Flood defence structure, Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset
No mention of cameras, photographer Quintin Lake talks of his hiking gear: a Zpacks rucksack of Cuben fibre fabric – strand for strand stronger than steel – with its ‘Arc’ frame tailored to fit. And a Terra Nova tent: the double lining’s crucial for the driving rain and gales encountered when you spend a week a month walking the UK coastline. Lake’s almost halfway into his 10,000km journey, started and set to finish at St Paul’s Cathedral; one always conducted alone, in a clockwise direction. He might meet nobody for days but keeps moving towards his 2020 goal; just thinking, observing and recording. He walks at night too, with a head lamp, and has seen the moon reflected perfectly in the sea’s breezeless doldrums; or, as the waves foam white and black, watched its mirrored craters dashed on the rocks. The effort, he feels, is a form of meditation on his place in this isle, this culture; a prayer wheel of one giant revolution.
Follow Quintin’s journey at www.theperimeter.uk