Sunday 16th January
Me and my sister had our alarms set for 2:30 am. After less than 3 hours sleep because of nervousness and adrenaline we got up, got dressed had some breakfast of left over pesto pasta from the night before and snuck out of the house at 3am. We got into my sisters car and drove the 45 minutes away from home to our starting point at Studland Ferry. At this point we were in very high spirits and adrenaline was running through our bodies. we walked from the car to the starting point at the ferry and then began our adventure after taking a few photos at 4am.
We were making great timing along the beach loving life and talking lots. It was great to be able to spend quality time with my sister knowing that I wont see her for a while in a few weeks time. Our first obstacle came when we realised that the path we needed to get on was on the other side of the incoming tide... Because we didn't want to trek back on ourselves we decided that the only way to the other side was to climb on the cages of rocks that stop the cliffs eroding. A little dangerous some might say!
At this point it was still pitch black out we had our head torches on guiding the way even though mine was useless and was not strong at all. It seemed like we made our way to Old Harry Rocks very quickly. We were very happy with our progress so headed down into Swanage... At this point I was trusting my sister with her directions as she had done most of the coastal path at different times throughout the past few years.... To find out she forgot where she was going ... We are both pretty sure we got lost.. haha oh well we were still happy that we were keeping on track with our timing goal!
When we made it to Swanage (Fish and Chip shop) We had hit our 7 mile mark.... It was only 6:10 am at this point so we felt like we were smashing it hitting our first target on time at the 1/4 way mark.
When we got to Durlston Country Park we thought it would be light out, but it was still dark! Thankfully there was a water refilling station that we sure did take advantage off. We made our way down the path to the light house and through the gate back on to the rocky slippery path to Dancing Ledge. This should have been pretty easy... But we were so wrong... The rocky path was covered in mud and became lethal .. well for me anyway... my sister stayed on two feet and I practically crawled. Every time I walked a few steps my legs would go opposite directions and I was splat on my bum, Hands or knees... This is where I got the nickname Bambi
I was extremely happy when we passed Dancing Ledge the Sun was just making its first appearance so we got to watch the stunning sun rise over the bright blue peaceful sea. The sky was a beautiful orange colour when we made it to Windspit this is where I had done (training) one week before. By training I mean 7 miles Circle route with a stop at the local pub for 30 mins in between. The only other training I had done was 5 - 10k a day on a tredmill with no incline since January 1st other than that I would drive everywhere!
When we were at Windspit I went to shut one of the country gates behind me and as I turned I slipped, fell and smashed my shoulder into the concrete step. This made using that arm so painful... but I knew how many people had supported the Children at TLC so I didn't want to give up.
I knew that from Windspit to St. Aldhem's head it wasn't far so I was happy and this kept me motivated to get to the half way mark!!
We finally had service at this point so we were able to stop and use our phones quickly as the first update we posted we didn't stop at we continued to walk whilst typing and posting on social media about our journey so our first actual rest was at the 14 mile mark.
Life felt great the only hard part of that half of the journey was the slipping, falling over and being covered in mud on the lower half of my body, everything else was a joke and a great laugh with my incredibly strong sister!
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