Tag: swcoastpath

First thanks must go to the great guy who runs The Kandi Lodge in Newquay, the other end of the holidaying spectrum to the Atlantic View but ideal for youngsters hen & stag parties or so it says on the door 🙂 and for £20 a night with no breakfast a good deal.

The Station brekkie place refused to open up at 8am so I had to go to a different one 🙁 which was more expensive. I caught the right bus after the first couple of buses I stepped on were going to the wrong place. Arrived at Porthcothan on time and started walking back to Newquay, another couple who were on the bus with me were soon left behind.

The wind soon rose to gale force but the rain stayed away so I made good progress, taking snaps and amazed at the diversity of such a simple object as a bench!

I became very jealous of the kiters shredding on one beach which reminded me of my attempts to kite in 2002  in the Dominican Republic, Maybe on my return I will take a month out in sunny hunny 🙂

Then it was the never ending trek through Newquay till eventually I emerged at the Fistral Beach and the neoprene clad surfers 🙂 (see the header). Then fortunately it was low tide so I could escape by crossing The Gannel by the bridge which gets covered at high tide.

Once over I climbed up to Pentire Point West to try and find somewhere to stay. The hotel was closed down and the pub had no b&b desperation was setting in when I rounded a corner and discovered a discrete sign to Goose Rock Hotel car park, I ventured down knocked on the door and eventually Lynn from Bolton showed me in. I’m in Room 4 with great views over The Gannel and even to the lighthouse at Trevose Head where I was 2 days ago.

Todays stats are here pictures here and Everytrail here.
South West Coast Path -Pothcotham to West Pentire at EveryTrail

Oh! I’m pretty sure I now know why my Canon D550 flash gets so gummed up so it won’t work and that the rotary settings dial gets sticky……

A bit of a slow and tiring walk today especially that I only covered 10 miles 🙁 The hills are now very short and very steep with quite a few having steps. I find the steps really tiring as they are rarely ever made with a decent going/riser ratio (The stair going to riser ratio (2R + G) within the range of 550 – 700 assists to promote a suitable gait pattern) plus they are very uneven, both things make them much harder to negotiate than proper steps or even a simple mud/grass slope.

I’ve yet to bump into any other long distance walkers most I’ve met are just doing small circular walks, the lady in the couple I met today just so reminded me of Annette Crosbie,but then I do have Prosopagnosia.

I finally arrived at the Hartland Quay Hotel which is the end of Section 12 in The Guide, the next section to Bude is labelled Severe and takes 8.5 hours, no accommodation seems to be on the route so I thought it wise to make it a short day and stop. They gave me room 7 which has a lovely Bay window looking towards Lundy. It has BS WiFi as can only be expected in our third world country, who would have thought that it could be as chronic. Even though the fibre optic TAT 14 running at 1.87Tera bits comes ashore about 10 miles from here at Widemouth Bay! This area should have the worlds fastest broadband!!

Oh, and the wretched Canon D550 has started playing up again, flash not popping up and the lens having a nervous twitch trying to focus itself even when not requested plus the screen not allowing access to the main menu’s. Maybe SLRs & walking & me is not a good combo.

Today’s stats are up in my google doc here and pics on Google+ here and here i sthe Everytrail:
The South West Coast Path – Clovelly to Hartland Quay at EveryTrail