110 miles on foot, 8 County Tops, 1 country Top, 13 Marilyns, and 19 trig points
Mountain-addict Jay Mistry saw the forecast, checked his holiday allowance and hit the nuke button!
“As part of my #walk1000miles this year I’ve set myself the challenge of climbing all the county tops in England and I’m also working my way through the Marilyns [hills & mountains at least 150m higher than their surroundings], and bagging as many trigs as possible breaks up journeys a treat, so...”
DAY 1 From Huddersfield to bag Shropshire County Top Brown Clee Hill. DAY 2 Met a fellow 1000-miler and did a nice 9-mile walk around Herefordshire before heading to Richmond. DAY 3 Another meet-up, this time 17 in attendance for a 7-mile walk around Richmond Park. Next stop: my aunty’s (best homemade Indian food going) then a sunset walk around Stonehenge en route to Exeter. DAY 4 Devon’s county top High Willhays, Yes Tor then Seaworthy Beacon, Wills Neck, Staple Hill and Lewesdon Hill. With daylight fading I headed to the New Forest. DAY 5 Isle of Wight to bag Brighstone Down and Marilyn St Boniface Down, then London (work tomorrow, boo!) via an ascent of Butser Hill and a visit to Jane Austen’s. Nice evening so I left the hotel and walked the 7 miles to Greenwich for the sunset. DAY 6 After a morning of work I headed to the Black Mountains in south Wales via Liddington Castle trig point. Lord Herefordshire’s Knob, the Black Mountain next, and a beautiful sunset before heading to my hotel. DAY 7 to Pembrokeshire and a relative chill-out day with just a few trig points on the way and a sunset walk up to Marloes Beacon.
DAY 8 Boat to Skomer Island to see the puffins and bag the high point, then up to Snowdonia for an attempt on the Welsh 3000ers. After summiting Snowdon, 10 miles in and starting on the Glyders 10, disaster! Feel ill, dizzy, sick. Heat exhaustion, and the end of the attempt. But Sunday was another badger meet locally so a nice 7-mile leg stretch that finished an epic week – 1700 miles on the road, 110 miles on foot! 8 County Tops, 1 country Top, 13 Marilyns, and 19 trig points.”