Cotswold Way | Thru-Hike | Episode 2

[@AnthonyJohnson1]

No shame in calling it a day Matt. Blisters can just make it impossible to continue. Pleased you managed to get back on the trail and finish it. I had issues with shin splints when I walked the Cleveland Way last year and had to bail after 90 miles. Such a tough decision as mentally I felt so good. I managed to finish the last 20 miles a few weeks later. I stumbled on your video series as I’m looking for a trail to walk next month as part of my preparations to walk the Pennine Way in September. This looks a great trail and one I’d not really considered but definitely will do now. Thoroughly enjoyed the series of videos 👍

[@mattsadventures3036]

Thanks Anthony, and good luck with your hike, let me know how it goes!

[@Cirrus4000]

Hi Again. Watching your next days hike :) When I got to Belas Knap it was early afternoon and quite busy. I bet it was something special to be there on that morning with no one about. I much prefer to visit these places when it's quite. The stream at 3:35 is where I filled/filtered my water supply. It was crystal clear and nice and cool. The walk down to it through the woods was nice (if a little steep in places). I ended up camping between there and Cleeve Hill. Pity you had to call a halt, a hard thing to do but when your feet hurt it takes all the enjoyment out of it so the best thing really. Looking forward to the next episode. Cheer, Glynn

[@johnho2006]

Pleased you found the Altras, i had the same experience as you on the West Highland Way, we had to stop, literally drove back the same night from Tyndrum to Liverpool , all due to my Brown boots, and like you bounced back in my trail runners ,to happy a finish, and still love my Altra lone peaks

[@ianhamilton5589]

Hi mate. Good video. Weather looked brilliant. Tough call but you can always go back. When pain is involved it is never pleasurable. I always carry lots of paracetamol and bruffen in conjunction with taping my feet up before I walk. But I think the biggest factor is doing too much daily distance. Pounding for 20 to 30 miles a day / every day, is going to hurt. I am going down to 12 - 15 miles a day tops now. Good luck with your ventures.

[@mattsadventures3036]

I went back lol, yeah lessons learned on that trip, need to calm down haha.. enjoy!

[@ianhamilton5589]

@@mattsadventures3036 Good man. Best of luck mate.

[@markgrindrod5668]

I would say the heat had a large part to play, hot sweaty feet = higher chance of blisters. I take my boots and socks off during breaks, if socks are damp, I swap them out with a dry pair and hang damp ones off my pack to dry. Compeed should only be used on totally deroofed blisters, to use them on anything else will only make matters worse. It was the right call, better to leave your feet to heal than to walk-in pain. Great set of Videos.

[@mattsadventures3036]

Hi Mark, yeah weirdly enough I haven't had much previous experience with blisters, been lucky. Definitely learned my lesson here, I like to learn the hard way lol, enjoy the rest of the series!

[@WyeExplorer]

Sorry about the end result Matt. I know how much you anted to keep going. Who doesn't want to finish what they started out doing? Not many and not you. I think it was the hard dry ground - a bit like road bashing for miles. Any way, all the best. Mark

[@marcusbergin2604]

Cleeve is my home town