Country Article / Postcards

A Wayfarer's Dream Vacation

Date: 03/14/2007

It was all my wife’s idea. Ten years before, I planned our honeymoon to Costa Rica. She hated it. Too much adventure, not enough rest or romance. When our 10th anniversary came around, she said it was her turn.

You learn a lot about someone when you're married for 10 years. I discovered that my wife was more British Isle tea shop than Latin American jungle. I figured she was bringing us to England, but didn’t know where or why. She said we were going to spend a day at the Jane Austen period dress museum. Oh boy.

The traditional 10th anniversary gift is tin or aluminum, signifying how a successful marriage needs to be flexible and durable, bending without breaking. I should have known that she would fashion an exquisite compromise that didn’t feel like one. Somehow, she managed to satisfy my jones for adventure and new experiences, while feeding her need for relaxation and romance.

How? A 10-day 84-mile ramble--called the Dales Way--through the beautiful verdant hills and sheep-filled pastures of England’s Yorkshire Dales, southeast of the Lake District.

First, understand that long-distance walking in England is like shopping in the U.S.: practically everyone does it for fun. Also understand that, like Americans, the English think everyone else lives like them. Upon arriving by train at the walk’s start in Ilkley (no rental car this trip), the first question we heard was: “Why have you come all this way for this little old walk?”

The English forget that we have no ancient castles and abbey ruins to saunter past in the U.S. Plus, no matter the scenery, you can’t walk very far in America before you run out of food and shelter. Sure, we have iconic national parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite with rugged trails and killer views. And super-long-distance hikes like the Appalachian Trail. But no place where you can walk for a day, then have a spot of tea and a hearty beef stew dinner, then fall into a hard-earned B&B bed.

No, this wasn’t roughing it. We’d walk independently 10-12 miles a day, carrying only our day packs, while a company called Sherpa Van schlepped our bags from one B&B to the next. Still, serving mostly as desk jockeys in our normal lives, we felt it. No pudding (dessert) went unfinished…unless it was black pudding, a very un-dessert-like blood sausage.

To our knowledge, we never saw another American the whole week we walked. They were probably busy over-running Buckingham Palace or Stonehenge, or perhaps even England’s famous Coast-to-Coast walk. No matter. We met John and Ruth…Jim and Helen…and Petra and five lively New Zealanders. Lovely wayfarers all.

Barnaby Wickam
For International Living