To: pitely@marywood.edu
From: michael stephen fuchs 
Subject: Walk
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 04:49:50 PST

Mark,

Would you care to walk across England with me in the last
two weeks of March?

If so, here's some reading material, to pick a walk, &c.

http://www.ramblers.org.uk/
http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/
http://www.coast2coast.co.uk/

I'm guessing, amongst all my friends, this will be your
speed. No one likes to walk like Mark likes to walk.
The weather in March in the north might be a wee problem.

Michael





From: "Pitely, Mark" 
To: 'michael stephen fuchs' 
Subject: RE: and again
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2005 09:44:07 -0500 

Michael,

You are correct, I am definitely interested. I could care
less about the weather - it is England we are walking
across. I'll let you know more when I have looked into it.
I will check my schedule, but 2 weeks is no problem, 3 is
okay, too. 

Mark





From: "Pitely, Mark" 
To: 'michael stephen fuchs' 
Subject: RE: and again
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2005 10:30:45 -0500 

Michael,

I actually shelled out for a really nice tent this year.
It's very light and embarrasingly easy to set up. Takes 20
seconds. No rainfly, even, it's specially made.

Unusual or crappy weather is par for the course in England,
as I understand it. To truly appreciate the place, rain is
a must, but I guess across 2 weeks of hiking, even pissing
rain could put a damper on things, when coupled with cold.
Seriously, though, we survived 2 months in Africa - we
can deal with the worst England can dish out without
breaking stride. (Plus, we can take taxi rides across the
23 mile stretches, drunk as lords, if we have to).

Mark





To: "Pitely, Mark" 
From: michael stephen fuchs 
Subject: Zee Valk
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 02:11:55 PST

Mark,

In the spirit of things - and to see if my new (quite cheap)
vegan hikers are going to make the grade - I walked home
from work last night. And I didn't precisely take the direct
route. Almost three hours on the hoof. It was great. I'm
starting to see what Dickens was on about.

There are quite a lot of considerations we're going to have
to address, particularly if we camp. I think the fact that
you bought that tent may decide that issue. We can always
try for an occasional B&B if we want pampering. And I
assume you're conversant with what gear we'll need to pull
off camping. But, first amongst the considerations is dates.

My sense from my preliminary reading is that April is the
earliest we could reasonably do it. (Otherwise we may be
hiking in snow.)

Michael





To: "Pitely, Mark" 
From: michael stephen fuchs 
Subject: RE: Zee Valk
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 03:07:39 PST

Mark,

Okay, I'm thinking last three weeks of May would be ideal.
13-15 days for the walk, 2 days travel time on either end
- and a few days for you to check out London/slush time.

I bought a guidebook last night. I know how you feel about
guidebooks in general, but this is a bit of a special case:
we have to have one to find the route, which is really
scores of trails that are more or less connected. Yes, it
also provides details and history on some of the things
we'll see, but I promise not to read it to you. And,
anyway, the vast majority of the text is on the order of
(and I'm opening the book at random here): "Beyond the
gate the path continues to climb for a while, then levels
as it approaches a group of sheep enclosures at the tip of
Great Tongue." We'll also need Ordnance Survey maps and
probably a GPS.

Speaking of which, I'm going to start compiling a list of
needed gear, as well as any tasks we need to complete. I'd
like to do it as a sort of wiki, so we can both update it.

Last night, in addition to the book, I looked at shoes (as
well as other gear, while I was in the outdoors shops).
The really nice thing about deciding on a caper like this
is that it gives you a hobby for months.

Finally: I don't want to jump the gun - and I certainly
don't want to speak for you - but I'm already developing
a sense that this will be the coolest thing I've yet done.
Yes, we got across Africa - but we had hired a big truck
and a bad-ass and knowledgeable local with a tire spanner.
This will be all us. 178 miles of pedal locomotion, from
the Irish Sea to the North Sea.

Michael