Hail Dave Duke, crown prince of Square!

Dave walked a staggering average of 35 miles every day, never straying from the coast itself by more than8 miles. The longest he walked in one day was 52 miles across the North Coast of Scotland from about 4am to 4am! After not being able to sleep the night before, he had just set off, and as it was so cold, he told me he couldn’t have slept anyway, so he just kept going until he was so tired, he knew he could sleep despite the cold, upon which point he set up his tent, and wrapped himself in silver foil! The more Dave told me, the more I was amazed at what I was hearing!

Generally, Dave preferred it when it was cold and wet, because at least then he could put his waterproofs on, whereas when it was hot, walking was a lot more difficult. Every day, and particularly towards the end, it was difficult getting up. “It was like being near a loo – you always need the loo more when you’re near it, because you know the end is in sight!”

Although he does not write much poetry himself, Dave told me he had been inspired by writers on the walk. “I felt a bit like Kerouac or Bukowski. I stopped at a church on the Isle of Wight where Keats went, and Defoe’s walk across Britain was also an inspiration.”

Dave celebrated his 100th day on the longest day of the year, which happened to be Father’s day, which was particularly apt as he’d set off on Mother’s day! And the pub he chose for this celebration? The Square and Compass at the Perfect Peninsular in Dorset! Here they served beautiful pasties, which were much better than Cornish pasties, he told me, and two types of cider, which were both around 8%. Like much of Dave’s trip, even this had been unplanned though. Someone had asked him if he had been looking for the pub. “To be honest with you, I wasn’t looking for the pub,” Dave told me, “But as soon as they said that, of course I was!” While he was at this pub, a massive swarm of bees descended on the place, but this was swiftly dealt with by the landlord, before business continued as before.

Dave saw quite a few unusual sights on the trip. In St Ives, he saw kids throwing chips into the hood of someone’s parker coat, who was then attacked by seagulls. In the village of Doris near Inverness, where Dave was staying at a campsite in -8° temperatures, Dave “adopted” a duck, who he invited into his tent, fed some crackers – part of his own staple diet – and let stay with him for 2 hours. Dave named the duck Pedro, and he tried to give the duck a cwtch, but the duck was having none of it.

One of the things that kept Dave going was his radio. “I’ve had it for years. I used to tape it to my bike so I could listen to the cricket on my way to school or work. I had the World Cup on it during the walk, but the vuvuzelas came out louder than the commentary, which ruined it for me. On one campsite, I was with a load of Welsh people when England were playing. Most people on the site were saying, ‘this is rubbish’, but we were all celebrating.

“I caught all of the Pakistan tests, and the Australian one day-ers.” He cites Stuart Broad as a favourite player. He also had his ipod for music, as well as games – although he only discovered it had games on it – including solitaire – 4,500 miles into the trip!

As a keen musician, if ever Dave stopped somewhere where there was a guitar handy, he’d play songs to the locals, such as at the Royal Oak in Barrow-upon-Humber, where he also witnessed a water fight between this pub and a rival pub! Dave could definitely do a good guide to coastal pubs, and I’m sure he could have made the TV programme Coast more interesting!

Dave is certain that not having a planned route was the right way to do it. Apparently, there’s someone doing the walk who left in January, and has every stretch of the walk mapped out, with her boyfriend following behind in a van. Eight months later, she’s still at it – so definitely the wrong approach in Dave’s view. He simply set off going west from Cardiff, and let things take their course.

As time went on, Dave got a lot fitter physically, but mentally, things got tougher, especially when he knew he was so close to home. He had a good reception when he got back, with family, friends, and Radio Cymru – who covered his walk regularly – all there. But after he completed the walk, Dave told me, “For the first week, I’d wake up and think – how far have I got to walk today?!” Well Dave, let me tell you now – it was a phenomenal achievement, it’s over, congratulations, and now it’s time for you to put your feet up!

This article first appeared in Issue 9 of Square Magazine

If you would like to donate to Dave’s charity, please go to bowelcancerwales.com

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