It was just as we were about to succumb with exhaustion that we finally reached the shore.
The sea! Long before seeing it for the first time, often in childhood I dreamt of the sea. The sea is a flat, calm expanse painted a uniform blue on which one can run to one's heart's delight quite comfortably without getting wet. Unlike the water of streams and rivers, in which one can do no more than warily dip one's toes (any farther is extremely dangerous), one walks on the surface of the sea without sinking in or leaving the least trace; and one proceeds in the same dreamlike glide, experiencing as little resistance as fatigue, to the horizon, which is by no means as far off as they say.
Then one sees what there is on the other side....