NOTE: An abbreviated version of this article appeared in the 12/16/22 edition of The Carmel Pine Cone; that version of the story contained only two photos.
Ken Klug’s life during his four most recent long walks in the United Kingdom was an open book — or rather, a public blog — updated in almost real time following each day’s foray into the ever-fickle weather. Friends, fellow hikers, and armchair adventurers followed his progress online as he slogged through mud, kept territorial critters at bay, watched a bull tumble hindquarters over teakettle down a hill after slipping on rain-slicked limestone, and utilized Avon Skin So Soft as an insect repellent—to counter what Klug refers to as “the famous biting midges of Scotland” (although that may sound like the name of a soccer team or a punk rock band, it’s actually a small fly that congregates around marshy areas — a type of terrain which abounds in the rain-rich UK).
Blog readers also — depending on their personality — either suffered along with or experienced schadenfreude when Klug occasionally lost his bearings (doing so often enough that he christened himself Sir Lost-a-Lot). In actuality, though, Klug was only ever lost in the same way that Daniel Boone sometimes was: “The Great Pathfinder” asserted that he never really got lost in his travels through the woods and mountains, but admitted that there were a few times when he didn’t know exactly where he was for a few days.
There are footpaths throughout England that often cut through private property: corn fields, apple orchards, or what have you. The disadvantage of these paths is that they restrict the hiker’s movements (you are allowed to walk on the trails, but venturing off them is considered trespassing). An advantage of the trails, on the other foot, is that they assist the wayward or hapless hiker in finding his way back if he does become temporarily disoriented.
Ken’s surname, Klug, means smart or clever in German, and those adjectives definitely apply to him. He is humble to a fault, though, and in fact poked fun at the book that he published of his 1,200 mile walk from southwest England to northeast Scotland (available here) by peppering it with tongue-in-cheek blurbs, such as:
“A real page-burner” — S.F. Exterminer
-and:
“Thought provoking. You'll wonder why you wasted your money.” — The Los Angeles Tribunal
Despite those “fake blurbs,” Klug’s writings are interesting and the accompanying photographs often beautiful. As an example of his wit, he wrote, after being left in the dust (or mud) by a young hiker who made 25 miles a day, that it was OK by him, for when he was young he could out-hike people twice his age, too — and he still can (he was in his 60s when he wrote that, in 2011). Klug also elsewhere claimed to have been disappointed when he noticed that a speed sensor on the highway did not even register his walking velocity. But he was reportedly flattered when he thought a town’s officials had welcomed him to their town when he saw an “elderly people crossing” sign on the outskirts of town.
Besides his honorary title Sir Lost-a-lot, Klug also joined forces with two other gents on part of his LEJOG pilgrimage from the southwestern corner of England (Land’s End) to the northeastern tip of Scotland (John O’ Groats) who dubbed themselves The Three Must-Have-Beers.
On that note, explaining why his stomping grounds back in the States lack certain historical artifacts that England has, Klug wrote that, “California never needed castles, because it has no pubs worth defending.”
Among the other long-distance hikes Klug has taken include the waterways of southern England, the hills and dales of northern England and the Isle of Man as well as numerous others which pre-dated blogs, such as Wainwright's Coast to Coast in England, the West Highland Way in Scotland, the Irish Coast to Coast, and the Shackleton Crossing of South Georgia — an island which has nothing to do with the U.S. State of Georgia or the east European country of Georgia, it being located just north of Antarctica. That hike was only 25 miles, but because of the terrain and conditions, it was the most difficult trek Klug has ever undertaken. Along with a few others and their guides (including a physician), they recreated explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1916 crossing of the island.
This was the sight that greeted Klug when he arrived in South Georgia:
Klug’s initial reaction on seeing this forbidding fastness was that he wouldn’t be able to complete the trek after all. He considered remaining on the ship, but fear of what others might think if he backed down were even stronger than his fear of dying on the glacier. So, he continued on; and — spoiler alert! He made it.
The group made their first camp near Trident Ridge:
At least with this kind of camping site you don’t have to worry about ants bothering you during your picnic. Bears won’t come around to try to pilfer your foodstuffs, either, as no self-respecting bear would venture out in such conditions.
In an article about the November 2002 trek he made across South Georgia, which was published in the May 2003 edition of International Traveler News magazine, Klug wrote: “The conditions in the island’s interior are simply too harsh to support life without Gore-Tex.”
