Miscellaneous Statistics:
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Geocaches Found en-route: 373
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Taxi Fares Getting Back to the Car at the End of a Walk: £878.50
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Number of Times Drenched by Rain (and I mean DRENCHED): 2
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Modes of Transport other than Walking: Ferry (8); Roller Coaster (2); Log Flume (2)
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Number of Naked Adults seen: 3
Strange Search Engine Terms which have been used to navigate to this blog (I hope they found what they were looking for, though not necessarily in my blog):
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“Fetish all the way through“
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“Gay cruising Coalhouse Fort“
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“Cow walking backward“
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“Vandalizing graveyards“
- “Women on oil rigs nude“
- “Where do I buy a bone for my dog in Tilbury?“
Mileage:
At the end of each walk are a couple of brief statistics, namely the total length of the walk and the total number of miles walked in the series so far. However, from Walk #2 onwards we are also providing a link to a Garmin page, where the complete statistics of each walk, including an interactive map, are published. These are taken with a GPS device we carry with us and are uploaded to the computer afterwards. If you like your stats I would recommend you have a look at this link. By clicking on “Player” tab to the right hand side of the tool bar this site will even play the walk back to you.
Finally, the GPS device is turned on when we start the walk and turned off when we end. Thus, whilst a walk may only be a few miles “as the crow flies”, the GPS measures every step we take. So when we wander around a pier, or beachfront theme park, that distance is measured too. The mileage displayed at the end of each walk is for the actual distance we have walked.
Here are quick links to the walks measured with the GPS device:
| WALK | DATE | COUNTY | ROUTE | MILES | TOTAL MILES | MAP |
| 1 | 9 October 2011 | Essex | Haven Point to Shoebury East Beach | 6.29 | 6.29 | Oops! Not Uploaded! |
| 2 | 26 October 2011 | Essex | Shoebury East Beach to Southend-on-Sea | 5.28 | 11.57 | CLICK |
| 3 | 6 November 2011 | Essex | Southend-on-Sea to Two Tree Island | 8.07 | 19.64 | CLICK |
| 4 | 27 November 2011 | Essex | Two Tree Island to Benfleet | 3.46 | 23.10 | CLICK |
| 5 | 4 December 2011 | Essex | Benfleet to Canvey Island Beach | 6.32 | 29.42 | CLICK |
| 6 | 7 January 2012 | Essex | Canvey Island Beach to Benfleet | 9.18 | 38.60 | PART I and PART II |
| 7 | 14 January 2012 | Essex | Benfleet to Fobbing | 8.28 | 46.88 | CLICK |
| 8 | 21 January 2012 | Essex | Fobbing to East Tilbury | 6.29 | 53.17 | CLICK |
| 9 | 4 February 2012 | Essex | East Tilbury to Coalhouse Fort | 4.91 | 58.08 | CLICK |
| 10 | 11 February 2012 | Essex | East Tilbury to Tilbury | 7.70 | 65.78 | CLICK |
| 11 | 17 February 2012 | Essex/Kent | Coalhouse Fort to Gravesend | 5.74 | 71.52 | CLICK |
| 12 | 25 February 2012 | Kent | Gravesend to Cliffe | 9.16 | 80.68 | CLICK |
| 13 | 10 March 2012 | Kent | Cliffe to Allhallows | 14.39 | 95.07 | CLICK |
| 14 | 25 March 2012 | Kent | Allhallows to Allhallows | 4.05 | 99.12 | CLICK |
| 15 | 13 April 2012 | Kent | Allhallows to Grain | 7.00 | 106.12 | CLICK |
| 16 | 14 April 2012 | Kent | Grain to Grain | 6.34 | 112.46 | CLICK |
| 17 | 21 April 2012 | Kent | Grain to Stoke | 3.31 | 115.77 | CLICK |
| 18 | 7 May 2012 | Kent | Stoke to Upnor | 7.03 | 122.80 | CLICK |
| 19 | 12 May 2012 | Kent | Upnor to Chatham | 7.74 | 130.54 | CLICK |
