Day 114 - Sunday 19 September 2004 - Sennen Cove to Geevor Tin Mine, Pendeen

 9 miles walked today

1194 miles walked in total (10.473 average)

I started walking today at 10.30 am with some trepidation.   Apart from one eight miler around Windsor Great Park with Sam recently, I've done nothing since July when we did the Oxfam Trailwalker event.  Sarah, Mark, Andy and I took part and three of us finished the 62.5 mile ordeal in twenty-six hours and eighteen minutes.  Sadly, Andy didn't finish as he was in Brighton General Hospital with a suspected fractured ankle.  Luckily, it was no more than a very badly swollen sprain.  Our team raised in the region of £3,000 which will build a school room in Nepal.

My brain's totally scrambled at the moment - Andy's working in Iraq and won't be back until the middle of December.  And I was given a bombshell on Thursday when I was informed my job was at risk and I needed to apply for my own job and complete a redundancy consultation questionnaire.   Nothing like a bolt out of the blue.  Consequently, this holiday has come at an excellent time and I'm looking forward to emptying my head - won't be too difficult for me!

However, so empty is my head already that I forgot to pack some food, only filled my water bottles halfway and discovered my camera battery had run out at Sennen.  Marvellous.

Undeterred, I set off from Sennen and strode out along the clifftops, watching Mum and Dad saunter around Whitesands Bay on the beach.   I was very envious.  There were loads of surfers out today and a number of walkers on the coast path.  Not surprising as it's been a belter today - very sunny and quite warm.

I had to do quite a lot of rock climbing today which was quite tricky.   The colours have been intense - the blue of the sea, the yellow of the gorse and the pinky purple of the heather - lovely!

At Porth Nanven the path cut inland to avoid a stream.  The official path was quite difficult to find today as there were so many different tracks.  I figured that, if I stayed on the higher path, there wouldn't be so many up and downs.

It wasn't long until I came to Cape Cornwall.  I discovered today that this is only one of two "capes" in Britain - the other being Cape Wrath in Scotland.  And, to have the honour of being referred to as a cape, a sticky out piece of land must have a different body of water on either side.  Not sure whether we're talking Atlantic, Irish Sea or Bristol Channel though - need to do some more research.

The views were superb and there were a lot of people climbing up to the monument - the chimney marking the 19th century Cape Cornwall tin mine.   I stopped here for a cup of tea, a cheese toastie and some nutty banana cake.  I don't think I've ever been so pleased to spot a tea van.

From here, it was only a couple of miles through tin mine relics - Wheal Edward (Wheal is a Cornish word meaning "works"), the Crowns, Botallack, Levant and Geevor.  All the while I could see the gleaming white buildings of Pendeen Watch lighthouse.  Unfortunately, I lost the path again and ended up wandering around the Geevor tin mine and tagged onto the end of a guided tour being given to a bunch of tourists in hard hats and hi vis jackets.   Blimey, it's like being back at work!

So I decided to call it a day and head off for sustenance in the tea rooms.

Brilliant day, very pleased with progress.

Day 113 - Sunday 30 May 2004 - Lamorna to Porthcurno

 6.5 miles walked today

1185 miles walked in total (10.486 average)

I'm staying in Porthcurno for a couple of nights so, instead of driving to Lamorna, I sussed out the bus times instead.  The only bus from Porthcurno today left at 10.20 am and dropped me inland at 10.40am. I had a brisk mile walk to get me to the cove where I could pick up the coast path.

It was pretty much all rock climbing again - which I love.

At Tater-du lighthouse, four of us held a walkers' convention! I walked ahead with one chap, while the other couple lagged behind.  My companion lives in Southampton and does a lot of walking in the New Forest with his six year old daughter who can already walk eight miles.  She's a joy to walk with apparently, although "she talks too much"!

We had an uphill bit to St Loy which is where I lost my new friend - I'm too slow on the hills!  I walked through a wooded area and the path was very muddy and bordered with bluebells, mallow, foxgloves, the ubiquitous gorse, thrift and giant daisies. St Loy itself was fantastic - no beach to speak of - just hundreds upon hundreds of boulders.  So I found myself the tallest I could see and sat down for a break in the sun. I think St Loy has now become my favourite beach in the world - I love rock climbing!

There's been no depression today - I spent all my time concentrating on the scenery and none at all on rubbish such as the work situation at the moment.  In fact, I regained my sense of humour totally today and caught myself laughing when I tried a tricky two-step over a pile of rocks and fell over.  Hope no one was watching!

As I came up over the cliffs and down to Porthguarnon, I heard a cuckoo. We heard our first cuckoo a few weeks ago when we went fishing - we'd been told years ago that you never hear a cuckoo before 25 April.   And we never have.   Until this year - we heard our first on 24 April, but, as Andy pointed out, it's a Leap Year and our feathered friend had obviously forgotten to adjust his calendar. 

