Day 3 - Duckpool Bay to Lower Longbeak - Reflections on COVID

Day 3 took me back to the North Coast and Duckpool Bay.

A steep climb out of Duckpool gets the heart beating and the legs warmed up, before a fairly gentle walk to Bude.

My thoughts today turned towards COVID-19 and the response worldwide to it.

The first thing that has become obvious to me, is how quickly the medical emergency became a political football. Opposition parties in the UK quickly called into question everything the Government did, when they did it and how they did it. Calls for expensive (and ultimately pointless) enquiries / working groups were quick to follow.

Nobody knew anything about this disease this time last year, there was no emergency plan (so loved by MPs and businesses to provide protection from prosecution after things kick off) to refer to, so ultimately decisions were made blind. When these types of major events occur, there will always be mistakes, always have been opportunities to do things better / sooner and always be opportunities to stand and criticise in hindsight.

For what it's worth, here's what I think.

PPE is always going to be difficult to source if the whole world is after the same stuff, should we have a stockpile? Not unless you are happy to see lots thrown away when it's not used during 'normal' times (the stuff is bound to have a use by date if it's clinical).

Protecting the NHS - lock-down was a necessary measure to stop hospitals getting overwhelmed, it could perhaps have happened earlier, but then the second peak would be bigger and longer than it will be when it comes now.

Herd Immunity - Perhaps the governments most attacked policy statement, but ultimately it is the only way to control the disease in the absence of a vaccine. This policy would men that we were accepting some people would die, an acceptance that makes modern (wo)man uncomfortable as it calls into question his / her compassion and humanity, but a conclusion that is unavoidable if (as most do) you accept Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life published in 1859.

So, all that being said, I think the Government did OK, they should now lift all lock-down restrictions, allow a second peak and then impose another period of lock-down. The economy has to be given a chance to recover a little, thus giving the Government a chance to reduce some of the extra spending it is currently making.

I see Bude in the distance, so I'll finish the COVID ponderings by saying..get ready for some tax increases in the next Budget!!

The first major town in North Cornwall, Bude still shows signs of past glories. The seafront has beach huts along the promenade and the golf course and cricket club are visible from the seafront. However, like many British seaside resorts, there is a feeling about the place that says "not anymore" almost as if the ghosts of former glories will not allow the resorts to flourish.

After a lucky dash across the sand and harbour (low tide) I was quickly heading out of Bude towards Widemouth Bay. At the top of the first climb you reach a small octagonal tower with compass points engraved on each of its eight sides. Perched on top of the cliff at it's very edge, it seems that it was moved from another location in 1880 to be used as a Coastguard look-out. It is said to have been base on the design of the Temple of Winds in Athens.

Hereafter, the going can be described as moderate all the way to Lower Longbeak at the norrthern end of Widemouth bay. I turn around and head back, having completed 13.2 miles by the time I'm back at Duckpool Bay.