| 20 | 19 May 2012 | Kent | Chatham to Lower Twydall | 7.99 | 138.53 | CLICK |
| 21 | 26 May 2012 | Kent | Lower Twydall to Lower Halstow | 9.12 | 147.65 | CLICK |
| 22 | 9 June 2012 | Kent | Lower Halstow to Queenborough | 11.60 | 159.25 | CLICK |
| 23 | 16 June 2012 | Kent | Queenborough to Warden | 11.68 | 170.93 | CLICK |
| 24 | 30 June 2012 | Kent | Warden to Warden | 14.30 | 185.23 | CLICK |
| 25 | 22 July 2012 | Kent | Warden to Swale | 10.95 | 196.18 | CLICK |
| 26 | 26 July 2012 | Kent | Swale to Sittingbourne | 4.77 | 200.95 | CLICK |
| 27 | 11 August 2012 | Kent | Sittingbourne to Faversham | 12.20 | 213.15 | CLICK |
| 28 | 18 August 2012 | Kent | Faversham to Seasalter | 10.05 | 223.20 | CLICK |
| 29 | 26 August 2012 | Kent | Seasalter to Whitstable | 6.54 | 229.74 | CLICK |
| 30 | 27 August 2012 | Kent | Whitstable to Herne Bay | 2.88 | 232.62 | CLICK |
| 31 | 2 September 2012 | Kent | Herne Bay to Birchington | 9.80 | 242.42 | CLICK |
| 32 | 8 September 2012 | Kent | Birchington to Margate | 9.54 | 251.96 | CLICK |
| 33 | 15 September 2012 | Kent | Margate to Broadstairs | 8.02 | 259.98 | CLICK |
| 34 | 22 September 2012 | Kent | Broadstairs to Cliffs End | 6.48 | 266.46 | CLICK |
| 35 | 29 October 2012 | Kent | Cliffs End to Deal | 10.36 | 276.82 | CLICK |
| 36 | 30 October 2012 | Kent | Deal to Dover | 11.89 | 288.71 | CLICK |
| 37 | 11 November 2012 | Kent | Dover to Folkestone | 8.42 | 297.13 | CLICK |
| 38 | 18 November 2012 | Kent | Folkestone to Hythe | 7.84 | 304.97 | CLICK |
| 39 | 1 December 2012 | Kent | Hythe to Littlestone | 8.82 | 313.79 | CLICK |
| 40 | 26 December 2012 | Kent | Littlestone to Dungeness | 6.32 | 320.11 | CLICK |
| 41 | 3 January 2013 | Kent | Dungeness | 7.06 | 327.17 | CLICK |
| 42 | 5 January 2013 | Kent/East Sussex | Dungeness to Rye | 12.42 | 339.59 | CLICK |
| 43 | 3 February 2013 | East Sussex | Rye to Winchelsea | 5.52 | 345.11 | CLICK |
| 44 | 9 February 2013 | East Sussex | Winchelsea to Hastings | 9.20 | 354.31 | CLICK |
| 45 | 17 February 2013 | East Sussex | Hastings to Norman’s Bay | 11.64 | 365.95 | CLICK |
| 46 | 18 February 2013 | East Sussex | Norman’s Bay to Eastbourne | 9.51 | 375.46 | CLICK |
| 47 | 2 March 2013 | East Sussex | Eastbourne to Birling Gap | 7.39 | 382.85 | CLICK |
| 48 | 1 April 2013 | East Sussex | Birling Gap to Seaford | 7.82 | 390.67 | CLICK |
| 49 | 14 April 2013 | East Sussex | Seven Sisters and Beachy Head | 11.16 | 401.83 | CLICK |
| 50 | 5 May 2013 | East Sussex | Seaford to Peacehaven | 9.62 | 411.45 | CLICK |
| 51 | 12 May 2013 | East Sussex | Peacehaven to Brighton | 8.04 | 419.49 | CLICK |
| 52 | 26 May 2013 | East Sussex | Brighton to Shoreham | 8.71 | 428.20 | CLICK |
| 53 | 27 May 2013 | West Sussex | Shoreham | 7.72 | 435.92 | CLICK |
| 54 | 31 May 2013 | West Sussex | Shoreham to Goring-by-Sea | 9.72 | 445.64 | CLICK |
| 55 | 1 June 2013 | West Sussex | Goring-by-Sea to Littlehampton | 8.58 | 454.22 | CLICK |
| 56 | 28 July 2013 | West Sussex | Littlehampton to Bognor Regis | 8.30 | 462.52 | CLICK |
| 57 | 4 August 2013 | West Sussex | Bognor Regis to Selsey | 10.27 | 472.79 | CLICK |
| 58 | 18 August 2013 | West Sussex | Selsey to West Wittering | 8.77 | 481.56 | CLICK |
| 59 | 21 September 2013 | West Sussex | West Wittering to Bosham | 10.05 | 491.61 | CLICK |
| 60 | 29 September 2013 | West Sussex | Bosham to Prinsted | 9.04 | 500.65 | CLICK |
| 61 | 17 November 2013 | West Sussex | Prinsted to Emsworth | 8.24 | 508.89 | CLICK |
| 62 | 26 December 2013 | West Sussex / Hampshire | Emsworth to Hayling Island | 8.25 | 517.14 | CLICK |
| 63 | 29 December 2013 | Hampshire | Hayling Island | 9.60 | 526.74 | CLICK |
| 64 | 11 January 2014 | Hampshire | Spinnaker Tower and Hayling Island | 3.49 | 530.23 | CLICK |
