As the days passed my anticipation grew. Sitting in my local pub garden on a sunny summers evening I had just come off the phone from Chris and Luke, who were half way round the world in San Francisco airport eating breakfast. Their adventure had already begun, for me one more day of waiting to endure. For all three of us a 16-year long dream was about to be realised. After years of planning, persuading, preparing and training Chris Duke, Luke Gander and myself were finally undertaking our pilgrimage to the breath-taking High Sierra Mountain range of California to thru-hike one of the world’s most famous long distance trails – The John Muir Trail.

This is a day-by-day account of how we fared. The literal and mental ups and downs, the people we met, the pain we went through, the beauty of the landscape and above all the sheer delight of taking on what has been a lifelong dream.