I've now finished my plan for the week so tomorrow I'll knock a few miles off the next week's plan and have the afternoon just wandering.
Today was 7 months to the day since Karen died and we'd enjoyed our last visit here, so that triggered some good memories for the day.
In my tiredness yesterday I forgot to mention a few things about Zennor. The 1993 novel Zennor in Darkness by Helen Dunmore is set in and around the village at the time when D H Lawrece lived nearby with his new wife Frieda. It was during this time that he finished Women in Love. The couple were later accused of spying and signalling to German submarines off the Cornish coast. There is also a legend of a mermaid of Zennor which inspired Helen Dunmore’s Ingo Chronicles.
The artist Patrick Heron also lived in Zennor after working with the potter Bernard Leach in St Ives.
I also missed an interesting snippet about a location on yesterday's walk. In 1943, the middle of WW2, No. 4 British Commando were involved in a mock seaborne raid
codenamed "Exercise Brandyball", which took place on the 300-foot (90
m) cliffs, near Bosigran, known as the 'Brandys'. The training exercise was deemed one of
the most hazardous and challenging of the war, beginning with a seaborne landing, followed by a climb up the vertical
cliffs with full kit to destroy the target, an old disused tin mine. That same location was later used by Bear Grylls for a climb with the boxer Anthony Joshua and this is the picture of what is now known as Commando Ridge.
Back to today. Given the forecast I'd decided to leave my Paramo all-weather jacket behind in favour of my lightweight running jacket. OK as it turned out but the start was in cloud with a moderate northerly wind so a bit chilly. All fine as long as I kept moving. I had really no idea where I was with any accuracy until finding the occasional waymarks with grid references on but eventually I came down out of the cloud towards Wicca Pool
I'd been warned about this, it's a 100yd scramble over/through/round some pretty big rocks. I was lucky that they were dry and that rock-hopping was always my favourite beach-time activity as a 5 year old, so I'd had plenty of practice. It quite took me back....
Along the way I'd met a runner out for a quick sortie before joining his mates for a late breakfast. (Good grief.) I'd met him after he'd bashed his knee on a rock and sat and cursed for a bit until the pain wore off. He was happy because the damage was on a bony bit not soft tissue. Well, maybe happy's putting it a bit high. Apparently there are often running competitions along the coast path and a Zennor resident who chatted with me while I got my gaiters organised told me they even do it at night! He can just see little lights bobbing along the route as he sits in his garden. Given my exertions I am truly in awe that they run it but at night as well, that's just taking the mickey. I know, they're young and immortal but I hope they have good medical support. (I may have to write to the editor of the Bridport News about it).
I pretty much gave up with photos at this point, there's only so many times you can photograph cloud (from the inside). It did make me think about the smells instead though. Yes there are the agricultural ones but those aside, the first I noticed was the wild garlic. You'll have noticed a lot of it in the photos I expect and it's at its best just now. As the temperature increased it seemed to prompt the gorse next, with that strange coconut smell. Of course above all the smell (and sound) of the sea.
Then there are the flowers. Violets, primroses, celandines, some daffodils and quite a few camellias. I even saw cherry tree blossom, well ahead of mine in Litton Cheney. Joy of joys the bluebells (proper ones) are also just starting so when I come back on the 29th I hope to see spring in full colour. The blackthorn was also in full blossom of course and later in the day I got this nice snap of the bumble bee working away in it.
The ground is pretty challenging with uneven and boggy ground, but there have been substantial efforts to make it a little easier for the average walker and I particularly liked the stone bridge below. I have absolutely no idea how they managed to get not one but two huge granite slabs in place for this!
One of the advantages of doing the SWCP the 'wrong way round' like me is that you meet more people, as they're all going the 'right' way. Most are clearly seasoned walkers and well equipped but some clearly have no idea what they're going to find. I met three lads like this, with no jackets or water supplies, street shoes and clean trousers. They may be immortal but they'll be muddy by the time they make it to Zennor, if they do. It's noticeable by the way that women are generally much cleaner than their mud bespattered male partners. I don't know how they do it.
I'm rabbitting. Eventually St Ives appears out of the mist, or rather I do. Under the low cloud cover it was not at its best but you can see I think why folk love it. The beaches are superb, it's a working port and the town has that Cornish charm with the clear light, higgledy-piggledy streets and friendly atmosphere. The flip side to its popularity is the high building activity for second homes and new hotels, all of which are pricing locals out of any prospect of buying homes. A hot topic here and in many places.
St Ia’s
cove (St Ives) is home to the well-known school of painting, the Tate gallery,
Leach Pottery and the sculptor Barbara Hepworth. Incidentally, the nursery rhyme ‘As I was going to St Ives’ isn’t necessarily about this St Ives, there are several.
Much of the modern town developed after the arrival of the
railway in the late 19th century. In August 1999 the BBC scheduled a programme with Patrick Moore
to cover the solar eclipse – inevitably it was clouded out.
Sir John Nott, secretary of state for defence during the
Falklands war, lives on his farm at nearby St Eart.
I strolled through the town, already crammed with visitors so it must be an absolute zoo in season. You might not believe how many artisanal bakeries one town can take!
I went past the gallery where Karen and I bought a picture on our last visit and that sparked a few more pleasant memories. I think it was warmer though, back then.
So a quick pit stop at the B&B and back out for Hayle. This is 5 miles rated easy, though pretty hilly at the beginning, and had been my target for Saturday. I was keen though to take advantage of being ahead of schedule to give me a head start for the next visit. Still mindful of the Zennor experience, if I can take some pressure off the early sections it can only help. Also it looks like Pete and Debs (my old school chum and his wife) will be joining me for a day or two and although they're both very experienced walkers they may be a bit jet-lagged. They did the Coast to Coast walk last year, a much more navigationally challenging route, and helped me get the right boots for this trip when we were all in Denver. It will be great to see them again.
The route to Hayle is alongside the railway for quite a while until eventually emerging onto the dunes above Porth Kidney Sands. This is another huge stretch of sand that becomes the estuary for the river Hayle.
Across the causeway, a sea fret was starting to roll in from across the sanctuary, though it isn't very clear on the photo:
After my usual isotonic recovery diet (this time, tea and crisps) I got a cab back to the B&B.
Tomorrow looks like more of the same weather, with perhaps even less sun, so should be good for walking.
Let's see how far I can get.
Peter
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