I’m starting with the end of the day because after a hard 11 miles, we are staying at this very interesting little inn. Gurnards Inn. It is a 300 year old coaching inn in this tiny village, Treen. And old mining village from the 1800s that has a few homes and farms now. But this inn. When we arrived there was a traffic jam because of the cows coming home.

Dinner here tonight was such a treat, especially given that not a single place we’ve had dinner at even had a salad on the menu. But tonight, local sourced lamb. Fish stew. Local cheeses. So divine. And such deliciousness after our long day. We even got asked if we want milk delivered to our room in the morning for our morning coffee.

It was about a mile off the trail and I got to use my GPS skills to locate it. I told Ric that if I would have been asked a decade ago if I wanted to learn how to use GPS, I would have laughed. Now, it is how we find our way. Satellite GPS. Crazy.

As for the walk today, I could cry considering what to write. It was a hard hike today. And it was so glorious and easy. Our pace was slow today, about 5 minutes a mile slower than usual. But the rocks and the ledges really required care.

I spent a lot of time thinking about happiness while I was walking today. I was so happy all day and I kept thinking that happiness is such an active thing. I’m not talking about the happy you feel at your kids birthday or when you get a promotion, but happiness in your blood. Happiness that creates a state of being within it. The happiness that creates neuroplasticity in our brains. and changes us.

That kind of happiness, I have experienced many times in my life. But mostly in moments. I think about the first time I took my son to the beach. He was a glorious crazy little person running in the surf and down the beach with pure excitement. Maybe when we have these moments of happiness, we forget to let it sink in, or settle into our blood and bones. Or maybe it is not sustained for long enough. I don’t know, but i want to cultivate this sense of active happiness more in my life. Maybe it is more contentment or active presence, maybe those are more accurate words. Today, for 11 miles and six hours, happiness circulated in my blood.

Last year, when we hiked the Pennine Way, a fellow hiker told me that after day three the magic begins. He said that your body remembers how to walk, it remembers how to move in rhythm. We experienced this last year. And today, we found it within the first two miles. Aches and pains simply just cease and our bodies just walk, with an ease, like it is meant to. I have pretty bad arthritis in my right foot and yet, today my body just settled into a rhythm.

It is hard to capture the astonishing beauty of the cliffs we’re walking on. Photos just don’t begin to capture it. The waves are huge, the wind is overwhelming and the sun, even when it is covered by clouds is hot. And it’s cold too! There is so much overwhelming the senses, not to mention the physicality of it. It was hard work today and right my muscles are so tired.

Tomorrow we set off on another challenging 10 mile day with more than a 1800 ft elevation. I hope to re-claim that happiness cultivation while we’re walking tomorrow.

Todays stats:

11 miles

1637 ft total elevation

Total time: 6 hours 39 minutes