What would I do differently?
Since I got back, this has been one of the most frequently asked questions. It’s a hard one to answer because in reality there isn’t a lot that I actually would change. the route was just right – visited all the interesting places I wanted to see, and generally allowed me to get to decent campsites.
For all the reasons set out in the “health” section, I don’t wish I’d been fitter before I set off and in fact I might have done a bit less training – especially walking long distances to work on hard pavements with work shoes on – before I set off.
The blogging got a bit tedious, but brought huge rewards. I really enjoyed sharing my experiences with the outside world, but it was a lot of work and finding places to power up and log on could get stressful. If I did it again, I might choose not to do a blog, or if I did just to use a simple system like FaceBook, which is much easier to keep updated. And if it weren’t for the weight and cost, I would seriously consider taking a mobile satellite broadband system. These have come down a lot in cost and weight even in the last year, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this became a realistic proposition within the next 4 or 5 years. It would also allow me to do more wild camping – something I’d like to do more of, especially in mountain areas.
If there were one generic thing I could change, though, it would be the weight of my pack. I think I would be even more ruthless in getting rid of stiff and, ideally, keep the weight down to about 15 kg / 33 lb
But I’ve done “LEJOG” twice now – once on a bike and once on foot. So, much as I love the UK, I might actually try somewhere a bit further afield. Somewhere a bit warmer and drier, perhaps. And I was looking at the 3000 km Te Araroa trail in New Zealand in an idle moment the other day. That would probably require another decade’s worth of negotiation..
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