Month: Jun 2018

29th June – Porthleven to Combe

Mobile connectivity isn’t great where Neil is in Cornwall so this is Katy blogging for him, based on the email he sent yesterday which didn’t arrive until this morning, and a later phonecall with more details.

Friday

I left Porthleven today at 7.15 but only got to Combe about 5k from Portreath.  I still hope to get to Perranporth tomorrow.

I hadn’t seen many birds so far on the walk but this morning every bird for miles seemed to get together over my tent at 4am and woke me up!

Today I was heading for the north Cornwall coast.  I had intended to use a combination of roads and footpaths, but to my dismay I found many footpaths had disappeared, been planted over with crops, or were otherwise unusable.  So I ended up doing a lot of road walking.

It was excessively hot today and I had intended to buy lunch and fill up with water in Godolphin Cross or Leedstown.  But there were no shops and the only pub had closed down.  I didn’t have enough to eat with me, and ran out of water, so it was hard to keep going.  Finally, on what seemed to be a traveller site, I managed to get water from a kind immigrant who gave me some from his caravan.  This was just as well as even with this extra water, I had pretty much run out when I got to Combe.

At Combe I decided to call it a day.  There is a good basic campsite, with a toilet block and running water – I have drunk several litres of this, and then dinner has been a lovely dehydrated meal…  I’m tired and hopefully will sleep well and be able to get away early tomorrow.

 

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28th June – Greetings from Helston

001 Starting from Lizard
Starting from the Lizard

 

Those of you who have looked at the route will know Helston is not on it. Let’s begin at the beginning.  My room-mates eventually rolled in just after midnight and let the door bang every time they went to the toilets.  Amazingly I slept well and left them sleeping it off at 7.15.

002 Old Lizard lifeboat station
The old Lizard lifeboat station

The weather was fine with a cooling breeze.  Kynance cove soon came and went as did Mullion Cove where I stopped for tea.  Soon after Poldu I could see Porthleven in the distance and thought I would arrive around 1.30-2.00pm.  Little did I know that there had been a cliff fall and I had to walk along the Loe on an hour’s detour.

So why am I in Helston? Simply somewhere before Mullion I had dropped the map.  Tomorrow I cross to the north coast on country footpaths and I need a map.  Porthleven could not supply one, so I have caught the bus here and am now having to wait an hour before the bus back.  I will have no criticism made in future of WH Smith’s who saved the day.  Apart from all this aggravation, the day has gone well, and I know how to find tonight’s campsite and there is a pub next door.  Speaking of which I just have time for a beer before returning to Porthleven.

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27th June – Here at last

000 Starting from Wantage
Setting off from my front door in Wantage

I have finally arrived at the Lizard hostel after a journey that took 10 hours.  The problems started with signal failure at Swindon. I  arrived at Reading after the time that the Penzance train was due to leave.  Luckily that train was half an hour late.  Unluckily the air conditioning was broken.  Not ideal!  I got to Redruth just before 3.00pm to catch the bus only to find that on school days it leaves at 2.55pm and had gone.  The next bus was at 5.00pm.  I therefore was able to get a late lunch/early tea and tried to stay calm.  Anyway I am here now and all set for an early start tomorrow before it gets too hot. Many thanks to Pam who kindly took me to the station.

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