| 65 | 2 February 2014 | Hampshire | Hayling Island to Gosport | 8.53 | 538.76 | CLICK |
| 66 | 19 February 2014 | Hampshire | Gosport to Hamble-Le-Rice | 15.29 | 554.05 | CLICK |
| 67 | 29 March 2014 | Hampshire | Hamble-Le-Rice to Hythe | 9.49 | 563.54 | CLICK |
| 68 | 13 April 2014 | Hampshire | Hythe to Lepe | 12.90 | 576.44 | CLICK |
| 69 | 14 April 2014 | Hampshire | Lepe to Lymington | 16.91 | 593.35 | CLICK |
| 70 | 19 April 2014 | Hampshire | Lymington to Barton-on-Sea | 13.35 | 606.70 | CLICK |
| 71 | 3 May 2014 | Hampshire/Dorset | Barton-on-Sea to Boscombe | 12.44 | 619.14 | CLICK |
| 72 | 30 May 2014 | Dorset | Boscombe to Bournemouth | 3.51 | 622.65 | CLICK |
| 73 | 31 May 2014 | Dorset | Bournemouth | 3.66 | 626.31 | CLICK |
| 74 | 16 August 2014 | Dorset | Bournemouth to Poole | 4.47 | 630.78 | CLICK |
| 75 | 17 August 2014 | Dorset | Poole to Studland | 3.84 | 634.62 | CLICK |
| 76 | 26 December 2014 | Dorset | Studland to Swanage | 6.83 | 641.45 | CLICK |
| 77 | 27 December 2014 | Dorset | Swanage to Worth Matravers | 9.55 | 651.00 | CLICK |
The Coastal Path 
wow – really informative, good luck on yr travels: your kids will cherish the memories!
What a jolly good and pleasant idea. Am most envious. Hope you make it all the way round! The getting back to the car at end of day snag would likely be the thing that put me off … but then again I’m more than a little tempted to try it myself
Thanks for your comment, Andrew. I really would recommend it. The walks are full of surprises (some bad, I accept, but most good). As for the car problem, a lot of places have buses or trains that run along the seafront. We tend to opt for the taxi option. If you decide to give it a go let us know how you get on! Nic
As we are local to North Kent we have done many of the Kent stretches, and found the mileage statistics very interesting (no wonder we got so tired!) – await the next instalment eagerly.
Thank you for your comment, and also for reminding me that I needed to update the statistics page!
Hi Nic. My fiancee and I are also keen walkers, and have recently developed a strong fondness for Thanet and Dover. Your and Ruth Livingstone’s blogs have been a real inspiration to us 🙂 We were just wondering what device you use for the Garmin statistics? We often go on long walks at the weekends and end up wondering how far we’ve walked etc, and I was wondering if you could suggest a unit? I also quite like Garmin, having used a Garmin SatNav for many years, and have noticed that the eTrek models all appear very highly in the Amazon bestsellers list. In particular, we’d like a model that determine’s the height gain/elevation as in your statistics, and also one that could achieve the same sort of statistics/map page that you have here. Does that require additional software, or can you upload and share those pages out of the box?
We’d be very grateful if you have the time to share any advice.
Kind regards, Neil
Hi Neil and thanks for your comment. I used toi have an e-Trex but that really is very much at the entry end of the market. For a start, it doesn’t have maps on it, which other devices do, and it is black and white pixels. How much data it will record on your travels I have no idea, but from what you are saying I would not recommend it for you.
A few years ago I upgraded to the Garmin Dakota 20 and have not looked back. It connects to the PC, it has full mapping (even showing footpaths, and in better detail than the OS Explorer maps), and it records a huge amount of data – trip odometer, speed (current, max, average etc), pace, elevation, time (moving and stopping) and lots more. If you geocahe then it has a full geocaching capability, save for wherigo. Importantly, for what you are doing, the battery life is good – I have done two full days’ walking on a single set.
