1^st Jul 2014

Morning came round faster than expected. Maybe I'm just getting old and need my beauty sleep. Either way it was a glorious sunny day. Camped up on the bank above and hidden from the passers by is an odd feeling. I hydrated my breakfast, had a coffee and set off to find another mcdonalds. Now I want to make it clear I don't personally rate their food but free wifi and a chance to recharge the phone and catch up with the blogs was indeed appealing. Thankfully the nearest restaurant wasn't too far, a mere two miles inland. I set off, stopping at a store to stock up on allergy tablets. My hay fever getting right on my nerves now.

Armed with a mc hot chocolate I set to work. I'm not sure what the employees must have thought but 5 hours later I was completely up to date. The next thing on my list of things to do was to arrange a new pair of boots. A couple of my followers had decided to help out with the cost of replacing equipment and supplying food rations. I contacted jo and gave her the news she then got on the case and found a few good deals for the replacement boots and contacted the ration suppliers to organise another weeks worth of food. It'll be interesting to see what she sends this time. On the plus side it also means I won't have to rely on my wild foraging and hunting skills for at least another week.

I then packed away my chargers and headed back to the coast where I'd left off. One thing I had forgotten to do while at mcdonalds was to refill my hydration bladder. Walking along the promenade alongside the beach I hoped to find a toilet and refill there. Sure enough I found one, it was locked and the beach was about to end. I had two choices, head into town and find a bar or something or carry on down the beach and hope I could find a running stream that wasn't tidal. I opted for the latter.

So I carried on down along the shore line right next to the sea where the sand was firmer. I don't know if it was the light or the mc hot chocolate sugar rush, but the beach looked particularly nice. I stopped at a driftwood log and sat down looking out to sea. It seemed so calm and it felt homely and calming. After my small break I figured I needed to make some tracks so carried on along the shore. As I continued I started noticing signs saying "warning unexploded ordinance" hmm, it is entirely possible I may have wandered into a live bombing range. Ahead of me though I could see a small river. I hoped it would have a drinkable source but when I got closer I realised it was tidal meaning the water was most definitely contaminated with sea salt. Never mind, I carried on a lighthouse in the distance and small wooded area getting closer the further I walked. After a good stomp I checked the clock on my phone, it was approaching 9pm. This time is significant as I'd arranged a telephone call from Neil at Castle fm. I decided the woods would make a good place to camp for the night so headed in to them, cleared a space and set up the coffin once more. At 9pm sure enough I received the call, we had a good twenty minute chat live on air and arranged another chat to catch up in a week or so. I think I'm starting to get used to being an interviewee instead of interviewer.

After the call I rehydrated another new meal, Mexican chilli which didn't taste too bad I must admit although I was missing dipping nachos into the sauce. As the sun began to set it started getting really chilly so I decided to climb into my little home and snuggle up to my sleeping bag compression sack stuffed with my spare clothes, its the best I can do out in the wild.

3^rd Jul 2014

Camping up in a public place let alone a public carpark is about as far from being wild as you can possibly get. For one thing you're generally exposed to the elements and at risk of being disturbed by passers by such as dog walkers, drunks and young Colin mcrea's. Ideally you really want to be amongst the trees unfortunately on this occasion there were no trees to hide in. I settled in nonetheless and drifted off into a slumber hoping for a reasonably good night's sleep. About 1am the high performance cars pulled up, dump valves and large exhausts, thankfully they didn't hang around to long so I rolled over and got back to sleep. Then at some ungodly hour another car pulled up, headlights shining directly on the tent. I tried to ignore it but then a female voice said "Greg, is that you?". From my semi coherent slumber I replied "no, it's adam. You can join me if you like" hoping it was a slim randy young lady who wasn't put off by a grubby, smelly, middle aged man. "It's the police can we see your face please" she answered. Well when something like that happens its surprising how quickly you wake up. I rolled over and naturally unzipped the tent and leant out the bright lights almost blinding me. It turns out they were still looking for the missing person the boys from Arbroath rnli had been looking for that evening. I got a brief description from them and let them know which way I was heading in the morning and that if I saw Greg I'd let them know. I wished them goodnight and rolled over to try and get at least a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.

In the morning the wind had picked up, so I grabbed a quick drink and a couple of energy bars before struggling to get the tent packed away in my bag. The toilets were now open so I made sure I had enough water and instead of digging a pit used the facilities provided. It was then time to set off on the days trek. I wanted to get somewhere close to Montrose by that evening.

