Zennor turned out to be nice stop. The B&B was kind of quirky but nice and run by a an older hippy woman with a variety of funky vehicles parked around. Breakfast was healthy as she only served vegetarian.
From Zennor
I planned to walk a short day to St Ives. I’ve been to St Ives before and
recalled a nice campground. I figured I’d pitch camp early and spend the
afternoon on the beach. Well, the campground turned out to be way overpriced at
15 pounds (26 USD for a walker with a one man tent). Normal price in England
would be 3 pound on the low end with 10 at the top end). We are talking about a plot in an open field with access to a shower and toilet. Nothing fancy. No electricity assigned site or anything like that. The guy at reception
was not very nice when I stated that I was on foot with a one man tent and if
he was sure that was the right price. He responded in a true “Smart Ass”
fashion that I didn’t have to pay it and wouldn’t find anything better in St
Ives. Needless to say, I left.
I continued
through St Ives and was glad I decided to pass through. There were too many
tourists and the place really wasn’t very appealing to me. A little beyond St
Ives is Carbis Bay. It’s a nice baech with not too many people. I asked around
and found a nearby farm camp with basic facilities for 6 pounds. I pitced camp,
went to the beach, and found a pint at a pub.
Carbis to
Portreath was a nice walk that included an interesting section through sand
dunes follosed by easy cliff top walking. The village of Portreath is not overly appealing
with old but not very old plain styled buildings. It’s kind of a worn out
fishing village but the harbor and beach aren’t bad. I noticed a small church
and got permission to camp on the back lawn for the night.
The hike
from Portreath to Perronporth marked my 20th and last day of hiking.
The stretch of trail includes some wonderful ciff top walking but the weather
was pretty bad with plenty of rain, mist and clouds. Occasionaly views revealed
a wild sea bashing into rocky broken cliffs. Sometimes the water would make
odds sounds not too unlike barking. At on small isolated cove large waves broke
close to the shore with high tide and red flag flying. Only a person without a
brain would be foolish enough to go in for a swim.
I made it
into Perranporth by early afternoon and had a celbratory pint for completion of
over 300 miles in 20 days. It's a good accomplishment and pretty much par for such a distance walk. The last three days of hiking felt a lot easier. I think it just
took me a longer time to get to the point where 15+ miles with a heavy pack
would feel relatively normal. The only consistent complaint I had was sore feet. I
never got any blisters or anything but there was a consistent soreness on the bottoms of my
feet that just wouldn't go away.
As expected
the time really flew by. In the end 20 days of hiking really doesn’t seem very
long even though on the 2nd and 3rd day, with my pack
feeling like a real burden, it felt like it was going to be a long walk.
From
Perranporth I took a bus to Truro and found accommodation via Tourist
Information. At first tourist information didn’t have much to offer and what
they had was too expensive. I kept subtlety pushing the issue with the attendant
not seeming to want to put out too much effort. With all official options
exhausted she reached for an address book from a drawer and made a call. She
stated there was a room in a house that was not an official B&B that had a room. It was not
registered with tourist information but she gave me directions with an address.
The price was exactly what I wanted to pay.
Just to the
side of the old town cathedral is a row of houses. I knocked on the green door
with a number 3 and was greeted by a very nice older lady. She didn’t offer
breakfast but showed me to the room. The place was very clean and quiet. For me
it was perfect and very comfortable. The home was definitely set for guests
and my room, like most all accommodation in Europe, had a kettle for boiling
water and supplies for making coffee or tea. I made a cup of coffee.I left the path with about 200 miles left to complete the entirety of 630 miles. Too be continued sometime in the future.
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