30.6

It is a long walk for chronic ME to Hengistbury Head so we take a car from Nine Kingfishers 
to motor along almost deserted roads to the highest point of Southbourne. 

On a clear day Weymouth is West and distant beyond the yellow beach of the Bourne's Mouth 
To East the Needles mark the Isle of Wight while the channel fills Southwest, Southeast and South 

We park the quiet car and pace out strongly along the dunes and by the yellow gorse
The path is puddled by last night's rain and the ground shows signs of a passing horse 
Solitary does not happen on the walk.  Hundreds are taking the New Year's air 
I think of another beach far to the west where l walked the length with no-one there 
I come from an island of four million and walk three miles of beach alone 
The crowd on Hengistbury Head today could stretch from Eagle to Inishowen.
Here they walk in isolation surrounded by hundreds of their own
with eyes diverted and aimed at nought it seems that each one walks alone.