Nov. 7-8, 2002
Below: my boot, and about six inches in front of it, a huge drop to the sea...
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| Pembrokeshire Coast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CAMPING, OR SOMETHING LIKE IT Nov. 7-8, 2002 |
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| Day 2, I think.. it all blurs... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We took special care to stake down the tent as much as we could, but after that incident I had a terrible night sleeping. It gets dark here about 4pm, and no self-respecting person would turn in for the night then, so we chitchatted a bit, had a dinner of squashed sandwhiches, and tried to pass the time. And it dragged... every time I checked my watch only a handful of minutes had passed, though it felt like hours. Then the rain came in torrents and the wind switched direction, and though you are quite dry within your tent, you are still terrified of having a similar tent-down-the-cliff experience, especially with you inside it. And the rain did not stop. Howling and pegging the nylon and echoing in a maddened panging. In fact, after I completed my fifth 20 minute nap of the night, I realised that since the wind had switched, the rain was blowing right underneath our rain fly. I came to said conclusion after I had put my hand out to reach for a tissue, and found all them floating in a small puddle. By about 6 that morning, my entire sleeping bag was inside a very large pool of rainwater, my rucksack soaked and I dumped the Indian Ocean's equivalent of water from within my hiking boots. (I actually had to put plastic bags over my feet this morning to make sure I would have feeling in my toes by the end of the day - I was lucky my clothes were dry!) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| It's a long way down... sometimes, there is no way down. And that is what is scary. Below: my boot, and about six inches in front of it, a huge drop to the sea... |
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| We packed up our kit and emerged from within our tent into a stinging, pelting rain and howling wind. And at that moment I think I realised just how crazy I must be. I just sat in the grass, soaked to the bone (warm, luckily, from a dry base layer) and knowing htat when I put that rucksack back on my very tired, very sore shoulders, or when I tried to hike with my aching knees and feet, it was going to be a very long day and that I wasn't up to the challenge. One of our guides showed up before we broke camp and informed us that our journey had been significantly shortened, that one of the other groups couldn't continue and the leaders had decided it best to not push it. So we only had an hour or so hike before we hit the town of Solva and would be met by the van to head back to the college. I can't really say if I was relieved or disappointed at this news. I was glad to face the prospects of only an hour more in this horrendous weather, plus I was quite sore and tired. But part of me felt like it was a cop out, even though we hadn't decided it ourselves. It felt like we had been defeated by the weather and the path, and I don't deal with defeat well. Once we got into the town, and I felt like we could keep going, but when I found the public restroom (thank God!) and had spent just five minutes relaxing, waiting for the van, I was glad to be leaving early. it's just a footpath. It will be there another day. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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