How hard is it to hike/walk 26 miles?

[Bemyclementine]

I've had a leaflet come through the door fir the "mighty hike". A half or full marathon distance.

I'd LOVE to challenge myself to do this, and there us one very locally.

I'm am currently not fit and overweight.

I have previously been very fit, but chikdren and single parenthood plus a couple if health issues kind of put it on the back burner.

I do at least 10k steps a day without really noticing and can walk 6 - 8 miles at ease (but dont do it often.

How hard would it be? How would I train for it? I used to run a lot, up to 10 miles, so I guess train in a similar way, just walking and upping the distance/varying terrain?

@exttf thank you, some really useful advice there. The walk is further along the coast than I'd originally thought so there will be some hills, but us is still Norfolk, so not mountainous! There is a shingle area too.

What about sand, I worry about getting sabd/sandy soil in my shoes.

What can help you can get memory foam insoles to go in walking boots, you can get a bladder drinking water pouch to go on your back with a tube you just suck water from. Base layer, then mid layer and have a kagoole in case it rains.

I disagree with PPs who think it’ll be easy with the right shoes.

There’s a big difference between 10miles and 20+. Worth building up to, I think. I do 10miles a day over 2.5hours and would think twice before doing this.

It’s not just the terrain and new shoes, that matter. It’s things like you saying you’re a touch overweight and unfit. Even walking slowly if you try and do this you’ll likely get shin splints/back ache (from leaning forwards as you will inevitably do are you get tirex) both of which can be seriously painful. You’ll need to carry extra weight for water etc. Will there be enough people doing it that you’ll have company if you go slowly etc or if those mostly going to be experienced walkers who will stride off and leave you alone slogging away (cos that’s just depressing!)

I’m not saying don’t do it. Just give it serious consideration before you do. I’d start at 15 miles then build up from there over a month. Then give it a go! The Norfolk coast is beautiful and you don’t want to ruin such a big experience by being in pain or unmotivated etc

So many replies, thank you all. I'm going to go through and take notes later.

Ive done 26 miles a few times (not recently). The one thing people haven't mentioned is stopping to eat etc. I found if I stopped for more than 5 minutes I'd start to seize up, even worse was to sit down for a while. I just kept going, eating and drinking as I went, filling up with water at places I knew would be available.
You may want to think about taking a she-wee or similar, but if the stops you mention have toilets then you'd be OK.

DH did the Mighty Hike a couple of years ago. We are quite fit and do some
hiking but nothing on that level. He didn’t really ‘train’ for it. He said it was a great experience but his feet were a mess, and that was with proper hiking boots and socks etc.

I would make sure you don’t have any big plans in the week or so directly after it - DH couldn’t walk much for a few days afterwards as he had such bad blisters!

I've done the Shine night walk a few times in the past , similar to you in that I can walk a bit but hadn't trained as such .
Getting the right footwear and wearing it in would be my best recommendation , layers clothing wise for me as I get easily cold .

I did it in my early 30s. My feet were fine except for one blister but my hips hurt like hell! I didn't do lots of training but I would if I was doing it now 10years later

Oh also I did it in decent trainers.

Lots of training to be confident of the overall distance and experiment with socks and shoes combination, spare socks on the day to change into.
I did a Mighty Hike and memories on the day centre more on the regular stops at amazing catering tents along the way. Sure I came back heavier than when I set off! A few carefully spaced rest breaks really made a huge difference and broke the distance up into 4 much smaller walks.

I used to walk and run (very slowly) much more than I was doing in the last few years. Last spring I signed up for Jeff Stelling's Football March to raise funds for prostate cancer. As a 56 yer old man I had a selfish interest. I was maybe 40 Lbs overweight and hadn't walked more than 10 miles and not run more than 3 in a decade.

So I trained. Longer and longer walks each weekend (nothing beyond walking the dog in the week) until I'd done 3 over 20. All the 20 plus were hard but manageable - mixed terrain, woods, canal towpaths, one along the coast. I did them all alone. Stopped to photo things when I wanted. Listened to podcasts or the birds. It was high quality alone time.

I opted for something called 'approach shoes' that apparently is what climbers wear when they have to walk and maybe scramble to get to rock faces in remote places. They weren't cheap but are outstanding. Superb grip, not too heavy, no need to break them in. I also used sealskin socks. Not a hint of a blister or foot problems. I wore shorts and 1-3 layers on top depending on the weather, and carried water, wine gums and mini cheddars to graze on in a small cheap rucksack. Oh and possibly too much info but also loo roll.

The walk itself was easy. People to chat to, great atmosphere, food and water provided by the amazing marshal team. Mainly roads and canal path from Wembley to High Wycombe. There were people who struggled and some who had to stop but no shame in that at all. The marshal crew had a minibus and some people covered a few miles in that before rejoining.

