This photograph is taken on the opposite side of Cornwall from my shot on Sunday. There couldn’t be a bigger difference in the coastline between the two sides of the coast. In the South, the relatively calm waters of the English Channel make for a millpool-like sea. Here, at Bedruthan Steps on the North side of Cornwall, the Atlantic Ocean crashes against the rocks and beaches providing wonderful surf and spectacularly rugged, dangerous scenery. There is only a maximum of about forty miles between the two coasts but they are worlds apart in many respects. I must say, for me the wildness of the North coast is my preference. You can feel a part of a bigger picture here better than anywhere else I know.

For those who don’t know the UK, Cornwall was known for smuggling years ago, with wreckers standing on shore, guiding ships onto the rocky coastline using lanterns so the locals could gather spoil from the wrecks.

Here, in this picture, the Atlantic is doing its stuff and I know that the friendships I spoke of yesterday are only part of the picture for me. The cyber friends I have made since starting this odyssey have become a really important part of my life too. Many of them are separated from me by the Atlantic Ocean - hence the link. Some though are in other parts of the world and they are all equally important to me.

For whatever reason, people pour their hearts out to me since I started this. I have two cyber friends who have lost loved ones (and one of those was a lover of the ocean so I dedicate this to him.…. his wife will know who I mean). There are people with terrible tales of betrayal and lost love, others with traumas about their careers, there are also many with happy lives but who still want to share their experiences with me. There are many who simply seem to know what I’m experiencing and want to buoy me up when I’m down or struggling with a problem.

It makes me feel honoured and proud to have formed such bonds with strangers and is something I didn’t imagine happening until perhaps fifteen months ago - for some reason that was the time all of this started to take off, even though I had been doing the diary for a long time before that.

Where there is a will, there is a way, as I said to Pete recently - I know that I will someday meet many of my cyber friends. The Atlantic won’t stand in my way. My will is strong and I am resolute in my desire to see the human beings with whom I share my hopes and dreams and many of their hopes and dreams too.

Really I’m trying to say that I have learned this year that friendship comes in many forms, some more obvious than others but all vitally important to me.