Meeting some of the staff at Falmouth Coastguard, a few hours after finishing.
A week back into work at Inbuilt, and normality is returning, slowly.
In the last few weeks since finishing the 138 day trip, getting in touch with just some of the many people who have helped at various stages along the way has made me realise just how much I have to be thankful for – and how indebted I am to those who offered support. It’s now starting to sink in!
Thank you:
…to Mum, Grandad and Kim, for daily support and continual encouragement, from long before the launch, to way after the finish…
…to the guy whose name I never caught, who helped carry my kayak and then returned with home-made biscuits on the beach at Mellon Udrigle…
…and to everyone else in between.
This isn’t meant to be a cop-out – I’ve tried to write a list, on here, of everyone who has helped throughout the last few months, from daily support with weather forecasting, to short but memorable conversations with complete strangers on beaches hundreds of miles away– but, put simply, it’s too a dangerous game! No matter how hard I try, there will undoubtedly be those I neglect to mention, simply because there are so many people who contributed to the overall effort over the last few months. The danger with attempting to name everyone individually is that people will always be missed out. Always!
So, what now?
Well one of the most interesting and intriguing aspects of the circumnavigation was – as I’d expected it to be – seeing places from new perspectives: the south coast of Cornwall, having walked it a couple of years ago; the NE corner of Scotland, having cycled down the A9 during the John O’Groats to Land’s End trip in 2003; and the Solent, having lived on the Isle of White for a few years during the 90’s – to name but three.
Therefore, circumnavigating an island by land and then by water seems a great way to evolve this idea – whether it ends up being Ireland, the Isle of Man or the Isles of Scilly (or even Australia?!) remains to be seen, but I believe it’s an idea worth pursuing. Seeing the same coastline from different perspectives is a fascinating experience, constantly changing and never the same twice, and time will tell which island finds itself at the top of the list in a few months’ time.
Thank you to everyone who has been in touch this year with kind words, emails, phone calls and comments on the blog, as well as the thousands of people who have supported with donations for the charities. For me personally it has been a wonderful and absolutely unforgettable experience, and – especially in the middle of a huge recession – one of my stand-out memories has been the generosity of complete strangers: both directly towards me, and also in terms of the fundraising – well over £10,000 raised at a time of such deep economic problems goes to show how generous so many people really are.
For now though, it’s time to get on with the talks and presentations (the first of which is only 2 weeks away) and to start piecing together the beginnings of a book. The trouble is, of course, finding a way to get it going…
But then, in the words of my friend Bill Stableforth – who played such a key role in planning the trip itself – “the hardest part is getting to the starting line.”
“Sea Kayak Gone Paddling, out”