Day 49 The Finale! Worth Matravers to South Haven Point (14 miles / 22km)

 Day 49    The Finale!   Worth Matravers to South Haven Point (14 miles / 22km)

(sorry for delay in posting this,  it took me a few days to write, to say all I wanted to sayxx)

With 992km behind me there was just 22 of them in front of me to complete this South West Coast Path adventure.    I woke before my alarm wanting to start my day knowing I wouldn’t want to rush these final miles.   To stay in it a little longer.   I had no way of knowing at the start if I would feel this way after 7 weeks.   Part of the emotion of today is that I do.       

I quickly did my morning pack up and get going routine for the 49th time and in the quiet of the morning I sat with my breakfast and cuppa with the thoughtful supplies that Alison had left me in this excellent final Air B and B stop.   There is no shop in Worth Matravers , just the pub and the pasties, so her considerate touches of eggs, fruit, yoghut and bread were very much appreciated.     Another host along the way who show care and go out of their way to support a walker .   Alison and her husband were scuba divers and award winning  underwater photographers who had moved to this quiet coastal village to dive the shipwrecks and photograph marine life.    Incredible photographs of  unusual looking underwater life stunningly displayed on the walls – made me glad I was walking not swimming the Coast Path though.  

The walk back out of Worth Matravers to rejoin the path was quiet and cool at that time and it was an odd feeling to be walking without thinking of how this stage would connect with the next.   I returned to the  coast and deserted cliff tops to follow the trail as it passed centuries old stone quarries and passed directly above Dancing Ledge , a massive flat shelf of rock forming a stone stage jutting into the sea.   Then walking toward and around my final lighthouse – the Anvil Point Lighthouse.   It was beautiful walking in the quiet and I had the trail to myself something I had been able to experience so many days of this walk.    I was especially glad of this on this day.   I wanted the end to reflect the remoteness that had been so magical for me along the way.    Walking solo in the quiet with the honour of having just the scenery as my companion had given me so many moments of awe.  Stop still in my tracks awe.  

 I went through the final wooden gates of the 880 that are along this trail.   Hearing the soft thunk as they closed behind me.  It is such a soft but solid sound.  I love this sound.  It might actually be top sound of the walk for me.  Today each thunk was like a little whisper of a goodbye.   This is where I was at this point – even thunking gates were having me brushing tears off my face.   Then a gate AND a beautiful dry stone wall stood together waiting for me.   My two favourite things seeing me off.   This was too much..  I stopped to take another picture to join the other 80 of walls and gates , the pairing of timeless strength right there.   How long this wall has stood, stones expertly laid to support themselves on this coast in all weathers and how long it will continue to long after I’ve gone home.  

The path descends on Isle of Wight Road as the Isle of Wight is visible off the coast from here and down into Swanage, the final town on the Jurassic Coastline.    This was my sandwich /tea stop for the day.  I found a little cafe and the choice was what has been a high quality fueling repeater of a sandwich and I felt it was worthy of the final sandwich choice.  Toasted tuna/mayonniase on granary bread.  

Out along Swanage seafront – hiking past sun bathers and sandle castle builders and a sharp turn up a little track to take me up once more for the final climb up to Studland Hill and the gentle hill top walk to the towering chalk ridge of Old Harry Rock.   Such an iconic and stunning sight and on many a book cover – these white cliffs are sheer drops of chalky rock down to the crashing turquoise below.    There used to be an Old Harry’s Wife but she collapsed into the sea from the waves pounding the base of her in 1896.  Or maybe she’d just had enough of Old Harry.   There is a new stack formed since – wife number two and called Old Harry’s New Wife.  So far so good, she has stood her ground.  

Leaving Old Harry to round the coast toward the finish, a home straight 6km walk along the sand of Studland beach away.   Right through the middle of a very popular Nudist Beach.   This walk truly has a mix of everything and this is a final nod to what I have found -that no two days are at all the same.   On this hot day this section of beach was packed with naturists as Harry Stedman calls them in his route description.  I hike right on through the middle trying to look at the nature and not the naturists.  Not as easy as it sounds.   I eventually reached the end and the final nude marked the turn to the quiet golden stretch of sand that marked the final few kilometers.   

On a now quiet beach, a gentle breeze and the sun on my face I felt like my heart might burst as I sang out loud , no one to hear me .  It was of course Barbra.   Today it was so perfectly fitting, On A Clear Day.   The song that sums this whole adventure up and has been the song that has come into my head on so many cliff tops, peaks , high point summits, rock ledges, boulder clambering trail and golden sanded coves. 

