31st may - 1st June

31st may day 451

It had rained most of the night and in the morning i still felt tired. My legs and knees were aching. I simply didn't want to get up. What was worse was the fact that the tent was covered in bird shit. I didn't like barry one bit. With the tent cleaned i set off to  negotiate the maze of roads following the signs for the coastal path out of barry. Reaching sully i was able to rejoin the coast. I'd been told that somewhere along the shore at sully i would potentially find more dinosaur footprints but the chances with such a vast expanse of rock would in fact be slim and as it turns out although i thought i may have stumbled on one or two i really wasn't sure. I wished i had more time to spend seeking but the pure fact was that i needed to keep going and my own personal desires would have to be put aside in favour of making progress.

The rock bed i had chosen to walk over was like crazy paving which over several if not hundreds of years would eventually break up forming stones and pebbles  that would one day be taken by the sea and eventually wash up on shorelines around the world.

Still with no sign of footprints in the rock i took solace in finding  plenty of fossilised shells and ammonites. I continued along shore eventually leaving the bedrock and on to loose stones. As i hiked the beach i could hear the cliffs slowly crumbling away to my left. I didn't really want to get too close as with all unstable cliffs and especially in this area i was sure it would possibly collapse at any time.

Penarth was not much further ahead and home to the last welsh lifeboat station of my journey. As i approached the promenade i was met by james the mechanic "when i was told you were walking the coastline i didn't think you were literally walking the coastline ". For some reason I'd had this alot. I guess most normal coastal walkers stuck to footpaths and roads but for me the challenge was staying as close to the coast as i could possibly get.

Being shown in to station i was immediately offered a coffee and a couple of kitkats. It seemed that for most stations this was still the polite way of greeting their visitors. Barry station i assume was simply the odd one out and i had been told that they were less hospitable than the others. Taking a short break and with plenty of time to spare we stood on the boathouse balcony and watched a yacht race in front. James pointed out one of the yachts in the race heading in the wrong direction. Something was wrong and it was feared the lifeboat was potentially going to have to launch to provide assistance. The crew were struggling to get the spinnaker down and every time they turned the boat tilted alarmingly to obe side. Was it going to capsize, we simply couldn't tell. Thankfully the crew appeared to be reasonably competent and eventually wrestled the sail down returning to the race in last place.

Being handed 21 kitkats i said goodbye to james and James and left Penarth towards Cardiff along shore in front of the cliffs . I'd only been a couple of miles from the city and the barrage. It was extremely exposed on the barrage and the wind whipped across it.

I was to be met by Charlie one of the save the children supervisors for their FAST programme all i had to do was head to the doctor who experience and locate the norwegean church.

1st June day 453

Having stayed with Charlie and James i slep extremely well. After getting breakfast Charlie and I headed into Cardiff to spend the day at the Cardiff save the children offices. It was an ideal chance for me to meet the workers managing various uk based projects and to better understand what the charity is doing and planning to do. It was fascinating hearing about charlies project working with families and schools to bring them closer together.

I was also introduced to the humanitarian research team who had been looking into communications in remote areas of devastation and the use of 3d printing. It was fascinating. That afternoon charlie summonsed me and the girls together. They'd gone and bought me some rations to see me through the next few days while i waited for the next delivery a few days further along the coast. Among the packages was of course a packet of custard.

That evening i was allowed to take over the kitchen and prepared a pasta dish for jamie and Charlie. It was lovely almost therapeutic mixing the ingredients together making the tomato based sauce and warming the bread in the oven.