As for Klug’s more accessible and less strenuous and challenging walks throughout the UK, he says that for him, the scenery is not the foremost attraction — rather, it’s the people he meets along the way. He found that people in Britain were more likely to engage in conversation than those in other European countries that offer good hiking trails, such as Germany and Switzerland. This is because those on the continent tend to hike in groups, and groups are less likely to stop and chat.
Klug said this of the results that accrued to him from long-distance hiking: “Walking solo day after day gives time for thought and observation. I’ve learned a lot about people, about myself, and about life in general — a perspective that I never could have acquired under other circumstances. Any long walk wears you down physically, mentally, and emotionally, but a solo long walk allows (or even forces) you to rebuild your body and mind in a way that imparts inner peace.”
Although the walking paths through Britain dotted with bed and breakfasts may seem a somewhat sedate experience, they’re not always a “walk in the park.” Klug said about this aspect: “On a long walk, there are things you can’t control. You deal with most of them without a second thought. But some incidents can be life-threatening — accidents, injuries, weather, fire, floods, rock slides, aggressive animals, violent people, getting lost, etc. At the most extreme, you deal with them or you die. But you can control how you deal with things that are beyond your control (for example, you can’t change the weather, but you can choose whether to put on a raincoat). Every challenging walk involves some degree of excitement, risk, or adventure. Each day is different, and you never know what you will encounter.”
That having been said, Klug warns against overthinking potential problems: “Most stress comes from worrying about things we can’t control. Once that realization is instilled in our being, it becomes easier to disregard things that are beyond our control and focus attention on what we can control.”
Ken and his wife Janet have only lived in Monterey full-time for the last two years, but prior to that rented vacation homes near Cannery Row for several summers. They both learned to scuba dive in the area and are charter members of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. You can often find Klug walking along the Monterey waterfront between Old Fisherman’s Wharf and Lover’s Point.
As for Klug’s “origin story,” he lightheartedly divulged only this: “I was born at an early age in a hospital. I might have preferred being born in a log cabin, but my parents lived in a city apartment and there were no log cabins available.”
It’s obvious (based on the locations of most of his long hikes) that England has a hold on Klug’s heart and mind. Besides the opportunities to meet and talk to people, he attributes that to the common language and the shared values and culture between the United States and Britain. When asked what he likes about the Monterey area, he replied, “The peninsula is a lot like England, except for the rain, the currency and the quantity of beer in a bottle. Also, the British still drive on the wrong side of the road, and Californians usually don’t.” Usually.
Hiking in the U.S., Canada, or New Zealand would, like Britain, have the advantage of a common language, but there are logistical problems with those locales: New Zealand and Canada do not readily lend themselves to solo travelers because public transportation and accommodations outside of big cities are scarce, and self-driving imposes limits due to eventually having to return to your car. The U.S. has many national scenic hiking trails (such as the Pacific Crest Trail, which traverses the length of the States of California, Oregon, and Washington — in other words, from the Mexico border to the Canada border), but the long distances between “trail towns” (where supplies can be replenished) requires carrying very heavy packs filled with many pounds of food, water, and camping and hiking gear. Klug compares hiking the national scenic trails in the U.S. to the Lewis & Clark Expedition, contrasted with the British trail system — which has been around for 2,000 years and is serviced by numerous bed & breakfast operations — being more like a gentleman’s stroll.
That having been said, Klug’s favorite place is Yosemite, but his favorite hike is the one he is on at the time you ask him the question. If you want to talk to him, watch for him along the Monterey waterfront. He will be glad to stop and chat.
KEN KLUG’S HIKING BLOGS
My 1200 Mile Summer (England – Scotland; 2010-2011): http://my1200milesummer.blogspot.com
When walking from southwest England to northeast Scotland on this path, it is known as LEJOG (Land’s End to John O’Groats); when traversed in the opposite direction, it is called JOGLE (John O’Groats to Land’s End).
LEJOG Revisited (In 2012, Klug, along with his wife Janet, drove the path he had walked the year before): http://lejogrevisited.blogspot.com
My Riparian Summer: Walking the Waterways of Southern England, summer of 2014: http://myripariansummer.blogspot.com
My DalesMan Summer: Walking the Hills and Dales of Northern England and the Isle of Man, summer of 2016: http://mydalesmansummer.blogspot.com
The blogs contain maps with pushpins marking the locations of his routes and significant places he visited on them.
A sampling of images from Ken Klug’s blogs:
You can read and download other of my writings here.