LIII – Hartland Quay to Westward Ho!

Hasteful MammalI awoke early on the First of April, vaguely convinced that my phone alarm must be playing some sort of April Fool’s Day prank.  Alas, it was not. Blearily, I crawled from my bed and prepared for a full day of walking.

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LI – Trebarwith Strand to Bude

Hasteful MammalIF MY fiftieth coast walk had been a milestone by virtue of being a nice round number, my fifty-first was also significant as it encompassed my eight hundredth mile since Gravesend.  It also passed Tintagel, which was as much as an important goalpost to my mind as Plymouth and Land’s End had been. As a child, I was always bewitched by Tintagel and its association with Arthurian legend.

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L – Padstow to Trebarwith Strand

Hasteful MammalLAST Monday was my fiftieth walk along the coast.

This noteworthy adventure began on an overnight coach to Plymouth. Having arrived in my favourite city, I immediately left it on the first train out, which conveyed me to Bodmin Parkway, a station which is essentially in the middle of nowhere. 

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XLIX – Newquay to Padstow

Hasteful MammalTHE last day of February saw me continue with my walking, such that I had achieved three day’s worth of planned walks in two.  Even though it was the twenty-ninth, and therefore a leap day in a leap year, I didn’t do any leaping from any of the cliffs.

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XLV – Newlyn to Sennen Cove

Hasteful MammalI SPENT my seventh day in Cornwall having a day of rest, on which I took the Scillonian III over to St Mary in the Isles of Scilly, accompanied for part of the crossing by dolphins, and generally had a pleasant time chilling out on the mist-shrouded island.

But I’m not going to tell you about any of that; I’m blogging about the walks.

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XLIII – Porthallow to Mullion

Hasteful MammalON MY fifth day in Cornwall I was missing a walking sock, despite there being absolutely nowhere it could have gone. Eventually, having searched repeatedly, I asked the piskies nicely if I might have it back.

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XLII – Falmouth to Porthallow

Hasteful MammalAS IT’S been three weeks since I got back from Cornwall and I’ve let a number of other things get in the way, I thought it was about time I found some to write up some more of that week.

So I did…

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XL – Par to Boswinger

Hasteful MammalON THE Sunday, after rising early and obtaining a hearty breakfast from Cap’n Jaspers on Plymouth Barbican, I caught a train back to Par and began my next walk. In the rain.

‘It’s the West Country,’ I told myself, ‘it always rains.’

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XXXIX – Looe to Par

Hasteful MammalThe weekend before last saw me back in Cornwall, taking a week out to walk the coast from Looe to Land’s End. Because I thought it would be fun.

The first day’s walk was from Looe to Par where, having failed to find any accommodation near Par that wouldn’t require a second mortgage or major gold robbery to pay for, I would be jumping on a train back to Plymouth to stay in one of that city’s fine hotels.

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XXXI – Exmouth to Torquay

Hasteful MammalI WASN’T planning to walk last weekend. Instead, I thought I’d rest my tired knees, which were starting to complain, in an achy sort of way, about the billion or so steps I’ve recently forced them up and down. No, I decided, this weekend I will stay home.

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