Day 28 Rest Day

Lovely rest day spent with Harry today.

Well, we had to walk around Pendennis which took about an hour because I didn't do it yesterday. But apart from that, chilled in Falmouth, and had a great lunch in the Gylly Beach Cafe.

Waved Harry off around 6pm and have been catching up on my correspondence since!

Up early tomorrow to walk down to the ferry point to take me over to St Mawes & then another ferry to Place.

Decided to keep Rudy with me and booked a b&b for Tues night which is forecast as bad weather. Mum joining me on wednesday night for a couple of days which will be fab.

Vx

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Day 27 Porthallow to Falmouth 18 miles

As luck would have it, it was a beautiful beautiful day for my journey towards Falmouth.

I set off from Porthallow around the headland past Nare Point to Gillan. Here there was either the option to get the ferry or at low tide you can use some stepping stones to get across to St Anthony. I had been asking around about the stepping stones and some people (inc the guidebook) say its possible but other local people said it was really dangerous and it was more than likely you would fall in. Luckily I just about made it so the ferry got me from a different beach and left me on the other side to walk long the beach.

From this point on I had already done the whole walk previously so it was great & very relaxing to walk the path through the woods past little beaches along the Helford River to Helford itself. Unfortunately I just missed the ferry over to Helford Passage which didn't run in the couple of hours around low tide. I now had a wait in Helford for 2 hours which I spent with an early lunch in the pub in the sun chatting to other people waiting for the ferry.

Over the other side I walked along one of my favourite walks ever past Durgan. Oh a bit of excitement there was an unexploded bomb found in the river which was towed out and exploded under control so they were bomb disposal vans in Durgan. The evegreen trees along this part give it a different feel and it was also great to watch the boats sail past. Around to Nansidwell and Maenporth then a very familiar section to Swanpool and eventually Gyllyngvase beach where I met Harry and we went to a lovely b&b where im going to be having a break tomorrow!!

V x

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Day 26 The Lizard to Porthallow 15 miles

A tough day today!

Lyd dropped me back at Lizard Point at about 9.15, it had been raining all night and in the morning, but it had just eased off, and it turns out I didn't see another drop all day.

Around the path it was gorgeous, but I was definitely aware I had the big pack back! Past the wireless station and lifeboat house to Cadgwith. The paths were really muddy after the rain and it took a lot of extra time & energy to walk on them as I was slipping and sliding all over the shop.

Down to Kennack Sands where we've been a couple of times ( always nice to go past places that are familiar) which was a good place to stop for an early lunch overlooking the sea.

Again on a dealt tough rocky path around to Black Head (bad name) where the path became a little easier. Just before Coverack there was the option of "easy, sloping path" or "challenging rocky path"... And I was now a hardcore hiker I chose the latter. This was mistake ...i was climbing over massive rocks in a jungle of vegetation including numerous stinging nettles. Luckily I emerged relatively unscathed.... Only to twist my ankle on a normal path in Coverack. It bloody hurt and there were some unlucky people who chose to chat to me at that time when I wasn't feeling too great! Sorry.

I stopped for a drink and to pick up some lovely heavy cans of dog food as luckily someone told me there wasnt a shop in Porthallow.

Around Lowland Point i dodged some boggy bits and cows to pass a big quarry then onto Godrevy beach. Herr we had to veer inland where I promptly got lost in a field. Through a couple of little villages and fields and finally to Porthallow, which marks the official HALF WAY POINT!!! 315 miles done.

In some ways i feel like 'wow I've done half! That's amazing.. In others i feel like
..' i have all that to do again!!' 

Feel good either way though. Rudy is absolutely pooped today so i am contemplating a rest week for her next week so we'll see how she goes.

Currently lying in my free bed for the night as the generous owners here offered me a free night, as they have a relative affected by MND.

Looking forward to tomorrow as I'm going to Falmouth!!!! Our home for 2 years, i am really looking forward to being there and seeing Harry and having a rest day on Sunday!

Vx




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Day 25 pictures

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Day 25 Porthleven to The Lizard 13.5 miles

We packed up the tent and set off back to Porthleven to park the car.

After a quick bakery stop we went around the coast onto the Loe Bar which i Iove as we used to walk all the time there when we lived down here. Its a strip of sand between the sea and a freshwater lake on the Penrose Estate and its really great.

