In the second half of September, Seth and I will be taking a week to hike the Speyside Way Whisky Trail through the highlands of Scotland, where most Scotch is produced. Find out if a Yorkshireman and an Irish/English/Czech American, both raised on strict diets of robust beer, can continue to walk straight after 93 miles of world-class distilleries.
But first, after arriving in London next week, I’ll have a few days to kill on the continent. Stay tuned for a whistle-stop tour of BeNeLux!
Before starting the hike in Scotland, I had a few extra days to fill after spending last weekend with Felicity at school in Durham. So why not fill in some gaps in my country collection?!
My BFF, Jen, years ago gave me a special keychain-like keeper for country rings. They’re stainless steel with a unique 3-letter abbreviation for each country. On a good year I’ll add one or two new rings to the collection if I’m lucky.
Last year was a banner year introducing GRC, CHE, ITA, and LIE. The former was a January trip with Harry when a beautiful snowstorm shut down Athens for days. The latter three were courtesy of my Swiss spring break trip with Felicity, along with two gratuitous ring-grabbing side-trips by train.
This winter I finally visited BMU, closest ring to home! And now in a single three-day ring heist I’ve just bagged NLD, LUX, and BEL! It’s all a blur, but I’ll give you some highlights. I dropped my suitcase full of Scotland-bound hiking gear at the Left Luggage service at King’s Cross next to platform 9 3/4 (for real), took in a showing of Macbeth at the Globe (research?), a few hours sleep, then all aboard the Eurostar!
The last time I went through the Channel Tunnel, aka Chunnel, I had an engagement ring burning a hole in my jacket pocket. (In my Jocket, if you will.) More than half a lifetime ago! The stakes were a lot lower this time. And I avoided France… just in case. Direct on to the Netherlands, waving to Belgium along the way. “I’ll be back!”
First things first. I had pre-booked a cookie pickup at Van Stapele. Priorities!
Anne Frank’s house is closed one day each year: Yom Kippur. Aaaand for 3 days of maintenance coinciding perfectly with my BeNeLux trip. So best I could manage was an Anne Frank virtual geocache.
My kids insisted I go all the places AFC Richmond went on their Season 3 away trip. I settled on the Van Gogh museum, the Homomonument, and the red light district. (I put my camera away out of respect for the hard working people of Amsterdam, after a quick selfie.)
I also walked over to Boom Chicago, the comedy club where the Ted Lasso character was allegedly born. Then after over 24,000 steps, 12+ miles, I called it a night. There’ll be another early morning train tomorrow…
On a Thalys train, back through Belgium again 👋 and on to the Grand Duchy you’ve all been waiting for!
I went on a wine tasting walking tour. No better place for day-drinking as far as I’m concerned. It’s just beautiful! But it’s shocking how quickly you become numb to views like this.
Instead of going through Belgium, we’re going to Belgium. It’s finally your turn! My BeNeBeLuxBe train circuit is now complete.
To be efficient, I found a way to combine beer, waffles, and chocolate: a beer tasting, waffle making workshop! I was teamed up with Anand from Birmingham as my lab partner. We had compatible shirt preferences.
Stay tuned for the Speyside Way whisky trail walking tour to actually begin SOON… So soon that I should be sleeping already. 😬
Benj: ”How do you suppose that town’s pronounced?”
Seth: ”Well I don’t know, Benj.”
Benj: ”Let’s go with Fuck-a-Bears.”
Seth: ”… Alright.”
If you’re wondering why after 3 days of hiking, I’m only just now making a brief post, I could tell you it’s because of exhaustion. Hike 13+ miles a day. Eat, sleep, repeat. That would be true. It’s all-consuming.
Or I could tell you it’s the alcohol. Yesterday we shared two flights of whisky before lunch. And there’s endless pints of beer. Stringing together a train of thought in the rare moment of downtime when I can reach for a device is truly aspirational. So there’s that. [I started this post while fully sober first thing this morning, but… it’s mid-afternoon now, and circumstances have shifted!]
But the truth is, I downloaded the Apple Arcade title Wylde Flowers before my flight to London last week. I’ve been preoccupied with collecting eggs, milk, and honey, fishing, getting rich cooking and selling fish sticks, and flirting with the village’s hot doctor. IYKYK. Time spent undertaking these critical tasks means time not spent blogging.
Anyway, rewind a few days, and we were having breakfast in Buckie on the coast of the Firth of Moray before our first day of hiking.
Innkeeper: “Where are you walking to today?”
