That does not mean that it is over. Waterpilgrim is like the heron standing in the water on one leg. Completely still. Alert but calm. At some point, it will strike a fish out of the water. But for now it is still…

…more anon.

http://www.incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk/

I discovered Incredible Edible at the All Our Futures 2 conference last week in Plymouth. Out of three days of wordy, repetitive and solution-less chat, this project really took my interest. Another one to have a good look at is Abundance which is all about harvesting the countless fruit and nut trees naturally occuring or privately placed but not being used.

http://www.growsheffield.com/pages/groShefAbund.html

BBC Radio Somerset interview can be found for the next 7 days at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p004b283

Click on “Listen” and if you just want to hear my part you can fast forward 30 mins.

I was asked to do a short interview on BBC Radio 5 Live on Saturday night. You can hear my penny’s worth for the next five days at the following link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00mpnxr

Scroll down and click on “Listen” and if you just want to hear my part you can fast forward to 1 hr 26 mins.

I would also like to thank the following people for showing up to give support on the last day: Ally, Lorna, Lucie, Rob, Rocco and Tam. Thanks to Katie Black for providing a place to stay at Durlston Country Park last night and to Bill and Glenys for giving us some sound advice on suitable footwear for the Red Lion gents!

The CoastAlong event for WaterAid seemed to go well and I was happy to meet a team from Bournemouth Rotary Club near the end. A photo with them and a wedding couple made for a surreal moment. Thanks to Hazel for organising the end refreshments at South Haven Point for the event.

The final few steps…

What can I say about the end stage of a 630 miles walk? Perhaps, I will leave my sentiments for a couple of days for the whole experience to sink in. I can tell you that I am very happy that the story has made it out on the BBC News Online website and was top story for Friday’s BBC Online Magazine. The whole idea of the pilgrimage was to raise awareness for local and global water issues and getting it out on this kind of scale makes it all worthwhile:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8248268.stm

I suppose the hardwork is just beginning. The idea of Waterilgrim was to ask:

1. What are we doing with water?

2. What are the problems/successes?

3. If there are problems….what are the potential solutions?

These questions have raised an enormous list of answers. My job now is to collate all the information, brainstorm with as many people who would like to be involved and then get on find some suitable actions.

Water is the most important resource we have. We must take it seriously, all of us. Please get in contact if you would like to contribute to the ideas or would like to hear about the projects that have spawned from Waterpilgrim. We have an amazing opportunity. An opportunity to take control of our lives. To reliquish the hold of money-centric focus and more to a nature/human based view where we actually look out for everything on the planet rather than defiling, damaging and exploting.

Thank you to all the people who have helped along the way. Without you, my journey would have ended before reaching Poole. With your help, I reached the end of path and the beginning of world of possibilities.

More anon….

FOR VID: BBC news maxim laithwaite

Or

FOR ARTICLE: BBC five live max laithwaite

You should find something…

I have been getting seriously behind on my online journal for which I apologise to all those people waiting for updates (around two people probably!). It looks like all the rest of the journey will be done after I finish. For now I would like to thank those that have helped me get this far and I will do personal thanks when I return.

PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO GET INVOLVED WITH COASTALONG FOR WATERAID THIS SATURDAY, 12TH SEP.

FOR MORE INFO, SEE www.coastalongforwateraid.org

Many thanks to Liz and Rob Davis at the Island View Cafe in Looe for their tea and scone and to Clarise and Lucy at the Seaton Beach Cafe for their hospitality. Many thanks also to Helen at the Whitsand Bay Hotel in Portwrinkle for the ice cold orange and lemonade. Perfect.

It was great to meet Anne Ellison in Portwrinkle and stay at her wonderful house over-looking the bay. I could have sat watching her view for the rest of my life. Anne had got in contact as soon as she read the article in the Western Morning News and we both very excited to meet each other. She treated me to a huge spag bol and we chatted for hours about my life and her’s. She is an osteopath so we discussed alternative therapies and so forth. I missed John, her husband, because he was out at football but I we managed to meet in the morning over breakfast.

Day 41: Portwrinkle to Cremyl, 13.3 miles.

I was delighted to have Anne join me for a few miles today. The tide was out so we took advantage of the firm sand on the beach all the way back up to her house where she put on a wonderful lunch. Full to the brim, I headed off towards Rame Head.

Along the way I met a chap called George who is a homeless man walking the entire coast of Britain. We had a good chat about life and walking and I gave him some pointers of where he may be able to stay and get some food. The ripples are moving fast. We talked about another chap who I had met earlier in the day called Alex who in his last month or so of walking the entire coast. Makes me think whether I will stop when I reach Poole? Rather like the idea of carrying on.

