After setting off at 7.30 am we walked through the town of St Ives and found the nearest pastry selling shop and stocked up, we were always thinking where the next meal would come from in order to keep the strength up. Clearing through St Ives we started the Coastal path, which we would stay on for the next 42 miles, some of the scenery around this section was amazing. We carried on to Zennor where we would have our first meal stop, after completing 6 miles.
After a fulfilling meal we carried on and passed through Pendeen Sands where we made the fatal mistake of walking down to the beach to go in the sea, fatal because you have to walk back up to the path, but it was worth it. We also walked through the spookily abandoned Tin Mines near to Botallack, which was the location of a our first camp site. I was relieved to get there as we had covered about 16 miles and feet were beginning to ache.
Day 2 began very overcast and misty, after a good nights sleep mainly through necessity rather than comfort, and soon enough we reached Cape Cornwall, or so the sign said as I couldn't really see it due to the fog (see below). The morning session of walking seemed to go pretty quickly and we seemed to reach Sennan Cove really quickly. Feet were still in tact at this point, but this would not last forever.
After leaving Sennan Cove, Lands End was in sight when the pain began in the feet. I really doubted whether I would finish the whole walk at that point, however after stopping for what seemed an eternity I carried on, and eventually met up with my co walkers who had carried on without me, great mates I know. We made it to Porthcurno Beach after seemingly going up and down about 30 hills at just the right time, its the first beach in this really great photo I took.
Having reached Porthcurno we had another mile to go until we stopped at Treen at another campsite, where we ate as much as we could to re energize. The feet were in pretty poor order by the time we stopped, however we had covered about 14 miles and I was told the third and final day was the easiest so spirits were high. The next morning we started early again and had to crack on further than we had previously to make it to Mousehole, where we would be about 3 miles from our finish line. Mousehole was reached after about 5 hours, both feet and right leg was beyond damaged by now and so a well deserved break was had and of course the obligatory Pasty.
After leaving Mousehole we started on the last 3 miles. Feet were beyond painful but it was the thought of finishing that kept me going, that and wanting to get the huge rucksack off my back which I had been carrying for 3 days. After about an hour and a half of walking along what seemed to be the longest road in the world, we made it to Penzance and eventually made it to the train station ready to get the train back to St Ives. We finished with time to spare and got back to St Ives at about 5pm, it was incredibly hot, and even though my feet were covered in blisters and I was burnt to a crisp I still felt that I had achieved something that I had never done before. Heres the parting shot from St Ives, what a brilliant adventure!
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