when I set off from Jurby for the coast in the morning, I knew it was going to be a tough day. I had 15 miles of beach to walk, and it was intermittently pouring down with rain, with gales.
I was kind of wet when I reached the beach, but it seemd ok for walking at first. There was a full-blown gale blowing off the sea, but I kept up an ok pace...until it started hailing. The hail came in horizontally, fired by the gale, hitting my left hand side. I figured "I'll just run up and hide in the dunes", but when I ran up the beach, there were no dunes, just a completely flat expanse of featureless land (must have been an old airstrip or something.)
So, Down one side I was soaked to the skin...so cold that I couldn't feel my left leg at all (I think the body cuts off bits of circulation after a certain temperature?) I was a bit worried at that point, because there was no escape route whatsoever. All I could do was carry on up the coast and hope. 6 or 7 miles on I knew I'd be rounding the corner, so might get some cover.
Eventually, an hour or more later, I could feel my leg again, and had partially dried out. It was still blowing a gale, but thankfully all the other nasty looking rain had missed me (I think it all falls on the mountains).
I was pretty elated when I reached Point Of Ayre, and felt I was on the home run. It was still blowing a gale, so it was a little tricky to get a good photo of myself looking happy!
That was lunchtime...the afternoon got better...
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