Calais

Just returned from a weekend in Calais, filling up the car with wine from my usual place cph (formerly Perardel) Been going to them for some years and they are a very large cut above others, such as Eastenders. That's me stocked up for the next year or so.
I hadn't realised that the coast down from Calais was so attractive.

There seems to be a coast path but the only book covering it (or part of it) is published by Cicerone and that only covers 360km from Mont-Saint-Michel to Morlaix on the north coast. Maybe there's a project to take on some time - explore and research a new book! Just need a few months off work for that. Maybe after I've done my LEJOG in 2009.

LEJOG #2

I've taken delivery of The End to End Trail by Andy Robinson, published by Cicerone . It appears to be well worth having with loads of useful information about planning long distance walks and much specific info about the LEJOG itself, such as strip map routes for areas not covered by existing publications (e.g. between Offa's Dyke and the Pennine Way). His first section was along the North Cornwall Coast Path. Now, because I've walked most of the SWCP before, I wasn't planning to do it again (albeit in the other direction) as I felt that an inland route would be quicker. However, it is such a glorious walk that now I'm wavering. His daily mileage for a two month schedule is greater than I'd envisaged for myself, particularly as the SWCP is hard-going at times. I have in mind the stretch between Bude and Hartland Quay which is a day long series of switchbacks, about ten of them, I think. Still, it's my LEJOG and I'll make my own decision (but maybe not just yet).

Knots

Tying good and secure knots is a must-have skill when out on the hills and mine have often been a bit dodgy, to say the least. In particular, I've always had a problem with securing the end "beaks" of my tarp to the supporting poles so thay have become loose in the night and flap around. At the weekend, I put my tarp up in the garden at home and endlessly practiced clove hitches for this and for tent pegs. I also perfected the art of a taut-line hitch for guys and a sheet bend, in the event of ever suffering a damaged corner of the tarp. As the tarp can be used in soft ground where pegs may pull out, I also need to practice attaching the guys to other objects, such as logs, rocks, etc. I ran out of time to do this.