Last year Gail Muller, from Falmouth, who had suffered years of chronic pain, wanted to inspire others in her situation that anything is possible, by tackling the southbound route of the Appalachian Trail – all 2,180 miles of it.

She chronicled her journey for the Packet and now she's back with a new challenge to take on.

Hello! I am so happy to be back writing for The Packet again and even happier to be back roaming outdoors and exercising my body and mind.

How have you all coped with lockdown and the jittery easing of it? I am sure it’s been hard on us all; I know I sorely missed my freedom, space and open road that I’d previously taken for granted.

The last time I updated you I had just completed the Southbound Appalachian Trail in the USA – over 2,000 miles of hiking and sleeping in National Parks, mountain ranges and forests from Maine in the North, to Georgia in the South.

It’s the longest footpath-only trail in the world and I finished it in late December, coming home to Falmouth on Christmas Eve with a foot that was broken in two places and finding it truly difficult to readjust to normal life again.

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The indoors didn’t feel like my friend anymore, and I had no idea just how much indoors I was in for!

I hiked over 800 miles of that trail with my broken foot and carrying 35lbs on my back. This meant that on my return, rest was not negotiable. I sat my butt down through January watching my body soften up and my belt notches going out.

It’s tough to have to sit down when you’re used to hiking 20+ miles every day for six months, but the Doctor ordered me to recuperate and to let my whole body heal from such a physical ordeal.

By mid-February I was just about ready to start hiking again. I had my kit all dialled in and my sights were set on a wintery thru-hike of the South West Coast Path. Hooray! The weather could bring on all the wind, rain and adversity that it wanted because I was just so keen to get back amongst it. Hmm, perhaps I wished too hard, because after three days of lovely hiking from Minehead the storms came in.

I don’t know if you remember the stormy days we had, but I was blown sideways by the strong winds and went skidding against my will through a mud bog towards the edge of the cliffs, just before descending into Coombe Martin in Devon.

It was scary, and I knew I had to take my safety seriously. As you may know, I suffered over a decade of chronic illness and physical pain that I had long fought to heal from and I am thankful to have been well for a few years now.

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However, the horrendous weather conditions meant I was using all kinds of muscles to keep my legs from sliding away at different angles in the mud and wind. It wasn’t good at all and my body was beginning to lock up and spasm again, so I decided that taking everything into consideration it was time to take a couple of days out and re-evaluate.

I sat in a dishevelled sea-front hotel in Ilfracombe (which perhaps hadn’t been hoovered since 1983?) and contemplated my options. I phoned ahead to farm campsites and Youth Hostels to be told by concerned owners that they were either closed for winter until late March, or that it was far too dangerous for me to be hiking right now so I should definitely head home until spring.

The Met Office website showed me nothing but storms and windy doom, so I embraced the inevitable. Saying a (thankful) goodbye to my dirty room, I slogged my wet pack and gear down to the local bus stop in sideways grey rain.

A few covert tears of frustration later and I was on a steamed-up bus heading for the train station in Exeter. It was back to Falmouth for me. I had asked for a serious challenge and had been given one. I felt mad at myself, but I have also learned enough to know that you have to pick your battles. This one was better fought another day... or month... or nearly six months?

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I had so many plans to jump back on the SWCP when the weather improved. I believed I’d still have time to go to Ireland for my Mountain Medicine course, to head to France to hike the Tour du Mont Blanc, to the US to finish some AT miles in the Smoky Mountains and then over to Seattle to start my epic trek of the year on July1 – the Southbound trek of the Pacific Crest Trail; 2.640 miles from the Canadian border down the West Coast of the USA to Mexico.

But we all know what happened next – Covid cancelled it all.

So, with my overseas plans boosted to the end of the year, I am very happy to now have time to jump back on the South West Coast Path and begin again.

I’ve decided to Thru Hike it from the beginning, even though I already hiked nearly 100 miles of it in February. For me, it needs to feel like a start-to-finish in-one-go effort, so I’ll begin back in Minehead this weekend.

I know things will feel so very different out there at the moment. The villages will be warier, the people will be more anxious and accommodation much harder to book into. Wild Camping isn’t allowed on the SWCP so if I need to do that, I will have to contact land owners to ask permission and ensure I Leave No Trace (LNT).

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This is a practice that means you leave a place as if you have never even been there; no trampled flowers, no litter, no food scraps thrown into a hedge that might attract animals to places they might not usually be.

I’ll camp late and leave early, and when I can I’ll be treating myself to pasties and fish and chips all over again.

I’ll be writing you weekly instalments here in The Packet and will be sharing more regular updates on my blog and social media as I go. Can’t wait to tell you more. Hope you follow along!

You can find me at www.gailmuller.com, on Instagram @appalachiangail and Facebook @appalachiangail