Coast to Coast

Wainwright’s Coast to Coast

/ Walking / , , ,

We are just getting into the final planning stages for the West Highland Way walk in about six weeks time – and whilst going through the maps and other documents for the walk, on my laptop, I came across the document I wrote after completing Wainwright’s Coast to Coast.

The information is from the summer of 2008 but it should still offer an insight to walk for those thinking about doing it. I have put a link to the .pdf file on the Downloads page and the here.

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Photos at last – Coast to Coast Walk

/ Photography, Technology, Walking / , , ,

I finally got around to sorting out my photographs I took whilst walking from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire. See our blog here http://www.octagontech.com/category/coast-to-coast/. I didn’t carry my Canon Powershot S2 IS with me every day – I heeded the warning we were given on Day 2 when we were soaked through walking from and the camera case had let water through and although the camera was damp it suffered no damage after carefully drying it. On bad weather days I used the perfectly functional camera on my Blackberry Curve for snapping the journey. However if you carry your camera with you in the bad weather see what happens here http://www.rkwinternet.com/category/coast-to-coast-walk/ – however the insurancecovered the loss and Richard now has a new camera. Richard has also posted an epilogue to the walk – I have also written about the experience and plan to post it in sections whilst I am away on my next holiday, when I have time to proof read the entries.

Here is a picture of my new boots in the sea at St Bees – taken on my Blackberry – http://www.flickr.com/photos/clivecphotos/2586254243/. As a camera phone this is the first one I have been satisfied with.

For Coast to Coast photos look here at my Flickr set

For more photos www.clivecatton.co.uk

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Posting from my PDA

/ General, Technology / , , , , ,

On looking on the forums, I was disapponted to find that I cannot post by email to a blog on WordPress.com – this is something RKW Internet has added to our company, WordPress, website using Postie (if you need to do this for a custom install of WordPress go to the WordCampUK 2008 Wiki where you will find his instructions).

Further investigation led me to the url http://m.wordpress.com. Try the link it is a very thin client for WordPress.com bloging,suitable for small devices or even quick blogs from a computer.

My PDA has wifi so this post is being made from it. It is enough to get words out here quickly but I cannot include an image.

I have a Flickr account and have found some other information about post to your blog via that using email – I hope to get to grips with that before I go to Scotland, so I can photo blog from my Blackberry.

A short post tonight – but I am inspired by my experience at WordCampUK to publish a worthwhile blog over the coming months. I have a holiday coming up soon expect blogs then. I have also been writing about my Wainwright Coast to Coast experince and expect those to be posted in the coming weeks. I also want to share some of mobile tech experience.

So the first moblog experience I will share is this from my PDA – I’ll review it when I see the post on my laptop.

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Journey’s End

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Journey’s End

Originally uploaded by Lincoln Imp

And then it was all over. 192 miles in 12 days and despite all that nature put in our way, which included Fylingdales moor and the in destinct path which we never found (even when the gps said we had!) we made it. The photo was taken on the shoreline just before completing my task to mystify geologists.

For those who haven’t do a long distance walk before or even if you plan to do the c2c. My advice as a novice walker is simple. Preparation is everything, walk to your known limits and have a back up plan. Don’t rely on using a mobile phone because neither t-mobile or orange faired well in the lakes It was 4 degrees on Hellvelyn with 30mph wind and people we in tee shirts! Even worse we saw people on boggy moors in trainers, so expect the worst and prepare for it. I also found that whild the hare may be quicker a tortoise will always get there. For food I can not fault crab and oatcakes followed by an vegetable oxo cube in hot water and a couple of granola bars. 125 grammes and good for 23 miles. Don’t expect to loose much weight 2kgs is all I managed. Would I do it again, yes. What would I change, my ruck sack. Do use regatta, mine broke with 84 miles to go. Thanks must go to both Clive & Richard their company, advice, as well as the light hearted banter made the trip all the more memorable.

It’s taken nearly a month for me to write this last entry and not for the first time have I struggled to put down my thoughts. What I think I’m trying to say is this. It’s good, every once in a while to challenge yourself with something new, something which is different, something that makes you feel you’re alive, something that surprises other, but above all. Do it!

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