Day 13 - North Water Bridge to St Cyrus

Wed 20 May
8.5 miles

(delayed posting - too busy being sociable yesterday)

It was a leisurely start from the campsite yesterday morning and half of the tents had gone by the time we got away (Rory's Argos tent having gone in the bin - not that there was anything wrong with it but he was quite adamant that he was never going to backpack again).

We had not gone far when John Maning caught up with us and so it was as a party of three that we chased Kim from Yorkshire, who was just ahead of us, to the coast.

The miles flew by and before we knew it the tea room in the village came into view just in time to see Kim's back disappearing through the door.

A short discussion was had as to whether it was acceptable to stop for tea and cake within sight of the end before we followed Kim's lead.

A few others (who had got the seqence of finish - tea - cake right) came in whilst we were there but we managed to drag ourselves away.

I recalled someone saying on the way across that St Cyrus is not the wisest choice of finish because of the long walk down to the sea. At the time I pictured a long beach. The reality is a steep cliff path down to the beach - fine on the way down, a bit of a pull on the way back (and for completeness we did carry our packs).

Of all the nationalities on the Challenge I did note that I found myself on the beach with three blokes - all from West Yorkshire. John and Kim were each completing their 10th crossings and so photos were accompanied by a rather nice 10 year old whisky that John had carried to mark the occasion.

After the toil back up the cliff more tea and cake was consumed before the bus ride to Challenge Control in Montrose to sign in and officially complete our first Challenge.