John Merrill, from London, England, is a leading marathon walker. He attended Westbourne School in Sheffield, Grosvenor House School in Harrogate, and

Wennington School __NOTOC__ Wennington School, founded by the Quaker educationalist Kenneth C. Barnes, was a co-educational and ultimately progressive boarding school. It was founded in 1940 in Lonsdale, Lancashire, England. Early governors included Alfred Schw ...

in Wetherby, Yorkshire, between 1955 and 1961. He is active in two areas: firstly undertaking extremely long walks, and secondly publishing books about walking, dealing with both his experiences and describing routes for readers to follow. In January 2003, he was made an Honorary Master of Derby University, for his walking and writing. He also lectures extensively about walking. By July 2020 he had walked more than and worn out 149 pairs of boots, over 1,500 pairs of socks and 49 rucksacks. He is a keen skier both downhill and cross country, a cyclist and qualified Qigong teacher. On 17 July 2010, Merrill was ordained as an independent multi-faith minister.

Marathon walks undertaken

Some of his main walks: *Hebridean Journey – . *Northern Isles Journey – . *Irish Island Journey – . *Parkland Journey – . *

Land's End to John o' Groats Land's End to John o' Groats is the traversal of the whole length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional distance by road is and takes most cyclists 10 to 14 days; the record ...

– . *First walk around entire British coastline – *Across America – coast to coast *Appalachian trail *Pacific crest trail *Continental divide *Buckeye trail, first thru hike, *Across Europe – Holland, Belgium, France, Switzerland – the Alps end to end to Nice – then round the Mediterranean to Spain and across the Pyrenees to Hendaye – 107 days, 3,000 miles with 600,000 feet of ascent. *Le Puy to Santiago *Seville to Santiago *Laos, Algarve via Fatima to Santiago *East of England Heritage Route – *Entire coastline of Great Britain – – first ever undertaking. *St. Olav's Way – Norway 420 miles, from Oslo to Trondheim. *First crossing of the Jotunheimen mountains and glaciers over a month. Crossed 28 glaciers and climbed all the highest peaks. *Hong Kong – 400 miles – walked all the trails on the islands. *Himalayas – Alpine-style route to Everest Base Camp & Cho Oyu; Around Annapurna and to Annapurna base camp; the Lantang Valley; Kashmir & Ladakh. *All the trails and mountains in New Mexico – 2,000 miles. *

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Potomac Canal, wh ...

0– 230 miles. *The Cathars Way – 200 miles *The Bon Hommes Way – 220 miles *Pilgrimage to St. Gillies du Gard – 180 miles. *East of England Pilgrimage Walk – 420 miles. *Winchester to Mont St. Michel – 180 miles. *Paris to Mont St. Michel – 280 miles. *Essex Coast Walk – 320 miles. *

Offa's Dyke Path Offa's Dyke Path ( cy, Llwybr Clawdd Offa) is a long-distance footpath loosely following the Wales–England border. Officially opened on 10 July 1971, by Lord Hunt, it is one of Britain's National Trails and draws walkers from throughout th ...

, Wales – 177 miles. A walk undertaken in preparation for the round Britain walk.

Overall

In all Merrill has calculated that he walked over between 1969 and July 2021, raising over £756,000 in charity sponsorship. His challenge walks have raised more than £1.3 million.

Books published

Merrill is author of more than 500 walking guides which he prints and publishes himself, and his book sales are in excess of 4 million. His best-known work is possibly ''Turn Right at Land’s End'', about his walk around Britain's coastline. He has created many long-distance walks including The Limey Way, The Peakland Way, and Jennifer's Challenge Walk and more than 50 day challenge walks, which have been used to raise more than £1.3 million for different charities. He has also written about non-walking matters such as Essex Witch Walks, Legends of Derbyshire, Sir Richard Arkwright, Sir Joseph Paxton and other famous Derbyshire figures.

Walking practices

Merrill has a walking methodology which involves never taking breaks during a day's walk, carrying no water, travelling unaccompanied and walking thirty miles a day and more at a constant rate of three miles per hour. He has suggested that the limit of endurance is approximately 200 miles per week. He claims on his website that "you need to walk before you are settled into the task and have comfy feet. After you are really adjusted and by you can push yourself relentlessly. By of continuous walking you are at your peak performance, but after you are physically declining."

References

External links