It had been a rough night for me, my bones and muscles were badly aching and I'd lost my appetite, i was particularly feeling the cold and feared coming down with an illness. The birds were chirping though and ahead of me a new day. I rooted through my pack looking for a breakfast ration but found i was completely out, all i had left were mains which meant breakfast would be chicken korma curry.
While packing up for the day ahead and a short hike to Rhyl the wind began to pick up. Struggling with the tent i still had no idea about packing away properly i knew the 'easy' day i had ahead of me wouldn't be as 'easy' as i had hoped. With the pack on my back i headed towards the beach, the wind was strong and getting stronger and what was worse was the fact it was against me.
Reaching the beach i began to head over to a dilapidated lighthouse standing proud on the sand. Progress was going to be slow as huge clouds of sand hurtled towards me. Even putting my jacket hood on and pulling it down over my face didn't stop the grains sand blasting my face. I'd covered about 200 yards unable to see ahead when i decided that I'd have to head to the dunes to walk the grass.
The wind was still amazingly strong but at least i was able to make progress. For some reason i thought sand storms only happened in deserts and i could only imagine what ash dykes had gone through on his historic trek across the gobi desert.
Battling on and despite feeling less than 100% i made gradual progress eventually reaching a pontins holiday camp when it began to rain. The strong winds combined with high winds meant the rest of the day would be hellish. With my hood held down over my face I peered through a small opening. The wind was not only driving the rain hard towards me but also sand. Sand was quite literally everywhere.
Finally reaching the Rhyl promenade i still had a fair hike before I'd reach the boathouse where I'd meet up with Darryl. As i got closer the rain began to ease off and for a moment i wondered if the sun would actually shine through.
As i approached the station i was delighted to be invited in and given a nice hot sweet coffee. I was also surprised when i was handled two packages, one small one large. The first package from alison was a new tube of arnica to replace the one that had exoloded in my pack. The second package was from an anonymous follower, a new pair of boots, my 8th pair.
It was soon time to head to darryls for a quick shower, pitch my tent in the back garden before heading back to the station to meet up with Alex for a quick photo, another round Britain hiker also raising funds for the rnli. Alex, 22 with a beard of biblical proportions, had an enormous 85ltr pack which was as light as a feather well about 20kg. I wasn't sure what he was carrying but i certainly wanted to swap.
That evening alex and i were invited to meet up with some more of the crew for a meal and a beer or two although i was feeling a little under the weather still and only had the one. After our little evening out alex went with callam and i returned with Darryl for a large medicinal whisky before climbing into the tent.
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