How much money should my friend and I bring with us for about a two and a half month hiking trip through the UK? We're going to go from Land's End to John O' Groats simply hiking the entire way, but we may want to stop in certain cities and do some shopping or just relaxing along the way. We would like to figure out how much money we might need to do this. Thanks:)
I agree with Jacquetta’s advice, but maybe you should add a few £s to the overnight and meals costs.
My wild camping experiences of late show how cheaply one can live for a few days before recharging the innards. Porridge oats and dried fruit soaked in water - I think the Scots used to call it drammach - gets me off the mark in the morning (no need for a stove) and thereafter pitta bread and cheese or continental sausage constitute a cheap and not-too-perishable sustenance until I find a pub or cafe. If I keep away from beer and coffee and cakes - hard to do - I can get by on £5-£10 per day, including a one-course pub meal.
When lacking in such iron self-discipline, and when the weather turns contrary, I am tempted to hit the opposite extreme. B&B, sandwiches and cakes for lunch, a coffee stop, a few pints of beer and an indulgent meal at night can easily total £50. Hostel overnight stays have become more expensive in recent years, in England & Wales at least. If one self-caters in a hostel and behaves frugally, maybe it would cost £20-£25 per day, most of which is the bed fee.
For all the reasons mentioned above, I'm more inclined towards the tent or bivvy bag - thank goodness for lightweight materials now that I can no longer carry the heavy pack!
So, it's somewhere between the two extremes for "sisterhood". There is no single answer, but if one assumes 90 days of hiking with 30 wild camps and one bought meal per day, 30 hostels and frugal living, and 30 B&B with just below my level of extravagance (say £40) the costs are:
30x£8=£240
30x£25=£750
30x£40=£1200
Total=£2190
Before you get frightened off by that, the quotes below from two hikers who did it all the way will give you a flavour. Prices have risen since their trips, but that's really significant only in the B&B category. Shop food costs much the same, pub meals have risen a bit, and camping fees vary, but you shouldn’t have to pay more than £6 each even in a campsite. Obviously wild camping is free in every sense.
Incidentally, I have a schedule in Excel which an acquaintance of mine compiled for his John o'Groats - Land's End (JoGLE) walk which I could send you if you give me an email or postal address. It features quite a lot of rest stops, usually at hostels, and it might be handy when you plan your detailed itinerary.
2003 – British hiker Mark Moxon"By the end of my walk I'd spent £1742 on accommodation and £1178 on meals, giving a total spend of £2920. That's an average of just under £33 per day throughout my 89-day walk. If I had camped throughout then I could have cut the accommodation budget to under £500 (or even less if I'd gone wild camping), but that would have been an entirely different experience."
2005 – New Zealand hiker known as Geo"My LE to JoG was two years later in 2005 taking a total period of 75 days. I combined 'wild' camping, campsites, B&Bs, and YHAs. My total accommodation costs came to 662 pounds, which is less than half that of Mark's. This included a B&B stay at Land's End the night before launching, a two-day stay at a B&B after arriving at JoG and an enforced extended stay of 4 days (awaiting arrival of maps) at the Edinburgh YHA."
After deducting what you would normally spend on food over 3 months at home, food costs don't look quite so daunting - though it is admittedly difficult to curb your appetite when you enter a town with its Aladdin’s Caves of pubs and cafes!
Other sites you might visit:
http://www.landsendjohnogroats.info/http://www.longwalks.org.uk/http://www.foshy.co.uk/lejog/index.htmlhttp://www.hockeylejog.co.uk/index.htmhttp://www.landsendtocapewrath.walkingplaces.co.uk/