Huge rhododendron bushes covered the cliffs as I walked.  How did they get there?

I came down into Penberth and sat down for a while and had another suntan lotion application.  Man, it's been hot!  No sign of all the rain that's been forecast.  It was a quick up and over Treen Cliffs to Porthcurno - scene of many delirious summer days spent with Sam many years ago - when we were unburdened by mortgages, responsible jobs and boyfriends!  I didn't go out to Logan Rock - I didn't feel the need to - I'd tried to climb up to it once before to rock it and I'd failed dismally then.  Instead, I sat on the beach for a couple of hours with my book - by this time the beach was beginning to empty.  I don't remember it being this crowded all those years ago? Mind you, Sam and I probably scared them all off back then!

I'm going to call a halt to walking this weekend now - I'm back to walking in sequence again as I've done the missing bit.  I'll leave early tomorrow to get a headstart back to Heathrow and hopefully beat all the other bank holiday traffic.

So then, another break until September. I've got to concentrate on the South Downs Way now - in July, four of us are doing the Oxfam/ Gurkha Trailwalker Event - sixty miles in thirty hours.  Why?!!

Day 112 - Saturday 29 May 2004 - Penzance to Lamorna

 6 miles walked today

1178.5 miles walked in total (10.522 average)

Apart from a crippling eleven and a half miles in four hours last Saturday, I haven't done any walking since Easter.  Today's guidebook grading was "easy, then strenuous".  But I found that even the easy bit today was a slog and I was very tired.

I left Penzance at about 9.30 am and started off along the prom past the harbour, lighthouse museum and art deco open air swimming pool along to Newlyn.  I really like Newlyn - it strikes an uneasy balance between industrial and arty but managed to pull it off really well  As I gazed into the windows of all the art galleries, all I could smell was fish!

It wasn't long until I was at Mousehole - this next stretch was also on pavement - and when I got there, I sat on the harbour wall and soaked up the sun for ages.  There were lots of people about - it's half term week and a bank holiday weekend and, despite the dire weather forecasts, there'd been a lot of camper vans and tin tents on the A30 when I drove down yesterday.

From Mousehole, I was on coast path proper which was much easier on the feet than the pavement pounding.  The path went through fields and cut up and down to the sea and involved quite a lot of clambering over rocks.  The sun was very warm, although there was a refreshing breeze and the bit through Kemyel Crease Nature Reserve - which was wooded - was a joy to walk through.   Shame it was only a short distance though!

As I came round Carn-du headland, I could see right down to Lamorna Cove and sat and watched all the waves crashing spectacularly onto the rocks which were very even and square in shape and size - it looked almost manmade.

I was really tired as I came down to beach level - mentally more than physically.  It's been a horrible week - we've lost a close friend and a much loved auntie this week so have had two funerals in four days - and work's a pile of shite at the moment.  I just wanted to sit down and do bugger all.  So that's what I did!  I sat on a bench and read my book, which I'd packed especially for such a purpose.

I find it quite hard to do nothing - even when we came down at Easter for two weeks, I only took two days off from walking and felt really guilty about it.  So it was a real luxury to sit in the sun and read - I'm trying to educate myself to do less.   It's not much, but it's a start!

Day 111 - Thursday 15 April 2004 - Porthcurno to Sennen Cove

 6.5 miles walked today

1172.5 miles walked in total (10.563 average)

Today, I've walked out of sequence again.   Due to the parlous state of Sam's feet, my general tiredness and the fact that Andy drove down last night and would be walking with us today, we took the soft option that would get us round Land's End.

We started at 9.38 am (according to Andy's watch!) in dry, but very grey and windy conditions.  The path has been very up and down and quite rocky until we got nearer to Land's End when the paths became more numerous.   Andy likened it to walking along the M6, especially when he spotted diversion signs.  (Andy had his new walking trousers on - "solar dry" - he commented that the solar panels in them would give him more energy and he could go further!)

We heard lots of eerie howling noises, but this part of the coast is littered with caves and it was just the wind whistling through.  We passed the collapsed cave at Hella Point - our guide book referred to it as a "spectacular hole".  Certainly was!   We walked on to the Tol-Pedn-Penwith lookout station and the coastguard in the observation tower waved at us as we approached.

The rain came down as we headed down to Mill Bay, Nanjizal, and we hid in a very smelly cave until we'd got our waterproofs on.  The scenery, already very dramatic, got more so with the huge waves crashing against the cliffs.  As we headed up to the hotel for a drink, Andy challenged me to a race up the hill so we ran as fast as we could.   However, halfway up the hill, I stopped and was laughing so much that I fell over!

