The Granny Smith Blunder

In September 2010 a man with the most wonderful anecdote inspired me to begin planning for the biggest adventure of my life (I am not being at all cryptic; by adventure I am indeed referring to our walk to the Mediterranean). Two years and eight months later I am sitting in my room, with two packed rucksacks, a cup of coffee and a half eaten Granny Smith apple for company. In the more than likely case that you were blindingly intrigued, the apple is half eaten due to a simple error on my behalf; it was just too early for an apple as tart and crunchy as this one. Truth be told, I only really became aware that I was eating the apple after my first bite, and everyone knows that after the first bite of an apple you are committed. Had it been a Pink Lady, or Royal Gala this story would have unfolded in an entirely different manner, namely the said apple would have been referred to as a core and the previous sentences that justify the half eaten apple would be absent altogether.

To accompany the apple faux pas, Jake and I also managed to commit an additional, and arguably more severe, blunder. Our plan was to cross the English Channel from Dover, England, to Ostend (Oostende), Belgium. However, after some last minute research Jake discovered the initially startling news that this ferry crossing only caters for freight and those travelling by car. Despite our sizeable packs, I hardly think we could get away with classifying ourselves as freight, and the acquisition of a motor vehicle is likely to defeat the point of us walking to the Menton. Thus, our only option was to alter our crossing; our first taste of European walking will be that of Calais, France. To accompany this alteration we now have an additional four days of walking and 85 kms of French and Belgian coastline to complete before arriving in Ostend.