I left the carpark and climbed the slope up to the clifftop and started hiking. The view was lovely and although the wind was strong the sun was shining. I'd read on an information board that this piece of coast had some unusual rock formations and only a mile or so in I was already impressed. A kool hole weathered away in a small cliff a little way from the cliff I was on was my first discovery of the day. It always fascinates me how they form leaving the rest of the rock in perfect condition. Why just that part? I'm sure the urban exploring resident geologist Mike would be able to answer that but he wasn't around and in any case it is still fascinating. I had to take a closer look so I dropped my pack and climbed down trying at least look like I knew what I was doing and not like a crippled old man whos joints had seazed up and stopped functioning several hundred miles ago. After getting up close and personal with the enormous hole I clambered back up grabbed my pack and set off along the clifftop path to my next discovery, along the way stopping to enjoy the sights I was privileged to be able to experience.

After a few good miles the path lead down into a secluded bay, part sandy, part stoney and the rest rock. As I followed the steps down to the bay below I spotted two individuals at the far end heading towards a cave. I kept my eye on them as they disappeared in to the abyss. I had reached the bottom of the steps and had started heading over to the other side of the bay when they emerged back out of the cave. I carried on heading towards them, now intrigued by this unassuming hole in the cliffs.

The two explorers had now got back to the fire they had made and were sitting there feeding small pieces of drift wood in to sustain its ample appetite. As I approached I asked the father and daughter, steve and ruby, if the cave was any good. "Petrifying" ruby replied. Her dad laughed and added "full of trolls!". Awesome, I thought. I put my bag down and grabbed my head torch. "I'm going in!" I announced.

I set off in the direction of the cave, scrambling over the rocks that lay between the beach and my apetite for adventure. Arriving at the cave it became apparent that this unassuming opening in the side of the cliffs had much more to offer than a simple cave. I entered in to the main entrance which immediately opened up wider with high ceilings and a small passage at the back. I switched my torch on and started my mini adventure. A startled pigeon fluttered and promptly left the solitude of the cave and me jump a little, adrenaline now pumping through my veins in anticipation. I climbed up into the tunnel and followed it along, a little way in the ceiling once more rose well above me and the tunnel lead into a large cavern with another opening at the far end.

The second cave entrance was partially obscured with vegetation which when peered through disclosed another large stoney bay. It was like entering the land that time had forgotten. I had a quick look round but being aware that I still had a fair way yet to travel that day I headed back into the cave, climbing up into the tunnel a strong gust of wind hit me. It was like the wind from a jet engine, ever so strong as it had been compressed into the small corridor. I followed the tunnel back to the main entrance. I then noticed another very small tunnel. Well I had to see where it lead so crouched down and went in. Once again it opened up into another cave, nowhere near as big as the other two but that doesn't matter when exploring caves. After a good look round for other potential tunnels I returned back to the bay and sat down with steve and ruby. We chatted for a bit, exchanging stories about pigeons and how petrifying the experience was. The subject of the trek then came up, and ruby asked about food. Beside me was some sea sandwort, so I picked some and ate a leaf, offering a leaf to the inquisitive child, steve more than happy to try it. I then looked around to see what else the bay had to offer. I found wild roses, blackberry bushes and ferns. I was trying to find some sorrel, but there didn't seem to be any around. We each tried the offerings, ruby not liking the tastes but steve finding it all quite interesting. I was about to set off once more when steve, reaching into his bag, announced his favourite method of foraging. He produced three oranges. Much to rubys delight.

I must admit, fresh fruit is always delightful to munch on. I went to get my bag when I noticed one of my gloves was missing. It had been there that morning but must have fallen out of my bag sometime that morning. There was nothing I could do about it so I slung the pack on my back, said goodbye and set off up the steps to the top of the cliffs. On my way up, there it was, sorrel, and plenty of it. I was far to high up the cliff now to turn back although I did consider it as I really wanted to share it with steve, I think he would have liked it, a nice accompaniment to the oranges.

At the top of the steps I followed the path along the cliffs until it simply ended. I was cut off from the coast by a field of corn. One of the rules of the trek is not to damage anything which includes crops. There was no clear path to get me back to the edge of the cliff so I had to head into the village a little further along. I walked into the village where a road with warning sign about unstable surfaces lead down to a small bay below. This was possibly my opportunity to get back to the sea. I headed down to discover an old ruined harbour. It looked like the elements had battered the life out of it. An interesting vein in the the cliff face caught my attention so I photographed it thinking that mike the geologist would be interested, then I went to investigate the harbour a little closer.

