With good friends John, Andy Julian having begun walking this route back in late winter on a one day a fortnight basis & my thoughts turning away from Cho Oyu to other must do’s such as running Scotland’s Great Glen in a day or two clarity began to un-fold. ‘Why go to the logistical problems of Scotland many miles away, you don’t know Anglesey as well as you should, penny firmly dropped’

There were mutterings to John but I kept it relatively under the radar until in the middle of last week with some pleasing long runs & high weekly mileages under my new Salomon belt (sorry to mention it again but I do love it), I looked at the 10 day forecast for the first time this Spring. It must have been a vision because I saw what I thought I might, a weather window to run for, game on.

The route is a not to be sniffed at, 130 miles, with much of it run at sea level it is a pretty flat route with only 13,690 feet of ascent (yes you did read that correctly). My aim is to run it over 4 days (although there are thoughts of making that 3 which can only be cleared out mid-afternoon on Day 1) & I start on Tuesday 13th May at 9:00 am.

So here I am Monday afternoon, food packed (yogurts, variety of gels, malt loaf, salty crisps, energy bars, mars bars, a banana tree, fruit & choc medley bag & a hopefully strong stomach for that lot). 12 bottles of electrolytes, 36 bottles of water (being overly safe here), 4 sets of running kit, spare running kit, two running bags, compedes, sun cream, savlon, 1 strapping, pain killers (never take them but..), walking pole (ditto..), 4 pairs of running shoes, evening wear, 2 book to read, head torch, map & guidebook, contact lenses, toilet roll (sorry but hope I don’t go there) stop me if I’m going on, oh you have!

You may say this isn’t travelling light & to a degree you could have a point but in the words of Baldric I have a cunning plan, Team J & M aka John & Marion will be supporting me with a well laden car & meeting me at more than 12 times on the route thereby allowing to keep my actual running bag to a maximum of just 1.5 Kg, thanks guys! Of course this could be the biggest cock up since the West Highland Way in 2016 when Dorina & Fraser were guilty of being in an ice cream parlour & the next day having a pub lunch when they should have been feeding me. I of course have long since forgotten their transgressions so Team J & M can relax, can’t they?

John & Marion also plan to feed updates to the Cafe’s Facebook & Twitter thingies, friendly faces on route or running buddies will be very welcome to catch up with me en-route.

Now off to talk to my feet & ankles ‘now look guys I know you are already sore but I have a cunning plan & you are going to love it…!’