After our stop, Andy went off to buy a waterproof and ended up with a white plastic cape much to Sam's amusement and mine.  We went off to find the sign people and got our photo taken with the post declaring "Cley Windmill - 1,171 miles".   (I'd done a quick calculation this morning to be as accurate as possible.)  We did make Andy take his poncho off before the official photo though!

Sam and I decided to run to Land's End and, although we had quite a headstart, PonchoMan still managed to overtake us and sprint to the edge - probably because he didn't have a rucksack weighing him down.

From here, it was a quick one mile stretch to Sennen Cove and, as we walked into the village, we met Mum and Dad driving in.  So it was off to the Old Success Inn - quite fitting really for the end of a great walking fortnight - for a jar and a pasty before driving back to Sancreed, where Sam and I wandered up to the church for a look around.

A brilliant day - quite trying walking conditions, but fantastic scenery, wonderful company and hugely entertaining.

Day 110 - Wednesday 14 April 2004 - Porthleven to Penzance

14 miles walked today 

1166 miles walked in total (10.6 average)

At 9.30 am, Sam and I were walking.  At 9.35 am, we stopped for Sam to attend to her blisters!

The first stretch was in fields out to a memorial cross to all those who have lost their lives along this stretch of coast.  We had an exciting time of it this morning.  In addition to all the wild flowers and birds we've already spotted, we saw a kestrel hovering very low over the cliffs, a raven, two shelduck, lots of buzzards and a kitten!

As we got round to Rinsey Head, a Royal Navy helicopter came over and hovered over the mines on the cliff edge, not before the crew had waved to us from the chopper and made Sam's day!  

On top of this, numerous jets were bombing about above us and then we watched the chopper carrying out a winching/ rescue exercise.  All this excitement was too much and we had to sit down for elevenses and a celebratory one hundred mile banana!

After just a short sitdown we headed around the cliffs to Wheal Prosper and then down through Lesceaves Cliffs towards Praa Sands for an ice cream.  The path had disappeared due to crumbling cliffs so we had a steep tarmac down into the holiday village behind the beach - Sam practically jogged down the hill, all the while looking back to the huge house at Rinsey Head that she planned to buy using her lottery winnings when she finally struck lucky.

From Praa, I saw the house I wanted to live in at Bessy's Cove - it was enormous and right on the beach.  To get there though, we had to encounter a cavorting couple on the path and then Sam had an emergency blister appraisal on the path too.  We imagined ourselves living in these houses at each end of the bay and the signals we'd be able to send each other such as "kettle's on", etc.  As we drew nearer to my house, we heard music being played and figured it was a music school.  I don't walk in my specs so thought I saw a chap coming towards us on the path with an enormous rucksack, but it turned out to be a cello!

From Bessy's Cove which had the most amazing colour water, it was an uphill then to Cudden Point where we got our first view of St Michael's Mount so stopped to eat the rest of our rations.

From here on, we were on field edges around to Perranuthnoe where we saw giant cauliflowers being harvested by being loaded onto a conveyor belt on a farm tractor.  After some more field walking round to Marazion, we had to negotiate a "massive iron ladder" according to the guidebook, but which turned out to be a normal metal staircase down to the beach, followed by some boulder hopping before climbing up the opposite ramp and then some more uphill tracks to the main street in Marazion.

We were really tired by now, but determined to have a cream tea.  We staggered down to the village and found an art gallery, some postcards and our cream tea, which we couldn't actually eat because we were full - blimey!

We ambled out of the cafe and around to Penzance, all the time gazing back at St Michael's Mount.  The path was horrendous - all tarmac and gravel - and our feet were already tired before we embarked on the last three mile slog of the day.

It's been very challenging today - lots of different terrain to walk on - including lots of tarmac and some sand too - never easy to walk on.  The weather's been very sunny, but quite chilly so the fleeces have been on and off all day.

However, it's been a very good day - our average mileage is enormous now!

Day 109 - Tuesday 13 April 2004 - Lizard Point to Porthleven

 14 miles walked today

1152 miles walked in total (10.568 average)

Sam and I were ready to start at 10.00 am this morning, but, after a leisurely stroll down to Lizard Point, the most southerly point in Britain, from the village and a mooch in some of the serpentine shops, we started properly at 10.30 am.  In the late 1800s, there used to be a works on the Lizard at Poltescu which employed 100 people to make mantelpieces and shopfronts for London and Paris.  Now, there are half a dozen workshops producing ornaments for tourists.

