Day 12 : More photos 1

Day 12 : 23 km : Bodfari to Prestatyn

Ah! The last day! It seems like forever ago that I left home and started hiking. And that's not to say this has been a drag! Not at all. But there's something about spending your entire day slowly moving along, never really stopping for long, never really making anywhere a home, always and gently, fluidly moving forward that seems to leave along the way the junk that accumulates inside oneself. At the end, the monotony, the incessant rhythm of hiking, the beauty of the way, the anticipation, the exhaustion, the sweat and toil of clambering up high and fixing the eyes on the next horizon, the turning on a hill to look back, to catch breath and realising that for as far as your eyes can strain to see, you have walked by your own effort. You cannot see where you began! That place is left behind. You are adrift, wandering an unexplored new course. An earthiness of contemplation. These thing silently do their work; without your consent. So at your destination you arrive a little changed. Some way from the worries of the life so recently and temporarily put aside.

So today I reached my destination. Another spade-full of inner calm, another piece of our wonderful country visited, another charity helped along its way to do good things for others. Another dreamland fading as reality kicks back in.

Thank you to all of you who sponsored me to do this walk. Yes it was good for me, but I won't see a penny of the money. Your sponsorship kept me going when at times I though perhaps this was all bit of bloody mistake and surely there were better things to do with one's annual leave! And yes, there are moments like that! It also will help the young people that are assisted by the Tall Ships Youth Trust. Along the way I met and chatted with someone who has in their family a person who might benefit from their work. If they do apply and their lives are changed even slightly for the better, then for me it has all been worth it.

Thanks to whoever controls the weather for their smiling, hot, sunny days for almost the whole of my hike, and for keeping me safe too. I think that person knows who I mean. And thanks for all the truly wonderful things I was privileged to see, touch, sniff, feel, witness, photograph and remember along the way.

These national trails are open and available for everyone all the time. It's amazing what's out there for free. I encourage you to go find out!

Best wishes to you all

Simon

Day 11 : More photos : 2

Day 11 : More photos : 1

Day 11 : 20 km : Clwyd Gate to Bodfari

Yet another roasting day with glorious sunshine the whole day through. If anything it was hotter today than any day before!
The hike today was a terrific high level walk along the Clwydian Range at about 400 - 500 m most of the day. At last a day truly away from pasture and arable farming. Terrific views from Snowdon in the west to Liverpool in the east. An undulating walk along heather moors for mile after mile. Lovely. And the sea is getting closer all the time. Not long to go to the end now.

Day 10 : More photos 3

Day 10 : More photos 3