Gez, a friend from my school days, put a post on Facebook that read ‘obsessed is just a word the lazy use to describe dedicated’. Well, in that case, I’ve become dedicated to the South West Coast Path. In October we’ll be 18 months in and the halfway mark will have been reached. However, this trip is to fill in a gaping omission from last November (2017). Due to plantar fasciitis (heel pain to you and me) and my Mother being in hospital, I missed the whole section out and Carolynn missed just a couple of days, while Andrew, Caroline and Lottie completed it.
So obsessed, sorry I mean dedicated, as Carolynn and I are, we decided to come down this week and tick it off. Carolynn has said a number of times that it’s a team effort, but there’s part of me that shouts out, ‘No, you have to do it all.’ It was like summiting Quaqua Aoife in Greenland: I wanted us all to summit together as a team even though the guides insisted that we would all be credited with the first ascent even if we didn’t all arrive at the same time. In the end, the guides agreed I was right, as usual, and we summited together as one.
The section concerned is from Bude to Port Isaac. Not a long section, about 48km, but still not to be missed and as I found out during my three days of walking, one of the hardest sections we’ve completed. Andrew has been known to mention on a few occasions that the path seems to regularly ascend 200 odd metres only to descend back to sea level once the highest point is reached.
The path tends not to do this with humans in mind, in fact, even a mountain goat would probably find this section challenging! The SWCP website writes that you should persevere as the views are spectacular! And so they are if you have either the inclination or energy to look up after doubling over and gasping for oxygen as you reach the crest and as you fall on all fours, to catch your breath, your eyes look in horror at yet another vertical descent and then they roll upwards towards what appears to be an even higher, steeper ascent across the valley!
Enough moaning. Carolynn and I arrived at Bude and walked the fairly easy section to Millook Cove, passing through Widemouth Bay and gently ascending Penhalt Cliff. The only clue about what was to come was the final steep descent into Millook Cove, which is just a scattering of buildings hidden away on a beautiful V-shaped valley.
The following day was just for me to complete, Carolynn had walked this section nearly a year earlier. I did it in reverse, thinking that the further I can get the less I would have to do the following day, whilst walking with Carolynn. So I set out from Port Isaac heading ‘North’ with the sea on my ‘Left’; something was wrong, it just didn’t feel right. As long as the sea was always on our right we knew we were heading in the right direction, so today everything was the wrong way round! I was trying to figure out why it felt so wrong to walk the SWCP in a clockwise direction. There are no books that describe the walk from Poole to Minehead, they all describe it anti-clockwise and the designated starting point always seems to be Minehead! But why? ‘Cos it doesn’t feel right?
The day started with me nearly stepping on this little fella.
This is the only wild snake I’ve ever come across in the UK… glad I saw him before I trod on him.
There are some spectacular rewards for what was one of the most strenuous sections of the SWCP that I’ve walked, climbing up from sea level taking in the views and then climbing back down to sea level again on the other side time and time again. Eventually Tintagel Head and King Arthur’s birthplace came into sight. The romance of King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, Guinevere and the Round Table seemed to be infused in this magical spot. The downside though, full of bloody tourists! My thought was to have lunch here. I decided that King Arthur would understand my reluctance to mingle with all these people, so instead I moved on to a quieter spot 1/2 hour further on. It’s strange how in just a few hundred metres you can lose the crowds!!! Shoes off, socks off and relax in the early Autumn sunshine, with views of the deep turquoise sea pounding the cliffs.
I made Boscastle in good time and met up with Carolynn and Corinne for a coffee and then on to Newton Farm and the day’s end. Heavy squally showers now peppered the coast drenching me on this last section of the day. If there’s going to be any rain, then the end of the day is the best time for it.
Carolynn and I joined forces again on Monday for the last catch-up day from Millook to Newton Farm. Again this was a day of ascent and descent. Man-made paths of unevenly spaced steps, designed to use and abuse every muscle in your leg. My training was kicking in, those ‘slow twitch’ muscles, trained to keep my legs moving, did just that and those ‘fast twitch’ muscles, weren’t required. Apparently a good sign!
A day ahead of time, Carolynn and I finished the ‘catch up’. On the Tuesday we arranged to meet up with Roy at Instow to relax and check that the ‘tide was coming in’. It seemed a while since we’d been on this section of the SWCP, in fact, just over a year ago. In that year, as I’ve mentioned before, there have been many changes. I’ve retired, well almost! Carolynn has had to get used to me being at home more; apparently, I’ve caused her a considerable amount of disruption, knocking any routine she had out the window! Andrew and Caroline have bought a new house in the Cotswolds and Andrew was offered and accepted a redundancy package. Unlike me though, he doesn’t feel inclined to retire… he might change his mind after a few months with the only real pressure being what time do I get up in the morning? It’s certainly been the best decision I’ve made in recent years.
This time we neither finished with a cream tea nor a pint. Instead, we finished with a quiet drink with an old friend as we contemplated the incoming tide on a beautiful sunny day, overlooking Instow Bay!
