10 Things I Learnt From My First Multi-day Hike

Back at the end of April, I spent 5 days hiking the Dales Way – 80 miles from Ilkley in West Yorkshire, to Bowness-on-Windermere in Cumbria. This was my first multi-day hike (since my DofE, but that was so long ago I don’t think it counts) and it’s safe to say I learnt a lot. You can read more details about the hike itself, including where I camped, my kit list and the breakdown of each day, here.

I love taking the time to reflect on the things that I’ve done and achieved, and I wanted to share 10 things that I took from this adventure…

1. Look After Your Feet

When hiking long distances, you need to make sure you have comfortable boots. I learnt a lot about my feet over these few days. Having good blister plasters is essential (Compeed for the win). If you know your hot spots, put on preemptive plasters. I also found that my feet got quite swollen from both the heat, and from walking so far. It’s therefore key to make sure your boots have enough room, or give, to be able to fit your swollen feet comfortably. Obviously this is going to be different for everyone. I was wearing my Inov8 Roclite Pro G 400, which are my go-to hiking boots. Mine are half a size up from my regular size and I have never had any issues at all with rubbing or blisters. My blisters only came towards the end of day 3, after nearly 80km of hiking.

2. Solo thru-hiking is not for me

I’d initially thought about doing the Dales Way on my own, but I’m so glad I didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a solo hike now and then, but I think I would have really struggled with multiple days on my own. For me, one of the biggest joys of this trip was the shared experience. When one of us struggling a bit, we brought each other round and the constant conversation helped distract from the blister pain. I’ve found when I spend too much time hiking by myself, I can get into my own head a bit and after finishing last day alone, I knew that doing a whole trail solo is not something I’d have enjoyed.

3. Live in the moment

Before we set off, I had every intention of filming a lot of the trip. But when it came to it, it didn’t seem so appealing. I didn’t want to be worrying about whether I’d taken enough footage, stopping all the time to set up shots, annoying Soph with asking her to film things for me – I just wanted to be present. I ended up taking the odd little clip to eventually make into a reel or tiktok if I felt like it, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself. This allowed me to just enjoy everything around me, and soak it all in.

Sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in trying to capture a particular moment for social media, but some of my favourite memories from the trip are the little ones in-between, where there wasn’t even the urge to reach for a camera.

4. The power of positivity

Actively being more positive is something that I’ve tried to weave through all areas of my life recently, and it’s made a huge difference in how I react to situations. I’m not saying put on a fake smile and lie about how you feel, but trying to find the positives in a difficult situation can quickly change your mood and how you see things. I’ve found there’s no point dwelling on the negatives in life, especially if they’re things you can’t do anything about. There were a few points over the hike where our moral was dropping a bit, but we talked about the highs, focussed on the positives and found that our moods shifted pretty quickly.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.

Maya Angelou

5. Taking a spare pair of shoes is ALWAYS worth the weight

I’d debated a lot whether to take a second pair of shoes with me, but I’m so glad that I did. When your feet are hot and swollen at the end of the day, there is no better feeling than taking your boots off and slipping on a pair of something comfy. My Reef vista sandals are my current go to. They are pretty light weight, comfy and don’t hit any of the places on my feet prone to blisters. Flip flops are a no go for me, as I struggle with anything between my toes after a long day of hiking.

6. You can achieve far more than you think you can

I never thought I could hike 30km a day, multiple days in a row. I never thought Sophie would be able to get through day 3 after the state of her feet the night before. Both your body and mind are capable of a lot more than you think. This hike showed me how much you can do, even when you’re finding it tough, and how rewarding that sense of achievement can be.

7. Chatting with strangers can be an absolute joy

As someone who struggles with getting anxious in social situations, I sometimes find it difficult talking to strangers when I’m out on my own. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case on this trip. After Soph had to head home, I started off day four on my own. But it wasn’t long before I bumped into someone we’d met a couple of days before and we ended up hiking the whole day together. Sometimes it can be really nice just to have those open conversations with a complete stranger and get to see someone else’s view of the world. There is a little part of me that feels if I did do a solo multi day hike, that I’d end up meeting people along the way, but my anxiety of that not happening, or of me becoming socially awkward, knocks that thought out of my head pretty quickly.

8. The importance of living a life of purpose

I’ve talked about purpose a lot more in my previous post, but doing a trip like this cements just how important living intentionally is. When you’re removed from the distractions of work, and ‘normal life’, you really do get a sense of what’s important to you and what truly makes you happy. I have become much more content with my life now that I revolve it around my adventures, and quality time with those close to me… everything else comes after. I’ve recently been reading ‘Your Money or Your Life‘ and though it’s focussed on reevaluating your relationship with money, there is also a lot around looking at what’s truly important to you and how you actually want to spend your limited time on this earth – Life is short, make time to do the things you want to do.

9. Tape is useful for everything!

I’ve always had a roll of tape in my bag for emergencies and it came in super handy on this trip. Fixing broken charger cables, adding extra stickiness to plasters…you name it, tape can help. There are so many situations where tape can help save the day. Mending broken tent poles, fixing leaky water bottles, making into a rope or a makeshift washing line!

10. Enjoy it – You make the rules

I think it’s important to know before you set off, what your goal is. Is it to have fun? To smash a record? For us, this was a holiday and the main purpose was just to enjoy it. There were a few times along the way that we had to remind ourselves of this. We didn’t have any goals with regards to timings or distance per day, we just tried to listen to our bodies and do what felt right for us, so that we could enjoy it as much as possible. I had gone back and forth as to whether it was ‘cheating’ to go back to Soph’s the night before the final stretch, but had to remind myself that I was doing this for fun and that a bath and a good night sleep would make the whole experience much more enjoyable.

This was easily one of my happiest weeks. The views, the company, the weather and the sense of achievement. If you’re in any doubt about doing your first multi-day hike, I’d say just go for it. Picking something quite straightforward, like the Dales Way, is a great starting point as it’s not too strenuous and it passes through plenty of villages, allowing you to test out if you enjoy it, with plenty of options to call it a day if needs be.

I learnt so much over these few days, especially about myself and how much I love the sense of freedom when out on a trail with nothing else to worry about. I’m already starting to think about which trail is next!

Happy adventuring x