In the United Kingdom, there are exactly two correct answers to the question, “You alright?” They are—trust me on this—“You alright?” and “Yeah, you?”
There are at least a thousand wrong responses to this phrase. I know because I’ve been working my way through all of them while section-hiking the England Coast Path. As a Coloradan transplant to London, I’ve been on a quest to better understand my new home country, where I often feel a little out of place. What better way to do so than by trekking an unfinished, town-to-town trail that will soon dwarf the Appalachian and Pacific Crest? When it’s done, at 2,795 miles, the England Coast Path will be the longest coastal path in the world. Along the way, one can visit dozens of castles, take boat tours to spy on puffins and seals, and visit hundreds of tearooms.
The most memorable of my You alright faux pas happened on a rainy afternoon on the southwestern coast of Dorset last spring. I had just started hiking a famous section of the trail known as both the Southwest Coast Path and the Jurassic Coast. A friend and I had spent the day climbing grassy yet near-vertical hills with sheer cliffs plunging into the turquoise ocean below. In the dips, we motivated each other with the promise of sandwiches and Scotch eggs at the top of each hill. When we made it, we splayed ourselves on the soft grass and took luxurious naps in the fleeting sunshine, as if to photosynthesize between rain showers.
