Stretch 4 (S4): shingle, cliffs and three dead seals

Running on the edge of the shingle shoreline - S4.

• S4 was 19 km

• Previous stretch -S3- (link here 'LH') was 20 km

• Mission running total so far: 73 km

reminder - the Coastline Runner’s (#coastlinerunner) mission is to run as much as he can (Footnote 1) of the British Isles’ coastline from the 1st November 2021 until 9th October 2022

LH

Short thought, and then the short report: Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England, said that post-COP 26 the aim is to “build a financial system in which every decision made takes climate change into account” as reported by Martin Wolf yesterday in The FT (LH) in "Dancing on the edge of climate disaster" (image)

We would go further and say “every decision being made must consider and be obliged to report the climate and ecological impacts - estimated and actual”.

(copyright James Ferguson in the FT; all others copyright the coastline runner)

We are trying to show how straightforward that might be.

Also, it is not all about the climate - the ecological emergency is as important.

Your thoughts? @clearpubspace (LH) please? We would love to hear them.

1. Start: Cromer

2. Finish: Cley

3. Distance: 19 km

4. How arrived:

Public Transport, train and bus to Cromer, where I was met by

Cromer Mayor Mike Bossingham (pictured), who wished me well and offered to get me local waste collection and disposal data.

5. How departed: by bus from Cley and then train.

6. S4 CO2e emitted(2): to date, total CO2e emitted for this

endeavour is 57.8 Kgs .

For S4 it is 12 kgs CO2e (11.4 return train travel + 1g (local bus

route + 1 snicker rounded up + 32 km taxi ride to catch the local

bus; all rounded up to 12 kgs)

7. Plastic rubbish / trash observation:

Marine litter – 2 ropes, probably polyester (LH)

Consumer litter – 1 Haribo packet, polypropylene; 1 food box, polystyrene; 1 Sainsburys’

mayonnaise container, PET (LH and LH); 1 children’s plastic toy, probably ‘HDPE’ plastic

(LH) (3).

8. Short Report:

S4 was the most challenging so far – I defy anyone to say that running in deep shingle for 5 miles with the weight of a TV on your back is an easy thing!

From West Runton (LH) all the way to Cley (LH) it is that.

Not easy, but pleasant?! Slower, yes, but then it became strangely soothing; the combination of the sound of the surf and the underfoot pebbles shifting and sounding “sshh-sshh-sshh…” as I ran. If you have Instagram you can see and hear it here (LH).

(dead seal at Sheringham)

I saw 3 dead seals, 2 paragliders and 1 jogger who shouted “The golfers will have you for breakfast!” when I momentarily diverted onto the golf course at Sheringham.

I quickly changed tack back, and kept to the coastal path, running up the Beeston Bump (LH) which was formed during the last ice age, as was the massive stretch of miles and miles of shingle, which I then shuffled and shunted my way through.

Tidying up the fridge this time, I made sandwiches out of cheddar and mayonnaise – a big improvement on last time!

Here we go!

Stretch 5 (on the 29th November) will be 23 km from Cley, and see me navigating estuaries, staithes, marshes and river mouths, to try and complete the ‘Norfolk Chapter’ by Christmas.

I will next be interviewed on BBC Radio Norfolk after it, so tune in (LH) on Monday.

My eyepatch is because of this. When running I have double vision.

(ending at Cley)

Thanks again to you all - thanks everyone for reading and sharing this blog and JustGiving page (LH). You have covered the costs of the 'Norfolk Chapter'. So, I suppose I will have to estimate the 'Lincolnshire chapter' and get planning!? Where EXACTLY does Norfolk and Lincolnshire start on the shoreline? Psychologically, I would have said at the Ouse, but.....?!

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Footnotes:

1: Family and work life allowing

2: The CO2e calculation will be based on all travel, accommodation and consumption necessary for this mission; savings by being given any of the above will not be calculated, but mentioned as probono. Mike Berners Lee (LH) carbonfootprint.com (LH) and The Vegan Society (LH) are used. Thank you.

3: Haribo claim big on their environmental responsibility (LH) in travel and energy, but their packaging is still plastic from Polypropylene (LH).

Again, the claim is “fully recyclable” but is it recycled? What is Haribo doing to enable this all over the world?