We had just over a two mile walk to Kynance Cove over open heathland - lovely and springy to walk on.  We passed several Highland cattle and Dexter cattle - these are being introduced to the area to cut down on scrubland and because they're generally quite docile creatures and will tolerate people in their space.  Their poo feeds beetles, spiders and ants and these, in turn, are what the Cornwall Chough Project hope will entice the birds back to Cornwall.  The chough is included in the county's coat of arms alongside the miner and the fisherman, reflecting the bird's importance in Cornish culture.

Kynance was quite exciting as we had to head down into the cove through narrow channels between rocks and the tide was in!   We sat for ages in a semi cave, picking up rocks which we thought were jasper (but were probably serpentine), dipping them in water to see how bright the colours were before deciding which ones to keep.  I personally could have spent all day in this endeavour, but Sam was desperate for ice cream so off we trotted.

From Kynance, we were back on open heathland - past more Highland cattle.  We saw sea campion, early purple flowering orchids, thrift, violets and primroses.  We also identified land quillwort from Sam's book of wild flowers of the Lizard.

We had a tough climb at Gew-Graze so sat for a while and stocked up on yoghurt and biscuits before heading round Soapy Cove (which made us both laugh!) and Predannack to get us into Mullion Cove.

After lunch in the cafe at Mullion Cove (where the staff, for some reason, were singing hymns in the kitchens!), we had loads of up and down walking to Polurrian Cove, Poldhu Cove, Church Cove and Gunwalloe Cove.  We had arranged to meet Mum and Dad at Porthleven at five and it was already that time so we needed to crack on.

From Gunwalloe, we had some fairly even walking down to Loe Bar.  This is a long bank of fine shingle which separates the Loe, a freshwater lake more than a mile long, from the beach.  It's the scene of many a shipping disaster and there is a memorial on the beach to those who died on the frigate, Anson, which was driven onto the sands in 1807 losing one hundred men.

I told Sam I felt like Lawrence of Arabia trekking across this sandbank which seemed to go on forever.  I think perhaps I'd had too much sun and not enough water - although quite a lot of my water had been used to clean rocks this morning!

It was a quick up and down then from the Loe Bar into Porthleven and, as we came down to the church on the harbour, Dad was waving us in and Mum was asking very indignantly, "what time do you call this?!"

We adjourned to the Harbour Inn for a celebratory jar before fish and chips in the car.  What a fab day!

Day 108 - Monday 12 April 2004 - Porthoustock to Lizard Point

 15.5 miles walked today

1138 miles walked in total (10.537 average)

I left Porthoustock just before ten - the divers were already on the beach ready to go exploring the Manacles reef.   We'd driven through St Keverne to get out to the coast and my guidebook said the churchyard in St Keverne had over four hundred graves of people killed in shipwrecks off the Manacles.

I had a bit of road walking before finding a farm track which took me down to Godrevy Cove and then out to Dean Quarry.  While not the prettiest scenery, it was very well signposted and quite interesting, although you could almost taste the quarry dust.  The path round to Coverack was very muddy, but had huge great boulders to scramble over to avoid the wet patches.  I'd seen smoke billowing as I'd walked along but thought nothing of it.  However, as I came down into Coverack itself, the lane was blocked by a fire engine and the firemen waved me through.  A little further on, I passed two ladies who commented that it looked like Nigella's place.  Blimey!   Perhaps the domestic goddess had burned her cakes!

I sat in Coverack for a while and watched the windsurfers in the harbour before heading onwards up a monster hill over rocks and through gorse.   It was really tough.  My guidebook said today would be "moderate, strenuous in places".  That would be a strenuous bit then!

I saw lizards, stag beetles, ladybirds, Shetland ponies and only a handful of walkers on the path.  I was surprised by this as it's a fantastic stretch to walk and it's a bank holiday.

The path was tough as the rocks were all serpentine, as were the stiles, which is quite slippery, even in dry weather.   However, once on the top, the path was pretty level and very open.   Lovely to walk on.

I got down to Kennack Sands at about three - I was very hot and quite sunburned.   I popped into a cafe for a drink and a sit down before heading out into the sun again.  There were even people swimming in the sea.

From here, I was on a golf course and then through fields again to get round to Cadgwith, a really pretty little fishing village.  It was quite a hike up from Cadgwith and I knew I was on the home stretch to Lizard, although it seemed to take forever.  As I rounded Housel Bay, I saw a familiar figure - Sam!  She'd rung me earlier to say she was at Penzance with Mum and Dad and that they would meet me at the lighthouse.

It was just a short stretch round to the lighthouse then to meet Mum and Dad before heading to the Top House for a jar.

What a fantastic day - my mileage has gone right up because of today.

(I sent Sheila a text message to say I'd done 15.5 miles and I got one back from her saying "Blimey, was it all downhill?"  Blinking cheek!)