Rodger & Sue — Blown Away By The Generosity Of Others

Running the South West Coastal Path — 04 Aug | Day 2 leading into Day 3

It’s only day 2 and already I’m struggling mentally. I struggled for multiple reasons one being I was fairly certain I would cope mentally and struggle physically. How wrong was I. First night in the tent and all I could think about was family & friends back home. Natural I guess as this is my first proper expedition.

That aside — setting my alarm and catching this mornings sunrise was a great way to start the day. Not a lot to report as this part of the run was mostly off grid.

The plan was to head into Weymouth this evening but I found a cool little campsite about 5 minutes from the coastline overlooking Weymouth.

I passed the campsite in hunt for some food and water and tried to find a little more information about the campsite — how much does it cost, is there running water etc. The shop owner was no help at all so I headed back to the campsite where I thought I would try my luck with my fellow campers.

Stinking and looking like god knows what I approached an elderly family in hope they would help. Help they did. Rodger told me the land was owned by National Trust and is open to the public for 6–8 weeks. Rodger dropped the bomb when he told me where the farmer lived as he was in charge of taking payments.

The farmer lived about a mile or so up the track so I nodded and said thank you Rodger I’ll think about it. Feet were in pieces at this point and lying down was all I could think about. I led on the grass for about 5/ 10 minutes and Rodger approaches me again. “George… are you going to see the farmer about pitching here tonight?” and before I could get a word in he grabbed my bag, chucked it in the car and off we went. Rodger was taking no for an answer.

As we came back down to the campsite and almost being apart of a hit and run (turns out Rodger is blind in one eye) — Sue (Rodgers partner) approached me with a chair, cup of tea and a slice of fruit cake. Not even a hello and already I’m sat here with a cup of tea (just the way I like it), fruit cake (the size of my head) and a view to die for.

With that said Rodger and Sue invited me into her family tent where she said help yourself to whatever you please. Fancy a cold beer? Wine? Cider? If so theres the fridge. If my mind wasn’t already blown already from the generosity of these people Sue’s daughter asked If I wanted any fish & chips. I think Rodger and Sue got fed up with me saying thank you every 5 minutes.

If that wasn’t enough I was invited to their family bomb fire night where we settled down for a night tossing and turning marsh mellows drinking more beer. For me that was the cherry on the cake.

You can probably guess how the next morning went down. Bacon baps, cups of tea and cereal. Day 2 and couldn’t believe my luck. Day 3 I ran like the wind.

Such an amazing experience spending time with complete strangers. Big boost for what lies ahead and not getting complacent as I know there’s a long way to go. But for now I’m going to enjoy this moment.

Thank you Rodger & Sue + all family members.