The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Tuesday 8 July 2008

The Day After - Duncansby Head

(The following was typed on the Pocketmail this morning whilst waiting for a bus to take us from JOG to Inverness. It's a long old way north is JOG, isn't it? Three hours on a non-stop bus. Phew. It'd take a while to walk that far wouldn't it...)

At 6.45 this morning we were stood by the lighthouse on Duncansby Head - in dense fog.

As we approached we could hear the sea but couldn't see it and knew that there was a lighthouse but had no idea whether we were 100 yards away or half a mile.

It finally appeared out of the gloom. We took photos and our journey was over.

Around we turned to walk back to JOG and suddenly the fog lifted - not far but enough to be able to make out some of the nearer cliffs.

So, am I pleased that it's over?

Not in the sense that I was itching to stop walking. Had our route been longer we would happily have carried on walking.

However, I am pleased to have finished what we set out to do and I am quite happy to stop walking now that we've done that (no considerations of walking home!).

Would I do it again? In principle, I absolutely would. It has been a fantastic experience of which I have positively enjoyed almost all.

But for now I shall enjoy living a more normal life for a while.

The next significant outing will be Coast to Coast in September - much shorter but still something to which to look forward.

Over the next few weeks I will put together further thoughts and reflections on the trip and the gear.

I hope you've enjoyed the daily blog of the trip and a big thank you goes out to everyone who has donated to Macmillan Cancer Support in recognition of our efforts - I have been overwhelmed by the generosity. (And for anyone who hasn't but wants to add a few pounds to the pot, then it's really easy via Justgiving; just click on the link on the right.)

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