This is Hiro, the blog administrator.
I started this blog to tell you how to enjoy UK that is not in the guidebook. I was stationed in the UK for 5 years, and I was very pleased to tell a friend who came from other country how to enjoy the UK, and among them, walking and hiking that are not often properly introduced in guidebooks. I plan to introduce it on my blog focusing on how to enjoy walking and hiking at UK and related information.
Especially in the last year, I lived in a town in the Lake District, so I think I can deliver a wealth of information about the Lake District, which is famous as a tourist destination. Specifically, I am thinking about introducing walking/hiking courses and introducing useful apps and products that can be used at that time.
I want to make the site as readable as possible and a little useful.
Place for walkers : Recommended places and walking courses
British people love footpath walking
In UK, there is a pedestrian road called a footpath that runs like a net all over Britain. Footpath, also known as Public Footpath, is not only for ordinary walking paths, but also for unusual walking paths where you can walk in meadows or in private land around their own homes.
These footpaths are originally come from idea called the Right of way in the UK, which means that if it was originally used as a public passage, you can walk whatever it is used for now. And, it is stipulated by law as a way for pedestrians to enjoy walking regardless of national land or private land. I see a lot of British people walking on such a footpath on weekends. Because they love walking so much, their right is probably protected.
There are wide variety of footpath – a short course like a narrow alley that runs between houses in a residential area, a long course that runs over 100 km along the river, a small path open a gate of private house to walk through residential land and meadow walk by the side of sheep and horses. Since there is usually an arrow at the entrance of the footpath that indicates the direction to walk next, you can enjoy the feeling of a little treasure hunting game where you walk in the direction indicated by the arrow and search for the next arrow.
Since the footpath at meadow walks beside sheep and cows, area is always covered by stone walls and fences. Normally you need to walker through a gate, but you often need to crime over stone steps or ladders – which gives you a little athletic game feeling.
Thames Path, which is around 300 km long along the Thames in London. I used to walk this fun course on weekends when I saw many British people taking a walk with dogs and families.
Is foot pass walking impossible for tourists?
However, it may be a little difficult for tourists who visit the place for the first time to walk on the footpath because there is a risk that if you make a wrong way on the way, you will arrive at a completely different place. You can still walk footpath at London since footpath is still seen as a road on Google Maps, but if you go country side of UK, local footpaths are often not found on Google Maps. Footpath walking is not sometimes easy even for seasoned travelers.
The footpath splits into two or three directions while walking, so I lost myself many times.
Please experience the appeal of footpath walking at home.
Walking in the footpath alongside the nice mansion gardens and in the very comfortable countryside is one of the most recommended in UK. In this blog, I will introduce the course of the footpath in England that I took. Since people can’t travel abroad for a while because of COVIT-19, I tried to make it a site where you can experience walking the course at home by using maps, photos and videos. First of all, please enjoy footpath walking in UK at your home.
I plan to make course guides not only for the Lake District, but city such as the Cotswold, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and York where you cannot find footpath course by Google Map. I also plan to make tourist guides of London that are not often introduced in guidebooks.
Tips for walkers : Recommended apps and travel tips
Is Google Map useless?
As I wrote above, since the local footpath course often does not appear on the Google map, even if you open the Google map on the footpath in the meadow or forest, you will not know where the road you are walking is heading. Most of the landmark arrows on the footpath simply point in the direction of the first step of the path from the location of that arrow to the next, and there is no place name beyond that. When the road begins to turn right and left after starting, I can only pray to God that the road I am walking is heading in the direction I want to go, without knowing where I am going. You can see where you are and in what direction you are walking on the Google Maps, but when you start walking, the road gradually turns and you start moving in another direction.
I often felt very anxious when I walked along a darkening mountain footpath without knowing where footpath is heading.
Don’t worry. This blog will tell you which direction you should go.
Then, when you can actually walk in the footpath, how can you walk without getting lost? Please be assured. In this blog, the route map of the walking course as shown below is made with Google My Map, so if you open this blog site with a smartphone and tap the square in the upper right of the course map, you are on the Google map of your smartphone It is set so that you can see both and the course route, so you can walk in the correct direction while watching it.
It should be okay unless Google changes the conditions for sharing My Maps. (Please note that the map may not be displayed properly on a commercial computer or smartphone for office use. You should be able to see the course map on a normal personal computer or smartphone.)
In addition, I will introduce other apps which are convenient to use in the UK.
In addition, I will introduce apps that are useful in UK and how to use them. The reason I was able to collect the information to be posted on this site was because I learned how to use such apps. After learning how to use such apps, I was able to walk footpaths without getting lost. I’ll show you how to use these apps and tips for using them, so if you have them, you won’t be afraid of footpath walking in the UK.
Such apps were taught by staff who like trail running in the UK. In particular, the OS Maps app covers all footpaths in the UK, and even if I have aged eyes, it is a very convenient app that allows me to see the course of the footpath on a map on my smartphone, so if you are going to the rural areas of UK, please use it. I will make a page to introduce how to use the application little by little in the future.
Goods for walkers : Recommended goods
Goods for those who enjoy casual hiking and walking
In this blog, I will also introduce recommended goods for walking and hiking. I myself do not do serious mountain climbing or running at all. Since I usually just do casual hiking and walking, I would like to introduce foods for casual hikers and walkers. I will select products that you can enjoy not only when traveling to the UK, but also for everyday walking, jogging, and hiking.
Inov-8 : Casual walking and hiking with serious trail running brand shoes?
Among the recommended goods, the first item I will focus on is the Inov-8, a leading brand of trail running shoes headquartered in the Lake District of England. It is a shoe brand famous for extreme trail running through mountains, so it seems not suitable for casual hiking and walking, but there are many products that are suitable for elderly men who only casual hiking and walking like me.
The Inov-8 shoe is designed for trail-running top runners who demand maximum performance with light and flexible shoes with strong grips, but also great for casual walking and hiking by ordinary people like me. There are a wide variety of waterproof products that use GORE-TEX that can be worn without problems even in the rain, making it ideal as a shoe for travel.
To be honest, when I was in the Lake District I was working on this brand, so I’m trying to recommend the brand I was dealing with, but I can recommend it with absolute confidence.
At first I thought that it was a shoe that had nothing to do with me, but since I changed into a big fan while wearing it, I think I can convey its goodness well. Inov-8 also have shoes that use Nobel Prize-winning Graphene, so I will introduce their appeal one by one.
City and Trail Walkers : Enjoy the city and the trail walking
I have lived in the United States, Asia, and the Middle East in addition to the United Kingdom, and I have been stationed overseas for a total of 19 years and visited about 90 countries. I often asked which country is the best, and the answer is always, “By far the best is Japan, but UK is the best among all foreign countries.” What I like the most about UK is the pleasure of walking through natural woods and beautiful river which is also near a residential area with a lovely garden when you go out of the city no matter where you go. I would like to convey to everyone the enjoyment of being able to enjoy the scenery that changes greatly from the city to the residential area and the wilderness, even with just a short walking around an hour.
Thank you for staying with me.
Since I am a blog beginner, I think that there are some areas that are poor and difficult to read. Since I am an office worker on weekdays, I usually make blogs after returning home or on holidays. For that reason, I will upload articles at a leisurely pace, but I would appreciate your feedback.