Geoff Jones

Inveterate dabbler in business, travel, gadgets & life

Category: Walks

South west Coast path 315 miles walked and now half way

Geoff Halfway on South West Coast PathAfter the mother of all mega days I arrived at the halfway point a fancy  315 mile marker, on the beach, in the lovely fishing village of Porthallow. According to the GPS today I walked 27 miles (including the stretch up to the Halwyn Guesthouse )  and climbed 6200 feet, so my longest day so far. Some of the length is due to me having to retrace my steps to retrieve The Guide I left on The Lizard plus some wanderings to try and find dry land.

The day was dry with a little wind but the terrain was very, very soggy in many places after all the heavy rain particularly going up to the Lizard, also it was quite treacherous going down into Coverack a pretty hard stage by any standards. The diversion on Permissive footpaths from Godrevy Cove to Rosenithon is a nightmare+ wading through cow slurry 10″ deep to reach the road at the end, a kind lady told me to wash the boots in the stream.

I met up with the Dutch couple in Coverack who I last saw leaving Penzance in the torrential rain & wind on Sunday, they managed to get as far as Marazion before a hotelier rescued them, dried them out and packed them off on a bus to their destination.

The paths around The Lizard are amazingly busy and in the summer must be a walkers nightmare, plus the cafes around there are pretty rubbish.

The stats are here, pictures here and Everytrail here:
South West Coast Path – Mullion to Porthallow at EveryTrail

South West Coast Path – Penzance to Mullion

Marconi station at Poldhu

Coastal pathToday was a good 23 miler in pretty awful conditions, started with light rain and some sun but then turned into a gale (not funny on cliff tops) with some very vicious squalls. Not a pleasant day at all. Even the Scillonian ferry was cancelled.

All the equipment is keeping dry OK, although its a drag to keep hiding the camera in a dry bag every time there is a particularly big downpour. The iPhone is great in its Aquapac, which is large enough to hold the Tecknet iEP387 batter pack connected up. The iPhone can be operated OK through the plastic, although not so good for phone calls!

The biggest disappointment are the Scarpa boots. The left boot has now sprung a leak so my foot & socks were thoroughly soaked when I arrived, plus they have lost traction in the mud since the tread has worn away. All with just100 hours of walking covering 300 miles in 680,000 steps.

The terrain was a lot gentler to begin with but getting hillier towards the end but certainly hot as bad as the first few days. Adze thought I had climbed 4117 feet today The Guide thought 2848 feet (maybe I should add the Adze figures to the spreadsheet). So a pretty heavy day really. The next couple of days are going to be 20 milers as well.

The Mounts Bay Guest House is comfortable, the owner is very pleasant and he is trying to dry my boots out, the b&b is directly linked to the pub kept by his son. The food was more for car drivers than hill walkers 🙁 maybe I should have gone to the chippie.)  Thanks to Mike for booking me in.

Marconi monumentUnfortunately the historic Marconi station at Poldhu wasn’t open and the inclement conditions meant I didn’t hang around. Still amazing that transatlantic radio only started in 1901.

Todays stats are here photos here and Everytrail below.
South West Coast Path – Penzance to Mullion at EveryTrail

A very nesh Geoff in Penzance :-(

Vounddervour Lane

Tremont Hotel & Pentrea HotelOh dear, today I was totally put to shame by the Dutch couple who strode out into the storm and faced a whole day of wind & heavy rain whilst I cried off and just hung around Penzance all day 🙁

I hold my head in shame.The Tremont Hotel wanted me out so they kindly booked me into their neighbour The Pentrea, (£30 b&b) when I arrived a few minutes later they were hosting The Penzance weekly police breakfast fry up:-) Once we had sorted out the inevitable password problems I settled in to a day of RSS feeds and di.fm.

I tried to hook up with some local Twitter folks and made contact wirh @bluebellbank @throughthegaps @jessicas_pz  but no one could meet up 🙁  so I wandered around a wind and rain swept Penzance where very few shops were open getting thoroughly soaked and destroying an umbrella due to the high winds etc.

Broccoli
Wetherspoons - spot the difference

After reading about habit formation I found myself in the local Wetherspoons for dinner, the dinner was pretty rubbish, apparently they are having problems with the new menu – as the kids can’t tell if broccoli is overcooked. The lady kindly redid it and we got chatting, apparently Tim Martin (who we beat in court & greatly admired us) pops by quite regularly. I hope they get the food sorted for his next visit!

The highlight of the day was meeting with Mike of Baggage Transfers in The Alex this evening, I can see why it is a thriving successful business. a great guy with his feet firmly on the ground.

Tomorrow a now fully confirmed nesh Geoff will recommence the walk come hail and shine. When will I catch the Dutch couple up 🙂

Any ideas about what the name in the header is about, Vandervour lane? Thanks Blue Bellbank

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/bluebellbank/status/196949889454850048″]

 

Day 18 on the South West Coast Path. Porthcurno to Penzance

Geoff on South West Coast Path

Porthcurno cable stationAfter an excellent, if with a somewhat loquacious host, at the luxurious Wearhouse. I wandered around the outside of the Old Telegraph Station marvelling how it takes so long for ‘secret’ places to come out of the woodwork and wondering when the TAT14 landing and GCHQ monitoring station will similarly be celebrated over on the other side of Cornwall (I wonder why TAT14 didn’t come out of the ocean here? Answers in the comments please).

Cross inscribed with DWW Mar 13 1873Paul turned up on the 10am bus from Penzance, we quickly caught up with the Dutch couple who I had met at breakfast, they are walking with Budget Walking to Plymouth over the next 10 days, so I’m sure I will be bumping into them again.

it is a lovely walk with magnificient views, it’s interesting how the rock formations are so different over on this coast. After passing a granite cross (In The Guide at Page 75 it incorrectly states it’s a war memorial. It isn’t  it is carved with DWW Mar 13 1873 and in fact marks the spot where a young man fell over the cliff and was killed.) then down into the slowest cafe ever in Lamorna Cove a 30 minute wait for my cuppa.

A pleasant walk to Mousehole which is very touristy (but only 90p for a Feast) and then a roadside walk into a very working fish town (although run down) of Newlyn. I found old Penzance quite intriquing who knew that the Spanish invaded it and much later Nelson’s famous victory was first announced here!

A short walk for me of only 11 or so miles but very pleasant chatting to Paul en route all day. He is now of to St Ives to do more of the walk from there. The Dutch couple are walking to Plymouth in 11 days so I may see them again, especially since they are staying at The Tremont tonight as well  (Maybe they are using Mike too!).

The weather was pretty well perfect with longer sunny spells and light winds. All though everyone is fearful of tomorrow – even the Royal Navy have moved their fleet into the bay.

As usual the statistics are here and photos here and Everytrail below.
South West Coast Path – Porthcurno to Penzance at EveryTrail