With regard to height gain and elevation, you need to be a little careful. If you check my pages for Canvey Island (which is as flat as a pancake) my GPS seemed to attribute over a thousand feet, so something was clearly wrong. On the plus side, when I went to Scotland and climbed a Munro it seemed to be very accurate indeed – to within a few feet. That walk is on this blog too – just browse the Scotland section.
With regard to the additional software, the one thing you will need is to download the maps. The Garmin pre-installed maps are so basic they are almost useless. Do a Google search on “talkytoaster maps” and that will take you to the talkytoaster website where a complete map of the British Isles can be downloaded for free. That is quite an amazin map – as I say, it has all the walkers’ footpaths on it, plus pubs, telephones, etc.
In terms of uploading your stats and sharing them, the pages my blog directs you to are all included and “out of the box”. You just need to register, hook up and off you go. What you can’t see on those pages as a member of the public (and what is one of the best things about the software) is that you can export your walks and view them in Google Earth.
There you have it. If my GPS was lost tomorrow I’d go straight for the Dakota 20 again.
Let us know how you get on!
Nic
ps – for city centre maps you can purchase and download from the Garmin website. Their city maps are very good.
Hi Nic. Thank you so much for this very detailed and useful information. We had thought the same about the eTrex 10 because the monochrome display didn’t look very helpful, so we were considering the eTrex 20, but it’s good to know of the Dakota range. Having had a quick browse online, it looks as though the new eTrex models are more recent in terms of their release date, but the Dakota models still seem to be a similar price. It seems the main differences are that the Dakota models are touchscreen, whereas the eTrex ones use a ‘joystick’, but that the eTrex models also use GLONASS satellites for extra accuracy. I think we’ll do some research on it and maybe treat ourselves for Christmas 🙂
Thank you also for the advice on the talkytoaster maps for maps of footpaths. That will be especially useful as we have found on some occasions that we lost the footpath signs (if they were even there!) and had to guess which way to go to pick up the trail. This happened especially when walking round Mam Tor in the Peak District. Thankfully we’d allowed enough time, but it could have been worse if we’d have started losing daylight…
Thanks again, and also for your excellent blog that really prompted us to treat ourselves to some new kit.
Neil
Hi again Nic, and Happy New Year! I thought I’d write to say that today was our first outing using our new GPSR… and we absolutely loved it! 🙂
We decided to wait until after Christmas in the end to see if there were any good deals in the sales, and we got lucky; we’d looked into both the Dakota 20 and the eTrex 20, and spookily enough the day we started looking to buy one, the eTrex 20 came up in an Amazon lightning sale at just £85, half the price of the Dakota, so we thought we’d give it a go… It arrived today so we went for a nice afternoon walk and so far we are very impressed, both with the unit and with how much using a GPSR added to our enjoyment and interest in the walk. I can see this becoming a significant hobby of ours!
I also wanted to say thanks again for your advice when we last spoke. I connected the unit to my laptop as soon as we got back, created a Garmin Connect account and had the map and stats of our walk up in no time. The player that animates where you were and when with the speed and elevation details is especially fascinating. We’ve also spent a good hour or so enjoying the route on Google Earth too – thank you for the tip! Lastly, I’ve just downloaded the routable British Isles Map with contours from http://talkytoaster.co.uk/ukmaps.htm and I am so glad I’ve done so, as the pre-installed map is, as you say, truly awful! Knowing where I could get a good free map has maintained our enthusiasm for it all!
Sadly, the “OS 1:50K Look and Feel” map is no longer free due to due to copyright theft issues, but it’s understandable why the owner would need to try to prevent this, and it looks like it’s only £10. Is this the map that you use or do you use the basic mapset? Having the best one for footpaths would certainly save us from getting lost when we go ‘off piste’, lol!
I hope you’re well, and thanks again for your help and your significant influence on our new hobby! 🙂
Neil
Hi again Neil – Many thanks for taking the time to write and I’m glad you are happy with the purchase – the price sounds very good!
With regard to the maps on talkytoaster, if you follow the link in your message, that page has two tables on it. I am pretty sure I downloaded the first map (with contours) on the second table. That one is fantastic and has all the footpaths on it.
Enjoy your walking!
Nic