About

Hi, I’m Danny, and welcome to my blog, tracking my progress walking from the bottom to the top of the United Kingdom.

The Challenge

I had the idea of walking from Land’s End in Cornwall, England, to John O’Groats in Scotland, while I was travelling in New Zealand about a year ago. A few people I met were walking the Te Araroa Trail, which is the equivalent trail in New Zealand, from one end of the country to the other. As someone who loves to hike and has completed several of the UK national trails, I knew that once I had finished my own travels in March 2024, that I wanted to complete the UK equivalent.

So here we are, about to undertake a 100 day (ish), 1,300 mile (ish), journey from Land’s End through England, Wales, and to the top of Scotland at John O’Groats.

While I expect to undertake this challenge mostly solo (feel free to join me at any point if you wish), I will have my trusty travel companion Dylan the Dragon on hand to keep me company. My friend Kay lovingly created Dylan for my travels across the world back in January 2023, and he has been with me until the end of that adventure to March 2024. So it only feels right that he joins me on this next adventure. Here’s a cute picture of Dylan and I on the Kepler Track in New Zealand from back in March 2023. 

The Charity

I will be completing this challenge in aid of Samaritans. Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year providing a safe place for anyone struggling to cope, whoever they are, however they feel, whatever life has done to them. For more information please visit www.samaritans.org

If you are able to help me raise money for Samaritans, any donation would be gratefully received. You can donate on my JustGiving page:

Donate via JustGiving

The Route

The route will take us from Land’s End in Cornwall, England, through the South West, into Wales, through the back bone of England, into the Scottish Highlands, all the way to John O’Groats. Here’s a rough map of what that looks like. 

To make life easier in terms of navigation, quality of footpaths, and access to accommodation, I will be sticking to the UK’s national trails as much as I can. Where I need to walk between trails, I will use lesser known trails to help me along the way. I intend to walk on average 15 miles a day, with rest days at appropriate points. The total route is about 1,300 miles, so it’ll take about 100 days. 

The Blog

I intend to write to this blog daily, keeping track of the route I have taken, posting photos of the lovely British landscape (and weather!), and moaning about how much my feet hurt.

A summary of blog posts and progress so far is available on the progress page.