29^th March 2014

An interesting 24 hours. Started off on the beach near deal with my shoulder still in pain but I have been topping up with pills so its bearable. Headed along the beach and found the sea view cafe run by a lovely guy called pete. Whilst munching a lovely breakfast courtesy of pete I met wayne a local tory who had met Christian when he was on his trip around the uk. Wayne has a lot of influence in the area and immediately arranged an interview with the mercury news group. Awesome  I then helped pete serve breakfast to his customers and helped wait tables and clean up. I really enjoyed the random experience and loved chatting with the customers. After considerably longer than I had planned I continued along the beach chatting with passers by, local workmen fixing the beaches after our recent storms until I found nikki a bar maid in the last pub I would come across for a while. I needed a charge on my phone due to the fact the charger I had used earlier hadn't worked. I also intended to get some water which I must admit I forgot about after having a great chat with nikki and her locals. The people in deal are really nice by the way. She gave me some sugar and milk sachets when I mentioned I really missed a nice cuppa in the morning. I also used their toilets to get a shave as I was starting to look like grizzly adams. Forgetting the water I headed on my way north to try to get to Ramsgate. Misjudging the tides and without water I found myself in a bit of a situation. No way to cook up and rehydrate my freeze dried rations  and also in the middle of quick sand, mud, tributaries and hidden holes. Getting out of this situation became my primary concern. It was hard going but managed it. Headed back to solid ground and decided to camp up for the night. After a cold and uncomfortable nights sleep I discovered a thorn had punctured my sleeping mat and the stitching on the tents inner lining was coming apart. Anyways I used my bandanna to soak up some dew and got a little water to fight dehydration. I wasn't sure when I would next have access to fresh water as the water in the river would have salt. I kept saying to myself "water water everywhere but not a drop to drink".

Anyway I was determined to find a way across in Hoolley and the tide was finally in my favour so I unpacked her and picked a good spot to cross and made a go for it. The current took me up river with little effort and I ported at a little eddie I had spotted. On arriving on the other side I was met by a workman who had been clearing an area nearby. He was walking his bosses dog. A bit perplexed by what he had just seen I explained the challenge and that i needed water and tp charge my phone for fear of the coastguard being called again. Mario his boss was fantastic and pointed to a small brick shack that had a power point and hose. I filled up cooked a vanilla pudding for breakfast and got a small charge on the phone so that the tracker could update. I then headed along the road to try and pick up the trail again. Along the way I popped into subway and got a foot long chicken teriyaki, my favourite  after getting another top up and fully fueled I carried on. Seeking direction I stopped at a snack van and asked for directions, again I was met by some lovely locals and offered a coffee and given a handful of mars bars for my trip. My teeth will probably drop out but its worth it for the sugar hit. I eventually came across a replica viking ship, interesting history behind it which you can read about on my wall, anyway I am now heading to a small caravan park along the cliff path as you can't walk below to do some repairs and charge my backup batteries which are proving invaluable and I could have really done with last night. Power for my phone seems to be the biggest problem I currently have. Still I will find a solution sooner or later. Anyway picking up a resupply tomorrow and will continue on with a full 22kg pack again