoom in on a satellite view, so you can see the exact terrain I was walking through, at a very detailed level of resolution.
Combined with the “GPX” section, you can use the maps to select all or part of the route to download and follow it for yourself.
Click here to find out how I used technology as I was hiking
OK – so if maps are one vice, then technology is my other.
I decided to make this LEJOG hike a bit different not just because of the route I chose, but because I dispensed with paper maps altogether and relied on electronic maps stored on my iPad. This worked well for me, because it saved weight and through GPS tracking it meant I never got lost. It also meant I could record my route electronically as I walked, and gather statistics about it.
So if you’re interested too, read this part of the website to find out how I went about it
Click here to download LEJOG GPX files of my route
One benefit of being electronically-enabled was the ability to record exactly where I was walking, thanks to the inbuilt GPS navigation device in my iPad.
On this page, you can download these electronic records, in the form of “GPX” files. There are both routes and tracks, and overviews of the whole walk, and of the daily sections. The page explains the differences between them all, and tells you how to download and use them.
Click here to view all the vital statistics about my walk
So what happened to all the data I collected about my walk? Well – it’s all here. On this page, there is a table showing details about every day’s walking (e.g. hours walked, distance covered, height ascended, and the type of accommodations at the day’s end).
In case you’re interested, my average daily walk was 7hr 59 mins, covered 18.89 miles and ascended 2,525 ft. And I camped on 58 of the 79 nights I was away.
NB: This page doesn’t render very well on small smartphones because the table spills off the edge of the screen
Click here to learn more about fundraising for the World Scout Jamboree
I’d decided to raise money for the Scouts because both of my two sons had been in the Scouts and had got such a lot out of it that I thought I’d like to put something back.
The Scout Jamborees happen every 4 years and the next one, in 2015, is in Japan. That makes it very expensive to attend, so the money I raised went into a special “Hardship” fund. In the end I raised over £11,000 – thanks to the generosity of my 200 sponsors.
Click here to contact me
I’d be delighted to hear from anyone that’s interested in contacting me about this walk. This part of the website shows you three different ways to get in touch.
But if you can’t wait, just click on the link below to send me an email:
adam@adamswalk.com
(though don’t be surprised if I reply from an address that looks like adamswalk@btinternet.com – they both go to the same place)
Click here to access an archive of the web pages that I used as I was walking
As I was walking, I had a number of pages “live” on this website which were no longer relevant once I got back. For example, links to my Fundraising page (now closed).
But I didn’t delete anything – I just put these pages in the “Archive” section of the website, so take I look if you’d like to see how things have changed since I got back.