In this episode of Second Act Travels, host Elizabeth delves into the resources that will enhance your hike along the Thames Path. She recommends the Trailblazer Guide for its comprehensive coverage, Joyce Mackey’s book for solo female travelers, and the visual narratives from ‘Hiking with Dave and Barbara.’ Elizabeth also suggests using the National Trails UK website and Alltrails maps for detailed navigation. For convenience, she endorses apps like Google Maps, Roam to Rio, and Booking.com for seamless travel experiences. Whether you’re planning or already hiking, these resources ensure a rich and informed journey.
- Links to resources:
- Trailblazer Guide: The Thames Path
- Joyce Mackie: Walking the Thames River Path
- Hikingwithdaveandbarbara.com
- UK National Trail Website
- UK Flood Alerts and Warnings
- All Trails
- Helpful Phone Apps:
- Booking.com
- Trainline.com
- Global SOS
- Rome2Rio
- Google Maps
- Facebook Groups:
- Thames Path National Trail
- Thames Path Walk
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Transcript
Welcome to Second Act Travels, the podcast for curious midlife explorers ready to
Speaker A:trade crowded summers for smart, meaningful off season adventures.
Speaker A:If you're over 50 and dreaming of meaningful travel that fits your freedom and your budget,
Speaker A:you're in the right place.
Speaker A:I'm Elizabeth and each week I'll bring you tips, stories and inspiration to help you
Speaker A:travel deeper, go further and and embrace your second act with confidence.
Speaker A:Hey. Well, welcome back everyone.
Speaker A:This is part three of Walking the Thames Path and I thought I would focus a little bit more
Speaker A:on some additional resources that you could have with you which will make walking much
Speaker A:easier.
Speaker A:Let's get started.
Speaker A:Okay, resources.
Speaker A:Before you take off on your hike,
Speaker A:here are some good travel guides and websites to look at and some books to read.
Speaker A:The first is you want a terrific first class hiking guide and for that I recommend the
Speaker A:Trailblazer Guide series.
Speaker A:They have a Thames Path book, it's a couple
Speaker A:hundred pages long.
Speaker A:It gives you all the information from A to Z.
Speaker A:What I like about this book in particular more than other guides I've seen and I've looked at
Speaker A:a lot of them.
Speaker A:But the Trailblazer guide also has terrific recommendations for places to stop and eat and
Speaker A:places to spend the night.
Speaker A:You don't have to stay at one of those places, but it is nice to have a recommendation.
Speaker A:I feel that the maps have excellent details in them, so I highly recommend the Trailblazer
Speaker A:Guide.
Speaker A:And here's a hint for saving room and weight in your backpack is I ripped out the pages of
Speaker A:the guide that I needed.
Speaker A:I took the section which was entitled Walking the Trail and I just picked out all the maps
Speaker A:that I needed.
Speaker A:Or if I needed a recommendation for a room or
Speaker A:a restaurant, something I specifically wanted to try, I would take that too.
Speaker A:All told, I ripped out about 50 to 100 pages in the book and I put them in loose into my
Speaker A:backpack.
Speaker A:As I finished each stage,
Speaker A:I would recycle the pages.
Speaker A:So by the time I ended my trail at the Thames Barrier, I had only two or three pages left of
Speaker A:the guide.
Speaker A:And all of the information I give will be in my show notes.
Speaker A:So don't worry if you are just listening in the car,
Speaker A:you can go back to this at any time.
Speaker A:The second book I read cover to cover actually,
Speaker A:particularly if you're a female who wants to walk by themselves,
Speaker A:is the book by Joyce Mackey that's M A C K I E called Walking the Thames Path.
Speaker A:She walked the path in the early 90s.
Speaker A:Obviously it's still pretty much up to date because the river Thames is still the river
Speaker A:Thames,
Speaker A:but she wrote a book about her experiences.
Speaker A:It is extremely helpful.
Speaker A:She was a midlife walker.
Speaker A:I think she walked in her mid to late 50s if
Speaker A:I'm not mistaken.
Speaker A:And that's an interesting read.
Speaker A:You can download that online or your library
Speaker A:may have it.
Speaker A:I I just downloaded the book on Kindle,
Speaker A:the other website that I loved watching because it gave me such a great feeling for
Speaker A:the trail itself is the site hikingwithdaveandbarbara.com this is a couple
Speaker A:in their midlife who hike wherever they can, whenever they can,
Speaker A:and they live in England and they have a series of paths that they have hiked over the
Speaker A:years.
Speaker A:One's trail is the Thames Path Trail and what's great about this is that they they
Speaker A:record it on their phone and they put it up on YouTube and also their website
Speaker A:hikingwithdaveandbarbara.com they are extremely enjoyable and entertaining to watch
Speaker A:and so that gives you a great idea of each of the stages of the Thames Path.
Speaker A:I hope you get to check that out.
Speaker A:Also to take a look at before your hike is the National Trails UK website.
Speaker A:I'll put the link to that in the show notes and they have a very complete website for each
Speaker A:of the 15 national trails.
Speaker A:Click on the Thames Path and you'll have a ton of information.
Speaker A:So that's what I used beforehand.
Speaker A:Now getting to the meat and potatoes of what you want to carry with you while you're
Speaker A:hiking.
Speaker A:I also downloaded a map for about $5 in the US called Thames Path Light and that would show
Speaker A:me exactly where I was.
