So, I’m all done. Cornwall has been circumnavigated, as it were. At least, all the sea-y bits have been! And a stunning and wonderful experience it has been; if anyone out there is wondering if they should hit the South West Coast Path, the answer is indisputably yes. (As long as you have comfy footwear, waterproofs, sunscreen, hair that can be kept out your face in the wind, a plentiful supply of jelly babies and a liking for Roskilly’s ice cream, obviously.) I can’t quite believe it’s all done – seemed to go so fast.
Having hit Plymouth and the Cornwall-Devon border (south) at the end of June with admirable assistance from Dean, Louise, Rachael and Baz, I sampled the delights of a city-sized selection of possible lunch venues – I didn’t quite know what to do with all the choice. We opted for River Cottage canteen which had some very good fish and chips and some seriously good cider. Annoyingly, I forget the name. All very nicely rounded off with afternoon tea (more food!) in Plymouth Barbican and champagne (more booze!) in the evening sunshine on Plymouth Hoe. Great stuff.
But not quite all finished yet! I then had a two-week sojourn back in Wimbledon to keep an eye on Andy Murray and make sure he won the tennis, and returned to Cornwall just as the summer really got into its stride (how good to be able to say that) to finish off The Great Tramp.
Waterproofs very satisfyingly stayed in the bag for the next two weeks, as I returned to Porthcothan and headed north towards Marsland Mouth and the county border – with the sea on the other side! Most peculiar. However, even my sense of direction can handle “keep the sea on the left now rather than the right”, so thankfully there was no need to panic and I happily toddled off northwards.
Fabulous though all the B and Bs were, it was a treat to be based in the lovely Little Pityme with Mum for the first week back walking. Really enjoyed the time there and am very grateful for all the ferrying about among various walk spots. Was a Very Good Thing Indeed to have the flexibility provided by the car and be able to rejig walks a bit when my knees decided to register their displeasure at being launched into 25 miles in two days after two weeks of watching tennis. (Yes I realise some people regard that as a single day’s walk…)
And finally I was joined by Emily – who tackled many climbs in blazing sunshine, plenty of head-staggery moments and various random bulls in fields with admirable aplomb – for the final three days of walking and the completion of the round-Cornwall challenge. Ahead of the final day we did encounter a weather-beaten local who said “ooh that’s a tough walk”, which is generally a warning sign to be heeded. But, armed with ignorance of what *exactly* was involved (and a bee costume for me), we set off relatively undaunted and arrived at the Cornwall-Devon border (north) several hours later via a number of decent valleys in the sunshine, one bull field (sans bull, thankfully, as we had wandered through said field to find a sign re bull on the exit stile only…), truly spectacular scenery and a field of fat ponies.
What a moment it was to reach the little wooden border sign! Who knew signage could be so pleasing a sight. Sad too, though, in a way – what to do with myself now?! The immediate challenge however was to find The Old Smithy pub in Welcombe. Which is a fabulous place, and a very good thing that is too as the final slog up a long concreted track in baking heat and pestered by horse flies came close to inducing a sense of humour failure, but soon we were happily established with long cold drinks in a garden with a sprinkler (very welcome on a hot day) waiting for a taxi (oh the luxury of moving at car speed!) to transport us back to Bude for dust removal and a celebratory dinner and bottle of vino, and a chance to reflect on the miles covered (a fair few).
The End.
(for now, at least. This post is long enough, so here’s a picture of the bee costume and ta-ra for now!).
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