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| TGOC 2022 - Complete!!! |
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| North Sea Toe Dip |
After 12 days, plenty of ups and downs (literally and emotionally), many many gorgeous views, some lovely encounters with Scottish people and other challengers, and lots of walking, we made it to the North Sea at St. Cyrus beach yesterday afternoon.
The walk itself went incredibly fast. I am pretty sure that there were flames shooting out from our heels, and a vapour trail coming off of our packs. 😜 We took one small break at the two-thirds point where Amanda found a 4-leaf clover that would help make sure the rest of the walk went well…
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| Good Hiking Omen 😬 |
The toughness of the past two weeks seemed to melt away as we took our last few steps towards the ocean, and we felt happiness, accomplishment, and relief. ☺️ The sun was shining, and it could not have been a more perfect place to finish.
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| St. Cyrus Beach |
After a few pictures, and a few moments savouring the moment we headed back up the cliffs and down the block to celebrate with a Scottish Tablet ice cream cone, as you do when you are in Scotland! For all my North American friends Scottish tablet is similar to fudge but it has a more brittle, grainy texture. I was given some as an emergency life-saving supply at the beginning of my big walk in 2019. When I needed it, it truly saved the day. Thanks again for that, Joyce!! Anyways, the ice cream version did not disappoint!
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| Scottish Tablet Ice Cream Cone - Yummy!!! |
When we were done, we hopped a bus and made our way to Montrose where you officially check back in at Challenge Control, receive your certificate and t-shirt, and meet up with other challengers. It is always a nice moment to sit in chairs and take it easy, without having to worry about setting up camp, or what route will be best tomorrow, or how many ticks I will find on my legs tonight...🤮
After some socializing we checked in to the hotel and got cleaned up a little. Not having done laundry for about eight days now, I was desperate to find a laundrette. I went to the front desk, and the lady said that this would sound a little silly but I should head over to the Shell station up the road....
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| Scottish Laundrette 🤣 |
Once we were back from doing laundry all of the challengers were starting to gather in the bar for pre-banquet celebration. We joined in and met up with some friends from previous and current crossings - Rich and Pete from our 2017 crossing, Douglas and Graham from Mandy’s 2019 crossing, Sabine, Barbara, and Heidi from this crossing, as well as some others we hadn’t met before. It was great fun. When the banquet started (we are going to the Friday night banquet) there was only us and Jamie, Mario, Petr left. We had met them briefly on the way to Fettercairn. They asked if we wanted to join for a curry dinner, and we gladly accepted. I can’t describe the feast we had, other than to say it was some of the best Indian cuisine I’ve ever had, and the company was top notch also! After dinner we headed back to the hotel bar for some post-banquet celebrations, and ended up heading to our room after midnight - full bellies, and happy feet, for a rest as long as we wanted!!😴
It is now Friday morning, and we are lazily laying in our single beds, drinking coffee/tea, catching up on life, with very few plans for the day. Tonight our friends Peter and the boys, and Immo will have arrived for the banquet. We are looking forward to another reunion with them and everybody else. Tomorrow we will head to Glasgow for the night, to catch our flight back on Sunday morning.
I’ll probably add one more post tomorrow with some final thoughts. Thanks again for all of the support these past two weeks. The comments, messages, positive vibes, have all been very helpful and so appreciated. Knowing that our friends have been following along has meant the world to us, and without a doubt helped keep us going. Thanks everybody, we love all of you!! ❤️❤️❤️
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| Day 12 Route - 17.75 km, 195 m ascent |
Great reading with super photos. Well done you two on completing the challenge, it WAS a challenge alright!! Perhaps if that 4 leaf clover 🍀 had been found in Halifax??
ReplyDeleteYou’ll never guess………Martin and Moira are going to have a chat about the next one 😱😱😱😱 No not even slightly tempted! Safe onward journey.🥰🥰
Thank you Joyce, for all of your support these past two weeks. We may have lost our minds before we even started if it hadn’t been for you!
DeleteMore interesting news on our side - Amanda’s stance has softened and there may be another crossing in her future...😱. Perhaps you and I can be in charge of the logistical support team!!😁