Your dead/liminal spaces point is an excellent one. Our society runs on what’s out of sight and taken for granted, whether industrial, agricultural, or residential. You can’t know a place without diving into both its gaping maw and shabby edges. These spaces are also where one often finds the most interesting street art and friendliest stray cats!
I came back here to make the same suggestion as The Rational Walk below, independently, after thinking long about this article. Though I agree with Dan below that Chris' optimal way should rather be the Camino del Norte, perhaps followed by the Via de la Plata. Not the Camino Frances. Euskadi's got great wild cliffs, Gaztelugatxe, and countless tapas bars. Note say this even though I love traveling through the Rioja, and the most monumental and memorable cities and women I have ever known are in the interior of Castile rather than Euskadi. Chris really should travel to northern Spain, considering the above revelations of the structure of his favorite hikes so far.
I'm a New Yorker. Few times have walked the 32 mile perimeter of Manhattan (a/k/a the Great Saunter; website has route as there are a few places you have to cut interior).
What I've learned from this walk is the unfortunate bathroom parity of NYC park public bathrooms. Places like Chelsea they are cleaned hourly. Places like Spanish Harlem they are cleaned semiannually. That is the unjust part! PM me if you want to do this.
I have to be honest, while NYC to BOS wouldn’t work, as you showed on the map, PHL to NYC might actually work. New Jersey is so dense that once you were within 60-80 miles of NYC there would be urban sidewalks. , certainly once you were inside 287. Philadelphia for all its troubles has decent sidewalks, and the city line is almost 3/4 of the way to Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware. It’s only really that section right over the line in Jersey that might be a little dicey safety wise from cars and trucks.
There is actually routes between Boston and NYC, they just require a lot of weaving to stay off of shoulder-less roads -- and if I wanted to stay in hotels every night, would require a few 30 mile days.
Yes about Philly to NYC. I've mapped DC to NYC, and again, you have to be creative about your route, and there would probably be a few 30 mile days, but it can be done.
It gets a lot easier if you can find homes to stay in along the way. That is what most long distance walkers in the US do.
Thanks, Chris for this post. Really great to hear how people plan and get their trips together. I find them endlessly interesting. I'm right there with you -- Japan and the Uk are the best for long walks. I've done two in Japan now, and looking forward to a third.
I'm wondering when you start looking for a place to stay. When you arrive in the town you want to stay in? Earlier in the day? The day before? Do you book multiple places to stay at the start of your walk, 25 or so km apart?
I can't imagine walking all day and arriving in a town without knowing where I'm going to stay that night. Have you ever had to sleep outside because you couldn't find a place or the places were full?
My guess is that you would really like the Camino Frances in Spain. It passes through numerous small towns and larger cities and lodging is never a problem. Transit is also widely available. I walked about a third of it in 2019, from St Jean Pied du Port to Burgos and I plan to go back to do the rest.
I've done four Caminos and I suspect that one of the others would be more suitable for Chris. I loved the Camino Frances, but it's not like you are ever off the beaten track. Unlike, say, the Via de la Plata or Camino del Norte. And even those are a stretch.
The Camino Frances felt like a slowly moving frat party snaking across the countryside. You can keep to yourself, attend to mass, drink with the Texans and Irishmen in the bars, or get laid. But it's nothing like the walks that Chris takes.
One thing you can't do: Meet Spanish people. (Other than the ones who run the pensions in the villages, who have met thousands of foreigners before you and will meet thousands more after you leave.)
I studied Spanish intensively before doing the Camino Frances. When I got there, nobody spoke it.
Maybe my experience was different because I was there in mid-late October. There were relatively few pilgrims and I did get to interact with many locals using my limited Spanish. I didn’t really see much of a party scene anywhere. I enjoyed all aspects of it greatly but you might be right about taking a less traveled route. I used many alternates on the Frances route. I plan to walk many more Caminos in the future.
Of the places I know fairly well in the USA about the only one where I think you could hike for several days without too much traffic etc is from San Diego north. Not sure how far you would get before things go bad but presumably somewhere before you get to long beach.
I haven't done it, but I think the Secret Stairs of Los Angeles might offer an Arnade-esque experience. I imagine it slices through a variety of neighborhoods and offers dense enough walking infrastructure. It's been mapped out and walked by others. Over 300 miles.
