A Walking Odyssey Around the Welsh Coast
Wet Around the Fringes
In the middle of 2023, after a few years of dreaming of having an adventure, I committed to taking some time out for a long walk. After a few chats and some looking at maps I concluded walking 870 miles and climbing 93,000 feet on the Welsh Coast Path was a suitable challenge and would be an adventure.
It was also an opportunity to raise money for charity. Choosing the charity was easy. When I was 10, I was rescued from the sea by the RNLI and the chance to pay something back after 50 years was wonderful, particularly as I could visit all the lifeboat stations on the way. Walking for Baca was also an easy choice. I love the compassion with which they support young people; giving young people who have made extraordinary journeys to be here the chance to heal and to thrive. An 870-mile walk seemed like an acknowledgement of their experience.
Carrying a rucksack with the camping gear (as little as possible), having done little planning other than looking at the route, and giving the walk a name “Wet Around the Fringes,” I set off from Chepstow on a grey rainy day in May 2024. I planned to complete the walk in 8 weeks!
Things did not start well. I lost my bank card down a drain the night before I set off. Left my wallet in a van when I set off (thankfully brought back to me). Lost my cap on day 2 (blown off into a river!). Could not collect my prescription medication in Wales without a paper prescription. On day 5 I got soaked walking to Port Talbot – with the steel works in full view all day. As I walked up to Port Talbot Lifeboat station like a drowned rat just before 5 and with no clear plan of where to camp or get some dry accommodation, I felt this was not really the adventure I had been after.
And then the kindness of strangers began...
Someone from the RNLI offered me coffee, a biscuit and somewhere to stay for the night. The sun came out. I was away. Camping out in sand dunes, on the cliffs. Chatting to walkers, cafe and shop staff about the walk and why I was walking 870 miles. Lots of people made donations. I was given ice creams, offered showers at holiday parks, bought breakfasts. On a few occasions offered a room for the night or a garden to camp in. Being given a new knife by a stranger (I only asked where there was a camping shop!) after I lost mine. Wet Around the Fringes became a walk of experiencing kindness. A lesson in seeing the best in everyone and to trust and hope.
As the kindness came so did the scenery and the experience. The Welsh Coast Path provided so much. The scenery was endlessly beautiful; long beaches, isolated coves, exposed cliffs, rivers and estuaries, views into the mountains and so much more. While walking in the day (I did a couple of night hikes just for the fun!) I was serenaded by stonechats and skylarks and had the great joy of watching the strange display of the choughs and their red legs and ospreys in flight. My eyes feasted on the flora – oxeye daisies, scabius, foxgloves, campions ragged robin, purple orchids – life everywhere. Feral ponies on Anglesey, a badger at midday on Lynn running across the hillside. And always the sea – constant but ever changing.
The walk took 56 days including a 3-day break at Trevine – 53 days of walking. I was surprised by how well I dealt with the physical side of the adventure. I was walking 15 to 20 miles a day and on one memorable day / night 38 miles in 19 hours from Aberystwyth to Aberdovey – with the overnight bit completed in the rain!). It did catch up with me in the last week and I was in some pain (left leg) for the last 70 miles along the North Wales Coast, especially in Llandudno. Even so I was much fitter at the end than the beginning!
I spent 40 days sleeping outside. Most of these on beaches and cliffs, occasionally on a camp site and a couple of nights in pub gardens. Thankfully, the weather was surprisingly good so on many nights I was able to sleep under the stars, enjoying fantastic sunrises and sunsets. Though I also experienced waking up with rain on my face and did have a couple of very soggy cold mornings. On those days I wish I had put up the tarpaulin that I took with me in lieu of a tent.
I have reflected on what the walk has meant to me and what I learned in the couple of months since I finished.
I loved the simplicity of the life. Worries departed and all I had to do was get up, walk, find some food, engage people I met and find somewhere to sleep. On repeat – so uncomplicated. Like a pilgrimage – and full of stories and incident. A lesson for life back in my life – keep it simple and enjoy life as it happens, just let it flow.
That there is a huge amount of kindness in the world. Being open and vulnerable offers people the chance to show their kindness. It is a concern though that people find it easy to display their kindness and compassion towards a white western adventurer – but somehow often turn away from those that need that love and compassion the most – like the young people at Baca.
I certainly got Wet Around The Fringes – had one of the best experiences of my life (I may well be off for another long walk soon!) and was able to raise just over £4,000.
Thanks for the support and good wishes.
Peace and Happiness
