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]

Thursday 21 May 2009

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.

7 comments:

  1. Martin G @ Work21 May 2009 at 09:53

    Hi Mick,

    I was just wondering what booking number I should use for reading all your blog entries!

    Congrats to both of you on completing the walk.

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  2. well done..i have enjoyed reading your blog posts :-)

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  3. Hi to both of you,
    Haven't got round to the funeral pyre yet, beginning to realise that it may not quite be the end!! It was good to meet you both and....if you enjoyed it half as much as me then welcome to the real world.
    yours aye Rory

    ps if you ever want a tour of the Scottish Parliament just call

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  4. Welcome to the Challenge Family, you two.

    Sounds like an excellent trip in the true spirit of the Chally.

    All the very best
    Alan

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  5. Well done both. I've very much enjoyed reading about your challenge, thanks.

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  6. Well done Gayle, Mick. We've enjoyed reading your entries, and contrasting your crossing with ours. Yours was a much more sociable route than ours, so it seems, though we did meet some very nice people, and enjoyed lingering in Montrose on Friday.
    See you soon.
    M & S

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  7. Great blog - enjoyed it very much! Lovely to meet you at the end and share the beach and teashop with you. Looking forward to reading about your next walk!

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