Walking 1000 miles from Lands end to John O'Groats in aid of The Air Ambulance (starts april 7th 2024)

Tuesday 12 May 2015

Day 54 Wednesday 1st October

My expensive bed for the night hasn't  helped , I've tossed and turned all night and been running a temperature!!! i'm utterly exhausted.

I've paid for a breakfast so i'll eat it and hope

The cheery staff at the pub rally around and encourage me to keep going.....many thanks for that!!

The weather doesn't help, its raining ......i'm cold......i'm not happy......at Waterton i head in a more southerly direction to Cranford my pace is pitifull.

I stop at the next village a place called Woolfardisworthy, i sit and make a decision.

I'm stopping the walk.

I've over a hundred miles to walk and and the thought of continuing for another one mile is too much, if i carry on i'm likely to collapse.....

this walk has to be enjoyed!!

I ask at a village shop for directions to a bus stop for Bideford/Barnstaple its it right where i am!!!

by 6pm i'm home and glad of the horribly tough decision I'd made !

this walk is not over by any means!!


Day 53 tuesday 30th september

Up early to avoid any disgruntled farmers or cows come to that! and i'm back on the paved cycle track that the south west coastal path follows, lovely easy going although i'm a little foot sore here!. around Penhill point with a misty view over the river to Chivenor the royal Marines base! then crossing a bridge at Fremington i pass an old fortification  presumably an early sea defence?.
The paved trail takes me through miles of marshy land to my right and farmland to my left until Instow is reached with its Navy buildings, heading south from Instow another naval building with what looked like a fast response boat moored up to its pontoon was in stark contrast to the array of teddy bears tie wrapped to the fence keeping people away from the docks buildings!.
On and under the towering bridge that carries the A39 around Bideford, i come to an area marked accurately on my map as 'East of the water'. crossing to the west and Bideford proper  i'm in time for Lunch so a pleasant cafe supplies me with a good full English breakfast!
West out of town i pass the curiously named 'Ultimate Adventure Centre The Big Sheep!!' they have strange ways this far west!!!!
Passing through Abbotsham and out to Green cliff farm and i'm finally following the coastal cliff path, and my god this is hard going!!!!! constant ups and downs are taking what little energy i have! this is not good. three kilometers of this and i'm feeling shaky.....i make the decision to head away from the coast and up to Horns Cross where i sit for while on a bench at a closed pub.
In my exhausted state i'm still to stuborn to stop so i head west along the A39 to Hoops public house, where my exhaustion gets the better of me, i relent and this smelly wanderer takes an expensive room for the night with the hope a good meal or two will set me up again for the next day.

Bideford and the river Torridge

Day 52 Monday 29th September (posted a lot later!)

Rising with the sun (which was hidden above the hazy morning sky), I head off from the garden campsite of the Exmoor forest Inn at Simonsbath, west along the B3358 a little murky under the autumnal shroud of the tunnel of trees that the road passes through, and fairly hazardous dodging the early morning traffic. after 4 km of this I pick up the macmillan way uphill through misty moorland to Moles Chamber, which remained hidden from my view. nonetheless it was a good relief to escape the roads for a while!.
This inevitably didnt last for long as the direction of travel was straight onto a single lane road over Shoulsbury common and under the (hidden in  clouds) remains of Shoulsbury castle, over a five way crossroad and i hit another roller coaster road through Fullaford and Leworthy up to the top of Bratton down, an appropriately named hill as from here the road descends into Bratton Fleming where a village shop supplied a breakfast roll to stoke this hikers engines!, from the village i chose a descent into the valley of the river Yeo which i was to follow nearly all the way to Bartnstaple! this route was a good choice as the path just over river wended its way up and down the hillside in pleasing woodland until i rejoin the alleged B road to town, an extremely busy road that need required me to be on alert! which proved handy as i was soon chasing a Buzzard along the road as it flitted from perch to perch! great view!.
passing the road to Hakeford i see a magnificent tho sadly abandoned railway bridge towering over my head.
A few more twists in the road and countless cars dodged i enter into Barnstaple having walked 15 miles in a morning! abusing this progress i wander aimlessly through town picking up the usual provisions and the added bonus of a good meal!! as ever in town my sense of direction was awry! but soon enough i found the south west coastal path north of Bickington where a slow pace led me to a nice wild camp overlooking river Taw and tonights rest.    


view of the river Taw from Barnstaple