Distance: 22.4 miles (147.5 total)
Total ascent: 1509ft (10,581 total)
Time: 8 hrs 42 mins
Tomorrow: Portrush to Ballycastle (est 25.1 miles)
Tony Bennett famously left his heart in San Francisco. It's only one week in, but I seem destined to be leaving at least a couple of toenails in Ireland. (There we go, that's reduced the readership even further... Probably just my wife and my mum still reading. Oh. Wait.) Actually, foot damage notwithstanding I'm feeling in pretty good shape. No leg or knee pain. Crikey, it's fun to be young.
That said, I need to turn in early tonight. Before starting this walk I was talking with Godfather Paul about my concern that I really wasn't as fit as I'd like to be. That crazy man walked the Pennine Way and ran the London Marathon during his fiftieth birthday year. He reminded me that we can 'walk ourselves' fit, and it's true. I reckon that in a lot of ways I'm already in better shape than I was when I started this pilgrimage a week ago. But just as there can be an accumulated fitness, I am struggling a bit with an accumulated tiredness. It's taking longer to get up and get out in the morning, and when I have longer sections to walk, as I have tomorrow, it's really important to make an early start.
Today's walk came in three quite distinct sections. The first third or so was really lovely walking along country backroads gradually rising to a summit about six miles in. The only slight issue was with the weather. The forecast had been for there to be no rain, so I didn't bother putting my rucksack cover on. The forecast was mostly right; for an hour or so it wasn't really raining, it was much more like hail. The second third became a bit dispiriting. Six miles or more along 'Windyhill Road'. The road was dead straight which made it feel endless. And I get really fed up with stepping out of the way of drivers who do nothing to acknowledge that I've managed to haul my weary bulk off the road. One of them even managed to go through a puddle at speed and give me a minor soaking: I turned and swore enthusiastically at the car and used a hand signal that I don't think I've used since I was a Sixth Former. The last bit of the walk was one of the best so far. Some country roads and indeed footpaths led me away from Coleraine to Port Stewart, and then along the coastal path to Portrush. I am a very, very lucky man.
On Christmas morning I gave a talk which had something to do with what I'd be packing in my rucksack for this walk and the birth of the Baby Jesus. If you can remember what the connection was, please do remind me in the comments below! As a bit of a jape, alongside torches, and First Aid kits, and waterproofs, I included suntan lotion. How everybody laughed! Well, I'm not laughing now. Today I finally dispensed with my mid-layer, and I was still too warm. The weather on the whole has been just stunning.
A bit of me wants to offer a bit of a, 'so what have we learnt at the end of Week One' kind of a summary; like the obsession with what someone achieves in their first hundred days as England manager or President of the United States (okay, too tired to go there tonight). I don't know. I'm a hell of a lot calmer than I was a week ago; a greater sense of peace. That said, I've also got the feeling that all my funny 'singing in the rain' Instagram videos and so on are a kind of 'whistling in the dark'; "Hey everybody, look at me, everything's fine now!" There's a journey still to go - isn't there just! But maybe a little breathing space is what's needed for now.
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Thanksgiving: Weather. Scenery. Feet.
Home Group is following your progress. Admiration. Lots of sympathy for toenails! Sending you our blessings
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Lea. That's lovely to hear and really encouraging.
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