I'm very interested in doing a walk like the ones Chris does but in the United States. He's done some. The McDonald's in the shithole town Cairo, Illinois
The American Discovery Trail is a coast-to-coast trail, much of it along roads but ones with wide shoulders. I walked from Lewes Delaware to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge over a couple of days. It wasn't particularly pleasant.
If you are staying in hotels, the distances in America mitigate against you. You could probably do it in the East. Out West would be a problem. Even my baby trip across the Eastern Shore of Maryland involved distances between hotels that were far too long (for me, anyway).
Chris, great article. Also hilarious coincidence of another author on here recommending the Tevas (of which I too have been a fan of for some time). Weight is always the enemy with long treks, albeit worth it if it brings some happiness at the end of a miserable day. Why an iPad instead of a kindle?
I buy them from the work section of Walmart. Usually dickies or something like that. Always orange though. No point being hit by a car or hit by a hunter
The Teva Hurricanes look much flimsier compared to the Tera Fi5 (but much less $$$). My bigger quesiton is what about rain. flooding, i.e. a complete drenching including socks.
I appreciate reading this after playing vagrant for 17 days on the Camino Primitivo. I made it easy on myself... I had bag transfer so my little pack held the day's resources: water, food, journal, poncho, first aid, hat, battery, layers and rosary. Everything got used... so a good enterprise in planning but also maybe none of it would have been necessary if I'd gone without. In any case, whatever keeps us comfortable enough to observe the walk itself... that became my understanding. I've done parts of the PCT and long day walks in lots of places. Whatever, wherever... it's the sauntering through our holy land and remembering how it's all holy. Thanks for sharing all the wanderings.
Your dead/liminal spaces point is an excellent one. Our society runs on what’s out of sight and taken for granted, whether industrial, agricultural, or residential. You can’t know a place without diving into both its gaping maw and shabby edges. These spaces are also where one often finds the most interesting street art and friendliest stray cats!
Somewhat tongue in cheek, but if I learn from your essays, would you consider my knowledge as Techne or Metis?
I came back here to make the same suggestion as The Rational Walk below, independently, after thinking long about this article. Though I agree with Dan below that Chris' optimal way should rather be the Camino del Norte, perhaps followed by the Via de la Plata. Not the Camino Frances. Euskadi's got great wild cliffs, Gaztelugatxe, and countless tapas bars. Note say this even though I love traveling through the Rioja, and the most monumental and memorable cities and women I have ever known are in the interior of Castile rather than Euskadi. Chris really should travel to northern Spain, considering the above revelations of the structure of his favorite hikes so far.
Really enjoy these logistics posts Chris, thanks!
Wow in all the planning during our own walk through Yorkshire I didn’t come across Slow Ways. Thanks for sharing, will def have to use that next time
Hi Chris,
I'm a New Yorker. Few times have walked the 32 mile perimeter of Manhattan (a/k/a the Great Saunter; website has route as there are a few places you have to cut interior).
What I've learned from this walk is the unfortunate bathroom parity of NYC park public bathrooms. Places like Chelsea they are cleaned hourly. Places like Spanish Harlem they are cleaned semiannually. That is the unjust part! PM me if you want to do this.
I have to be honest, while NYC to BOS wouldn’t work, as you showed on the map, PHL to NYC might actually work. New Jersey is so dense that once you were within 60-80 miles of NYC there would be urban sidewalks. , certainly once you were inside 287. Philadelphia for all its troubles has decent sidewalks, and the city line is almost 3/4 of the way to Washington’s Crossing of the Delaware. It’s only really that section right over the line in Jersey that might be a little dicey safety wise from cars and trucks.
There is actually routes between Boston and NYC, they just require a lot of weaving to stay off of shoulder-less roads -- and if I wanted to stay in hotels every night, would require a few 30 mile days.
Yes about Philly to NYC. I've mapped DC to NYC, and again, you have to be creative about your route, and there would probably be a few 30 mile days, but it can be done.
It gets a lot easier if you can find homes to stay in along the way. That is what most long distance walkers in the US do.
Thanks, Chris for this post. Really great to hear how people plan and get their trips together. I find them endlessly interesting. I'm right there with you -- Japan and the Uk are the best for long walks. I've done two in Japan now, and looking forward to a third.
