Member-only story
About Me — James Lloyd
The journey that led me to walking 6,600 miles around the entire Great British coastline.
I wasn’t running away but towards something better.
When I first had the idea to walk the coast of Great Britain, I thought I was running away from my problems. I convinced myself it was a flight fantasy.
The relationship spanning my entire adult life had ended suddenly and without explanation, and I had a job that sucked the time and soul out of me like a dementor.
Each morning, I would wake on the sofa directly under the bedroom I had once shared with my ex.
I would leave for work down my driveway and pull up to the road junction. Turning left led to my job and a life of misery and turning right led to the mountains, the great outdoors where I wanted to spend my time and energy.
Every morning I turned left, and chose a life I knew was wrong for me.
I had so many interests and passions that nourished me and made me feel alive, and they withered away as I tried to compact them into the spare hour I had each evening after work. I withered away with them.
The ending of my relationship only compounded the rejection of myself, and became the catalyst…
