This is also a non-edited post originally written on Faceboook to Friends and Family
Having made the 3 night train ride to Aktau I now needed to cross the Caspian Sea. The Port was about 6km from the city center where I was staying. As new and a small town there were no buses to the port. I could take a taxi but as you know by now … taxi is not an option. So I had to walk. The days I was it turned out quite cold. All true below.
Here goes …
Right F&F… no pictures just sharing a muse. Here I am waiting for my ferry in Aktau. (Now 15:00) and thinking I will share my walk in this morning. It is cold here. I am very happy with my coat. Got up at 4:00am. Left at 6:00. This time here winter darkness… and I am trudging to the port 5km away humping my backpack and rucksack. (Scared to weigh everything). In the shadow of a streetlight you see yourself. You look like Shackleton walking to the South Pole. (Stop moaning… they had snow to wade through) I stop a couple of times cos the wind is against me from the Caspian Sea. I also put another sock in my righr shoe.. as can feel a blister coming on… and not even halfway. The next stop I put the other sock down my trousers. Yes.. it is cold… I am not making this up folks… only thought was jockeys are better than boxers right now. But that is not the share. What you end up doing is talking to yourself. Not in your mind… out loud. “That car could have stopped. “Man… that truck is a long way off…and ” I have go behind those silos and somehow over that oilpipeline with my “shortcut” … man… I do not want to have to a U-turn…keep going Derek … one step at a time”. But one word I keep muttering, (well quite clearly actually) when I head straight into this bitter wind. “Motherf’ers”. I am not making this up folks. But the strange thing I am not thinking of anyone in particular. Very strange. I think just some stuff is triggered in my subconscious and coming to the surface. CONCLUSION… a good trudge (I was going to use the word “hump”… but my English friends would have a riot… and it is not a pun intended to distract) in a bracing situation is I guess good therapy… I think I might do this again along the Wadden Sea in Friesland (The Netherlands). Later…? enjoy… ?