Day 31 - Lulworth Cove, Kimmeridge Bay, Kimmeridge, Worth Matravers

Friday 16th August
Total: 614+m  / Daily: 22m  / Heavy Rain + Overcast  / Odd Day
(again, more published on yesterday's entry)

It was windy this morning, just as well I had staked my tent down properly. However, I have now learnt (from my mistake) how to take it down in high wind. Not disconnecting the material from the pole first was a huge mistake, the tent flew up in the air, the pole snapped and the material blew into (and impaled on) a nearby barbed wire fence. Not to worry, I can fix all damage and it will hold for one or two more nights for sure. I passed Duffle Door, Stair Hole and Lulworth Cove early with very few people people around. The mist was coming down and it had began to rain.

As the inclines grew steeper, the rain fell harder and I was actually tested at one point in Lulworth Military Range when I had a choice of path with no obvious way of distinguishing which was right. Visibility was about 10metres and following the path nearest the coast wasn't for sure the right option as there had been a turning earlier which wasn't the coast path (there was a sign that time). It wax raining hard and the strong wind high up meant that if I stopped moving I started getting cold (I think that is the first time I've used that word!). The path was slippery and I did fall once, fortunately my fall was cushioned by a tuft of grass. Anyway, I took the wrong path which in the end led to a 2 mile addition to the section. A map would have avoided this completely.

Strange place the military range: constant signage reminding walkers to stay on the path; regular no entry signs; wrecked tanks; APCs; trucks; large areas of black dead scrub, this was a serious range! Kimmeridge Bay was disappointing despite an impressive wildlife conservation centre hidden away in the bay. If the flags flying have pictures of coffee and ice cream, then it had better sell coffee and icecream! The only thing I could buy was conservation pencils, badges and other non edible paraphernalia...

Big diversion took me inland to Kimmeridge village and across a hill to Kingston. The pub on the way was a welcome break to dry off, warm up and feel a little more domesticated. This had been the most harsh weather yet but it calmed down as I tucked into beef and chorizo curry and the afternoon + evening walking was much more pleasant.

Day 29 - Seatown, West Bay, Abbotsbury,

Wednesday 14th August
Total: 566+  / Daily: 22m  / Mist & Showers /

I woke to voices but I could only just see the sun rising in the gap between the ground and my fly sheet. Being on a high point this meant it was a little before the 'official' sunrise time, surprising to hear others at that time. After getting up and hearing the snippets of conversation for 10 minutes, I realised they were coming from the caravan park below, a couple of miles away. The wind conditions must have been perfect for it. It was bizarre to look at tiny specs and hear words.

I took a decent break in a cafe in Bay West called Ellipse watching the rain and wind steadily increase outside. I hadn't planned on eating, just a phone charge and coffee but like usual, that plan went out the window. 11m from here to be on track for the early finish, however there are quite a few serious climbs in a couple of days. Yesterday's 27m has put me ahead, I'll try and maintain that. 'The clouds roll in, it starts to rain, I put my waterproofs on. It's blowing a gale, my spirits fail, I try to sing this song ....' (reference to the song from Day 20). Time to venture outside!

The afternoon was fairly uneventful. It rained a lot and I walked alongside the everlasting Chesil Beach. The path goes inland as the beach is a frustrating 7 miles of shingle with no way off except the ends. It is also closed at this time of year for the bird nesting season. The inland path snaked its way around the edges of farmland and arrived at the edge of The Fleet (the large lake formed by Chesil beach). The decibel level certainly suggested there was a lot of birds but I didn't see a great deal more than usual, the fact that I was hiding in my waterproofs might have had something to do with that. My guide often uses the words 'seaward' and 'landward' when describing the path and I was hoping it would suggest walking on the Fleetward side, but that you can go your own way ...

I walked for far too long today and found myself walking on the pavement of the A354 by streetlight at 9pm. I'd eaten earlier beside one of the 5 caravan parks that I passed today and wasn't massively hungry. I was on the hunt for somewhere to sleep but didn't want to pitch to close to a road. The path passed dangerously close to a Chinese take away and I left with a bag of prawn toast.

