SW Coast Path

It took 2 swollen ankles, and a soleful of blisters for me to realise that there was probably a reason I was born in the city and perhaps 100 miles of coastal hiking isn't for me.

I'm currently reading Murakami's (Haruki not Takeshi, I do love them both though) "What I Talk About When I Talk about Running" and there's a section in the book which says:

"... as an action than deviates from the ordinary yet doesn't violate basic values, you'd expect it to afford you a special sort of self-awareness. It should add a few new elements to your inventory in understanding who you are. And as a result, your view on life, its colors and shape, should be transformed"

This is exactly how I felt as I was drenched with sweat and my ankles were giving way and the above kind of thinking became my mantra... "This is a life changing experience, This is a life changing experience, this is a life chang..." - in this section of his book Murakami goes on to say the Sixty-two mile run that he had done achieved the kind of transformation he talks about. I, however, did not experience such a transformation just a huge amount of discomfort. It occurs to me that maybe you just need to push yourself a lot harder to achieve that kind of transformation but then it also occurs to me that I'm pretty happy with my current outlook so I might save it for a year or two.

Though I whinge and complain I am happy I did it, a slightly more relaxed timescale would have made the week far more enjoyable. We had so much distance to cover each day that it was very difficult to justify standing around to take decent photos but here's a few of the not-so-blurry ones. (some more can be found over on my Flickr)