Day 1: Another adventure begins

Start: Chepstow train station

End: Beeches Farm campsite

Distance: 5 miles

This morning I took the train from Poole to Chepstow in South Wales, ready to begin my month long adventure. After what felt like a very long journey, I was growing irritable and wriggly, ready to start walking and making an indent into the miles that lay ahead of me. As I arrived in Chepstow, I located the beginning of the trail and began my journey north. My pack felt heavy, weighed down with my tent, my food, my cooking equipment and everything else inbetween. I know in time my body will adapt to this, I've been here many times before, feeling the strain on the first few miles but I know it will get easier in time. I was happy to be on the trail and looking forward to living more simply for a while. There’s something so satisfying and wholesome about carrying everything you need to survive and constructing your home each night under a different sky. I get such a rush of exhilaration from the first few days of a long-distance hike. That unsettling transition from stability and security to the unpredictable and unknown. From living in a house surrounded by possessions and sleeping in the same bed to carrying only what you need to survive and not knowing where you will sleep each night. From comfort to discomfort. You feel everything on these types of adventures. Elation, misery, happiness, physical pain, loneliness, exhilaration. You feel alive. Like you are really living. Hiking and living outdoors delivers a sense of freedom that fills my lungs and occupies my days as soon as I set foot on a trail. Leaving the familiar behind and exploring the unknown is liberating. Movement replaces stagnation, experience replaces doubts and clarity replaces confusion. There is no longer the whole world to appease, just simply you and the trail - distilling life back down to nature and the essentials.

Over the next month I will follow 3 coast to coast routes in the UK:

Phase 1: Wales

-177 miles over 12 days following the Offa's Dyke route from the South to North Coast (Chepstow to Prestatyn)

Phase 2: England

-84 miles over 5 days following the Hadrian's Wall route from the West to the East Coast (Bowness-on-Soloway to Newcastle)

Phase 3: Scotland

-79 miles over 5 days follwoing the Great Glen Way route from Fort William to Inverness

As I left Chepstow, the path entered an enclosed section of woodland and it rained lightly. It was dark and misty and all I could hear was the rain dripping from the leaves and the sound of my footsteps. Occasionally the route opened out to pass through fields where sheep and horses grazed, I figured they would be my only companions on this rainy Sunday, with everyone else probably opting to be cosy indoors. The woodland sections were magical, the ground carpeted with dense webs of tree roots and gnarly branches lined with bright green moss. The path followed a steeper incline to reach the Devil's Pulpit, a viewpoint across the Wye Valley, with a large rock pillar jutting out from the limestone cliffs above the Wye gorge. I admired the view but moved along quickly, pulling my hood up as the rain intensified.

My body began to get used to the pack weight and I felt a little more agile, hopping over the tree roots and picking up the pace. The rain grew heavier and within an hour or so of leaving the train station I was already a soggy, muddy mess. I imagine I'll remain in this state over the coming days. But I felt happy, I was in my natural habitat exploring new territory. I pushed along as I knew there was a campsite nearby where I could attempt to get warm and dry. I picked blackberries from the hedgerows to give me a little energy for the final stretch and saved some for breakfast tomorrow.

I arrived at camp, battled with my tent in the rain and high winds then dived in, grateful to be under shelter. I organised my gear, got into dry clothes, lay out my sleeping bag and used my dry sack full of clothes as a make-shift pillow. I made it as comfy and cosy as possible with the resources I had available and nestled down into my sleeping bag to rest and hide away from the weather. I thought back to last summer when I slept in here for 6 weeks in a row. It felt nice to be back in the cosy familiarity of my temporary canvas home and enjoyed the sense of nostalgia it delivered. I was happy with how the first miles had shaped up and was looking forward to the coming days.