I wrote a bit in my last post about the challenge of walking 110 miles through England entirely on my own. I wrote glibly about dining alone or my reaction to meeting unlikable people on the trail. But there was no real contemplation on what it will actually feel like to undertake this walk in solitude. I owe it to myself to give some consideration to that reality.
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The state of alone-ness will begin when I board the Peter Pan bus in Providence on the afternoon of April 14. There is an anxiety level that is normally attendant to any road trip to Boston with its well-deserved reputation for traffic jams and the potential that such a jam could result in a missed flight. I expect that feeling will be heightened significantly because the ride will mark the beginning of an adventure full of unknowns. My head will be crammed with my habit of imagining the worst – not only the worst of the Boston traffic but by imagined disasters that will almost certainly befall me on the hike. And, worse still, I will have no companion with whom to share my admittedly needless anxieties.
I will carry this useless psychic baggage with me through Logan Airport with its check-in lines and security screenings and this assumes, of course, that I get there at all given the inevitable crippling traffic jam! And again there will be nobody to share my neurotic burden.
I expect that the airplane ride will feature less of this fretting given the number of diversions that Aer Lingus will have to offer like in-flight entertainment and a “sumptuous” meal followed by a nap and hot towel distribution before the descent begins into Dublin. I will, as always on long trips, worry about losing the seating lottery by having a noisome neighbor. That’s one concern you never have when you’re with a companion of your own choosing.
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Mike and I completed the Coast to Coast Path in two segments, the western one-third in 2022 and the remainder the following year. On each portion of the walk we encountered and walked for a while with a young woman who was traveling solo. In 2022 that was Rebecca from Davis, California and in 2023 it was Sally from Juneau, Alaska. Both of these women were intelligent, engaging and fiercely independent. Rebecca was likely about 30 years old and Sally in her fifties. And they were great walking companions for the brief time we were with each of them. I marveled at the fearlessness that each of them demonstrated simply by undertaking a 200 mile walk completely alone. The independent streak was also evident from the fact that they both raced on ahead of us oldsters to meet up with us at the end of that day’s journey.
Its one thing to wander in the wilderness on one’s own. Its quite another thing to do it as a woman! But I must confess that seeing the joy and resolve exhibited by Rebecca and Sally provided a large measure of the inspiration to do this year’s walk on my own. And they will be at front of mind as I begin.
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Mindfulness practice has been a part of my life for the past six years – though I admit that in the past couple of years I have been a slacker skipping many days’ sits. But I recently resumed a daily practice of sitting for ten minutes or so each morning to live in the present moment as I prepare for each days’ activities. And it is something that I incorporate into my morning walks on the beach. Resting my concentration on the rhythmic sounds of the surf or on the feel of a sea breeze on exposed skin has a way of readying me for whatever challenges lay ahead. My unsophisticated self sees this as a way to relax but the gurus suggest that much more is going on to heal a resuscitate the spirit. However you describe it, mindfulness is a worthy pursuit.
In a way, I hope that my walk from Kirkby Stephen to Robin Hoods Bay will be a 110-mile meditation – a time to free my mind of the daily concerns that normally fill my human brain. To facilitate the process, I will even load a few guided meditations into my phone to listen as I walk. Meditation is best done alone with no concern for the well-being of a companion and no compulsion to engage in conversation. Ommmmmmmmmmm………
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A solo hike of this magnitude in the remote wilds of northern England mandates particular attention to some aspects of preparation.
- It will take some planning to assemble a first aid kit that is adequate to the moment but small and light enough to carry easily.
- Doing this walk in April as I am also means bringing a selection of clothing versatile enough for almost any kind of weather. Rain is common in this season and snow is not unheard of in the heights of the moors. And temperatures may range from the mid-30’s to the 70’s.
- The remoteness of the path will, at times, take me outside of cellular signal so I will need to bring the things I may need to help rescuers find me in the event of a fall or being otherwise stricken out there. I’m sure I’d have trouble getting road flares past the TSA checkpoint but at least I will need to have a loud whistle in my pack.
- The lengths of several segments of this path are long enough (one section is listed at 23 miles) that there is a real risk of running out of drinking water. So I am packing a portable water filtration kit.
- The lack of companionship may occasionally drive me to seek the solace of a human voice. In those moments, I will have an audio book loaded and ready to play.
- That last item touches upon another need of the solo walker traversing remote spaces. Electronic devices are quite necessary in this setting because the company that booked the trip has supplied a set of maps that I have downloaded to my iPhone. These are equipped with GPS mapping so that I can tell at any moment where I am in relation to the prescribed route. These maps proved to be a lifesaver on our 2023 trek. But, like all apps, they require that the host device have power to run them. So another absolute necessity will be to tote with me a power bank strong enough to recharge multiple devices multiple times. I have a couple of these. The most powerful one weighs in at 1 lb 4 oz! That’s a lot of weight to add to a 25 liter day pack. But even my older, less capable charger, weighs in at 14.5 oz. So there’s a decision to be made.