What happened next broke just about all of my walking rules and would have been comical to watch, fortunately there was no one else around. The path climbed steeply out of the town and I walked with my headtorch on guiding the way (having left the streetlights behind). The prawn toast was swinging wildly on one arm as I was using my poles and the other arm struggling to hold onto its pole whilst looking on Google Earth for nearby grassy spots. I was eating the prawn toast and singing 'Portland by Middle Brother' whilst climbing the steep path with an edge on one side. I was in a surprisingly good mood and found a great spot next to a diversion sign on the edge of an old quarry. (Navigating a diversion in the dark would have been a disaster).

Day 20 - Dowry, Polruan, Polperro, Looe

Monday 5th August
Total: 391+m  / Daily: 18m  / Rain / Composer

It rained all morning. I met a couple walking the opposite direction who were also thinking of doing the 6 mile section I was heading towards but said 'not in the rain'. Cliff and Karen, thank you for your support, and yes, it was rather muddy/slippery in the rain. My poles helped a lot!

Polperro is a lovely little harbour town with tiny thin streets and has a rabbit warren feel about the place. My boots hadn't dried from yesterday and the rain slowly seeped its way into left boot, it began squelching. The heritage museum had lots of spare newspapers which I stuffed into both boots and wrung my socks. I think I'll order up my spare boots from base camp, perhaps sent to Salcombe for the Blitzkrieg assault I have planned on the last 10 days.

Spent two hours in a cafe (£100 per week!) wondering if the rain would stop. It didn't.

I composed my own set of lyrics to a song today. The original is by The Tallest Man on Earth, called Love Is All . Haven't got the guts to post the new lyrics to the world just yet.

Not a thrilling entry, but it rained a lot.

Oh, and the end came off the duct tape pole, wearing down the plastic now.

Day 19 - Gorran Haven, Mevagissey, Charlestown, Par

Sunday 4th August 

Total: 372+m / Daily: 18m / Rain / Requesting an Undulator

An undulator is an escalator which undulates. I needed one of these today as energy levels were a little low following the late nights and the repeated up and down was hard going. The undulator would be free of charge and provided by Cornwall County Council to encourage visitors to experience the stunning coastline it has to offer, specifically those who are unable to walk the path. The Undulator would be a world first and would move at a steady 3mph and be wide enough for two people, allowing users the option of standing or walking. There would be special platforms every 15 minutes which are covered are have hydraulic arms to keep the platform level. This could be used to set up a sleeping pad + bag, meaning that no time is wasted sleeping, based on 8 hours sleep a night, that's 24 miles! As you see from the amount of thought I put into it, I didn't appreciate the undulating coastline today.

It rained a fair amount today. Forecast has it clearing towards the end of the week and I managed to keep dry under waterproofs. Left foot did become a little damp which is worrying as there are no apparent holes in my boot, failed goretex? I'll see what happens tomorrow but my view or waterproof boots might be changing. I think I'm going to try something which isn't waterproof but does dry quickly in the future, that would also remove the need for overtrousers (if it's warm enough).

Yesterday was the first successful day that I didn't spend anything on 'non essentials'. I celebrated that success today with a full cooked breakfast and cream tea. Whoops! I'm funding the walk myself to enable all donations to go to Prostate Cancer in full and I've given myself the figure of approx. £100 per week to spend. This will cover food/ferry/cleaning but will certainly not stretch if I continue with the coffee and cake intake!

Cakes so far: coffee, coffee & walnut, lemon drizzle, date slice, chocolate, cream tea, apple and cider, millionaire shortbread, victoria sponge.

Slept in a wood on Gribbon Head just down from the Daymark tower. It was very windy and the trees provided welcome shelter.

Day 13 - Zennor, Pendeen

Total: 246+m / Daily :18m  / Rain clearing to Blue Skies / Tired

Tired after yesterday's huge day. Lots of mining works today and I passed Levent mines which had one of the first beam engines installed to pump water. Trevethick's (sp.?) influence spread very quickly across all of industry with steam really firing the industrial revolution into action. I had a brief look around the museum and studied the inch:foot working replica desparately trying to understand the rod operated value system which equalise pressure in the cyclinder. I finally got it, much easier to understand than the incredible beam engine on the Kennet Canal, that rod system blew my mind with its complexity.

