Hi Mick,
I get told by walking colleagues that I dont eat enough when on a walk. To be honest Ive never eaten a lot during walks and seem to get away with it, mostly anyway.
On my trip I only had two proper meals and three bowls of soup, however I ate around six cereal type bars a day, got through a bag of Jelly Babies and Choclate Eclairs and a couple of cakes.
One thing I did discover and am sure it helped me, was that instead of just getting an Electrolyte drink at shops I instead opted for Coke and Pepsi Max. I also used those Nunn tablets as I used a lot of stream water. I think I was lucky with Lord Stones being open though as I may have wilted without that soup there.
Dave.

Cheers Dave - thanks for that. I did well (maybe more down to luck!) to get to the Blue Bell in the nick of time for that 1st (and only...) bar meal. Richmond Fisheries was good and of course the Co-op in KS... so yeah I only had two proper meals too, but missed out on the soup - soup sounds good. I did try some mushroom st. out of tin at Patterdale, but too late by then...
your schedule worked out well - Lordstones must have given you a good boost (moral too), but I think you'd have made it to the Lion okay or Glaisdale PO - grim determination lol - that's what I was lacking!
mick

Mick,
I think one of the main things is getting away on time in the morning no matter how late you put down the night before.
Once away on time or slightly before, even better, the rest of the day takes care of itself.
I was surprised but the only time my legs felt tired was the climb up Loft Beck and Lining Crag. I got out of breath on the climb up the steep left hand of the Tongue between Grasmere and Grisedale Tarn. Otherwise the only problem was head fatigue and the feet.
I never felt like I needed to sit down and rest, just three times I sat down to take the weight briefly off my feet.
I have to say those 3 peaks before Clay bank were the hardest part of the whole journey and came as a surprise taking almost three times longer than anticipated, albeit in the dark.
Dave.

You did extremely well to press on to Blowroth Dave esp. after turning it round at Richmond.
I missed my alarm day4(4am) - just totally zonked...

Blisters healing well, just waiting for thicker skin to form, but Ive got Bursitis of the second metatarsal, directly beneath the worst big blister of my right foot, which is proving troublesome. Going to get some inserts to try and relieve pressure in that area to give it a chance to calm down, before I seek professional advice.
Dave.

re getting away on time

I remember, as a farm lad , the farmers wife would say half a hour on a morning is worth 2
hours at night.

those Cleveland hills are hard work, when ones tired

...and here it is start of day 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orb19JxlHoU

I'd got to Crosby Ravensworth Moor the night before and put down next to the infant Lyvenet - missed the 4am alarm
What a day that turned out to be...

Thanks for that Mick, made me chuckle again.
Ive still got a bit of a way to go before the scarring of my heel blisters fade completely. The others have healed nicely but I have got a bit off excess bursa or fat pad, under where the bad ball of foot one was.
I managed a Munro baggin trip the other weekend, did three in two days, up in the snow of the Cairngorms.
I'd like to carry on doing long distance fast backpacking and may be self persuaded to give an E to W crossing a go some time, but I am now concerned about my feet on these type of trips. The blisters pas painful as they are, I can cope with, but after my return from RHB my feet swelled up within 48 hours, so badly that the returning blood supply was partially cut off. This caused immense pressure in my feet every time I lowered them from the elevated position. It felt like they would burst, and lasted seven days before subsiding as the inflammation retreated. I was told this was a dangerous complication and can lead to the muscle dying.
The only other time my feet have swelled up similarly was after my return from the PW.
I am fairly sure it is down to multi day high mileage, I never have the problem after a single 80 odd miler non stopper.
Anyway enough of all that, hows your thinking going with you know what?
Dave.

I can laugh about it now...
Might be better if I didn't have so many hobbies I think and just stuck to the running/walking - this year I've set myself a target of 500 litres:

http://lightweightmick-cider.blogspot.com/

but it's hard work on your own...
No doubt, come the new year, thoughts will turn outward and toward another attempt and I'm coming round to the idea of sticking with the E-W at least - more food being a priority though
mick

Yes that does look time 'consuming'.
You will probably cringe when I say this, but I used to prefer my Cider mixed with Guinnes.
Dave.