19 March 2013: 31km. Started 08:45. Arrived 17:00.
I enjoyed an excellent breakfast complete with delicious home-made preserves. My hostess told me about a recent holiday in Brazil. Her husband was already out training new lifeguards at Perranporth. The weather was sunny as I left and initially there were a few steep climbs.
There are many disused tin mines in this part of Cornwall, blending well into the landscape. Notable are the much photographed remains of Wheal Coates. It is interesting that this industrial archaeology does not detract from, but rather adds to the scenery. Of course there is current opposition to the perceived adverse landscape effects resulting from green forms of power generation such as wind and solar farms. I wonder whether some of this resistance could be overcome by emphasising that much of the scenery we enjoy today is actually a landscape that is heavily influenced by human activity.
As I passed Perranporth, I descended to the beach where it was easier walking than over the dunes. Indeed there was evidence of lifeguard training. The sky clouded over and it became darker; I could see showers of rain as I looked back along the beach so soon I was wearing waterproofs and walking in initially light but then heavier rain.
Next I walked over the cliffs passing along the rather forbidding but clearly marked route through military Penhale Camp. Soon after I arrived at my destination in Crantock.
Again, this was a B&B that I had been to on my South West Coast Path expedition. The recommended pub had now changed to the alternative that I had not gone to on my previous visit. I enjoyed a pleasant chilli con carne.
I also realised that needed to book some more accommodation. For Bideford, this turned out to be a challenge needing several phone calls as many places were occupied by contractors. Fortunately booking the following two nights after Bideford (West Buckland and Exford) was easy. On this type of walk, there is a compromise between booking too far ahead with the possibility of injury leading to needing to cancel / pay for unfulfilled bookings against the risk of there being no vacant accommodation available to book. The timing of the walk had been planned to get out of the busy south west before Easter whilst being late enough to avoid snow as I travelled north and early enough to avoid midges in Scotland. I did have a planned route and knew where I would ideally want to be on each date of the entire journey. In fact I achieved that (apart from one place where I ended up with a very long walk followed by a rest) all the way to the West Highland Way north of Glasgow where I slipped a day behind my plan.
Where's Kathryn? 