Starting work again I soon discovered that a seven and a half hour day sitting at a desk felt trivial by comparison with eight to ten hours of hard walking followed by a poor nights sleep! I also discovered renewed confidence to tackle anything that arose in my daily life. Minor upsets or challenges phased me little.
I find it hard now to get upset about minor things. If food is a little late in a restaurant I can't get concerned about it. Compared to desperately finding a camp site under the setting sun or sitting and shivering in the cold there aren't many things that really seem annoying. Likewise I find that I am increasingly intolerant of those who do whinge about petty things. "Try doing the coast to coast!" I feel like telling them (and sometimes do).
Amongst the things that I wrote on the last night in my notepad are the following snippets:
"I will be glad when tomorrow's twelve miles are done and I shall be happy to use a car and taxi to give me a break from walking. I can't wait to be able to go somewhere WITHOUT a big heavy pack on my back. I look forward to showers, baths, clean clothes, chairs to sit on, warm beds, interesting food (not out of a tin!), a beer or two and having a good chat. But sometimes you need to be without these things to realise what you have."
"I have learned a lot about the people and things I hold dear and how lucky I am. I have also learned my limitations."
And yes, on that evening as my aching body lay on the bumpy ground and I scrawled those last few notes, I thought I had learned my limitations. I thought that I would never be foolish enough to undertake such an enterprise again. But now, some five months later in the warmth of my home, my mind is once more contemplating what adventures I can plan for next year…