Sunday 7 October 2012

Along The Trodden Trail

In doing my long distance quests, I have never kid myself that am breaking new grounds here or setting new records. Stellar records were set tens of thousands of years ago when the greatest trekkers of all time left Africa and walked all the way to Europe, then to Asia, Australia, North America.

In more recent times, a few people have achieved similar feats. When I initially decided to do the #walkacross quests, most of my online research was focused on preparations, what to expect, how to deal with chaffing, what to eat, etc. I never focused much on the experience of other people who had done similar exercises...until today.

For one, after my 72km walk, I guess could now relate more because it was now real experience for me. I still remember being about 4km away from the end point and all I could think of was "1 more hour of this" when I was sore, legs were heavy and I was drained.

So I came across Mark Moxon and his walking adventures. He's a veteran at this and he's done some really amazing walks. I honestly share of his passion and reasons for getting up and just walk and walk and walk...I also learnt a lot from him and his website. The meticulous planning, the right gears to take along, pacing oneself, etc.

Mark did the 1144 miles walk across the length of UK in 3 months. Mad inspiration right there.

Then there's Peter Jerkins and he did, wait for it....#walkacrossUS way back in 1973. His walk took 6 years albeit it was more of walking location to location and sharing experiences with people along the way. He's currently on similar travels and writing a book. I decided to follow him on Facebook - Peter Jenkins.

There are thousands of people worldwide who have done (and are doing) long distance walking to draw inspirations from...and I intend to tap as much as possible from their experiences.

JAS

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