Run Britain Day 46: Trebarwith to Widemouth

A few weeks ago, a stranger on the south coast of Devon warned me about the section around Tintagel. I found his comments not terribly tactful at the time (I had told him about the challenge that I had taken on).

I’ve been dreading this day since I first decided to run the coastline of Britain. I knew I would be tired by the time I took these steps on and I knew the elevation was considerably more than any single day so far (it’s actually considerably more than the elevation of the entire first week).

It didn’t help that I woke up feeling angry, and struggling to put my finger on exactly why.

I think it’s something to do with the fact that yesterday was tough and I knew this morning I would have another two days of this sort of elevation. The mental side of getting going again after a tough day is really hard. Far more challenging than the physical side.

But this morning I was joined by Steve, who recently completed his own circumnavigation of the coast of Britain in 200 days, at the age of 66. Talking to him and the discipline he managed to bring into his mission inspired me. I know that I will find the difficult mornings after difficult days far easier if I have a routine, like Steve, that I am far stricter about following.

Today I only completed 34km of distance, but that included 1500m of elevation gain - far and away the most climbing so far. And I finished in the dark, which isn’t my favourite, but at least I have got this section out of the way.