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Re: What's the average route length?

Which averages are you after - mean, median or mode? And do you wand Standard Deviations as well?

I have completed 10 crossings, and find I normally cover about 200 - 225 miles, including and non-standard deviations (of which I normally make a few).

I figure that there's 15 days available, so I plan to use them all. I like finishing on the Friday (the party's bigger on the Thursday ... but they're trying to dispose of surplus goodies on the Saturday morning and if you're still around you can usually pick up a little something extra.

I'm with Humphrey about the importance of walking time. I tend to aim for about 9 hours of walking (inclusive of stops, when I'm not walking) in a day. Anything under 8 hours feels short to me. Anything over 11 hours is HUGE. What that translates to in terms of actual distance is highly individual and taking an average of distances rather than walking times could yield dangerously misleading data.

Know what you are capable of ... and work around that. You'll have no difficulty getting across (unless you're trying to drag your gear in a converted shopping trolley on account of having had a hernia operation two weeks before the off ... )

Re: What's the average route length?

For those of us having a few challenges under our belts, we each have our own preferences, habits and goals. I have heard the shortest distance west to east is 170 miles, give or take, but most of my challenges are 200 - 225 miles. I have always finished on the Wednesday (13th day) but then I take very few breaks during any one day and my 'rest day' is usually a half day of walking vs a real day off. I would say 10 hours per day is average but, then, I am typically on my own.

I keep thinking I should take the whole 15 days but I get anxious to finish and socialize - a mindset I should reconsider as I get older!

Re: What's the average route length?

A quick totting up of the mileages on a couple of my routes shows that this year was my shortest crossing at approx 165 miles planned. I may have walked a bit more or a bit less. That was from Oban to Ethie Haven and, as my 10th crossing, I'd planned something short and sweet with plenty of time to enjoy myself.

I usually do about 200 miles and am a bit surprised to see so many people doing 225ish. I usually start walking on the Saturday and finish on the Thursday and I only have diddy legs. I don't usually take many breaks during the day but will always stop for a pub / cafe / icecream van / man in car offering me food [this has happened].

The daily distance and time walked depends a lot on whether I have accommodation booked [stop early] or am camping wild [keep going], and on the weather. Sometimes, if the weather is bad I prefer to keep plodding on so that tomorrow's mileage is reduced a little.

Re: What's the average route length?

Thanks for the replies.

I've been putting together a route across the south visiting some interesting points (more of which I'll reveal later), but unfortunately the route has come out as 278 miles in 15 days which is just to long for me.

Back to the drawing board I think.

Re: What's the average route length?

As a bookkeeper, I like this! Averages !

I have found that the best indicator is the average daily distance (add).
Four challenges done and the "add"s were 23.9, 26.5, 24.4 and 23.5 (in kilometres, sorry!)
Except for the last one, which was only 12 days, it took me 13 walking days.

After the 2011 challenge (26.5 average), I decided this was too much!
Compared to the planned average daily distances (padd), I turns out I always do around 0.5 km more. So I try to keep my "padd" below 24km.

278 miles would be totally out-of-bounds for me. Even taking the full 15 days, that is a padd of 29.6 km - in reality I would be walking more than 30km each day.

Good luck, Paul !!

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