The Wales Coast Path

The Wales Coast Path…

For the first of the ‘Living Wild’ guest series, I asked Rachael Smith, owner of Our Beautiful Adventure photography and busy mum, to tell us about her love of the Wales Coast Path, her goal to walk the whole trail and how walking has become a big part of her everyday life.

Over the course of the last year, walking has become a focus in my daily life like never before. Pre-lockdown I enjoyed walking and went out hiking regularly, but something has shifted in me, and walking has become a daily habit, something that I can not go 24 hours without doing. Whether it’s just a few miles around my local area, the 4 miles of school runs I do each day during term time, or even a whole day spent hiking some of the more remote areas we have on our doorstep here in Wales, I can not get enough.

That being said, when Wales does bad weather, it does it really well, and when you are warm and cozy in your home, the idea of putting on all your waterproofs and battling the elements outside, isn’t always that appealing. Not wanting to miss a day’s walk however, I soon found the best way to combat rainy day reluctance was to set myself a challenge.

I absolutely love a good list, and get a lot of satisfaction when I get to cross off a completed task. So it should have come as no shock to me, that when I started having goals to tick off each day, week or month, that I actually responded really well and it spurred me on even when I might have otherwise given up.

I started off setting a goal for how many miles I wanted to walk over a set period of time, but the more walking I was doing, and the longer distances I was covering, the more I craved a bigger challenge, something that would push me out of my comfort zones as well as helping me keep up my walking habit in the long run.

One of my biggest struggles with getting out for walks is knowing where to go. When it comes to walking alone I tend to go for the familiar, and as a woman I have often felt a bit nervous about walking by myself, especially in a new area, even in remote locations where you might not encounter another soul. It doesn’t help either that my map reading skills aren’t the best, and my respect for mountains is too great to venture far from the beaten track without a more experienced guide with me. So I needed to find a new solution.This is when I started to serisouly consider taking on the epic challenge of walking the entire 870 miles of the Wales Coast Path.

As I tried to find walks that wouldn’t be too intimidating for me to tackle alone I quickly noticed that most of the places I was drawn to were coastal, and a lot of the routes I was walking included some of the official Wales Coast path. A bit of research on their website led me to discover some places to explore that I felt confident tackling alone. I had no notions of taking on the whole challenge at first, but the more of the coastal path I walked, the more I noticed just how easy it was to follow, and how accessible it was for me even when walking alone and in unfamiliar places.

What started out as a nice way for me to explore new areas with ease, quickly grew in appeal and it wasn’t long before I was wondering just how realistic it would be to take on the whole path.

Once I got rid of any notions of doing the challenge quickly, or in one long go, it didn’t seem so overwhelming and I was excited to tackle it. I have no expectations of being finished anytime soon, but I am okay with that. It’s just wonderful to have a goal to work towards, and an endless list of walks to go on.

The great thing about living in Swansea is that so much of the path is accessible to me for day trips. Since beginning back in October, I have already completed the Swansea and Gower section (admittedly I had done a lot without realising it in the past) and I am hoping this year to complete the Carmarthenshire section, maybe even Pembrokeshire.

Finding time to walk isn’t always easy. I have 3 young children, as well as running my own photography business. But finding balance has always been important to me, and I know that if I don’t have time for these adventures for myself, then ultimately my work and home life will suffer. Sometimes that means dragging the whole family out with me, often reluctantly on their part. Or working slightly more unconventional hours so that I can use the time the kids are in school to get out for walks, and fit my working hours into the evenings once they are in bed.

The pandemic has obviously changed my work quite dramatically and in a lot of ways meant I have more time for walks, but even pre-pandemic I would set aside one day each week between Monday and Friday to go out on a long hike, and once weddings are back in full swing and work is busier again, this will be a habit I will re-introduce. Finding a healthy work-life balance is so important to me, and by taking this time for myself to do my walking, I am better able to be who my family needs, and not too burnt out to do my job to the best of my abilities either.

It’s hard to put into words what walking means to me personally, and I know not everyone will understand the excitement I feel when I get to cross off another section of the coastal path, or even how happy I get just poring over the guide books and deciding where to go next, but if you are reading this and thinking “I wish I could do that” or “I wish I could get out walking more” then my answer is simply; “go do it.”

Follow Rachael’s journey on Instagram and Facebook