Seth: “Uh….”
Innkeeper: ”Fuck-a-Bears?”
Seth: ”Thank you, yes!”
I don’t know if this adventure is going to be strictly a vlog, or a mix, or what! I guess it depends on whether I have a lot to say that isn’t covered in my video footage, or whether I’m feeling camera-ready and/or wordy on any given day. But we’ll call it a vlog for now since this is all I have to say presently:
One more thing. (Clearly this will have to be a vlog+blog.) Comments and questions are welcome here or on YouTube. I guess I’d prefer them here because then they’re not owned by Google, but that’s a pretty weak preference. Whatever suits you! I’m guessing Migratory Pebbles will be populated more heavily by you few (but cherished!) long-time followers, whereas YouTube might have more random folks who love the Appalachian Trail? It’s all good.
I was given a trail name last night as mentioned in the quick video below. I’ve paraphrased the scene for you below as best as I can recall how it played out. Apologies to my new friends if I didn’t get it quite right.
[A dozen prospective AT thru-hikers plus handful of veterans sit around a campfire at Woods Hole Hostel, Virginia, NOBO mile 625.]
RTK: “So, does anyone have any final questions or topics they want to cover tonight?”
Benj: “Well, I still need a trail name…”
RTK: “Okay. Look, everyone, it’s not often you get a chance to give someone their trail name! Let’s take a shot at it…”
Benj: “Maybe something to do with technology? Who was the guy who developed new tech for James Bond? Wasn’t it Q?”
Ramdino: “No, Q was from Star Trek.”
Pony: “How about Batman’s tech guy?”
Benj: “Alfred?”
Pony: “No, his name was Lucius. He was in the comic books.”
Benj: “Never heard of him, so that doesn’t bode well for a trail name. And people will think it means Lucius Malfoy.”
Pony: “It’s Lucius Fox. But more likely people will confuse it with the word ‘luscious.'”
Benj: “Hmmm. I don’t know about this… Any other ideas?”
Pony: “Well, you can call yourself whatever you want, but you can’t really control what other people call you. Sometimes a name just sticks…”
RTK: “And there’ll be such a great story leading to this one. Around a campfire at Woods Hole Hostel [of Platinum-Blazing Hall of Fame] no less!”
[Benj tries to control the narrative by submitting an edit to Ramdino’s 2025 Appalachian Trail Thru Hiker Support List spreadsheet with trail name Lucius. Ramdino checks a notification on his phone and grins menacingly.]
Benj: “OK, I guess this is happening. I used the spelling Lucius, but you can pronounce it luscious, if you really want.”
Pony: “Luscious, Luscious!”
Everyone: “Luscious, Luscious, Luscious, …”
Ramdino: “I fixed the spelling on the support list to Luscious, and made it bold, all caps, and blinking. Oh, and I locked that trail name cell of the spreadsheet.”
Luscious: “I guess that settles it.”
[End Scene.]
I don’t know if this is already an Appalachian Trail aphorism, but it should be: “The Trail Giveth (my name), and the Trail Taketh Away (my dignity).”
Apologies for the radio silence! For a while the most common questions I got from everyone I encountered were “When are you starting?” (January 2025) and “Which direction are you going?” (northbound) and “Are you going with anyone?” (no, just me!) But these days the most common question I get is, “How was the AT?!” So an update is clearly overdue.
I spent most of October doing training hikes 2+ days per week. Aside from a fun 3-day diversion on 50-mile Jockey’s Trail, all of my practicing has been in and around Nags Head Woods. It hasn’t been particularly noteworthy. Just hundreds of miles with an obnoxiously overloaded pack, doing laps around the same small loop trails in perfect autumn weather near sea level with elevation gain measured in inches. It’s kept me in good shape, but not brought me closer to Springer Mountain readiness with under 2 months to go!
And so it was time to get serious. I had two weekends worth of parties to attend in New England and a gap in between begging to be exploited. I got a headstart during the first weekend in Vermont (HBD, Mary B! 😘) where it dipped below freezing so I camped outside my AirBnB. But to get any colder, I knew I’d have to head farther north. And while this video is neither cohesive nor coherent, at least it gets me back in the groove of posting.
I wish I could have experienced temperatures closer to 10°F on this trip for added confidence, but some things must remain a mystery until I reach the AT. Things like, “What does it feel like to freeze to death?” and “Will I poop more often or less often when it suddenly becomes much less convenient?” and “Where can I go hide out for 6 months while everyone thinks I’m still thru-hiking?”
