At 7:32am on Feb 6th 2020 I walked out of my flat in London with the sole intention of getting lost and going on a really big walk across the UK with no specific direction or purpose or ending… (thread)
…13 days, 198 miles, 405,710 steps and 52 pubs later I found myself in Nottingham. The following is a list of random observations I made from this walk:
There is a monumental difference between arriving at a destination by foot and seeing/hearing/smelling every single inch of the journey compared to arriving by train or car.
A long walk is a little bit like a metaphor for life. It’s up and down, sometimes tough, sometimes absolute joy, it’s unpredictable, and you never know what’s around the corner.
People in small remote towns are often mocked and satirised in TV programmes like Little Britain. This depiction of them is justified.
Once you have stripped away all of life's responsibilities achieved peak freedom, the biggest challenge in your day is to avoid getting drunk.
There are less rules in the countryside. You can hurl a fallen tree branch anywhere, lob a rock at some water, piss wherever you like, sing loudly & kick some grass, shout FUCK OFF at sheep. In the city this would be anti-social behaviour.
Walking across the UK without pubs would be pretty much pointless. You don’t even have to like booze. They are a place for refuge and shelter and place to meet local strangers.
If you walk into a remote pub alone in full hiking gear with a rucksack, somebody will almost always immediately start talking to you.
Unemployed and retired men like to sit on their own (near each other but separated) in pubs all day and talk amongst each other in an unorganised way.
If you smile at a stranger in the countryside it’s normal. If you smile at a stranger in the city you’re suspected to be a a creep, a paedophile, or just ‘mad’.
Having less stuff/options can be a gift. You concentrate on what you need to survive and not on what you’re potentially missing out on. The city can leave you paralysed by choice. A degree of uncomfortableness makes you feel more alive.
Cathedral/church spires in the distance are a great sign that you are heading towards a settlement and that means pubs, which is good news. Always head for the spires if you are hungry or thirsty.
Navigating your direction by the position of sun is a charming & satisfying way to get around. All you need to remember is that it rises East and sets West, so you literally look at your shadow and you know roughly where you’re heading.
People are eating a lot of lasagne, fish and chips and sticky toffee pudding.
Overheard conversations in pubs on the subject of Caroline Flack will differ greatly depending on where you are in the country.