 I was smiling my head off and it was as I whispered “Yes! Yes! Yes! ” that I walked the final steps up to The South West Coast Path sculpture marking The End.   

                                                         _______________________

After….and my ponderings.  

The South West Coast Path and the experience of completing it end to end has been a truly unforgettable experience that will stay with me long after this final day of walking.   This challenging and breathtakingly beautiful multi day hike has been a walking dream come true for me.   It has surpassed anything I could have hoped for.  The thrill of the walking in this place for 7 weeks but equally the joy found in the smallest delights and the people and experiences along the way.  I found that when everything is simplified, the simple is elevated.   The anticipation of finding my accommodation at the end of each day, the warm welcome of people greeting me as I’ve arrived wet and bedraggled or hot and sweaty- sometimes both, a warm scone and hot tea coming in out the rain, the feeling of a hot shower or a cold swim, climbing into clean sheets with muscles aching, a remote cafe coming into view over a hill serving a pot of tea and piece of cake that tastes better than anything I can remember, the sandwich eaten on a bench or a rock with views my eyes could hardly believe, pie of the day when a day has been a pie of the day kind of day.  It has been the magical feeling that I’ve found in the absolute quiet on a cliff when it is just me stood in the vastness of it all, the people along the way and the pride they have in sharing with me their food, knowledge, their countryside and the history with such genuine kindness.  It has been the gratitude I have felt to be able to solo walk this trail and the independence that gives in choosing pace, stops, pauses to take it all in, distances and mood and having the honour of this landscape as my companion.  It is all these things in equal measure.  

This truly epic landscape I have felt so grateful to be able to discover on foot.  That this trail is there allowing the exploring of such unique, remote countryside and the villages and people that connect them.  Places found only by the adventure of pulling on boots, following a map, looking for waymarkers.  I have truly loved discovering this trail, rounding each corner not knowing what I will find and having tears in my eyes when I see it.  

The terrain, the elevations and the varying weather over the 7 weeks making it the hardest walk I’ve ever done.  This walk is all things.  Staggeringly beautiful and wild and exposed, soft and silent…it is the trail that is the discovery.  It simplifies everything into sharp focus in the present.  The South West Coast Path by the time it is completed is the equivalent of climbing Everest 4 times, I can’t wrap my head around that , but in my 7 weeks of  ponderings I have settled on what for me is the heart of this trail.  In it’s entirety it is a walk you do if you know you love walking.   That when it is hard you still love the hard because you know where it is taking you.  That you know in these rugged places that is where the joy is – so it is joy that is the guide and not fear.  My heart feels for sure that it is not a walk you do to find yourself but one you do when you already know yourself.  The trail demands that you slow your pace, that you look outwards not inwards, this is where the worth is.   It forces the focus only on where to put your feet, your poles, breath on an ascent, balance on a descent, navigating your way, the terrain, the way markers, the scenery it leads to.  And the trail rises to meet you.  And that is what I have discovered – that this South West Coast Path in all it’s raw magnificence is the ultimate Ode to Walking. 

It is Alfred Wainwright who manages to capture exactly how I feel in this moment.  

xxxx Night night.  

” The fleeting hour of life of those who love the hills is quickly spent, but the hills are eternal.  Always there will be the lonely ridge, the dancing beck, the silent forest; always there will be the exhileration of the summits.   These are for the seeking, and those who seek and find while there is still time will be blessed both in mind and body. ”  – Alfred Wainwright

Worth Matravers

Final morning – heading off

Into the fields

Merrell Moab 3’s xxxxx

My shady stop for 10 to 10 choc

My good luck Herbie

Final gates

The final stretch waiting to be walked

A gate and a dry stone wall.  Magic

Wonderful wild coastline

Final cows

At one with the final cows

Alvin Point Lighthouse – Final lighthouse

Taking in the final beautiful walls

Final toasted tuna sandwich and tea

Old Harry Rocks

Old Harry and his New Wife

Ready for the final 6km

Studland Bay for final walk to finish

Walking up off the beach to the end

The Start – 630 miles that way…

The End.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for such beautiful comments, daily quotes, messages of encouragement, care and interest following this journey.  I have woken to them each morning so that I’ve pulled my boots on feeling I have my people right there.  For my proud and loving Mum and my rock of a sister Emma.  I could not have done this 7 weeks away without your endless support and help.  For my Dad who was all around me and let me know just at 10 to 10 on my final day.  For my two daughters , my Kate and Charlotte.   They are the definition of strength to me.    Two amazing women sending me off with the full force of their love and belief.  xxxxx