Pictures from week 8

Setting off westbound on the Coast Path- the coastline in the distance can be seen stretching to Clovelly and around to Hartland, a few more weeks worth of runs will hopefully get me there.


Looking back towards Westward Ho! at start



Abbotsham cliffs, or the path before the traumatic mud situation.


Another reason I spend much of the time not running- bit tricky when the path cut down onto the pebbly beach.



I did enough sliding myself on this route

The mud begins....

Coast challenge update week 8

Arghhh! Worst run so far. In fact, the main problem was that today's effort was less of a run than an adventurous hike due to the ridiculously muddy state of the paths. My training plan (courtesy of Runner's World) dictated a 13 mile run today and last week's mega run left my Coast Path progress at Westward Ho! so I decided to run from there to Buck's Mills (just under 7 miles away) and back again. Unfortunately the path between those two places was so muddy that it was impossible to actually run. Even walking was a challenge, and I spent a good hour trying to work out the best strategy (the wide-legged straddle, trying to avoid the wettest part in the middle of the path, or the plunge, wading straight through with little regard for my shoes and clothing- this tactic became default after I slipped and reflexively grabbed onto a deceptively weak branch, thus ending up with a load of thorns in my hand and up to my knees in mud anyway), before wondering if I should call it a day and turn back. But by that point the thought of retracing my steps through all that mud without achieving much seemed so disheartening I decided to press on and try to cut back to my car along the road after Buck's Mills. After all, I thought, it couldn't be much further....

Another SEVENTY minutes later I made it to Buck's Mills. Yes, it took me two hours and ten minutes to cover a distance of seven miles. During this time I met two seperate groups of people, all of whom were wielding hiking sticks and clinging to the side of the slippery trails like first-time skiers, and who shared with me a sort of wartime camaraderie with resigned smiles and sympathetic comments about the tough times ahead in our respective directions. Along the way I passed through all the major stages of despair; denial ("That sign can't say 2 3/4 miles to Buck's Mills, they're wrong, I'm sure it's just around the next corner"), bargaining ("If the mud clears up after this bit of hill I'll run the rest at fast pace intervals to make up the time"), anger ("If I don't see a patch of dry ground soon I'm going to SCREAM"), and near-insanity ("Maybe I'll just take off my soaking shoes and trousers and run barefoot in my knickers, it'd be so much easier..."). Thankfully though, I eventually made it to the village of Buck's Mills and hit the road. By this time I was too tired and dehydrated to make it a decent run back to Westward Ho! but I did enjoy seeing some new places and the way the sea would occasionally pop into view over the hills ahead. Unfortunately taking the road back did add some extra miles onto the route.

Three and a half hours after leaving I was back at the car, more dirty and exhausted than I've been throughout this challenge, with mud and scratches even on my arms and holes in my hand from the thorns. But now that I'm home (and clean and dry) I have to say that I am slightly relishing the battle-weary exhaustion I have, and am looking forward to a very good night's sleep tonight. 'Til next time....

Route:

Westward Ho!- Kipling Tors- Abbotsham cliffs- Greencliffs- Peppercombe- Worthygate woods- Buck's Mills- Buck's Cross- A39 through Fairy Cross- Abbotsham- Westward Ho! 16 miles in total, 7 on coast path.

Distance on Coast Path:

78 miles to date

Map:

Pictures from week 7

Start of the Tarka Trail from Barnstaple, with distance calculations












Fremington Quay




















Old railway station at Instow (the Tarka Trail runs along the old railway line)





















View from Instow across to Appledore





















Bideford old railway station





Appledore's streets



View from Appledore lifeboat station- the end is in sight, just a few miles away.
(The white blobs on the hills in the distance are buildings at Westward Ho! across the bay)



Slight detour around Northam Burrows



Right:
pleasing pebbles at Westward Ho!
















Me looking very happy to have reached the end!

Coast challenge update week 7

Bridges, concrete, beaches; bridges, concrete, sea! That pretty much sums up today's run. It was the longest section of the Coast Path I've done yet, an eighteen miler from Barnstaple to Westward Ho! wriggling along the rivers Taw and Torridge and back out to the sea. The route took me three hours but felt surprisingly good, I think because it was so flat compared to recent weeks, and because travelling in a straight line instead of doubling back on myself meant there was a definite destination keeping me going to the finish. And what a finish! I had been to the beach at Westward Ho! before but only very briefly on a cold grey day, and didn't really realise what I had seen was only the tip of the golden sands which stretch around the Northam Burrows. The beach is beautifully wide, with sweeping views of the coast either side and its perfect sand backed by banks of those smooth grey stones which are somehow really pleasing to see and touch, and which make lovely bumping-scraping sounds as you scramble over them. I loved it.

