Day 3, 4 and 5 Sennen to Mexico Towans

After leaving Chateau Louise, Sunday morning,  where I had a lovely hot bath followed a home cooked dinner and an ice cold pear cider, I headed for Pendeen . Today was was to be a short walk, if only to recover. Along the way I met lots of people, mostly dog walkers, all keen to see what I was doing. I walked through the area of Cornwall mostly known for its mining history. These tall broken, forgotten stacks and empty shafts leave only faint memories of a busy industrial past. The path to Pendeen was quite moderate the only worry was how high the cliff drops were to my left.

The real story of the day lay at the North Inn pub, which  I strongly recommend to anyone passing through Pendeen. The North Inn pub has a lovely campsite at the back of the pub which is very affordable. So, our eveingin in the pub was hilarious, some geat banter with my mum, my friend Louise (from Sennen) and Lollypop. We ate excellent food before having a few drinks. my little group of supporters and I made our presence known with plenty of laughter about subjects I dare not repeat on here.  I also met a lovely lady from America, who was a lifeguard and very passionate about her swimming instructing, she sat with us and watched the Olympic swimming. She was most excited to meet me as she had wanted to donate to Penlee lifeboat station but not managed to visit it, so when she saw me and found who I was fundraising for, it was like fate.

I left Pendeen next morning and headed for Zennor, but I actually made great time and arrived at 2.30pm so I had a short break at the Zennor Backpackers Cafe, who coinsidently sell the most amazing chocolate brownies ever, and headed for St Ives. I arrived at Trevalgan Campsite around 5pm and met Alison the Campsite Manager who very kindly gave me a nights stay free of charge. The campsite was just off the coastal path and had great facilities, including a catering van which made excellent sausage baps!!

That night sitting in the washing block and charging my phone, I met another couple from the midlands who were on their holidays, we got chatting about the weather and sailing and then my coastal challenge. They also very kindly offered a donation.

In the morning I walked into St Ives where I visited the Lifeboat station before walking round to Mexico Towans to meet a friend who is an RNLI lifeguard. On my way to the towans I walked around Porthminster point, following a path I thought was the Coastal path only to find it came to a dead end on the point. I was met by a thick wall of overgrowth. I tunred back to meet another walker on her way to a yoga class in Carbis Bay who seemed just as annoyed at the mislabelled path. We took to road round to Carbis Bay together and upon parting she also gerrously donated to my Charity.

When I reached the Mexico Towans and met my Lifeguard friend, I spent an hour chatting with him and his work collegue about their job and what is involved and slowly realised that although it seemed an idyllic summer job there were high fitness requirements and of course the serious side, which is when things go wrong on the beach.

That night I stayed at the Chadwick household, where I had an amazing meal and lots of wine!! We watched the Olympics, which of course I have mostly missed and I must say thats not a bad thing as it seems we are not medalling very well. Come on Ainslie get your game on!!!

Day 1 and 2 Newlyn to Sennen

In the words of Bob Marley, The sun is shinning, the weather is blue.... we left Newlyn after having a photo opportunity with the crew of Penlee lifeboat station. walking to Mousehole was steady and relatively flat. we stopped for lunch having an amazing pasty from Jessies Dairy and sat on the harbour wall eating it while watching children splash around in the water. Walking round to Tatar Du lighthouse was beautiful but beyond Lamorna the path was very difficult in that we had to scramble up rocks on all fours.

As we headed for Treen - our first stop but we became very tired and started to trip over rocks so we decided to pitch up, wild style. We sat on a cliff top eating dinner and watching the PASAB sailors head out to the Isles of Scilly. That night we bed down for a well deserved rest only to be woken by my screams as a unidentified being grabbed the tent! I thought some scary person was out to get us only to find it was a dog as its owner called out "Sorry!"
the next morning we started off at 830 only to walk about 10mins around the corner and find a campsite!

We walked to Porthcurno and went to a cafe for a cup of tea just as the heavens opened. Sitting there we met a lovely family from Wimbledon on their holidays who very generously donated to the walk. We waited out the rain and then began our next leg to Lands End.

Along the way from Newlyn to Lands End we met lots of walkers all very friendly and interested in what i was doing. We met a father and son from cambridge who donated, a local lady called Nina who donated and a school teacher who was walking from Barnstaple round as far as she could. Everyone had lots of advice to share and goodwill to give, its been a lovely walk so far - apart from my blisters!

Lands End where they rip you £10 for a photo by the sign!!

I do have one question however, why is it that all guidebooks say to walk the path anticlockwise from Minehead to Poole? im walking it clockwise cos thats how the Cornish do it, Proper Job!

Being rescued by the RNLI

The sun has been shining and heat is almost unbearable but I'm still planning on leaving Newlyn to begin my Coastal Challenge around Cornwall this Friday. Although I must say the heat is not welcomed at this point - hiking with a backpack and tent - argh
With only one day to go before I begin this epic journey to raise money for the RNLI, I had the opportunity to support our local lifeboat crew with some rescue training. Sailing with Becki Pastor, I took out a local lark named Ermentrude and we spent an hour splashing about in the water capsizing and being rescued and towed. I even scored myself a blast on the inshore rib - thanks guys!!
I got to see up close what these guys do and as it was beautiful, sunny and almost flat calm, I can only imagine the lengths they will go to for the people they rescue. But from chatting to guys on the lifeboat I know they love what they do and our donations are an important part in their job. So come on guys, show your support and sponsor me!