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A diabetic, half-blind nine year old has done it. An eighty-three year old gentleman managed it for the sixth time. A lady tried it, beating a drum for the duration. Even Sir Ian Botham nailed it. Twice. Walking the length of Great Britain from Lands End to John o'Groats isn't as physically challenging as one might think. If these people can do it, then there's hope for everybody. The more I researched, the more I learnt about the variety of people who had completed this end-to-end walk. Others have rambled in the nude (taking five months to complete the journey due to repeatedly getting arrested), ran backwards and even trudged along with a wooden door tied to their back in remembrance of their father who was a carpenter.

Walking from Lands End to John o'Groats isn't a new concept. The first recorded end to end walk was successfully undertaken in 1871 by brothers John and Robert Naylor. Today, the shortest distance using roads between the two points is 814 miles. Deciding to link up some of the most scenic landscapes Britain has to offer, our route would be much longer at 1160 miles. Using only foot power, the quickest end-to-end completion is an impressive nine days, averaging ninety-five miles a day. At three months, my wife and I would be much slower.

We arrived in Penzance, the nearest town to Lands End, two days before our scheduled start date. Sharing a train with carriages full of wellington boot wearing Glastonbury music festival goers, I immediately wished I was heading to the same intoxicating, adrenalin fuelled location. Penzance is typically English in character and appearance. The faded seaside glamour of its Victorian heyday gives it a slightly tacky, unloved feel. Groups of youths wearing bright white trainers and skewed baseball caps swigged cans of cider on the promenade. They paused briefly to view the derelict looking fair adjacent to the town's harbour. Impressive panoramic views towards St. Michael's Mount, like something out of a Dracula movie, lifted the mood immediately.

By early evening, the promenade patrolling youths were gone. Several drunkards dressed as pirates, complete with striped t-shirts, eye patches and plastic parrots, had replaced them. I automatically thought these pirates were nothing more than a budget stag party enjoying a spot of harmless intoxication. After entering a local watering hole though, my suspicions were raised. "Dressing as a pirate?" One regular with his oversized belly propped up on the bar questioned his drinking partner. His friend, dressed slightly smarter but sporting an unfortunate Gandalf-beard/80's mullet combination nodded a confirmation.

It turned out I wasn't observing an English defection to Somalia's newest industry, but in fact a Guinness World Record attempt. In two days time an estimated 7000 pirates were expected on Penzance's promenade to beat the current record of most pirates in one place, presently held by Hastings in East Sussex.

Record breaking pirates were just a small part of Penzance's week long Mazey Day celebrations. Mazey Day is the central event of the Golowan Festival, Cornish for Midsummer. These celebrations, conducted around the end of June, include street parades, traditional rituals, story-telling and bonfires. Now attracting tens of thousands of people, Golowan has grown into one of the biggest arts and cultural festivals in the area.

I was going to miss out on these celebrations and the thought arose of pushing back the start of our 1160 mile walk. One of the reasons for doing this walk was to experience such cultural delights, but deep down I knew that postponing was just an excuse not to do it. Our intended finish time at John o'Groats was already the end of September. Any later and the temperamental Scottish autumnal weather would kick in. Walking in horizontal lashings of rain appealed to me as much as a life living off government benefits.

The next day, less than 24 hours before we started our Lands End to John o'Groats walk, we left Penzance and made our way to a campsite in Sennen, a short walk from the start. Upon leaving our Bed and Breakfast, the owner, a prim and proper middle aged woman, asked what our immediate plans were. "We are heading to Lands End to start our 1160 mile charity walk to John o'Groats, raising money for cancer research charity Association for International Cancer Research," we replied in unison. The owner smirked smarmily, looked us up and down from head to toe and condescendingly remarked, "of course you are." Our spirits felt crushed, but this would be something we would become accustomed to. There was obviously no faith in our words or physique and she saw us as a delusional pairing headed for imminent failure. For the first time I felt motivated to succeed in this challenge.

The journey to Sennen, although less than ten miles from Penzance, took almost an hour. Using the open-top tourist bus, full of raincoat wearing pensioners, we passed strangely named places like Mousehole, Paul and The Merry Maidens. The latter is a circle of stones dating back several centuries. Known in Cornish as 'Dans Maen' or 'dancing stones,' local myth suggests the nineteen stones were originally maidens, turned into stone as punishment for dancing on Sunday.

After pitching our tent for the first time, the true British weather closed in. As the heavens opened we dashed to the nearby First and Last pub and sought refuge. With a crackling fire, low wooden beams and a nice blend of ramblers, cyclists, tourists and locals, the First and Last is a long-established stop-off for most end-to-end challenges. The longer we stayed, the more our thoughts swayed to our departure the following morning. 1160 miles now felt a daunting prospect.

Lands End to John o'Groats (LEJOG) Walking Statistics:

TODAY:

Start Location: N/A
End Location: N/A
Distance Covered: N/A
Start Time: N/A
End Time: N/A
Total Walking Time: N/A
(this includes all rest and stoppage time between start and end location and not just walking time)
Footpaths Used: N/A
Accommodation: Seaview Holiday Park, Sennen, TR19 7AD. Cost: £17

OVERALL:

Total Lands End to John o'Groats Walking Distance: 1160 miles
Total Distance Covered: 0 miles (0%)
Days Walked: N/A

Pint(s) of the Day:

Betty Stoggs Bitter (Skinners Brewery, Truro, Cornwall) (4%)
"A Session beer, it's known as the Queen of Cornish beer. Light hop aroma with underlying malt .An easy drinking copper ale with a superb balance of citrus hops, malt and bitterness. Bitter finish is slow to develop but long to fade." (http://www.skinnersbrewery.com)

Ginger Tosser (Skinners Brewery, Truro, Cornwall) (3.8%)
"A lovely hoopy golden ale, fused with Cornish honey, gives this session beer a superb round finish with a hint of ginger. First brewed for red headed pancake tossers!" (http://www.skinnersbrewery.com)

Charity of Choice:

We are walking to raise money for cancer research charity Association for International Cancer Research (AICR). AICR funds cancer research projects globally. If you would like to see how much we manage to raise or if you are inspired to donate to this worthy cause, please visit our donation webpage at http://www.justgiving.com/Adrian-and-Candace.

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