TraceysTrek

Best bits : seeing an adder and finally arriving at the Lighthouse

Worst bits : sore heel pad with every step, tough terrain

Distance: 14.4 miles

It was an early start this morning and a drive to St Ives. The car park was at the top of the hill and so I walked down into town and around the narrow streets finally arriving at the harbour.

It wasn’t long before I left St Ives behind in the distance. I looked back and could also see where I have come from in the last few days.

The weather was cooler today with a 30 mph wind. However, the views of the scenery were still spectacular. The sea was an aquamarine colour that contrasted with the white waves. I

spent quite a bit of the morning talking to Angela, telling her how much I miss her, and asking her if she thought I was crazy, but knowing what she would say would be of course because I’m so predictable. I’m realising that when I started this walk, my grief was all consuming, and now I’m noticing that I am able to remember the good times we had together and sometimes I even manage a smile.

I saw my first adder which was only a young snake curled up on the path. As it heard me coming, it’s slithered away into the undergrowth. It was faster than me and this is the only photograph I managed to take of it.

The coastal path today often went quite close to the edge of the cliffs. It also was quite muddy and at one point I regretted not wearing my gaiters. 

After quite a while of being on my own, I started bumping into people along the path. I chatted to a young couple with a small child who was in a carrier on the dad‘s back. It reminded me of carrying our boys up Roseberry topping back in the day.

I also met a lady who was walking the South West coastal path in sections. I spent awhile talking to Pete, Jane and their dog Dotty. They had been lucky enough to see the humpback whales earlier in the week, and Pete told me about the Cornish chuffs, and dolphins.

There were several horses on the headlands today. They weren’t at all interested in me, just the grass. 

The path today made for slow progress, it was either muddy, like walking in a river, or walking over huge boulders. All in all it was energy sapping and wasn’t kind on my heel.

The temperature started to drop as the wind picked up. I took shelter behind the huge rocks at Zennor point. It was a little disheartening to see so many more headlands, however, I could see the Lighthouse in the far distance.

The scenery became even more rugged as I approached Pendeen with dramatic cliffs with sheer drops into the sea.

There were very few beaches today, mainly just razor sharp rocks below the cliffs. The exception being the final couple of miles when there was a small sandy beach at Pendeen. It seemed to take a while to get to the Lighthouse, but that’s perhaps because I was tired. Also, I was racing the oncoming rain. I just managed to get to the Lighthouse before the rain started and so managed miraculously to stay dry.

I waited here for my lift from Lewis which had been organised by Jason. Lewis took me back to Priscilla in St Ives and then I drove back to Hayle for the evening. I did a bit of tidying up and cleaning ready for the arrival of Bridget tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be quite a long walk but Lands End is about halfway through the day. I’ve been offered a complementary photograph at the famous signpost.