The thing is you see........I'm no PROCLAIMER; so walking 500 miles is just out of the question! But, I've committed myself to a 200 mile trek across the north of England and I need to get in shape. Ok, so I know that the Wainwright Coast to Coast Walk is across what is probably one of the narrowest bits of the country, but hey, it's still 200 miles. As it happens, I'm not exactly out of shape, what with doing half an hour on an exercise bike and treadmill most mornings and playing golf twice a week, if I can get away with it! But still, walking an average of 14 miles a day, EVERY DAY, for two weeks is going to need some serious training.

So what is the training regime? Well, I've got a few routes that I've been using regularly so far, including following the Grand Union Canal to Three Locks and back (8 miles) and then the opposite direction along the canal to Cooks Wharf near the village of Ivinghoe and then back along country roads through Cheddington, Mentmore and Ledburn (14 miles). At least one of those a week, plus two rounds of golf and the gym work most days, is setting me up pretty well for starters. AND, so far, no ill effects!

But, before I go on, let's go back a bit...............although not quite to the very beginning. Not quite to that crazy fleeting moment when I actually thought that hiking up Mount Kilimanjaro might be a good idea. No, let's go back to the moment when the C2C idea formed. The idea for, what will be, a much longer walk (about 5 times as far as Kili) but, you'll be relieved to learn, a much, much LOWER walk than Kili. If I get any sickness on this route, it'll probably be down to too much booze, rather than too little oxygen!  

So, what about my companions on this adventure.................my fellow Happy Wanderers? Well, as it happens, this motley crew will be pretty special - a team that would have been a hell of an 'Endurance' (geddit??!!) for Sir Ernest Shackleton to lead. A team that the famous viking Leifur Eiriksson, would gladly have left in America when he discovered it by mistake after missing Greenland. And, a team that would have seen Captain Kirk boldly going where no man has gone before, rather than have them crewing the Enterprise!

However, in our own sweet way, our little band of brothers (and sisters) are just as intrepid as any of these famous explorers. Just as courageous......just as keen to explore the Great Unknown. It's just that we'll be having a hot bath and warm bed every night, plus a cooked breakfast every morning!! Home comforts are pretty important in this exploring mullarky! All joking apart though, this is no bunch of novice ramblers, whose longest walks have been to Tesco and back. Between them they have completed a whole range of hikes including Ben Nevis, Mount Snowdon, the Thames Path, the London Marathon route, the Samaria Gorge in Crete, trails in Canada and the US, the Base Camps of the Himalayas and many, many more.

So, who are this team and what special skills do they each bring to this mighty expedition, I hear you say? Well, there's me, of course. A man who always has a spreadsheet handy, perfect for analysing which dodgy bit of the trail to choose next. I elected myself Head Hiker in a moment of pure egotism. Basically, I'm a control freak! 
 
Then there's Steve Forbes. Sometimes known as 'The Hiker's Hiker' and sometimes as 'The Boozer's Boozer'. But more often than not, known as that bloke who's fallen over either through booze or boulders!!! The third man is Tim Horan......or was the Third Man actually Harry Lime???? Anyway, there's Tim, the man who has a gizmo for everything, which is really handy if you actually need a gizmo for anything! 

The last man in our team is Jim Chivers (or Barry from Eggheads as he is commonly mistaken for!). Is he Bristol City or is he Manchester United? Either way, never mind Jim, the season will nearly be over by the time we go on the trek!  

So there we have it.......four men, four one-time bankers........what can possibly go wrong?!

But that's not all. We all know that multi-tasking is pretty difficult for us chaps and who knows how we'll cope with walking and map-reading at the same time. So, we've brought in some specialists, able to do several things at once; two ladies whose fitness levels are likely to put us blokes to shame.  

Firstly, there's Tina Filby, Steve's sister (but that's where the problems should end!!). 200 miles will be a mere jaunt for this lady who's used to covering 100 miles in a weekend, although usually on a bike, to be fair! Then there's Marie Blakeley, a retired teacher who looks to have all the skills necessary to keep this bunch of ageing adolescents in check!

And there we have it, the Dirty Half Dozen, the Magnificent Almost Seven or the Sixth Nonsense. Either way, this will be the plucky group of Coast to Coasters to tackle Wainwright's wonderful walk. Our accommodation is booked and we will be using Packhorse to transport our luggage from each night's place of rest. Most of our stays will be in B&Bs, but our second night will be in the famous Black Sail Youth Hostel, a remote place that can only be reached by foot ........hopefully!!

 Five months from now, we will be on our way.....................
 THE TEAM:
 

 










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