Ancient Feet: 8 - Alfred The Great
...Wainwright described the walk in fourteen stages saying given reasonable weather, the walk can be done in two weeks, not rushing it nor trailing behind schedule, but it can be completed in a longer or shorter period than fourteen days and we had chosen (that is, Tom had chosen on our behalf) to complete the task in twelve days...
Alan Nolan contemplates the "serious walking'' which he and his companions have opted to do.
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http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ancient-Feet-Alan-Nolan/dp/1906510970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258967135&sr=1-1
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The Coast to Coast route was devised by Alfred Wainwright and was first published in 1973. The route passes through three National Parks — The Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors — and about three quarters of the one hundred and ninety miles of the route is within the boundaries of these National Parks. Wainwright preferred the west to east crossing mainly because the prevailing weather comes from the west on five days out of six, and it is better to have the wind and rain on the back rather than in the face. He gave another reason, perhaps less convincing, namely that the natural sequence is left to right as in writing or in listing the people in a photograph, and that going from right to left along a horizontal plane is abnormal and goes against the grain. When Don had done the Coast to Coast Walk all those years ago, typically, he had chosen to be abnormal and go against the grain and took the east to west route. Ever since then, he had sworn that east to west was the better way to do it and ¦would argue all night to persuade anyone daft enough to listen that Wainwright was wrong. I was half-expecting to see a little pennant attached to the top of his pack proclaiming EAST TO WEST IS BEST.
Wainwright described the walk in fourteen stages saying given reasonable weather, the walk can be done in two weeks, not rushing it nor trailing behind schedule, but it can be completed in a longer or shorter period than fourteen days and we had chosen (that is, Tom had chosen on our behalf) to complete the task in twelve days. This is where campers have an advantage in that they do not have to plan their stops in advance, and they can vary their timescale depending on the weather and how they feel. On the other hand, walkers staying in B&Bs and youth hostels have to book their accommodation in advance, so that they must choose the number of days they will take, book the accommodation and make sure they reach that accommodation on the appropriate days, irrespective of the weather or any other consideration. This is serious walking rather than what Tom would call 'gratuitous' walking. He insists that if you can get up in the morning, check the weather, see how you feel, and still decide to go walking, that is gratuitous walking.
