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KYST 50 The lightest dusting of snow disappeared as I approached the coast. Down by the water’s edge, the temperature hovered just over zero. The day was overcast and cold, but there was little wind. The beach as Korsodde was silent and wonderfully peaceful. I sat and watched the colours and tones of the cloudscape gradually mutate and shift and started work on a slice painting. On one of the pauses, I turned around and painted the incredible ochre and russet brown sediments on the slope behind me.

As I passed through the slices on the painting, small delicate showers of ice left their trace on my painting. The last two segments of the painting included the view of the new harbour at Rønne (detail at top).

Eventually I moved on, soon reaching the sandy shore at Onsbæk beach, where a wonderful stand of mature pines overlooks the beach. On the beach itself, the lines left by retreating waves left behind a landscape of peaks and troughs.

Already the sun was beginning its journey back to the horizon, and I stopped under the M60 for some lunch. I walked around the pine forest and looked back down on to the beach, where the M60 seemed to be protected by the boughs of the old pines.

At the end of the beach huge boulders, placed there deliberately to hinder the coastal erosion that threatened the houses up on the cliff, barred my way. I decided to try my luck and see if I could reach my destination in front of the Fredensborg hotel. Nearly two hours later, and soaked in sweat after having clambered on all fours over slippery boulders and dead trees, I arrived – easily the most taxing part of the coast I had encountered thus far. In the greying dusk I painted a couple of mallards bobbing in the waves, while the sleety ice periodically left its mark on my paper.

KYST 50

Weather report = Cloudy all day. Periodic sleety showers. Temperature between 1°C and 2°C. Wind between 2 and 3 m/s from the east. Hours of sunshine: 0 minutes.

Lessons learned – my phone batteries last much longer if I keep my phone in my trousers instead of my jacket.

Stops with the M60 = 1

Kilometers walked = 5.52 km

Day lasted = 7 hours, 5 minutes

Birds seen and heard = 17 species (0 new ones = running total 138)

Other stuff = The coast and the weather now completely remind me of my first few journeys, and the sense of closure and circularity overrides everything.

People talked to = 0

In my head – Son in New Zealand, Dad’s operation, the huge library project and impending deadline.