Day: 225 28/5/00 Tunstall to Mappleton

Weather:  Showery at start, drying out

Distance:  15.0 km (9.3 miles)    Total Distance:   2901 miles

It was a bad start to the day to say the least. We were driving as a family to where Margaret and boys were to drop me off when Gareth got travel sick in the car.  I must admit he was very good and did not create a fuss.  We cleaned him up as best as we could which was not easy because the was a gale blowing outside and it was wet too.

I came up with the idea of carrying on to the caravan site where I was due to start from and use the washing machines there.  The idea was followed up and I set off to leave poor Margaret clear up.

It was a wet and difficult days walking.  The ground was sodden and the paths not easy to find even though the land was flat.  Near Grimston I was struggling to find any path as the field was ploughed all the way to the cliff top that was disappearing very fast over the edge in this weather.

I was walking along side a hedge when I heard voices over the other side and a dog barking.  When we both came to a gap in the hedge I found they were two policemen and their dog, here in the middle of nowhere!  They started asking me questions about what I was doing there but were convinced I was a lost rambler.  They told me they were expecting a protest and thought I was an advance guard.

It was not till I got chatting to a long-bearded farmer a little further on that I realised it was an animal rights protest and there was an animal breeding farm nearby.  He too was looking at his land disappear slowly over the edge into the sea.  Judging by how close he was standing to the edge he was planning to join the next cliff fall.  

A bit further on I hit more obstacles.  An old series of gun fortifications with deep gullies hidden partly buy undergrowth making it a dangerous place.  There was no path to talk about around here even tough there was meant to be one from looking at the map.  Fortunately the only people I met all day, the 2 policemen and the farmer, did not object to me carrying on,even over his crops.

The next major obstacle was an army firing range that forced me inland.  I thought I would have to come all the way up to the main road but I found a way through with out being stopped or fired at and back down towards the coast again.  Eventually I got to the car park to meet the family, I was absolutely exhausted.  I recall the last half mile when I could see the car but the terrain under foot was wet, overgrown and unpleasant.  I seemed to have to inch towards my destination.