I wasn’t going to post today as the official start is tomorrow - April 1st (no joke). But Kimberly and I have had such a great time so far I had to share what a delight it’s been in these two days prep in London and getting down to the edge of Cornwall. I have rarely experienced a trip with so few hiccups. We cruised through security at SFO in less than 5 min, had a seat between us on the plane, attentive and funny flight crew, and after breaking through the clouds arrived in a sunny, warm London morning. Generous friends Kim & Terry had coffee and homemade cookies waiting for us at their flat in Bloomsbury, showed us to our comfy rooms to rest, and later prepared a delicious dinner. I zipped off to drop my suitcase at friend Michelle’s in Upminster and was able to catch up & laugh around the table eating lunch with her beautiful children. Michelle will hang on to the suitcase and a change of clothes until I get back there on June 24. On the way back to Kim’s I mailed two packages to where I’ll be later on the trip to resupply necessities.
We woke up early this morning to catch the 9:03 train from Paddington to Penzance. As we walked out the door Kim surprised us with a packed lunch of homemade bread sandwiches and more cookies! The 6 1/2 hr trip to Cornwall flew by with me studying fields and hillsides imagining navigating them in a few weeks when I will turn away from the coast and start the trip inland after Kimberly returns to the States. It looked a little daunting. So I focused instead on the moment in front of me and laughed and talked with Kimberly, and suddenly we were in sunny Penzance. It wasn’t supposed to be sunny, the MetOffice app still reported clouds and 51 degrees, but I had to dig my sunglasses out of my pack.
My dear Cornish friend Suzanne picked us up and ferried us to our accommodation in a little cabin down the road from Land’s End. Simple, but warm and cozy. We went to the ‘First and Last Pub’ (as it is on the coast to catch people coming and going), enjoyed my first fish & chips of the trip and a shandy. It’s just 9pm and we’re all tucked in, and I’m trying to channel all positive things about starting off tomorrow. I am in a minor state of shock that the day is here, and am reminding myself this will be such a rich experience and to just take one day at a time. Each 83 of them.
