The Trek Begins !

This could be the disaster of all disasters ! I could see the headlines now - "Scores trapped on British high speed train - fleeing Australian suspected culpript". 

My journey had started mundanely enough 3 hours earlier when connecting at Gatwick Airport I set about making my way to Minehead the recognised starting point of one of the worlds best long distance walks the 1,000 + kms South West  Coastal Path (SWCP).

The SWCP is one of those unique secrets, known to many in the UK but not so well known out it. The path traverses through an anstonishing array of spectacular scenery, biodiversity and timless history as it winds its way around the Southern UK coastline - for me this was a must see !

My immediate problem though was staring me in the face ! Having boarded my 2nd train and finding out that its storage space was designed for hamster like inhabitants, i'd resorted to precariously balancing my hefty backpack in the overhead luggage rack (more off than on) and watched nervously as every high speed corner seemingly pushed it closer to the edge and an imminent fall which would then likely bury half the carriages passengers !

Somehow though it didn't and with infinite relief after nearly 7 hours on the go (2trains + 1 bus) I disembarked finally at Minehead harbour near 3pm already emotionally exhausted ! 

Now was the moment of truth ! I had to admit to feeling a little uncertain, I'd done bugger all training,  my full backpack (15-17kgs) felt bloody heavy and I had little idea of the nature of the terrain ahead other than it involved lots of climbing and descending and with recent weather in the UK was bound to be boggy in sections!

I took my obligatory photo at the Coastal paths recognised starting point (a sculpture of a map with hands) and then after a short walk by the coast started climbing a steep gradient up and eventually on to the Exmoor plateau.

Here the wild windswept landscape was punctuated by the odd afternoon walker and one lively ultra  marathon scrambler building up to a 100 mile in a day effort near London in the coming weeks !!

Off the moor the path undulated for a number of kms on muddy forest paths with the distant sound of crashing waves on rocks suggesting that I'd gained a fair distance in height .

After a solitary lunch in the drizzle I finally descended down loose hilllside scree watching my tenuous footing before arriving at lovely Bossington a National Teust village.

From here it was just a walk along a long muddy lane into Porlock where a good grid search and some helpful locals finally allpwed me to find my b&b

up yet another hill.

After waiting around for 20 minutes for the owners daughter to finaly arrive (no I was not happy) I was finally able to collapse into my room! 

With the late start there wasnt even time enough to relax before I took a quick shower and put on some non mud splattered clothes to hobble into the quaint township for some much needed sustenance - day 1 on the trail !