A different perspective

For much of the walk today I found myself looking out to sea more. It might have been the direction the path was heading and now was angled away from the mainland or just what I was focused on. Previously it felt I was looking at the upcoming cost line for most of my time but today I was really appreciating how big the sea was. It just sort of goes on forever.

I started to think as well what I wanted my life to look like. I still don’t really think I’ve found a true content place. As Jenny is coming down tomorrow I won’t be carrying this big rucksack from Thursday. That will instead be hitching a lift in a car and I’ll just have a small rucksack. I was worried that I’d miss it, it’s got everything I need and it’s all very simple. I’ve got a system for wet and dry clothes and where I store my tent, food, and other items. It’s a very simplified life. Totally the opposite of my house with all its rooms and clutter filled with people who’s objective is to complicate the world and make my life more difficult.

Living out of a car is a half way house between the two. As there’s more space you take more, and as you take more it slowly becomes less organised and more cluttered. You start to find it more difficult to find stuff. Saying all that, it’ll be nice to get all that weight off my back.

To backpack or not to backpack

I bumped into a lady today who was backpacking the coast path in one go. I think she said she’d taken 10 weeks off and was really taking her time. She was always using camp sites because she felt safer than wild camping and she looked like she was having a great time. When I said that I’d only seen a few backpackers (I can’t think of even 5) she agreed and that’s why she’d stopped to talk. We were definitely a rarity. Maybe though it was because of the time of year. And that made me feel that what I was doing was actually something special and maybe I should be proud of myself for having the guts to do it.

So I’m in a bit of a dilemma now. I will definitely carry on walking now without my heavy backpack, I think my body’s ready for a bit of a break. I’m just wondering, when I come back to resume the walk, do I start from where I finish today and be able to tell myself I backpacked the whole route, or do I resume from where I finish next week.

The good news is that this isn’t a decision for today or even the next few months. I may not even ever finish. All future decisions.

Nice early start

Even though I was at a camp site and not obligated to get up at first light I’d spotted another campsite about 20 miles down the coast I liked the look of so wanted to try and get there. The campsite I was leaving was almost on the coastal path so within minutes of packing up I was back on the trail and straight into a nice climb.

It was a really nice day. There were a couple of showers early on that created some indecision about whether to have a waterproof on or not but that soon became constant sunshine and it became really quite hot.

I soon arrived at Mevagissey which looked liked a cross between a holiday let haven and a working fishing village. I quite liked it here as it felt quite raw and not too commercialised. There were a few people fishing and what looked like someone preparing for something more industrial. He had a little tractor type thing anyway.

From Mevagissey you’re up and down into small coves with beaches that very few people will ever visit or even know about. Again, it may just be that we’re out of the summer season, but these small beaches are generally empty and I always fancied staying at them.

The next place I stopped at was Gorran Haven. There was a little cafe here where I bought an overpriced hot chocolate and a piece of cake. I sat down here for a while and phoned my Dad because it was his birthday. I loved this little beach and I noticed several people swimming. I wondered if I’d have the guts to swim. I think initially after the shock of the cold water it’d be quite nice.

The human body is amazing

I was talking to my Dad about something Jenny’s yoga tutor talks about. Apparently during their classes they thank their bodies for allowing them to do what they do. This isn’t word for word as I don’t do yoga and I’ve also probably remembered it totally wrong, but it did get me thinking about what I’d put my body through and the fact it’s still going. Generally we put very little fuel into it and it just keeps on plodding on. It’s fascinating. And then, almost as some kind of sign, several ladies appeared with roll mats under their arms – possibly from a yoga class?

Press on

I still had about 18 miles remaining to get to my campsite so had to get moving. I wasn’t particularly worried but I knew I was walking at about 2.5 miles an hour because of the terrain and I really didn’t want to be walking in the dark. I was feeling pretty good after my day off though and the walking was fun so I happily re-joined the path.

The path is very narrow in places where if you weren’t walking alone I wonder how you’d hold a conversation. One of you would be talking to the back of the other persons head. I didn’t see many people walking alone though so it must be perfectly possible.

I spent a lot of the walk daydreaming and pondering my future and looking out to sea. The paths went from the usual steep climbs and descents, into narrow bush lined corridors, past pretty little beaches in small bays, then high onto cliffs and through farmers fields. There were so many quiet places I wanted to come back to see, and the occasional more commercial affair I’d happily miss out, and I was constantly reaching for my camera thinking that if I took a picture I may be able to get back to them some day.

Bradgate Park by the Sea

With around 10 miles to go I noticed the foliage looked quite familiar to me. Even though I was quite high up on a cliff there were trees and lots of bracken. It reminded me of Bradgate Park near where I live. On nice days the park is quite busy and I wondered how busy it’d be if it also had the views of the sea I was seeing. I definitely wouldn’t go there on Boxing Day along with the rest of the population. I tried to go for a run once through the park on that day and it was not fun.

The final slog

I still had about 5 miles to run and I found myself walking round the inside of a big bay. This takes you from Nare Head to Portscatho. From Nare Head you can constantly see where you’re heading as you follow the inside of a circle, slowly making your way round. I think because a lot of this is protected from the worst of the weather the sea is calmer and the landscape reminded me of the initial paths when I was walking in Weymouth just after my first wild camp. That feels like years ago now.

At this point I managed to fall over. The path was a deep rut and I caught a foot on a rock or something. Landed flat on my face. I was quite muddy but, and this is the important part, no one saw it happen. So I checked everything was still working and then carried on.

I made it to my campsite with about an hour to spare before nightfall. As I was pitching up a lady spoke to me and said if I needed anything to just ask. They were in a caravan about 50 yards from my pitch. Her husband then came over and gave me a beer and a packet of crisps. What a great end to the day.