It was also the last day for Nic who goes home tomorrow so hats off to him for soldiering through the conditions with me and generally providing a confident companion. Not that the confidence was always well founded, any more than mine was, but it sounded reassuringly authoritative. 😀
This is what the headland looked like this morning
Just sparkling: and the beach, which we couldn't see yesterday -
A stiff walk up the hill from the car park at Porthcurno to the Minack but from here it was a pretty easy stroll along the hillsides, enjoying the warmth and the sea, just stunning after all the wind from yesterday with the resulting large Atlantic swells creating spectacular surf all around the coast. We saw this all day and never got tired of it. The wind was offshore, unusually, which held back the waves as they were about to break and added to the drama. We learned later that these are the preferred conditions for keen surfers so today was special for them too.
Shortly after leaving Porthcurno you come to the tiny hamlet of Porthgwarra. I hadn't even realised it was there (must do my Ordnance Survey homework the night before). It has a curious feature of this tunnel
which was dug by tin miners from St Just to give farmers horse-and-cart access down to the beach to collect seaweed for fertiliser. Could't resist it, even though it increased my climbing for the day - if you go downhill you usually have to pay for it.
From here it's just one long succession of increasingly glorious views of headlands, surf, sparkling seas and cliff edges so steep that you feel the psychological 'pull' towards the edge. At least I do - never been great with heights. There are more pictures on Komoot but this is perhaps my favourite
Before long we had sight of Land's End with the longships lighthouse offshore.
The Land's End complex caters for high visitor numbers so is pretty touristy but we had our by now customary tea break (and my force-fed flapjack) before moving on.
Developed into a theme park by Peter De Savary in the 80s,
after he outbid the National Trust to buy Land's End, it is currently owned by Heritage Great
Britain plc, a Liverpool based company that also owns and operates attractions at
John O’Groats, the Needles on the Isle of Wight and the Snowdon railway.
One of
the first recorded John O’Groats to Land’s End (JOGLE – or LEJOG if you’re
going the other way) was by Carlisle in 1879 who did both, a total of 3,900
miles, in 72 days. Since that’s an average of 54 miles a day I’m guessing he
didn’t walk it.
We did see the animal petting farm that Karen and I visited maybe 23 years ago, before we were married. Nice memory.
From Land's End it's not far (just round the corner) to Mayon cliff and the battlemented lookout over Whitesand Bay. Previously part of the coastguard network and now manned by the National Trust it has a glorious view over the huge and popular surfing beach at Sennen Cove; which is not really a cove at all. Bilbo the
Newfoundland dog acted as lifeguard here from 2005-2008 until all dogs were
banned from the beach. The village features in a book “Shanti The Wandering Dog of Sennen & The
Land's End”.
We met a couple who warned us of the adders they'd seen where we rejoined the path. Gone when we went by - I'd like to have seen them, they're quite shy.
From there it was 'just' your bog standard coast path, we were getting quite blasé by then. We'd had various encounters with strangers, as you do, so I amused myself by introducing Nic as my Dad, out for a stroll on "take your Dad for a walk day". Amazingly, or not, some believed me. I enjoyed the joke and I think Nic did as well but sadly his comments were lost on the wind 😁. You can see he's enjoying it all when we stopped at this round unidentified thing - looks vaguely Iron Age (no, not Nic) but probably just a well.
In fairness to him, Nic struggled with a gammy foot that is still recovering from surgery with ne'er a whimper. Although we had a different natural pace on the trail, we made at least as much mileage, and possibly more, as I would have done on my own. Not only that but he also had only one pole and they can make a huge difference.
Plus he saved us from some navigational errors (though not all!) So many thanks, Nic.
You can see the difficulty with how his foot rolls over. To be honest the walk didn't help his recovery but it did highlight the need for different boots.
Hopefully he'll get some corrective footwear for a full recovery. It would be good to see him back on the trail.
So finally we made it to the Porth Nanven inlet - the so-called Dinosaur Egg beach (a little more on that tomorrow) and a walk in to St Just for a cafe and cab back to Porthcurno. I'd aimed for this finish because I'd booked a hostel nearby, ready for the start tomorrow. Except I hadn't - my hostel is not the YHA in St Just but one further away in Land's End. Combined with, as I write, having just put the electric kettle on the hob (lovely smell, melted plastic) the day didn't end as well as it started!
Hey ho, confession tomorrow, hopefully absolution after a penance (new kettle should cover it) and back on the trail. If I can make it a good way past Pendeen Point I'll have stolen a march on the section to St Ives - one of only three sections marked 'Severe' - and be in good shape to make it to Hayle (or better) by Sunday.
Weather forecast good, factor 50 ready, here's hoping.
Peter
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