2017 TGO Challenge Day 12

2017 TGO Challenge Day 12

Prosen Bridge to Arbroath - 23.25 miles

Total Trip Miles: 186

 Tuesday, May 23nd, 2017

Day 12 part 1

Day 12 part 2

Day 12 part 3  

I was up early, and had packed up and was walking out of my campsite at 6:30am.  I ate breakfast as I enjoyed the early morning walk, watching the rays of the sun come through the tree canopy over the road.  I decided today would be another good day for music, so I pulled my mp3 player back out....and it didn't work.  It seemed like I on this trip I had no luck with electronics.  I pulled the SD card out and it was damp.  Everything at camp had been damp as I was packing up, I think with the heavy rain and the heavy leaf cover on the ground the air had been saturated and it must have been enough to infiltrate my mp3 player and cause it to not work.  

I put the mp3 player in an outside pocket of my pack, hoping the warm sun would dry it out.  My morning was walking through farmland.  I was on a long, straight road heading S/SE just east of Kirriemuir, and let me warn any future challengers going this way, everyone seemed to be in a huge hurry and didn't slow down or move over for me as I walked down the side of the road.  I pretty much had to stay on the shoulder, which made the going much slower, but at least I didn't get run over.  

After crossing the A90 there is another long straight stretch of road into Forfar (B9128), but there is a nice sidewalk, which helps a lot with the not-getting-run-overness.  I walked through Forfar pretty quickly, just wanting to make time.  I did stop for a quick snack break on a bench as I was heading out of town.  I followed the B9128 SE out of Forfar and walked through more farmland until the turn off for the walking path that heads into Letham.  It was a pretty nice path, but it seemed like a big dog-walking trail for the people of Letham, so I spent a lot of time dodging dog poop.

Letham had been my intended stop for the night, but I arrived in town around 11:30am.  Graham Dunsire, one of the vetters for the challenge, had told me I could camp in his garden.  I was a day ahead of my intended schedule at this point, but I didn't think Graham would mind me being a night early (he was at Tarfside cooking for the challengers).  I bought myself some lunch and walked to Graham's house to eat.  I sat at his picnic table and ate.  His neighbors came over to see who this strange guy who had walked into the Dunsire's backyard was.  They were very kind and filled my water bottles for me.  We talked for a bit, and it turns out Graham had forgotten to tell them someone would be coming, as they keep an eye on his house for him when he's away.

I finished my lunch and laid in the sun, napping for a couple minutes.  I was about to set up my tent when I realized it was only about 1pm and to finish I only had about 9 miles to do.  It seemed kind of silly to just lay around all afternoon when I could just complete my crossing and relax in Montrose the whole next day, as well as Thursday.  I decided to hit the public toilet before I left, Graham had said there was one 100 meters from his drive.  As I was walking down the drive his neighbors were driving out and stopped to talk to me.  I asked them where the restroom was and they both kind of looked at me funny for a second, finally realizing I was asking about the toilet.  They pointed me in the correct direction, I thanked them, and they headed off.  (When I met Graham at the Challenge Dinner, I thanked him for offering up his garden even though I didn't use it to camp.  He laughed and said I must have been the American who asked where the restroom was.  He explained that a restroom is where people view a dead body at a funeral home and he said his neighbors had been baffled as to why I'd be looking for that before they realized I was looking for the toilet, or bathroom, for the rest of us Americans).  

I tried my mp3 player again after lunch and it worked!!  I put in my ear buds and booked it for the coast!  I followed more country roads past sprawling farmland.  Now that my final destination was within sight I moved with a single-mindedness towards the coast.  I finally made it through Arbroath and hit the coast a little south and east of where I had intended, but there was a nice big empty beach for me to go down onto.  I pulled out my camera and tried it and had enough battery to snap a few pictures, so at least I got a couple to prove I made it.

Dipping my toes in the North Sea

Finish line selfie!

Unfortunately my walking was not quite over.  I had to find my way to the railway station.  Even though I could see trains going by on the tracks along the beach front, the station was toward the center of town.  Another kilometer plus had me finally at the station where I got my ticket to Montrose.  I checked out about 5:30pm and had offically completed my 2017 Challenge!!