Looking back

This is message 1 of 3 closing posts on my blog about the South West Coast Path.

I am home for more than a week now and also started working again. Everyone was (thankfully) happy to see me again and I have already been able to tell about my experiences many times. When I got home, I immediately ended up in a heat wave. That and all regular issues that are coming my way again, have led to these closing messages being slightly later than my intention.

If I look back on my walking adventure now, I am very satisfied. Everything went well and the few minor problems that occurred were all solved in no time. The thorough preparation, by myself but also by Encounter Walking Holidays, was not in vain.

I had good weather for walking. I met many nice people, both on the road and at the overnight addresses. Also this time comments were made like “where is your horse” and I was asked if I was a musician or artist, but I’m already used to that 🙂

As far as the heaviness of the walks is concerned, it was not too bad. It is not that there were no very heavy stages, but I could handle them all quite easily. Only at the beginning I had some small blisters and my calves had to get used to climbing and descending. No problems that I could not cope with.

I have had many different overnight addresses. They were all different, ranging from a tiny single room to a spacious double room with almost apartment dimensions. Bathrooms varying from a small hutch with a shower where you could not turn your butt to spacious bathrooms with a shower with large dimensions. Occasionally no shower, but only a bathtub with (if I was lucky) a shower head. Sometimes a shower door that I had in my hands when I tried to open it.
View from the rooms ranging from sea view to a courtyard with an air conditioning installation.

The places where I spent the night varied from a big city, with or without more than a hundred Porsches, to a single hotel on the sea side with nothing else in the neighborhood.

I have eaten well in England. Despite the fact that the pub grub menu is almost the same everywhere, I had enough variation. Ranging from Chinese, Thai and Indian to a whole lobster. Breakfast ranging from a full English breakfast to waffles with fresh fruit and maple syrup.

I also drank well in England. Just like here there are a lot of small breweries in England that sell their brews locally. Every pub had one or more of these ales on tap and along with that several larger names, and of course Guinness.
On rest days I visited a number breweries or a brewery’s taste locations. Always good for a number of new entries on Untappd!

Also in terms of technology everything went smoothly. I had no problems with the all the electronics that I had with me: mobile phone, tablet, laptop, e-reader, GPS, power bank, step counter, LED flashlight and all the chargers that go with it. Except for one communication breakdown, but that was solved automatically within a day.

One of the reasons to undertake this adventure was because I wanted to come to a good rest for once. That has completely succeeded. I have hardly been concerned about normal daily worries, such as roofs with broken tiles or work. My biggest concerns were replenishing my water supply during the day and finding new types of beer for the evening 🙂

All in all, the whole adventure was a great success!