The psychological halfway point… Land’s End. Isn’t that the halfway point of the SWCP? It’s the most southerly point and from here we have to turn eastwards and onto the southern coast. Therefore it must be halfway. In my simple mind that’s all that matters. It’s a bit like magnetic north, a ‘lie’. Magnetic north doesn’t point to true north or even grid north. If you followed magnetic north from Land’s End you’d end up miles from the North Pole. But I’ve convinced myself that it is the halfway point of the SWCP and as my partner at work would have said, ‘If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong!’ If you hadn’t already gathered, we walk past Land’s End on this section of our walk. It might not be halfway but it is a turning point, psychologically and physically. From that point on we stop heading in a south-westerly direction and slowly turn to a north-easterly one… unfortunately, though it isn’t halfway, actually it’s only just over a third.
Carolynn and I are on our way back down to Cornwall, to St Ives, our finishing point last time. The first day’s walk is just around the Hayle estuary and a gentle walk through St Ives, a stark contrast to the more rugged sections we’ve completed so far. The rest of the country is suffering high, cold winds and torrential rain… beautiful and sunny here in Cornwall. The wind is, maybe, a little on the chilly side, but near perfect walking weather.
One thing that I’ve never mentioned in all the blogs on the SWCP is parking. Why would I? It’s not a very interesting topic, there are no epic tales to tell about parking a vehicle. It’s just something you have to do. We, unfortunately, have two vehicles to park each day, one at the end of the walk and one at the beginning. Not exactly carbon neutral, but saves using public transport. Let’s face it, public transport generally doesn’t go where you want it to at the times you want it to go. I digress. When starting our ‘Endeavour South West Coast Path’ (a steal from Ed Visteur’s ‘Endeavour 8,000’, the project name Ed gave to conquering all 14 8,000 metre peaks – technically the SWCP is not as difficult, but is for us just as challenging), we did not factor in the cost of car parking! Why would you, surely an insignificant expense? Hell no, it most certainly is a significant expense. There appear to be very few ‘free’ car parks along the trail! You’d have thought that after nine or so trips we’d carry the requisite change, well, you’d have thought wrong. We’re constantly scratching around for pound coins or looking for machines that take credit/debit cards. Andrew and I must have a number of apps on our phones for parking in different areas. We’ve also got a little bit cunning. You can extend your car parking remotely with an app. So we go for the shortest time that the day’s walk should take and then extend as required! Not bad for two old codgers like us, or are we just getting tight fisted in our old age? It does, however, have one flaw… WiFi or a phone signal are required, not overly reliable whilst on the path! The cost of parking has come as a bit of a shock. Beer, food, fuel and accommodation is as expected… but parking has nearly broken the bank (I can hear Stephen sighing and saying ‘yeah right’).
Day Twenty-Four was a nice leisurely walk around the Hayle Estuary on to St Ives Head. It broke in the mind and body ready for the next three days, or so I thought!
Anyway, the following day was over some of the most beautiful countryside so far on the walk. For me, it was one of the best day’s walking along the trail. Take note of the expression ‘for me’. None of the others agreed. Something about constantly climbing over rocks and just a few Nepali Flats!
The guide did say that it was one of the hardest days to date. I thought it can’t be worse than the constant ups and downs of the Devon section, but apparently it was! The walk was through beautiful and rugged lonely coves, as it ebbed and flowed around the sheer cliffs of the Cornish coastline, giving the feeling of remoteness not yet experienced along the trail. Bliss or so I thought.
This day really took it out of Carolynn, so she decided to sit out the third day of this trip, which followed along the ‘Tin Coast’ of Cornwall. Bad days happen to us all, hopefully Carolynn and I will return to complete this missing section.
Unlike the rest of the country, which was having torrential rain, we were blessed with sunshine and lovely temperatures and unlike yesterday the walking was easy with little height gain or loss, just a gradual descent to the coast and the beautiful Sennen Cove.
We walked along the ‘Tin Coast’ and the ghosts of the hard-pressed miners haunted the many derelict pumping stations dotted along the precarious cliff edges. We passed Cape Cornwall, once thought to be the most westerly point, where the Atlantic current splits south towards the English Channel and north towards the Irish Sea.
The day finished where all good walks should finish… at the pub with a cup of coffee and our chauffeur, Carolynn, arriving to take us back to the cottage and a well-earned cream tea… oh yes!
The final day we were all back together once again, with Lottie corralling us, trying to keep us all together. Today we hit our ‘psychological’ halfway point, Land’s End. It feels that at last we’ve turned a corner. Land’s End is exactly how you would expect it to be… full of tourists that are ripped off by a greedy landowner who has made the place a circus, instead of the beautiful remote edge of the British Isles that it is. It’s a shame that the National Trust aren’t the custodians. If you walk just a couple of hundred metres from the hotel and junk shops, you can appreciate the beauty and rugged coastline that is mainly untouched.
The rest of the day was a steady walk along the cliff top to Porthcurno and the famous Minack Open Air Theatre. Then a quick drink, say our goodbyes and the long drive home, to return again in early July. Approximately 586km to go!
