I would be fine to walk the cliff path and with any luck I would be able to look down at the beach huts from the top. It might not have been what I originally had in mind, but I was still feeling resolute about making the pilgrimage and sometimes in life you just had to adapt.

I hadn’t trundled much further, however, before it started to rain harder and the wind picked up again, but I kept my head bent low and pushed on, determined not to give in. I knew I was more or less level with the huts and took a cautious step closer to the edge. I could see the roofs and if I took just one step further, I would be able to see behind them, which was exactly where that magical first kiss had happened.

I was just wondering if it might be safer to lay on my front and peep over the edge when I felt a heavy shove in the back of my legs which made my knees buckle and I toppled forward.

In a fraction of a second, which must have been split at least a hundred ways, I saw my entire life flash before me, and then I was pulled backwards and found myself in a heap on the grass with something extremely heavy bouncing all over me.

‘What the hell were you doing?’ I heard someone holler from above.

‘What the hell was I doing?’ I shouted back, scrambling further away from the edge and trying to push away what I now saw was an extremely eager black Labrador. ‘What the hell were you doing, letting your dog run into me like that? I nearly went over.’

‘From where I was standing, it looked as if that was exactly what you were trying to do!’

‘Of course, I wasn’t,’ I bawled back, ignoring the proffered hand and slipping about in the mud, much to the delight of the damned dog. ‘I was . . .’

‘What?’

Finally, on my feet, I took a moment to catch my breath. My entire body began to shake as I realized that time for me had very nearly ended, never mind just jumped back a decade or so.

‘What?’ came the indignant voice again.

‘Never mind,’ I said, pushing the hood further back on my head with a mud-encrusted hand which was far from steady.

‘You’re shaking,’ observed the man, now sounding slightly more concerned than cross, as he tried to attach his still prancing dog to its lead. ‘Look, my Land Rover’s just over there. Come and sit inside for a minute.’

He didn’t wait for me to answer but strode off. I followed on, feeling weak, washed out and exhausted. I had no intention of climbing into a stranger’s vehicle, but I did want to distance myself from the edge of the cliff.