Category: LEJOG – 2017

• Day: 2
• Started at: North Inn, Pendeen
• Finished at: Trevalgan, nr St Ives
• Miles: 12
• Miles from LE: 24
• Duration: 8hrs (9:00-17:00)
• Trig points visited: 0
• Ales imbibed: 0

Packed up a very dew soaked tent and set off to Pendeen Watch with a sore throat ☹️.

An uneventful day on the whole, lots of reminiscing of the Rockhopper trip to Cornwall last year. Revisited a short stretch in the opposite direction from Bosigran to Zennor. Weather very similar – warm sun with a nice cooling breeze. The ups and downs between Gurnard’s Head and Carn Naun Point got a bit tiresome towards the end of the day and I had already done a mental inventory of what I could potentially live without- a lighter bag does mean more enjoyment and not less ‘comfort’. Arrived at Trevalgan and my goodness me, the facilities were closer to a spa hotel than the campsites I’ve become accustomed to. For example last night’s shower was in the corridor between the bar and the pub garden/smoker’s shelter. It was a cold shower, not particularly clean, had people traipsing right outside the door and the smoke wafted in just when you thought you were clean. At Trevalgan it was immaculate (you could eat off any of the surfaces), there was underfloor heating, a hairdryer….you get the idea – chalk and cheese. And I very much appreciated this cheese(!). Although they had no licence to sell beer I did buy some local bacon.

• Day: 3
• Started at: Trevalgan
• Finished at: Churchtown Farm, Gwithian
• Miles: 13
• Miles from LE: 37
• Duration: 7hrs (9:30-16:30)
• Trig points visited: 0
• Ales imbibed: Porthbud, Bude x 1.5

Woke up with a stinking cold…harrumph, ah well I guess I’ll just walk it off. Was sent on my way from Trevalgan with a fresh pain au chocolat and demi-baguette which were very welcome. I headed straight for St Ives Post Office and forward posted on to Bude about 1.9kg worth of kit – if I then don’t need it I’ll post it home from Bude, but this way I have options. Ooh the inclines and declines were definitely easier, I could get used to this. The rest of today’s walk came into view and it looked like a lovely pleasant strole along the beach:

Well, not all was as it seemed.I snuck past the first headland just before the tide, but the Hayle Estuary gets in the way before the next bay. It was very low tide and the estuary looked so tame; ‘surely I can just take my boots off and wade the 5-6meters of shallow water?’. Well apparently there are dangerous strong currents and quick sand, so I took the delightful 3 mile detour through a bit of industrial estate, across a dual carriageway and past other suburban landmarks in order to end up a stone’s throw from where I started. The rest of the day was along the beach so I decided to let my feet breathe, they sighed an almost audible sigh of relief- they’d been let out!

Arrived at Gwithian over the dunes and have headed to the local ‘PH’. Today was mostly flat and either tarmac or sand which was drastically different from Sunday and Monday, let’s see what tomorrow brings.

• Day: 1
• Started at: Land’s End (from Sennan)
• Finished at: North Inn, Pendeen
• Miles: 12(+1) (Sennan to LE)
• Miles from Lands End: 12
• Duration (incl breaks): 7hours – 10am to 5pm
• Trig points visited: 2 (SW354313 & SW363337)
• Ales imbibed: Tribute and Proper Job

Slept well which was a bit surprising, given I’ve had a bit of a nervous tummy for a day or so, with the big day looming. Woke at 8 and lazily packed up, some cursory research informed me that Lands End wasn’t going to be ‘open’ until 10am. And I wasn’t going anywhere until I’d got the obligatory photo taken and my verification form stamped. Adrenaline was pumping as I was filling in the form and my brain was jumping all over place as I tried to remember my own address but I managed!

After a warm, two handed handshake from the photographer at the sign accompanied by well wishes, I was off! At last, it feels like aeons ago that I made the decision to walk the length of Britain and it was finally happening. That adrenaline was still flowing as I headed off and barrelled along for the first 5miles – classic case of starting out too quickly! I soon slowed down.

I took a quick detour to England’s one and only Cape; Cape Cornwall. (I refreshed my knowledge with the correct definition; ‘a headland at which 2 seas converge’.)

Then it was on towards the many mine shafts of Botallack, Levant and Geevor. In the heat of the full sun I was grateful for the cool sea breeze but still applied ample sun cream. I was feeling the difference between my usual wild camping camp and this pack. This pack is definitely heavier. I think I’ll soon be taking a serious look at my kit and jettisoning non-essentials. But, but, but I need it all, hmmm.

I’ve finished up at my target for the day; the North Inn, Pendeen which has a camping field out the back. No sign of any blisters but a few sore joints. Time for a shower, dinner, a stretch and then an early night me-thinks.

