Again I had a restless night, the wind blew hard all night and that morning it was still raining. I struggled under the low tarp to gather myself together and pack my gear away, feeling tired I found myself a little disoriented and had to organise the thoughts in my head to simply stow everything in the right order.
From the farm at Ockle I followed the road, I was still feeling under the weather and the damp in the air was beginning to get on my chest. I was stiff and my muscles ached with every step. If ever I'd wanted to go home and crawl into a bed now was the time. I felt like crap and I certainly didn't feel adventurous. As I continued to follow the road the sun began to shine allbeit only briefly for a couple of hours.
As I was hiking I began feeling like I needed time out my arms particularly hurting from constantly picking up my pack every day and swinging it onto my back. My pace began to slow and I my moral dropped but I was determined to keep going, I'd come so far and as long as I kept walking I knew each step would take me closer to the finish line. The thick rubber join that held the two parts of the Itchen bridge together in Southampton. Looking ahead I could see the road would soon end. There were three expensive looking houses at the end and beyond them a river running into a stony bay.
It then began to rain again, much heavier than in the morning, the wind was picking up speed too. I approached the river I needed to cross in order to continue along this stretch of coastline but it was too deep and fast running. I looked around for any sign of a bridge or stepping stones but alas I was stranded. Feeling the bite of the cold I turned back towards a small wooded area I'd passed just before. It was grassy and seemed like a reasonable place to set up the tarp and begrudgingly wait till the morning. I was hoping that the weather would improve or at the very least stop raining to let the river levels subside allowing me to pass.
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