SWCP: COMBE MARTIN TO HOME
DAY 6 - LIVED IN THE LOOS ON FRIDAY, THREW UP ON SATURDAY, RESt ON SUNDAY
The frequent toilet visits lasted throughout the night. When the campsite reception opened, H went in to book us another night on the site. There was no busses out of Combe Martin on Sundays and with my current condition, I was in no shape to be anywhere more than 3 minutes from a toilet and local busses don’t have toilets on board. I sent H out to Combe Martin for Lucozade and white rolls, a trick I learned when living in Thailand. H returned with the supplies and went out have a swim in Combe Martin, it was a warm sunny day after all. I was taking turns napping and visiting the loos.
By the evening, I had eaten a couple of rolls and tried to keep myself hydrated with water and Lucozade. The night luckily went with less frequent visits to the loos.
DAY 7 - JOURNEY HOME & HAPPY ENDING?
I woke up at 6am. My visit to toilets was less uncomfortable than the couple of days up to now. I felt I was ok to travel. H cooked a Summit To Eat Hotpot for breakfast, while I just tried to keep hydrated. We packed up our things and headed to the bus stop. Note that the bus stop to Ilfracombe and Barnstable is not where Google Maps shows it is (curve), it’s actually further towards Combe Martin in front of a B&B, past the bus stop to the opposite direction.
After arriving to Barnstable, we hopped on a train to Penzance via Exeter and Plymouth. I made it back home without embarrasing incidents.
But it didn’t end there. Once we got home, I ran for the loo again. Turned out that my stomach didn’t appreciate the meal deal I had in optimistically enjoyed in Plymouth train station cafe. H was about have dinner with his sister’s family who were cat sitting while we were away, but that got interrupted after he ran out and threw up twice. She ended puking for the next 16h, but luckily that was it for her. I suffered a few more days. I can only speculate that I caught the Noro virus, and H caught it from me couple of days later. She managed to throw it all up before it reached further in the digestive track, whereas I hadn’t been as lucky.
Despite all of this, H said she enjoyed our walking holiday. We both realised that we’d need to be fitter and stronger in order to do more of the SWCP in sections of guidebooks’ itineraries. This experience didn’t put us off for doing more of SWCP and it was a great test to see if our kit was appropriate, which is was for the most part.
Until next time, SWCP.