So it all started with a TV show.
One Thursday evening, myself and the husband were chilling in front of the television when we spotted a trailer for an upcoming show about Hadrian's Wall. Brilliant, we had not long visited our first Roman Fort on the Wall as we made our way home from our annual visit to Scotland so this would be right up our street.
Therefore, that Thursday evening, and the following Thursday evenings for the proceeding few weeks, we watched Robson Green (yes, him from Soldier Soldier and one half of the crooning actors Robson and Jerome) walk along the Hadrian's Wall national trail.
Now, I don't mean to be rude, but I know Robson Green is older than me, so when I watched him traverse along this beautiful landscape, I thought "I could do that". Indeed, what made it worse is that my husband also made noises around walking the wall.
However, by the end of the series, my hubby had decided that he wouldn't mind driving along the wall, but walking was a bit too much.
Unfortunately, by this point I had it stuck in my head that I could do this. I could actually walk the national trail, from one side of the country to the other.
It took a few days to broach the subject with my husband. Essentially I was going to tell him that I was going to go away for the week, alone, and spend money on this fanciful idea. And guess what? The husband thought it was a good idea. Why not try something different? If I was determined to do it, then I should. Damn having such a supportive partner 😁
And so the plan was formed. It would take months of planning; transport, accommodation, etc. but eventually I had a date and the basis for my first ever long distance hike.
I started to practice my walking. Going out over longer and longer distances. I even joined a 1000 mile challenge to encourage me to continue my walking and keep me motivated. It meant that I was determined to get out in all weathers just to keep my mileage up.
It seemed like such a long way away as I had to book everything quite far in advance. It didn't feel quite real until about a week before I started. Then the nerves began to kick in. The self doubt around whether or not I could actually finish this walk.
The day of my third wedding anniversary rolled around and the next day, I would be off on my first solo walking adventure.
And that's where the next part of my story begins...
