Long Distance walk for newly retired solo travealler

[BigDahliaFan]

It looks like I'm going to retire before my husband and I would like to do a long distance walk. I might have company for a the odd weekend if it was in UK/Europe but mostly me on my own.

I wouldn't have the confidence to wild camp I don't think....But am thinking of camping and hostels/hotels.

So far thought of

Cornish Coast Path (busy?)
West Highland Way (midges - ugh)
Camino de Santiago
Japan Shikoku Temples

Any experiences or thoughts?

Have a look at the Dales High Way (as opposed to the Dales Way). Salt’s Mill in Bradford to Appleby in Westmoreland. A lovely walk, around 100 miles, good pubs and B and Bs to stay in, but best of all you can get the Settle to Carlisle train back to the starting place.

What a wonderful question and some brilliant suggestions!

If it were me I would do the Robert Louis Stevenson trail in the Cevennes. It's beautiful and wild but also quite close to civilisation.

Or one of the long distance trails in the Harz mountains (where I haven't been but I want to). Maybe the Harzer BaudenSteig.

enjoy, wherever you go!!!!

Love this thread it's inspiring me. How about North to South Corfu in spring? Not sure about doing it solo but it's meant to be a lovely walk.

Hello - I’ve walked the WHW and CdS - and my mum walked the Camino when she retired. We both loved it. My mum’s husband joined her for the first week, I joined her for a week part way through, and we met her at the end! There are a lot of people (probably more now than 2012, when I was there) - but this means the infrastructure is good and you really don’t need to carry much.

WHW is shorter, but the walking was a bit more brutal with the Scottish weather!

Best of luck!

I walked round Anglesey years ago. That's lovely too.

Canada has
-east coast trail
-north coast trail
-west coast trail
small break to comment on the originality of the naming convention
-rum runners trail
-fundy foot path
-tombstone range (hardcore, bears and camping)
-Jasper skyline 3 days, and mount Robinson 3 days but close together and stay a couple days too recharge in Jasper
—search cape breton multi day hiking
-there is also a continental divide hike. Or just go to waterton and do a bunch of day hikes. (Yay shower and bed!)

nepal - many options. But the two famous are Annapurna circuit and Everest base camp. It’s teahouse to teahouse. Highly recommend!

so much fun to be had! Enjoy.

edit for spacing! Cape Breton and Jasper are a continent apart and they had squished up.

I have done the west highland way, Camino ingles and Camino Frances. All are well provided with rest stops, cafes , restaurants and good places to stay. You must book accomodation in advance. Choose your time carefully to avoid midgies on the WHW, I had none in Sept. The Frances can be very busy in stages especially the last 100km. All three are great for meeting up with people.
Don't underestimate the stress of walking everyday on your knees and hips and build in a rest day. Use luggage transfer. Take moleskin plasters for blisters, very hard to avoid!

I’ve done several Uk long distance walks and the Isle of Wight costal path was my least favourite! Lots of erosion, causing in-land, steep detours. Not much variety. Very few other walkers to chat with.

West Highland Way was probably the best, although we were incredibly lucky with weather and booked accommodation way in advance. Not too many midges in May

I would avoid the Camino in July and August, especially the last 100k. Too crowded!