Early on in my journey my mild fears of a rough ferry crossing were quashed – the Scillionian had broken down ‘for the first time in 25 years’. I was informed that they would try to get us all on to a flight from Land’s End airport as there was ‘slim chance’ she would sail today. As I got to the front of the queue; ‘sorry the last seat of this morning has just been booked, come back in 2 hours and we’ll see what we can do. We might be able to charter extra flights’. The subtext was; ‘it’s absolutely bloody chaos, we’ve no idea what’s going on so give us chance to figure something out, we just need to wake up all the Cornish pilots’. On my return 2 hours later; ‘sorry no further update but I’ll take your name and phone number and someone might give you a call, if not return in 2 hours’. Having already done too many laps of Penzance I opted to laze about in the sunshine and read my book. The silence was broken with a phone call and I was booked onto a flight at 3, so it was into a minibus and off to Land’s End airport. When we arrived we were told our flight was running an hour late(!) but then I was bumped up to a seat on the next outbound plane with a Saga-type group – with my very overweight luggage but without my confiscated camping gas. (More about that later!)

The flight was an added bonus, a little 17 seater with stunning views and a delightful chit chat with the lady I sat next to. She was a relatively recent widow who had met another widower on the trip and proceeded to tell me ‘I think I’ve pulled!’. This was no Club Med 18-30s…this was an OAP coach holiday, whatever next?!

So I had finally arrived! After pitching up at The Garrison and having dinner with a local ale (Ales of Scilly – Three Sheets) I headed down to the coast to see the historic defenses.

After speaking to Mum and Dad, Scilly produced a stonking sunset and on the way back to the tent I happened upon my local which was in the dungeon of the castle hotel – it was a great pub – and I sampled another Ale of Scilly this time; Dungeon Brew.

The next morning it was off to Tresco to explore. The top half of the island with its 2 castles – one was Cromwell’s the other belonged to King Charles I – was stunning, and felt quite wild. The sea continuously crashed against the rock but the coastline was abundant with seabirds, butterflies and wildflowers – a lovely place for some contemplation. I walked onwards to the capital of Tresco; New Grimsby (via the lovely Ruin Beach Cafe) which was so polished it felt like a model town – a very nice twee one though. I then wandered through the Abbey Gardens which were full of very exotic plants and flowers, were nicely laid out and had long and enticing views round each corner.

On returning to St Mary’s I took a look in the nice gift shops, galleries and imbibed another local ale in the Mermaid Inn (which features quite heavily in the book by the former Scilly policeman!). Once again after dinner there was another fine sunset – a slightly more muted affair compared to the previous night but delightful nonetheless.

Thursday morning I packed up and headed to the Isles of Scilly museum and learnt about the ancient history of this archipelago, some of the large scale shipwrecks that have occurred on the rocks around the islands, gigs, smuggling and much much more. Then it was on to yet another island – St Agnes (and Gugh which is connected by a sand bar at low tide) – where I was to spend my final afternoon and evening on the Scillies. I did a lap of the island(s) and made sure to dip my toe in the sea off the most south westerly point of the most south westerly inhabited island of the UK, I guess this unofficially marks the start of my journey to Unst (where I plan to dip my toe off the most north easterly point of the most north easterly inhabited island of the UK). Snappy journey titles on the back of a postcard please!

Following a nice hoppy beverage at the local, and a little bit of rockhopping out along an isthmus to Burnt Island I reclined in my tent to read and watch another lovely sunset.

This morning the Scillonian was back in full working order however on an amended schedule due to an impending storm coming from the Atlantic so it was an early start and we set off for Penzance at 10:30. It turns out my worries of a rough crossing were well placed. It was grim. The boat pitched and rolled and slammed into the rough seas (gale force 8 was forecast by the met office) and quite quickly everyone turned a shade of green. I was totally consumed by the seasickness for the full 3 hours but fortunately managed to keep my breakfast down. Once we were safely docked into the harbour the staff showed their signs of relief at arriving claiming ‘that was up there’ in the stakes for one of the roughest crossings and would score 15 out of 10!

* Edit: I forgot to finish the story of the camping gas which I surrendered at the airport. Well Graham the check-in guy took it home and looked after it and then delivered it back to me at Penzance backpackers, how nice was that?! Thanks Graham!

So my advice would be go to the Scillies they’re fantastic but take the plane!

Turns out not all the pirates are in Penzance, rather, they have a penchant for Brixham.

I’m in Penzance awaiting a ferry to the Isle of Scilly in the morning…some  feelings of nervousness given it is one of the roughest sea crossings in U.K. waters, and affectionately known as ‘the stomach pump’ or ‘the Sickonian’ (Scillonian). Hmm perhaps a light breakfast for me then.

On the way here I stopped for a few nights with some friends and family in Stoke Gabriel and Brixham respectively. Amongst other things I demonstrated my tent, savoured some fish and chips, and tried to get over just how many pirates you can get in one small seaside town.

Hey ho…well it’s off to the Scillies I go – wish me luck! The adventure for real – sort of – begins…

Currently reading: The Life of a Scilly Sergeant by Colin Taylor.

I’ve got a lot of things to do before I leave and one of those things was to set up a blog, so that’s something I can tick off the list!

So this is my walking blog where I plan to document not just my big adventure for this year; walking Land’s End to John O’Groats this summer, but hopefully many more walks in the future.

I’m off on my final ‘training’ trip with the mountaineering club that I’m a member of; the Rockhoppers. We’re going to the Isle of Arran over Easter and a few of us will be extending the trip to explore the wilds of Jura too. That will also be the first test of trying to post blog entries from the ‘field’ as it were. So come back and visit soon to read about that and LEJOG which I currently plan to commence on May 7th.