First impressions (after three days)...The primary demographic is a 50-70 year-old British or Australian male who appears to spend all their leisure time walking. Most are somewhat surprised to see a Yank taking on the Coast to Coast as his virgin long distance walk...I see no problem (he says on day three). The distance and elevations are manageable so far but the terrain (rocky goat trails) is brutal and only an instant away from a turned ankle destroying a holiday. The New York Catskill Mountains come to mind but the scenery here is more dramatic (and where else is the "local" so celebrated). I can think of no American hike where you can routinely end your day's toll by hoisting a pint in a pub filled with pure rural
culture. Time to fall asleep reading Bryson.
"All I can ask for, at the end, is a last, long resting place by the side of Innominate Tarn, on Haystacks where the water gently laps the gravelly shore and the heather blooms and Pillar and Gable keep unfailing watch. A quiet place, a lonely place. I shall go to it, for the last time, and be carried: someone who knew me in life will take me there and empty me out of a little box and leave me there alone. And if you, dear reader, should get a bit of grit in your boot as you are crossing Haystacks in the years to come, please treat it with respect. It might be me"
Alfred Wainwright
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