I hardly know what to write. The walk was supposed to be 14 miles, according to the literature. I got up this morning to pay for camping and was met, not by the older gentleman (I use that term very loosely) who I met when I arrived the previous evening, but by Tim and Tina, a couple my age. Tina offered me a cup of tea, and while I drank it we talked about their absolute madness for American cowboys. A love which led them to visit Texas the previous year.
While we talked two kids, goat not human, suckled Tina's fingers and tried repeatedly to climb up Tim's shorts. I can only assume it was unsuccessfully attempting to get at his underwear. Goats on TV are always eating underwear off of laundry lines. After my tea, Tina offered to drive me to the top of the first hill. At first I thought, "no, that's cheating" but I eventually relented when I thought of the 14 miles. I thought I could shave off a mile of hill and arrive earlier.
In reality, due to many land falls, the path was rerouted 3 times and 14 miles turned out to be more like 18 miles. Ending in a climb to the top of Golden Cap, the highest point on the south coast. And I ran out of water at the bottom. I really thought I might just stay there, half way up. 620 some vertical feet might seem like small change, but after 17 miles of rugged terrain and uphill walks on single lane roads, it was brutal.
The first 3 hours were spent on a very uneven path through a wood on an old landfall from 1839. It was very craggy as a giant part of the cliff fell to the sea and broke up into giant clods. When it happened, there were still crops on it and the residents went down and harvested their crops off the newly fallen land. Two famous geologists of the day witnessed it happening and it was the first event of its kind to be recorded scientifically. Today it is densely wooded and is a nature reserve. Only the coast path goes through it and there are dangerous fissures and crevices even after so long. While an interesting story, the reality of 3 hours walking was rather boring with no views of cliff or sea and just dense thicket on either side and very strenuous because it was all roots and boulders and many short series of stairs to get over the jagged landfall.
At the end of the day, after Golden Cap, I reached Seatown, which blessedly had a lovely campground and pub right on the beach.
That's me at the top of Golden Cap, alive and more or less in tact
While we talked two kids, goat not human, suckled Tina's fingers and tried repeatedly to climb up Tim's shorts. I can only assume it was unsuccessfully attempting to get at his underwear. Goats on TV are always eating underwear off of laundry lines. After my tea, Tina offered to drive me to the top of the first hill. At first I thought, "no, that's cheating" but I eventually relented when I thought of the 14 miles. I thought I could shave off a mile of hill and arrive earlier.
In reality, due to many land falls, the path was rerouted 3 times and 14 miles turned out to be more like 18 miles. Ending in a climb to the top of Golden Cap, the highest point on the south coast. And I ran out of water at the bottom. I really thought I might just stay there, half way up. 620 some vertical feet might seem like small change, but after 17 miles of rugged terrain and uphill walks on single lane roads, it was brutal.
The first 3 hours were spent on a very uneven path through a wood on an old landfall from 1839. It was very craggy as a giant part of the cliff fell to the sea and broke up into giant clods. When it happened, there were still crops on it and the residents went down and harvested their crops off the newly fallen land. Two famous geologists of the day witnessed it happening and it was the first event of its kind to be recorded scientifically. Today it is densely wooded and is a nature reserve. Only the coast path goes through it and there are dangerous fissures and crevices even after so long. While an interesting story, the reality of 3 hours walking was rather boring with no views of cliff or sea and just dense thicket on either side and very strenuous because it was all roots and boulders and many short series of stairs to get over the jagged landfall.
At the end of the day, after Golden Cap, I reached Seatown, which blessedly had a lovely campground and pub right on the beach.
That's me at the top of Golden Cap, alive and more or less in tact
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