Day 8: 100 miles down

Start: Abbotsham

End: Hartland

Miles: 15

Total miles: 106

I woke up to heavy rain hammering on my tent, a noise I'm all too familiar with at this stage. I got started with the day regardless, I knew I had some tough stretches and 15 miles to complete. The morning began with a serious of arduous ascents and descents. The path headed steeply down to a pebble beach, followed the beach for about 3 metres only to ascend back to the orginal height. I lost count how many times this pattern repeated, my mind was vacant and weary. The path was narrow and very muddy, making it slippery, slow and tiring. I didn't see anyone for the first couple of hours of my day, it seems everyone was put off by the weather. Clovelly was in the distance, an array of tiny buildings cascading down a steep slope towards the sea. This would be my stop for lunch.

By late morning I saw my first person on the path, a man hiking and camping from Padstow to Minehead. We exchanged what the coming days were like for each other and he told me his friend was a few hundred metres back, he'd given up on motivating him and asked me to try. After another muddy stretch I came across the man's friend and asked him how he was, his reply was blunt simply saying 'I want to go home.' I told him there were flat, dry sections to come and towns with ice cream and pasties, but he didn't want to hear it. He'd let the tricky section get into his head. This exchange got me thinking about the psychological aspect of long distance hiking. You can experience elation and despair over the course of 30 minutes, which can be mentally draining. You have to try to dampen the circling negative thoughts when you are tired and ignore those small concerns that irrationally manifest into significant doubts and ultimately excuses to quit. When mixed with physical exhaustion and solitude, there’s no underestimating the human brain’s ability to evolve a microscopic doubt into a full fledged reason to throw in the towel. The majority of setbacks I will face will hopefully be temporary whether that’s a tricky section of terrain, some challenging weather or a navigational issue. All of these can be overshadowed by persistence.

I arrived at Clovelly, a quaint little village with cobbled streets and cottages. I had lunch in a pub and then pushed on towards Hartland Point. The afternoon followed open fields with wild flowers around the edge, it made for much easier walking than the morning. As I headed to camp it occurred to me that I am over the 100 mile point now, which feels good. I have pushed far enough to be able to afford a rest day tomorrow, with just 3 miles to complete in the morning before arriving at my first hotel of the trip. Tonight I'll be dreaming of a bed, pillows and a warm shower. Tomorrow this dream will become reality.