Sometimes when you stray off the edges of your own map, you find places you didn't expect. 

Sometimes those places will be beautiful - hard to take in for all their otherworldliness. Others will be filled with people who act and speak differently from you. Sometimes those places will seem impossible to escape from.

Technically, today was 401 days away from my 40th birthday. And largely because I can't count, it seems, I cracked on with my Heartwork project - 40 challenges in 400 (and one) days. 

I needed to get to work in Wat Tyler Park, and fortuitously, I thought, one of my challenges required me to travel a path that would go past Wat Tyler. This seemed an excellent opportunity to scout ahead. 

Armed with my bike, and headphones full of the Bible (another challenge of mine), I took to cycling along the England Coastal Path, from Corringham to Wat Tyler. The path takes one down the Manor Way in Corringham and then across Fobbing marshes. Google Maps suggested that to cycle the distance via road should take 27 minutes. I assumed a cross-country passage might be a bit shorter. I was very, very wrong. 

My trek to work took me through unmarked fields, fields full of sheep, fields full of cows, and fields full of bull. For a route called the Coastal Path, I saw surprisingly little coast (none, in fact), and had to lift my bike over multiple fences and jump over locked gates that were on this supposed public right of way. I was a good 9km into this Lord of the Rings style hike before reaching a part of the path that seemed impassable. 

Pictured above you'll see a short passage thick with thorns, thistles, stinging nettles and more. Behind me, an angry farmer from where I'd hopped his locked gate.

It's safe to say that the path ahead looks much like this. There is no going back. And the way forward is dense with dangers to be overcome.