Speaker A:It would also tell me where ancillary public footpaths are, because in Great Britain they
Speaker A:have a goal of connecting every single town and village by public footpath.
Speaker A:So it would show you some shortcuts if you needed it and it would also tell you if you
Speaker A:are straying from the trail.
Speaker A:If you can find this app,
Speaker A:great.
Speaker A:It's totally worth the $5 to download it on
Speaker A:your phone.
Speaker A:However,
Speaker A:I have not been able to find it.
Speaker A:When I went back to create this podcast,
Speaker A:I can't find it anymore.
Speaker A:If you can absolutely download it.
Speaker A:I looked at all the other downloadable maps I could find and the ones I like best at this
Speaker A:point are the Alltrails maps.
Speaker A:That is an app you can download on your phone.
Speaker A:There is a free version and there is a paid version.
Speaker A:I highly recommend the paid version because it will give you a lot more information while
Speaker A:you're on the trail, including if you are straying from the trail.
Speaker A:So I think it's worth it.
Speaker A:All Trails has each part of the trail divided into sections and you can simply download
Speaker A:where you're at.
Speaker A:And it's very easy to use.
Speaker A:I tended to think that was the best one.
Speaker A:The second website that I use, this is a website, not an app,
Speaker A:is I used the UK Government website to check for flooding along the path.
Speaker A:The UK has a page on their website for flood alerts and warnings throughout the country.
Speaker A:I will put that in the Show Notes.
Speaker A:It is very good to bookmark that on your phone
Speaker A:so that you can check it every day, particularly if you're walking during the wet
Speaker A:season or if you've had a big rain.
Speaker A:That will show you where there are flood alerts.
Speaker A:If you are a Facebook user, I encourage you to also join some of the Facebook groups that are
Speaker A:out there specifically related to the National Trails and walking the Thames Path.
Speaker A:I will list those all in my show notes.
Speaker A:They can be really helpful in terms of just asking a general question.
Speaker A:The people in that group are always extremely responsive when someone has a question.
Speaker A:Well, let's talk about some other resources that are just nice to have,
Speaker A:not mandatory.
Speaker A:You can certainly have a successful and
Speaker A:enjoyable hike without these resources on your phone.
Speaker A:But here are just some things to maybe make your life a little bit easier.
Speaker A:First of all, Google Maps and the app Roam to Rio.
Speaker A:Again, I'll put that in the Show Notes.
Speaker A:I use both of these.
Speaker A:I use them to check each other, actually.
Speaker A:But if I needed to get somewhere using public
Speaker A:transportation,
Speaker A:I would often type it into Rome to Rio or Google Maps just to see what was the best and
Speaker A:most economical way to get somewhere if I needed to.
Speaker A:Sometimes that would be at the end of a stage.
Speaker A:I would want to perhaps walk to a bus station
Speaker A:or something like that, or a train station as I got closer to London and Rome to Rio And
Speaker A:Google Maps would help me do that.
Speaker A:I would check them against each other.
Speaker A:You don't have to, it's just me.
Speaker A:But I love Rome to Rio.
Speaker A:I think it's just a little bit more user
Speaker A:friendly in terms of listing your options for transportation.
Speaker B:So I have just three more apps that I would suggest that you download on your
Speaker B:phone for convenience.
Speaker B:The first one is booking.
Speaker B:Com.
Speaker A:You can download it for free.
Speaker B:That allows you to make reservations online pretty much wherever you
Speaker B:are.
Speaker A:The only time I think you need.
Speaker B:To make reservations in advance, by the way,
Speaker B:is if you are walking during the high season.
Speaker B:So warm, warmer weather April through, let's
Speaker B:say end of September, beginning of October.
Speaker B:But once you're into the shoulder season and the low season, which I hiked in November.
Speaker B:You pretty much can get away with just making a reservation that evening.
Speaker B:So you wake up in the morning and you estimate where you think you're going to end up, or you
Speaker B:have a goal of what town in which you want to end your hike for the day.
Speaker B:And then you could just make a reservation.
Speaker B:With booking.com I find it very easy and the
Speaker B:reviews are generally spot on.
Speaker B:The second app is Trainline,
Speaker B:which is a UK based company.
Speaker B:They sell train tickets for all over Europe actually,
Speaker B:but if I wanted to take a side trip via train I would often use Trainline.
Speaker B:And the third one is Global SOS which I only recently discovered I didn't have it for my
Speaker B:hike and that has emergency information for all the different countries around the world.
Speaker A:So I hope you find that helpful.
Speaker A:Well, I hope that this series on hiking the Thames Path National Trail has inspired you.
Speaker A:The hike really is an incredible walking experience.
Speaker A:It has great views, it has great scenery,
Speaker A:it has wonderful history all along the trail from beginning to end.
Speaker A:Remember, there's tons of online resources, there's.
Speaker B:Maps, there's apps for your phone, and.
Speaker A:I've put everything in the show notes.
Speaker A:So if you're planning your hike, be sure to check out those resources.
Speaker A:Lastly, if you found this podcast series helpful, I hope you'll leave a review that
Speaker A:will help spread the word about this resource and you can follow me on pinterest and also
Speaker A:second acttravels.com where there is a long form in depth blog post about hiking the trail
Speaker A:over 17 days.
Speaker A:I look forward to seeing you back here next time.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining me.
Speaker B:So thanks so much for checking.
Speaker A:Second act travels out and I'll see you back here soon.