I thought that walking was what English people do and hiking is what Americans do. But it turns out that’s not quite right.
According to Ordnance Survey (and they should know, right?):
…. A simple distinction between hiking and walking would be whether or not you need to take supplies with you because it’s longer than an hour and involves more effort. For a hike you will definitely need to carry a few essential items in a back pack.
Generally, Google seemed to be of the opinion that ‘hikes tend to be longer than walks and require proper equipment and footwear, as terrain and trails are more rugged. Hiking tends to see you move from lower to higher as you progress and are generally more undulating than a walk.’
So yes, hiking is what we have been doing. Almost entirely by accident.
But here is where it all takes a turn. At some point – presumably on one of the lovelier hikes where the sun was out but it was not too hot, and Percy wasn’t behaving like a crazed dog who had never been on a lead and the going was easy. Or perhaps when we’d stopped for our now habitual cheese and pickle roll and can of cider, admiring the countryside from a perfect perch on the side of a hill…we wondered if walking the South Downs Way (100 miles) in one go be possible…
And the idea grew into a bit of a plan. The original plan was to stay in B&Bs en route, but we discovered that it’s not possible to do that with a slightly crazed cocker spaniel leading the way. I can only assume that I must have had a few glasses of wine at the point I agreed to camp instead. I hate camping. I’ve written before about how I’d rather snack on my own eyeballs than do it again.
So, in a few weeks we are hiking the South Downs Way over 8 days, carrying everything we and Percy need on our backs. Of course we are. We have done a weekend tester. The first night, just as we were walking to the tent to go to bed Percy jumped in a slurry pit… I’m not sure whether to take that as a sign of things to come or assume that it can’t get much worse than that. It wont be long before we find out though…
And while I was finding the definitions about walking vs hiking I fell down a rabbit hole and discovered this:
Trek: A trek is used to define a walk or hike which tends to be multi-day, remote, little in the form of accommodation (generally camp-based) with trails that are either partially visible or not visible at all and where altitude or other rugged terrain and crossings may be encountered. Treks require the most specialised equipment and will probably see you without a shower for days.
So it turns out that actually we are going on a *trek*. But we WILL be having showers (please see this previous post for smell and bloodhound nose references). Although we’ve been contacted by one campsite we’ve booked to say that their shower is broken but they do still have the cubicle, containing a working hose…
What the bloody hell am I letting myself in for?! 🤦🏼♀️
Have you ever done a holiday that on paper sounded like an endurance expedition but turned out amazing? Can it be done?! 🙂
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