Day 29

Caution to the wind ...Talk the chalk

In the 16 years this suit has run, trekked, stumbled and staggered over the trails of the UK, Tanzania and Nepal, it has NEVER had a day such as this. Bank holiday weather did what it is dialled into doing battering the chalk cliffs and coves of Dorset. At one stage it was one step forward and eight sideways, a whole day of crabbing, slaloming and tacking. It would have been impossible without Elaine and Chris on support and Ali and Emma carving a lead along the windswept often vertiginous coastal paths. David has walked metronomically for two days with stoicism and strength but even he blotted his unblemished masthead by stumbling above Swanage and grinding some fine Dorset loam into his seasoned shorts. He seemed not to notice. Lizzie has form on these tougher days and was as resolute as ever.
My old school's headmaster walked for most of it and showed why teachers and boys walk through walls for him, thanks James. Harry's Rocks tick, Swanage tick and Kimmeridge tick. Ask any proper man or woman of Dorset and they'll say the county doesn't start until here: a rugged coastline without parallel in England, I've had many holidays here as a child and adult, but any home field advantage was scuppered by the wind. It was phenomenally hard today, tomorrow we are in Hardy country. I'm still standing.
Dinner was dreadful, depart at 07.30 tomorrow, breakfast (included) starts at 08.30. Obvs.

725 miles completed. 275 remaining. How far did you walk today?