Oh my goodness, I’m off! Well, on the train down to Penzance at least, so it definitely feels like the adventure has truly begun. My bag is packed, my route is, well, not as finalised as I’d like but pretty much there, I’ve dealt with everything I needed to sort before I left and now all I have to do is walk!
I can’t believe the time has finally come. It feels like I have spent so long planning and dreaming about this trip that it feels quite surreal that it’s actually happening. I’ve had a few oh-my-god-what-am-I-doing moments over the last week but not once have I felt like it’s a bad idea, so I guess that’s a good sign?! It was all hands on deck to get everything done in time, but thankfully Eunice made me pack my bag yesterday morning which meant I wasn’t faffing with it all afternoon – if you don’t know what I’m like I’m usually to be found frantically packing at midnight the night before I leave, so this was a real first!
I’m currently on the train and the countryside is so beautiful. I was born in Somerset so I have a real soft spot for the South West and it feels really nice to be travelling through! We went through Taunton, and Tiverton earlier, where I’ll be in 2 weeks’ time. It’s quite amusing to be travelling backwards through my journey, although, 3 hours by train, two weeks to walk it….I really am bonkers aren’t I?! It took about 5-10 minutes to get from Taunton to Tiverton – that’s a day’s walk for me! In fact, it’s potentially my longest day of the whole trip at 24 miles!
We then reached the south coast just past Exeter, and the excitement really hit! The sea!! Oh my goodness, so beautiful! It helps that it is a beautiful day today and the sea is sparkling, but I forgot that the train runs right along the shoreline, and it reminded me how much I love the sea. My route takes me along the coast path for the first few days, first from Land’s End to Penzance, then up to St. Ives and following up for a couple of days so I’m so excited!
We’ve now headed back inland a little and I got a great view of Dartmoor. I will be skirting around the northern edge of Dartmoor, and I’m praying for good weather as Dartmoor in the sun is stunning. Dartmoor in the rain…not so much! I’m also doing a stint of camping at that point, so please all pray for dry days!!
So, tomorrow it begins properly. I’ll be posting some photos and videos on my Facebook page of the set off from Land’s End so if you haven’t found that yet it’s @jlemarinel.lejog
Of course I’ll be updating this blog too. The aim is to post a daily update of my progress and (hopefully) a Strava map of my route (find me on Strava and give me kudos please!), and then do a more general blog post once a week. For those of you who have subscribed to blog updates, there won’t be notifications of the daily blogs (I don’t want to inundate your inboxes) so do check back here if you want to see how I’m doing. I will continue to send out the notifications for the weekly blog posts though, so please do keep reading them and dropping me messages of support!
And I think that’s all to be said for now….let’s get this thing started! Thank you so much for your support in getting me to this point, and keep cheering me on from afar!
With love
Jen xx