I'm wondering when you start looking for a place to stay. When you arrive in the town you want to stay in? Earlier in the day? The day before? Do you book multiple places to stay at the start of your walk, 25 or so km apart?
I can't imagine walking all day and arriving in a town without knowing where I'm going to stay that night. Have you ever had to sleep outside because you couldn't find a place or the places were full?
My guess is that you would really like the Camino Frances in Spain. It passes through numerous small towns and larger cities and lodging is never a problem. Transit is also widely available. I walked about a third of it in 2019, from St Jean Pied du Port to Burgos and I plan to go back to do the rest.
I've done four Caminos and I suspect that one of the others would be more suitable for Chris. I loved the Camino Frances, but it's not like you are ever off the beaten track. Unlike, say, the Via de la Plata or Camino del Norte. And even those are a stretch.
The Camino Frances felt like a slowly moving frat party snaking across the countryside. You can keep to yourself, attend to mass, drink with the Texans and Irishmen in the bars, or get laid. But it's nothing like the walks that Chris takes.
One thing you can't do: Meet Spanish people. (Other than the ones who run the pensions in the villages, who have met thousands of foreigners before you and will meet thousands more after you leave.)
I studied Spanish intensively before doing the Camino Frances. When I got there, nobody spoke it.
Maybe my experience was different because I was there in mid-late October. There were relatively few pilgrims and I did get to interact with many locals using my limited Spanish. I didn’t really see much of a party scene anywhere. I enjoyed all aspects of it greatly but you might be right about taking a less traveled route. I used many alternates on the Frances route. I plan to walk many more Caminos in the future.
Really enjoyed that article. It is always fun to learn about the logistics as well as the cultures and systems you discuss in your other writing.
One minor pedantic point... the Peak district is not in the south near Dover and Brighton.
Oh. That was an editing mistake. It was supposed to be two separate days! Meaning I had a great walk in the Peak District and also along the cliffs!
Of the places I know fairly well in the USA about the only one where I think you could hike for several days without too much traffic etc is from San Diego north. Not sure how far you would get before things go bad but presumably somewhere before you get to long beach.
I haven't done it, but I think the Secret Stairs of Los Angeles might offer an Arnade-esque experience. I imagine it slices through a variety of neighborhoods and offers dense enough walking infrastructure. It's been mapped out and walked by others. Over 300 miles.
https://socalstairclimbers.com/los-angeles-loop/
I'm very interested in doing a walk like the ones Chris does but in the United States. He's done some. The McDonald's in the shithole town Cairo, Illinois
The American Discovery Trail is a coast-to-coast trail, much of it along roads but ones with wide shoulders. I walked from Lewes Delaware to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge over a couple of days. It wasn't particularly pleasant.
If you are staying in hotels, the distances in America mitigate against you. You could probably do it in the East. Out West would be a problem. Even my baby trip across the Eastern Shore of Maryland involved distances between hotels that were far too long (for me, anyway).
Chris, great article. Also hilarious coincidence of another author on here recommending the Tevas (of which I too have been a fan of for some time). Weight is always the enemy with long treks, albeit worth it if it brings some happiness at the end of a miserable day. Why an iPad instead of a kindle?
https://open.substack.com/pub/ridewithian/p/how-to-pack-simply-for-travel-two?r=2wrce6&utm_medium=ios
I’d like to know what brand of orange walking shirts you wear. Everything I’ve tried is immensely uncomfortable or itchy or too hot!
I buy them from the work section of Walmart. Usually dickies or something like that. Always orange though. No point being hit by a car or hit by a hunter
The Teva Hurricanes look much flimsier compared to the Tera Fi5 (but much less $$$). My bigger quesiton is what about rain. flooding, i.e. a complete drenching including socks.
I try to find shelter, or I just accept getting wet.
If you can't find shelter you just keep walking? What kind of socks?
I appreciate reading this after playing vagrant for 17 days on the Camino Primitivo. I made it easy on myself... I had bag transfer so my little pack held the day's resources: water, food, journal, poncho, first aid, hat, battery, layers and rosary. Everything got used... so a good enterprise in planning but also maybe none of it would have been necessary if I'd gone without. In any case, whatever keeps us comfortable enough to observe the walk itself... that became my understanding. I've done parts of the PCT and long day walks in lots of places. Whatever, wherever... it's the sauntering through our holy land and remembering how it's all holy. Thanks for sharing all the wanderings.