Can you believe that? I can't. Have never walked this far in my life. Twelve days ago I left Salt Lake and in that time I have been to Amsterdam, London, Lands End and walked 111 miles. I am thinking that is pretty good going.
Because I now have a guide book (courtesy of my Knight) I have been reading some information about the south west coastal path. The official path is actually 613 miles long and goes from Minehead to Poole. Nearly all guide books show it from this direction, so I guess I am doing it the wrong way round. And of course, I started more than half the way round at Lands End.
The origins of the path lie in Cornwall's smuggling history. By the early nineteenth century smuggling had become so rife that in 1822 HM Coastguard was formed to patrol the entire British coastline. A coast-hugging footpath was created to enable the coastguards to see into every cove, inlet and creek and slowly but surely law and order prevailed and the smuggling decreased. By the beginning of the twentieth century the foot patrols had been abandoned. In 1973 the Cornwall coast path was officially opened. It is england's longest national trail.
I walked all day today without my pack and it felt absolutely wonderful. I sent it on to this youth hostel with Mike's bag and we ended walking together again today. The guide books note this part of the trail as one of the hardest with lots of ascents and descents but without my pack, this nine mile stretch was easy. My back and my feet really enjoyed a break from all that weight.
Having a walking partner other than my shadow was a nice experience. Mike is English but has been living in Victoria, Vancouver island for the last 30 odd years and his mission to England this summer is similar to mine. Especially nice because Mike reminds me of my dad. And although Dad's spirit has been with me every step of the way, it was nice to feel as though he was physically along side me.
Wild ponies.
We never ran out of things to talk about. He is into Chinese medicine and Qi Gong. After stopping for a pint of extremely potent cider in trebarwith strand, he told me a particularly funny story about a time when he was on a mediation course on a small island close to his home. They were meditating and conjuring up "soul bodies". After the meditation, the participants were offering up the different soul bodies they had managed to invent such as beautiful women etc. Mike was silent as his soul body was a Chinese man on top of his head! The problem being it wouldn't go away! The next day he returned to work in his IT profession and still felt as though he had a Chinese man on his head. Never having experienced these soul bodies before he was at a loss for what to do so he called up the course director and received sound advice on how to get rid of his Chinese man. I guess his apparition still returns from time to time for no obvious reason, but luckily he is a source of comfort to Mike (as long as he doesn't stay on his head for too long!).
When I arrived at the youth hostel my back pack was waiting for me and my RA medication, Enbrel was in the fridge. Jill had sent it overnight to arrive in the hostel and I had requested they stick it in the fridge on arrival. Everything is continuing to work out perfectly :)
Sunset over this fantastic hostel
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Location:Bude,United Kingdom
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