Tonight was made very special with a pub quiz at the Mark of Friendship in Mill Brook. Dick, the landlord, and his partner Megan had put the word out and 7 full teams turned up to raise some cash. Many thanks to Viv and Kim for instigating it but I can’t thank Dick enough for helping make the night a great success. We raised over £130 and the bottles of wine that Dick had donated as prizes were all put back on the table to be raffled off. This pub quiz idea seems to be a winner. It gets the message across and raises funds. Thanks to all the people who turned up, donated the funds and especially for buying back the wine they had already won (John and Anne!!).

More anon.

It was good to get out of the built-up inland diversion that the path takes through Par and back on to the coast. A gentle climb up to the National Trust The Gribbin property gave scenic views back along the Cornish coast. I passed the Daymark tower which was erected for "The safety of commerce and the preservation of mariners", in that order. I wonder if the mariner’s wives saw their husbands as coming second to trade?

Fowey followed shortly after and I would like to thank Alan and Cameron for free passage on the ferry across to Polruan.

The first half of the day was moderate but it is safe to say that the second was a little more rigigrous. I am really enjoying the effort on these steeper climbs.

Passing some gorse framed rocky outcrops I discovered Polperro nestled in a wooded valley. What a picture postcard. Fishing boats squeezed into the small harbour added to ambience which although there are similar, seemed to outshine most others.

Wendy Carr from the Wesley House Gallery is the mother of a good friend from Hastings and had offered to have me for the night. Her partner Maggie had also organised my first Waterpilgrim pub quiz. Tonight was always going to be fun but I was completely taken aback by the reception.

Sue, Danny and Kirsty from the Ship Inn had taken on promoting the quiz and we hosted 12 teams and raised over £130. The Mayor of Polperro, ‘Coach’, even came down in all his regalia to help. The winning team immediately donated the prize money into the kitty and everyone had a good time. I can’t thank them enough. Thanks also to Alan for giving guidance on being compere and Hayley for all her help. This first quiz will be hard to beat.

The quiz idea came from a friend on my OU course and is perfect for getting my message across combined with community building and raising funds.

What was very interesting is that I learnt that South West Water are charging Polperrians for standard sewage rates and yet they are simply pumping it into the sea. Apart from the obvious environmental issues, surely this on the verge of fraud? I must say that I have not seen any hard evidence and need to look further into it but if that is the situation it adds heavily to the case of an overhaul of how water in the South West is managed.

This walk is really turning up some important questions and I thoroughly look forward to getting on with working at the solutions with the communities involved.

More anon.

I parted Alex after a healthy organic breakfast and headed towards some surprisingly steep climbs on my way to Par. Landslides had caused a diversion along a two mile stretch of road into Charlestown where I was greeted with two Tall Ships in the harbour. Development along this part of the coastline is rife. Disused clay factories are being turned into holiday apartments and beach side resorts. A golf course straddles the path at one stage which was mildly disconcerting because of flying balls.

I had to put my foot down today because I had arranged to do video call with Vinnie and the crowd at Braziers in Oxfordshire. After some technical hitches we managed to get it up and running and I did a ten minute interview which was good fun. They were very interested in how people were finding the idea of me walking without money. This seems to be a common line of questionning. I told them my reasons as follows. Firstly, being without money means that I am forced to talk about the issues every day. I need to find food and a place to stay. I cannot go and hideaway in my hotel. This maximises my time spent talking with people and puts the issues before my welfare. Secondly, it highlights the plight of people without. There are alot of people in the world who have no idea where their next meal is coming from and so for my pilgrimage, nor will I. It creates discussion about this and of course about how much food and water we waste and of course how consumer driven we are. Thirdly, it means that everybody is donating along the way. Instead of me spending money on a pasty, I can donate that money myself to WaterAid, which means that at every stage donations are being raised and I am not spending before raising. Fourthly, and perhaps more generally, it opens the debate about whether money should be the focus of our actions. It can be argued that we have become money-centric in this country. We measure people on the money they earn and the money they spend rather then the deeds the do. New ideas and projects are denounced on monetary terms before they even get going even though they may be a great thing for society. I believe this is the wrong way around. Money is just a tool. A tool like a hammer or a saw. Very useful indeed but still just a tool. A painter wouldn’t paint a painting based on what the brush dictates. They get the brush to work for them. They would not be slave to the brush and nor should we be slave to money. The financial system we have is based on an ever spiralling debt system. That system is linear too. A spiralling linear system….? Contradiction? Or illusion? Whatever your political, economic or philosophical opinions, we must put money in the right priority and place in our lives. Somehow, perhaps these questions are asked by being a penniless pilgrim?