Sea mist

I needed to get back to my longer weekly walks again, following  a recovery break, after travelling  back from Scotland. I woke early and left home at eight to take a slightly more inland route to Sidmouth about 9.5 miles away. To my surprise when I looked out of the window a dense mist was blowing off the sea . It has a smoke like quality in the way it moves and wafts its way between the trees and buildings. The coolness of the air changed very quickly as the mist enveloped the landscape and unlike on a rainy day where you have a rain shadow under trees,  in sea mist conditions,under trees becomes the wettest place to be. They are coated in a thick layer of damp which drips off them forming a splash zone below. Every time you brush against a mist covered object it shares its water droplets with you. Out along the hedgerows I saw new birds learning the tricks of the trade from their parents. A family of cows white in colour merged into the mist along with the white Cow Parsley. Although I got close to the sea I could not see it as the sea mist swirling around me driven on the breeze tried to blow my hat away. On reaching Sidmouth I bought a pasty and whilst off guard had to fend off a seagull who had designs on stealing it. Luckily for me  my wide brimmed hat alerted me to his approach and shielded some of my pasty .He escaped with a meagre beak full.

Reflections on the West Highland Way and The Great Glen Way

Having been home a week my feet are nearly back to normal and now I realise how you can have a bit of a love hate relationship with a journey. The hate bit comes from the days when things don't go as planned or you are nursing particularly painful blisters with miles still yet to travel. The love end of the relationship is the simplicity,ease and interesting nature  of the journey where new places are discovered which will remain firmly in you mind long after the journey is finished. I often wake and find that I have dreamt of a journey that contains elements of my walk. Looking at the maps spread out on my floor I find it hard to believe that I have walked almost the length of Britian. 916 miles in 8 weeks with just 126 miles left to travel to John O Groats. When I set out from Lands End on a wet morning all steamy and hot I was not sure I was going to make it .Truly the journey of a 1000 miles does start with the first step.