Yep, it was knackered.

Looking around the closed bay for a route that would allow me to continue I realised I had no other choice but to head back up to the village in order to continue. This time a raggedy old set of steps took me back to the top. I then followed the road up to a farm track that then lead me through a maze of corn fields, now golden yellow and almost ready for harvesting. Thinking back to when I first started the trek I remembered how the fields were all green and the corn was only young, now they were more mature. It then occured to me how many changes I would experience during the duration of my journey.

After several miles and passing through a couple of very small isolated and quiet communities I emerged at a road, something I don't often come across. I followed the road until I came across red castle.

Red castle is an ancient fortified house, it was red and it looked like a castle, so a fairly apt name really. This needed more investigation so I found a track that lead up the hill to the ruins so I could get up close and personal. Old relics like this are fascinating to me, I always try to imagine who lived there, what were there daily routines and what would the building have looked like in its prime. I started taking photos from different angles to capture its magnificence. As I walked round the back and closer to the coast once more I saw my next home, a picture perfect view of a small forest on a spit of sand, the sea lapping at the shore on one side and a river winding its way round and out to the sea on the other side. Spectacular simply doesn't describe it.

I spotted a small but very steep track leading down to the sandy shore below. Carefully, and I mean very carefully I slowly made my way down. I was hoping to find a small bridge or shallow section to cross the river to get to the perfect camp site. Denied! It was a fair few feet deep. I packed my phone, ipod and other pocket bound items into my backpack, removed my boots and with the pack balanced on my head I waded across. It was too beautiful and perfect for words. I found a small levelish area amongst the trees and set up camp.

As I sat there hydrating my oriental chicken and rice I felt happy that I'd had quite an adventurous day, I may not have gotten as far as I had planned, but that was simply inconsequential.

7^th Jul 2014

The long grass provided an adequate matress for the night. It had stopped raining so I figured that maybe I should get on my way once again. The heavy trek the day before had take its toll though, a bruise on my right big toe and a sore on my left heel.

I wasn't exactly sure where I was but I could hear the sound of the waves. I made my way through the woods towards the sound and found a path. I followed the path along and it lead me pretty much where I had wanted to be.

I was back on the beach but unable to get to it. The local council had closed the beach off while repairs were made to the enormous dunes, due to the heavy plant activity on the beach it was probably best not allowing the public on to the beach. I had to get as close to the coast as possible so followed the perimeter fence until it stopped.

It stopped at a golf course,keeping close to the edge and still with the sea to my right I eventually found a way down to the beach. Back on the sand I followed the beach along. It was fairly long but I eventually found myself cut off by a small river. I checked the map and found a bridge not too far away. I turned round and started my way back to a forrest I'd just passed.

The sun was out in full force and due to the injuries I'd received the day before I figured a short break was in order. I took off my bag, made a coffee and lay down basking in the sunshine. A couple of hours passed and the temperature dropped slowly to a more comfortable walking temperature. I got myself together and set off for the forrest. On the other side of the forrest was a farm and a track that lead to a road. I had no choice, there were no other options, I had to follow the road for a while. Quite a horrifying experience, with cars and vans and lorries. I wasn't used to these dangers anymore. The worse I had to look out for was falling off a cliff.

After walking a mile or two I came across a narrow woodland walk that lead me to my next beautiful beach. The thing was, as I looked along the shore I noticed that at the far end, the shore ended and a huge cliff was preventing me from continuing my journey. About 1/4 mile before the cliff though I could see what looked like a slope cut into the cliff face. I'd been told to look out for old donkey trails that used to be used to get the donkeys down to the beaches to help pull the fishing nets in. This could be one of those so it was worth taking a look at.

I headed up the beach to the bottom of the slope. Thankfully steps had been cut into the slope making my ascent a little easier. It was a fair way up to the top and I noticed the path zigzagged its way up. Taking a deep breath I started the ascent.

Taking short breaks on the way up to take in the views none were as spectacular as the view from the top. Simply gorgeous. Now at the top of the cliffs I had the job of negotiating the farm land.

I spent a bit of time away from the sight of the sea but always knew in my mind where it was. After following small tracks and eventually the cycle route I found myself coming up on a village. Just ahead of me a level area of grass perfect for camping and behind a bush which was acting like a wind break. I only had about an hour of light left and didn't feel confident I would find anything better so I setup camp and settled in ready for the following day.