I May be Gone for Some Time

In 2014, a self-proclaimed 'relatively normal 50-year-old, overweight desk-jockey', took on the monumental task of attempting a 5,000-mile walk around the coast of mainland Britain in the name of two worthy charities. Developed and adapted from his award-winning blog, this is a journal documenting the highs and lows of his 42-week hike around Britain with only the support of his friends, family, the odd stranger or two and a trusty second-hand motorhome as a roving base camp. Peter Hill, the man behind the whimsical idea, never viewed the trek as a voyage of personal discovery and instead takes the reader on a truthful blisters-and-all journey with friendly enthusiasm, gentle humour, numerous trials, a few grumbles, the odd rant and many, many ice-creams. With added extracts from a driver's diary and fully illustrated with a selection of spectacular photographs, this book is only readable with a smile.Peter Hill graduated in geology from Newcastle University in 1985. After 28 years working in the oil industry and at the age of 50 he rather bizarrely decided to attempt to walk around the British mainland coast, clockwise, starting in Southampton. Having sat behind a desk for much of his working life, 'early retirement' provided the ideal opportunity to do something a little more active and certainly more than a little different. Friends and family speculated that it was to fill a hole in his life caused by his retirement from club cricket, due to dodgy knees, and ageing eyesight (not good for wicketkeeping), or the ending of the Bristol to Windsor marathon canoe race of which he was a long time team manager. Of course it could also be that he is just a little bit insane. Peter has always had a love for outdoor photography, wildlife and the sea. He now works again, from his home in rural Leicestershire, a long way from the coast.