It's a challenge not a race, no-one gets left behind and it really felt like taking part was the point of it all. It was so much more fun than the half marathons I used to jog slowly round and the London marathon I finished but had to walk from 17 miles and felt like a total failure (medal went in the bin that evening).

I loved it. I'd do another tomorrow apart from there's only so often you can go to the fundraising well. I can still do the long weekend walks on my own though

Also, don’t put extra pressure on yourself, aiming for a specific time. The achievement is in completing the walk, not in doing it under x hours. Just keep within the cut off time, which will be pretty generous.

I've done that sort of distance in the past, it's hard work! The first time I did 29.5 miles in a day. The last few hours were tough and a lot of chocolate was required to keep me going! I was super fit back then, a size 10, did regular 15+ mile hikes and got at least 20000 steps in a day.

The second time was about 26 miles. I was slightly overweight and did probably a 10 mile hike once a week on average. My feet and heels were very sore towards the end. I had a blister on the centre of each heel which shockingly disappeared the next day but was still sore. A few days later most of my heels fell off. Just the skin but it was pretty deep hole in each heel. Maybe the size of a 50p piece and quite deep I remember.

You should do a lot of training first. Try a 13 mile hike first then work from there.

I agree you definitely need good footwear. You can keep going when tired, but not with bad blisters. I double sock (silk liners, but cotton also fine,) but there are those who say modern walking socks don't need it, so probably best to see as you build up.

If you need to take a pack, you need to be used to walking with that, too. And you will need to take waterproofs, layers, water, snacks, so you need a daysack at least. It's Britain. Weather can change a lot over a whole day...

I'd take a basic first aid kit including Compeed blister plasters. And antihistamines, but i do get hayfever. Better to have them and not need them than vice versa.

Definitely possible, though. You need endurance more than super fitness.

I’ve done 26, 32 and 60 miles and 32 was by far the hardest as I hadn’t trained for it.

Is your step counter accurate?

Don’t worry about sand. Unless the tide is out at Weybourne, which gives you wet sand/grit/shingle mix, you don’t go on dry sandy bits. Even at Weybourne, you can avoid the wet sand.
The only hill is Beeston Bump, the rest is fairly flat terrain.

People who do the walk off just as the tail enders arrive thing should be liberally kicked in the shins and have their rucksacks filled with raspberry jam. Really twatty, rude behaviour.

You need decent footwear, double-layer ‘1000 mile’ socks and walking poles (they make a big difference imo, even on flatter terrain).
Wicking layers and comfortable trousers too.

@Wetellyourstory I keep looking at Beeston bump. We camp at Kelling a lot abd often go past, maybe I'll stop and walk up/down it next time!

It doesn't sound like you're too unfit at the moment with that amount of walking.

I did one with about 9 months "training" but you could do it in 6 I reccon as you're at a better starting point than I was.

A few pieces of advice:

1. Do at least 2 walks of 20 miles+ a couple of months prior to the walk. This gives you the confidence to know you can do it but also puts some miles in your legs and let's you know whether food, liquids, clothes and footwear need adapting for the day.

1. invest in 1000 miles socks and start taking care of your feet. Buy your walking shoes or walking trainers a few months before the walk to give them time to bed in. Take a spare pair you are used to on the day too.

1. for training keep up your 10,000+ steps a day but choose two days a week to do much longer walks. Make a plan to build this up e.g. week one, 8 miles. Week two, 9 miles etc. Choose a third day of the week to do a shorter but faster walk to build up speed e.g. 1 fast mile. Do the same route for the 1 mile but aim to reduce your time each week by a few seconds.

1. On the day, you'll hurt badly at certain points. Mine was mile 21+. I told my friends that we needed to speed up instead at this point to get it finished which helped. Changing the pace changed where the aches were 😂. I even light jogged on and off at this point for a bit as weirdly this felt better on my feet.

1. Just remember it's doable and it doesn't matter how long it takes. However, it's not doable without solid training.

On the walk don't lag behind, you need to be near the front or in the middle as when they stop for a rest they may wait for the laggers to catch up then move on and you won't get a proper rest (learnt this to my cost)

Don't worry about this happening, everyone is allowed to go at their own pace. They recommend slower walkers opt for an earlier start time purely to give you longer to complete the walk before it gets dark.

Definitely worth doing as you get fabulous views from the top.

@mumda I really don't know ttbh. It's a fitbit, I'm not sure how I'd check?

I used to prefer walking shoes but now love a pair of lightweight boots. Whatever you get, buy a spare pair of laces at the same time and carry them with you on all your walks (otherwise you have to improvise with cut up bandages from the first aid kit like I did).

Yesterday I tried walking poles for the first time and thought they were great for hills and mud. Assume any organised event will churn up the ground so unless it's actual drought conditions, expect to encounter a few slick patches.