We were again so lucky with the weather not a drop of rain. Around again to Gunwalloe and Church Cove where Harry worked for a bit so another place i know well. I gave Beaut the farm collie a stroke as Harry used to fuss her when he was here!

We powered on past Poldhu Cove and onto Mullion Cove where there was a little cafe that seemed from the 50's which provided a nice pitstop for lunch.

It was here that Lyd decided she would like to go back and get the car to save her legs and she walked up into Mullion town to get the bus and i carried on round to Kynance. The scenery again today has been wonderful, rugged open cliffs and no more so than Kynance, there were some major verticle drops of the edge, i had to keep an eye on the hound!

It was so awesome to be back at Kynance the most beautiful place ever, and where Harru first worked when we lived in Cornwall. I went up to the carpark to say hello to Lee, his old workmate.

Found out Lyd had missed the first bus to Porthleven so we decided to meet at the Lizard so I carried on round some more dramatic coast to the most southerly point in England. Here me and Lyd managed to cross paths literally, as she headed out on the coast path to meet me at the exact point i went up to the carpark so we had a little cat and mouse game for 45 mins trying to find each other!

Once reunited we went to our campsite, Henrys, which is amazing- palm trees, tiki huts and alpacas. And we've just been in a pub called the Witch Bowl.

A great day!

Vx



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Day 24 Penzance to Porthleven 13.5 miles

After a rainy start we parked up in Penzance & started the 3 mile walk back to Marazion along the sea front. It was the worst weather I've had so far, which isn't saying much but we did get pretty wet.

Through the pretty village which is dominated by views over to St Michaels Mount which is awesome! It looked like a fairy castle on top of the hill especially when the sun shined down on top of it.

We made our way round through some different terrain, some fields & pebble beaches to Perranaruthoe where a timely stop for a cuppa meant we missed a downpour.

Around the rugged and beautiful coastline while the sea appeared alternately stormy and turquoise calm to Praa Sands, a place I've been loads of times before so it was weird to approach from the path. We stopped for some lunch in the SandBar and watched the surfers out the window. Across the back of the dunes and behind the amazing house perched on the end of the cliff and we had about 4 more miles to go to reach Porthleven. We saw some amazing little cottages and surprising mansions on the coast which we explored, and tried to stay on our feet on the slippery coast paths. The mud and rain were quite tiring so we were ready to call it a day when we reached 'Leven.

Jumped on the bus back to Penzance (£6.05!!!!!) to collect car and back to tent for showers. Now in the using the WiFi and going to crash in a min. The rain today is making me realise how lucky I have been so far on my trip, im not sure how much Rudy enjoys being soaking wet, she was shivering when we were back in the tent this evening and I had to wrap her in my sleeping bag. Unfortunately there's now quick way to dry her off once she's soggy and the trek towel isn't much use....

We'll have to see how it goes!

V x

Ps spot the meercat boulder!

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Day 23 Porthcurno to Penzance 11.5 miles

After leaving our fab campsite we drove in Lyd's car back down to Porthcurno and headed straight out onto the coast path.

Again sorry to bang on but the scenery was amazing. There were massive granite (?) boulders the whole thing looked like a prehistoric film set, it was beautiful. It was great to set out wirh Lyd, someone's new enthusiasm is always uplifting.

We walked past Penberth a tiny old fishing village with a massive winch to pull in boats on the slipway. Then around to a magical place called St Loy which was amazing and probably had the best house in the world with a little boulder beach in front and a tropical garden.

We got caught in a rain storm here, which appeared as if from nowhere as it was lovely & sunny, but in general really lucky with the weather again today.

The path was pretty rugged and hard work & we had a fair few hills but none too high. We had a bit of lunch in Lamorna... o.k. we had smoked mackerel and gooseberry dip but a girls gotta eat!!

Around another absolutely stunning headland and we headed into Mousehole, a really picturesque village & harbour with lots of tourists.

From here it was about a 3 mile road walk past Newlyn and into Penzance which I wasn't looking forward to with Rudy on the lead but it turned out not too bad.

We made it to Penzance with an hour or so to spare before our bus so we found a pub and ate some more food and had a cuppa. Bus back to Porthcurno was made all the better as the bus man didn't have change so we rode for free!

Drove back to our campsite in Marazion, and had quite a late one getting supplies & food for Rude. Think we are going to leave the tent up here and camp here tomo so maybe a lie in tomorrow??

V x



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