The hardest bit was where the ever-reliable Coast Path signs started making like Alice and shrinking. Between Bideford and Appledore the path weaves between houses and muddy woods and is the first place for about 20 miles where the water isn't directly next to the path so you can't rely on keeping the water on your right side to be sure of your direction, but it was just here that the signs diminished to the occasional sticker on lamposts so sharp eyes were needed to navigate. Still, I made it through, and enjoyed jogging through Appledore's quaint colourful streets! Northam was a bit of a struggle too, purely because the finish was in sight and I had to make myself turn away and loop around the country park peninsula instead of cutting across the enticingly flat fields to end early. Looking back on the run now the earlier miles feel like a lifetime ago, and I can barely recall the first half from Barnstaple to Bideford, nevermind remember the good and bad points, but that's a route I have done many times before and I did take loads of photos today so have pictorial evidence that this section has actually been completed and not just imagined! I have also made a map of the total distance I've travelled in my Coast Challenge so far so will upload that with the pictures.

Route:

Barnstaple- Fremington Quay- Yelland- Instow- Bideford- Appledore- Northam Burrows- Westward Ho! 18.5 miles in total.

Distance on Coast Path:

71 miles to date

Map:

More progress...

I have reached an important milestone in my Coast Challenge- I have arrived in Barnstaple! The last long run brought me within 5 miles of home so I decided to do the next section during one of my shorter midweek training runs to leave me in a better starting position for next week. This meant this morning saw me running the familiar Tarka Trail between Braunton and Barnstaple and joyfully arriving home. I have run this route dozens of times, but the sight of Barnstaple's new bridge appearing in the distance has never been as exciting as now when I knew it meant I had reached the next stage of the Coast Path. Even better, now when I look at the map the distance I've completed suddenly looks much more impressive, in fact I think I'm about half way, and the Challenge has started to seem do-able once more!

Route:

Braunton- Velator roundabout- Wrafton- Chivenor- Barnstaple. 5 miles in total.

Distance on Coast Path:

53 miles to date.

Map:

Pictures from week 6

Looking down on the beach from the Saunton Sands Hotel. I kind of liked how moody everything was! Off-season and in poor weather beaches have such a different feel.


Rounding one of the endless corners at the end of Saunton beach. You can just make out the other side of the estuary in the distance. That's where I'll be running soon!


Coming into Braunton near the end. Finally off that sand!

Coast challenge update week 6

So another week has passed and another section of the Coast Path is in the bank. Due to other commitments on Sunday I had to move my long run to today, which turned out to be unfortunate as yesterday was beautifully sunny whilst this morning was wet and windy. Typical. Still, week after week of sunshine and great views would get dull wouldn't it? Today's route took me from the popular surfing destination of Croyde to Braunton, which is more inland and the start of the South West Coast Path's sojourn along the Taw river. Over the next few weeks I'll have to trek the Tarka Trail to Barnstaple and on through Bideford and Appledore before the Coast Path actually looks out to sea again. Life might be easier if I could just have swam across the mouth of the estuary. When I was running along the beach at Saunton today I could see through the mist and rain a mound of land representing Appledore and the rest of my route for the next few weeks and it looked tantilisingly near. On a clearer day I felt I could almost have made out the footpath signs on the other side! Unfortunately, as I've said, the weather was terrible and the wind was driving the rain directly into my face for the length of the beach; there was nowhere to hide! The sand was pretty tough going too and seemed to last forever. I drew my route on the map as a straight line but in reality I kept weaving all over the beach trying to find the firmest sand to run on, and it was never really firm enough. It felt like running on cotton wool. I kept thinking it would end around the next corner and I'd find the footpath I remembered from walking in the Burrows, but then I'd turn the bend and there'd be more! The adverse conditions were messing with my head; at one point I thought I saw a seal on the beach ahead and got all excited, and it wasn't until I was a couple of meters away that I realised it was only a rock. But I could have sworn it moved!

Why is it hard not to feel a bit anxious around the military? Skirting the edge of the training zone behind Saunton was, as usual, a little unnerving and intriguing at the same time. There are signs warning not to stray into the zone when the flags are up but the problem is how do you know where the flags would be? It seems like they'd be easy to miss amongst the miles of sand dunes. I also dislike how there is no clear boundary- I think I'd prefer a neat high fence rather than shadowy warnings of 'zones' and stumbling across tank tracks in the sand. Luckily the only military machine I actually saw was the rescue helicopter circling in the sky above, and that's a common enough sight down here that I barely noticed when it landed in a field next to me, despite the racket it was making.

The good thing about today's run was that the path has flattened out, and the Tarka Trail is almost completely level so after the grueling sand ordeal today at least there will be no hills to wear my legs out for a while. Also since I am now pretty near home and in familiar territory the runs will be a bit easier to organise and I'm going to try and do smaller segments of the route during the week so that I can get a good wedge of milage done. It feels a bit scary that I am only a third of the way along!

Route week 6:

Started in Croyde (Down End car park where finished last week)- Saunton Sands Hotel- Saunton beach- around military training zone (I ran all the way along the beach but however I try to draw it on the map the line comes out in the sea; Although the rain meant I did get very wet, I did not swim!) - Braunton Burrows- along the estuary to Velator roundabout (Braunton). I then had to double back along the road to collect my car from Croyde, making the total distance I ran 14 miles, a respectable 10 of those on the Coast Path.

Distance on Coast Path:

48 miles to date

Map: