Getting the wind behind me

Talking about the walk with Christine Jadav of Christian Aid got me all fired up – I came back home and worked on the details of the route, started to create the website and resolved to begin a training regime ... well, more truthfully, I started what will be an intermittent programme of long walks, designed to get me into a fit state to start the JOGLE in June. The recent weather hasn’t been a great encouragement (I’m not one for walking in rain unless I have to) but there was one day this week that promised to be dry and somewhat sunny, so I commandeered the car, drove to Bude, and started to walk northwards on the coast path.

It was clear from the outset that the weather forecast had been a tad optimistic (or, perhaps, my reading of it had been a little careless) and I’d failed to notice that there would be a high wind from the west. My progress up the coast path was, generally, one step forward, one step blown to the right, one step forward, one stagger left to regain the path, one step forward, one step blown to the right ... you get the idea. Being the coast path there were climbs up and climbs down which taxed my unfit legs and lungs so this was not smooth progress.

I was aiming for Morwenstow but, as I got closer, the wind got stronger and my resolve weaker. There was a point where the wind was so strong that a small waterfall over the clifftop was being blown back in an upward fountain of water. This was no good and, a mile short of Morwenstow I turned inland and promptly lost the line of the path, becoming mired in a mass of brambles and gorse; then it started to rain. After failed attempts to force my way through the gorse I backtracked and climbed a couple of fences before I found a lane and turned south.

But all this time I’d been in sight of a radar station with a double line of high wire fencing, razor wire, cameras and threatening notices. As I passed it, a Range Rover with two yellow-coated men cruised by inside the wire and inspected me. They drove on, obviously satisfied that this stumbling, dishevelled walker was harmless. I then discovered that this was GCHQ Bude where, borne on the wind, there was the smell of lunch being served to the inmates.

So the day was shorter than I’d intended – only about 10 miles – but I had a reasonable sense of wellbeing as I strolled back into Bude. It’s a start and I’m now waiting for another fine day when I’ll also check on the wind before doing a rather longer training walk.