It’s been 3 days since we finished the trail, and we’ve made our way back to Shaw’s Hiker Hostel at Monson. We really enjoyed our last rest day here 9 days ago, so it seemed like a good place to come back to, to hang out and muster up some … Read More

The mountains are dwindling in size, and it really feels like the end of our hike is getting near. With just 115 miles to go to the end of the trail on top of Mount Katahdin, everyone on trail is making plans for summiting and thinking about their return to … Read More

After all the scrambling about in northern New Hampshire, we were ready for some easier hiking miles in Maine. We were warned that the trail would continue to be hard going until half way through Maine, and sure enough, although we do occasionally get stretches of easy hiking, we have … Read More

The steepest mile on the AT. The most difficult mile on the AT. The boggiest bogs on the AT (I hope!) Our last four day section going through the Wildcat and Mahoosuc Mountains has included the most gruelling and most entertaining hiking conditions of the trail so far – in … Read More

We’ve only hiked for four days since our last rest day, and now we’re having another rest day. Those four days through the Presidential Range were probably the most intense, and certainly amongst the hardest, of our hike so far. The White Mountains of New Hampshire, of which the Presidentials … Read More

Gah, my stupid ankle! A moment of paying insufficient attention to the trail, coming down a particularly rough and steep section near the end of a long day, a big step down off a rock, and I didn’t notice the small shark’s fin of rock sticking up from the surrounding … Read More

The last ten days of hiking since Williamstown have taken us 150 miles through the state of Vermont. The weather has been crazy, the ascents have been steep and rough, but it’s been good fun (mostly). Although it’s been hard work, it’s good to get back to going over bigger … Read More

Rest days are good. Rest days can be far too good, to the point where it’s a real wrench to pick up your rucksack and start hiking again. So it was with Delaware Water Gap. We had a comfortable hostel room, there was a great bakery in town, a kind … Read More

For hundreds of miles we’ve been hearing horror stories about the rocks of Pennsylvania, or “Rocksylvania” as it’s known amongst hikers. We’re almost done with Pennsylvania now – just a mile or two to the New Jersey state line – and I’m pleased to say we survived the rocks! They weren’t … Read More

Harpers Ferry is the official “half way town” of the AT – not quite half way from the start of the trail in Georgia to the finish in Maine, but because it has a railway station, people hiking the AT in two halves usually split it here. So it seemed … Read More

Into each hike some rain must fall. That’s what’s happened to us on this section, both literally and figuratively. We had enjoyed our rest day in Luray, even though it wasn’t the most restful – at least I got the antibiotics I wanted for my nasty insect bite (in case … Read More

It’s been nearly two weeks since I last updated this blog, and finally – FINALLY – we are having a day off, in the town of Luray in Virginia. We have had a few resupply trips into towns in the meantime, but to be honest by the time we’ve got … Read More

We’re at mile 730 of 2195 miles, so just an hour’s walk short of one third of the way, and all’s well! Along with most of the other hikers on trail around us, 20 mile days have become standard. Spring has well and truly arrived, newly opened leaves have brought … Read More

The first day out of town was full of the optimism that comes with better-than-expected weather and new shoes. Neil had played it safe with a replacement pair of Hoka Speedgoat 5 trail shoes, while I had decided to try Topo Traverse shoes. These are really popular on the AT, … Read More

There are few things more pleasant than being somewhere warm, dry and comfortable on a gloomy snowy day, looking out at the snow swirling past and knowing you don’t have to go out in it. So it was for our rest day. But after a full day of doing absolutely … Read More

At last, a month into our hike and finally we’re having a full day off! Not entirely by choice though … Snow had been in the weather forecast for a week, but we hadn’t made any firm plans for what we were going to do when it arrived. We rather … Read More

The wind roared around the metal roof; a cold gust blew through the gap between stone wall and roof, carrying a drop of rain onto my face Resenting this intrusion from the outside world, I turned on my side. My knees came to rest on my bag of electronics (phone, … Read More

It was a good pitstop at Fontana Lodge, even if the comfy bed didn’t quite work out! The soft saggy bed and overstuffed pillows left me longing for my inflatable sleeping pad and pillow on trail,  but we got in hot showers, laundry, food shopping and two good hot meals, … Read More

I’ll let the photos do the talking this time! 52 miles and 14,000 feet of ascent in 3 and a half days – we’re pretty tired. Enjoying the civilised delights of Fontana Dam Village for the night – we need to resupply here anyway, and with temperatures forecast to drop … Read More

Getting off trail and into town to resupply is never what we dream of while we’re on trail! We always hope we’re going to have a fun, relaxing time, and it ends up busy busy busy. Laundry, shopping, cleaning and drying kit all takes time. It didn’t help that the … Read More

The day got off to a fine start at Woody Gap, where some trail angels were laying on breakfast for hikers. As we walked across the car park we were greeted with “Hello and welcome!” and waffles, sausage and eggs were thrust into our hands. Several other hikers were sitting … Read More

On trail at last! We are two days in, and so far so good – in spite of some terrible weather! When our train arrived in Atlanta on Saturday morning, we were picked up by trail angel Stephanie (trail angels are kind-hearted folk who help out hikers on long trails), … Read More

Having never been to New York before, I was a bit intimidated by the idea of navigating our way around the city looking very much like the bimbly tourists that we are. But Neil was adamant he wanted to fly to New York then take the train to Atlanta in … Read More

2023 turned out to be a challenging year, but not in the way that I expected. A week before I was due to fly to America to hike the Appalachian Trail, I got a call to say that my 84-year old mum had suffered a stroke, and the prognosis wasn’t … Read More

Feeling incredibly grateful right now for all the support I’m getting for this adventure! First of all, a huge enormous thank you to everyone who has sponsored me to do this hike and donated to Cancer Research UK. I really appreciate it, it’s a great cause, and the more sponsorship … Read More

So much has happened since our last adventure. On a global scale, we have all endured the pandemic and associated lockdowns, with the complete up-ending of everything that we once considered normal; on the personal side, an encounter with cancer certainly made me re-assess what I wanted to do and … Read More