Start here

There's an old joke, in which a car stops next to a man by the side of the road. The window is wound down "excuse me? How do we get to London?" The guy thinks for a minute and says "Well, I wouldn't start from here" 

Hiking to Scotland is the kind of journey one should only undertake if you start from the right place. London, would not be a good idea. New Zealand, even worse. So we are starting from Newcastle upon Tyne. Even still we are still looking at 100km. Two and a half marathons. 

So, the long and the short of all this is that we (which is to say my immediate family) have, this year, opted to walk the Northumberland Coastal Path. I'll be honest it surprised me too, but our elaborate holiday selection process ended up choosing this option. It has long been a bit of a dream of mine to do it ever since teenage holidays up here walking along bits of it. I only hope my youthful thoughts of walking along a beautiful coast from castle to castle, stopping at pubs along the way, are somehow as enjoyable in reality (and not, my fear, a long slightly fractious slog) 

Anyway, we have descended upon Newcastle from different parts of Europe (Hungary, the Netherlands, and Romania) and have spent the day before the hike pounding the pavements of Newcastle, which it turns out, is a gorgeous place. It might have been foolish to put in 18000 steps (and counting) before we embark on the 100kms of the path itself, but we live for danger

This is our holiday not a sponsored walk, but if you do feel like marking our achievements by donating to charity, please do so to the Hands Up Project. 










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