Fell asleep behind a wall in the shade and fell asleep again whilst taking a break from the 'oh so hard' task of pitching my tent. It was windy all day today, I think that constant exposure to the elements helped to sap my energy. Not the case for Annie at Cape Cornwall car park! This national trust representative is exactly what is neded at such a bleak and exposed bit of land. We had a lovely chat about life/IoM/Cancer etc. and I was able to fill my water bottles there. Thank you so much Annie for brightening my otherwise rather dull day, expect that postcard once I return home in a month.

Camped next to a mine shaft and it rained for most of the night.

Day 12 -St. Agnes, Porthtowan, Portreath, Hayle, St. Ives

Total: 232+m / Daily:28m  / Constant Wind, Regular Showers / 1x Pod of Dolphins

Busy day today, a total of 29 miles which certainly wouldn't have happened if I didn't bump into the Coaster Crew part way through the morning, in Porthtowan I think it was. Sarge was eating chocolate, Nick, a pork pie and Nog consulting maps. (reread that last sentence as a list of things Sarge was eating, haha!). I suppose it was subconsciously because others were eating, but I got rather hungry and pulled out my bag of trail mix I had created in Aldi in Newquay. I was promptly slated for eating bird food, but to hell with 'em, it's tasty stuff. It contains peanuts, cashews, hazelnuts, almonds, raisins, dried: red & green apple, mango, pineapple & kiwi. I have 1kg of it, that's the only downside. I will attempt to take this entry chronologically:

I saw a pod of dolphins this morning, or rather, a man saw them and pointed them out to me. I saw a man running round the headland and assumed he had lost a dog or something. He said he'd been following them for a couple of days and they'd just passed us. I turned around and walked back along the path for 5 (back, I know!) minutes and sure enough, at the next outcrop we could see 10-15 of them, jumping out of the water heading east.

I passed a DoE bronze group a little later slogging their way up a hillside of a valley. They are all part of the Air Cadets and I saw a couple of other groups throughout the morning, it must be DoE weekend. One of the lads, Christian, said they had learned about prostate cancer in school and what a great charity it is. Christian then began routing around for a donation. His fellow cadets also donated and I am very thankful for their support. Christian donated mostly in coppers which added a fair weight to my bag for the day and I'll spare you the embarrassment of the story regarding why it was all coppers in case you read this Christian! I'm glad I bumped into their assessor further up the path and was able to share what a credit to their organisation that group are. (One bit of advice: get cracking with the service/skill/sport, that's the one that will hold up your progression through the award scheme.)

Approaching lunchtime, I arrived at the everlasting sands near Hayle. It was spitting with rain and progressively getting harder. I took shelter in a lovely sandy cave and had lunch. Peanut butter wrap x2 and some bird food, delicious.

The showers continued into Hayle, 'The birthplace of the industrial revolution and it doesn't seem to have moved on a great deal since. I hid in the co-op as the first downpour came, the shop owner saying it was the heaviest rain she'd seen since moving there 8 years ago. I will try and upload the video I took at some point.

From this point it was about 6 miles to St. Ives along roads, tracks, concrete paths and other urban environment. I took shelter from the next heavy downpour in a pub but the third got me. I was perfectly happy in full raingear and remained dry and in high spirits. The rain was incredibly heavy and the steep steps up into St. Ives were literally a waterfall. It was amusing to see stones the size of a tennis ball being washing down the path, it makes erosion much easier to appreciate!

Met CC Crew in the pub and was able to take up the offer made 18miles ago of a shower. Nog gave me his dessert, an unexpected surprise of icecream, biscuit, coffee and amaretto (sp.?) and I bought a pizza to eat as I wandered out of town looking for a place to pitch. 2miles onto a 'severe' section I found the perfect flat grassy patch on an outcrop sheltered by the wall of an old mining structure.

What a day.