Mentally, passing the half way point of a walk is the point at which you appreciate what you have taken on – you know that you have ahead of you no more than you’ve done already. Unless of course all the tough terrain is saved to the end! Last night we passed the half way point on our coast to coast walk, having clocked up over 60 miles out of 117 and completed five days out of ten. Neither of us feel especially tired either, so that bodes well for the rest of the walk.
As we have crossed through rural Devon the villages have been far apart, small, and accommodation few and far between. So for the last couple of days we have been met and dropped off by a friendly and knowledgeable driver from the local taxi firm and have stayed overnight in neighbouring towns. Our driver has been a mine of information on where we should and shouldn’t go, where’s nice and where’s not . How he managed to know his way around and cope with the winding narrow roads of this part of Devon in a large taxi I don’t know, but I guess it becomes second nature after a while.
The walk itself today was a short seven miles, which took us only til 2pm, giving us the remainder of the day to rest for the first time since we started. It wasn’t my favourite sort of walk I have to admit, being predominantly a mix of crop field edges, fields of sheep, narrow hedged lanes and occasional farmyards.
Generally the route was signed reasonably well. Unfortunately, at one point when we did go a little wrong, I managed to tear my trousers on barbed wire, crossing a stile. Luckily I didn’t cut myself.
We also passed an unusual, and nonplussed, ram, followed by strange looking sheep that looked more like dogs with horns. Dogs barked as we passed isolated farms. We traipsed through yards of manure and stubbly fields, until finally we could hear the traditional peal of church bells letting us know we’d nearly reached the village of Morchard Bishop, where today’s walk finished.
Tomorrow looks like a bigger challenge, and the longest remaining day, taking us to the southern edge of Exmoor.
Across the Alps to the Adriatic 