South West Coast Path: Day 2 - Portreath to Gwithain and St Ives

Today I meant to go 17 miles...that didn't happen.  Forecast was for 100% chance heavy showers and 31mph wind with gusts which were higher.  I ate down a big English breakfast, donned my walking gear (windbreaker, swimming trunks, and one pair of trainers that I brought - 2nd pair were buried in the bag to stay dry), and set out.  Made it to the next village (7 to 8 miles later) and figured I should probably catch the bus to my final destination of St Ives.  Weather was just that inclement.  I didn't see ANY other walkers, a few people driving by who would stop, try to go up a hill and turn around.

Portreath as I was leaving.  You can see the whitecaps on the water if you look hard.

One of the few other pictures I dared taking.  Doesn't do it any justice to what it felt like.  Never been in a storm like that before.  

Wind was really pushing me around.  If I had a headwind I probably would have had to turn back.  Mostly a crosswind and occasionally a tail wind that would almost throw me down the trail.  It's the only time I've ever wondered if I could recognise the signs of hypothermia in myself if it got to that.  I don't do particularly well when I get cold and wet, and I was definitely very very very wet.  A drowned rat to say the least.  I pushed myself pretty hard to keep a bit warmer and kept drinking, even though I wasn't thirsty.  The good part about it being a really wet day was I didn't need to worry about finding a place to hide to go to the bathroom.  No one else anywhere to be seen.

As I approached the next village (Gwithain) an older chap who was walking back toward the cafe and carpark offered me a coffee and to drive me to the nearest bus stop.  Well Howard ended up driving me to St Ives (only a few miles by road, much more by coast path) as he said I would have to wait a few hours for my bus.  Really nice guy and definitely saved my butt.

Spent the afternoon drying out.  Fortunately, since I bagged everything inside the waterproof bag I was using I had dry clothes to wear.  Relaxed, showered, warmed up with a few cups of tea, and then decided to explore St Ives.  Unfortunately, it was still very windy and rainy, so I ended up going to a nearby cinema and saw the Avengers.  When I came out it had passed so I got to take a few pictures and then find a place to eat.

Went to an organic locally sourced burger place called Blas (see their website ).  Next town I was walking to was where the beef came from.  Really really yummy food.  A couple I chatted with at my table (most tables were shared) said they'd been rescued by folk on rainy days before.  Waitresses in the place were quite surprised when I said how far I walked the previous day.  Apparently not the typical distance people walk.  They also said the forecast for the next day wasn't great either.

South West Coast Path: Day 1 - Newquay to Portreath

Big day... got up at 5 am and left by 5:35 to avoid high tide at the Gannel.  If i miss timed my start it would have added an additional 4 miles (or a few hours waiting).  Today was long enough.  Planned for a 23 1/2 mile walk to my next B&B in Portreath.  Well, lets just say that's a lot on the coast path, especially with a pack.  Remarkably I was at my B&B at about 2:30pm.

First dunes I came across

Military outpost along a cliff top, apparently they didn't want visitors

Access off the beach

One of the most nicest and longest beaches on the coast path. 

Touristy town I breezed through

MOD (Ministry of Defence) property...aka stay out

I thought I set a good pace and decided to just keep it going.  Ate my packed lunch (bacon sandwiches, crisps, banana, orange, and a snickers bar) in bits along the way, so I didn't really stop much.  The trail was soooo varied.  Up and down, paved paths in towns/villages, small narrow paths, near the coast, up on cliff tops, dunes, muddy, etc...  Only got rained on a few times, which wasn't too bad.  Forecast for the next day isn't good.  

Coming into Portreath

Ate dinner at a local pub (maybe the only one in town).  Had some yummy fish and chips.  Good fish, good beer, good time to relax.  Unfortunately the evening was getting a bit windy/rainy.  Precursor for the next day...

South West Coast Path: Day 0 - Paddington to Newquay

The next five posts or so will be about my walk on the South West Coast Path in Cornwall.  Overall it is 630 miles.  I chose to walk a section of it over the course of five days with a reasonably light pack.  My journey officially began and ended in the Newquay and Penzance rail stations.  I took the train from London Paddington to Newquay (plan was to transfer at Par, but I'll get to that in a bit) and walk the coast path to Penzance staying at B&Bs along the way.  Total distance is hard to say as it varies depending if I was on the official trail or not.  Probably something between 70 and 80 miles total in five days time.  Not an overly hard path to walk, but certain places were slower due to it being either rocky, muddy, dunes, or beach and a lot of steep up and down.  I'll include a bit about each day and a couple pictures.  Full sets of each day's pictures are uploaded on facebook in my albums.  They will be labeled the same as these blog posts (e.g. South West Coast Path: Day 1 - Newquay to Portreath's blog post will correspond to the same album on facebook).

I started on a train out of Paddington, but unfortunately someone jumped in front of a train in Southall, so my train was late coming out of London.  By the time it reached the first couple of stops it was at least 1.5 hours late and people were getting on mistakenly for the next train or so, so it was completely packed with people, all of whom were very confused and frustrated.  Later an announcement was made that x, y, and z stops wouldn't be happening, which caused mass panic, and led to me being dropped off after my planned stop (train didn't stop in Par anymore) and was taxi'd to Newquay.  Not a fun day for the rail company.

Newquay was a nice seaside town, but felt too much like a place people just go to party.  It's known for surfing and hen and stag parties.  Lots of people wandering the streets already plastered at 7 or 8 pm.  I was happy to go to bed early and leave early the next morning to beat the tide across the Gannel (tidal area I had to cross within the first 30 minutes of my walk).  Since I was missing b-fast the B&B made me a really nice packed lunch.

Newquay

The Gannel (see the footbridge in the distance)

Friday evening near the Gannel

My footsteps across the sand

Walking Church and visiting friends in Coventry

Walking church is something Wood Green Mennonite Church launched in the last year.  There was a "trial run" in 2011 and then formally launched in January of 2012.  Launching an event that goes outside in January is quite ambitious, especially with the possibility for inclement weather, but so far it has had reasonably nice days.  A couple have been very nice in fact!  A link about walking church can be found here: http://www.mennoworld.org/2012/4/16/london-congregation-takes-worship-outside/.  Unfortunately, I will be missing out on the next two occasions in Richmond Park, London as I will be on holiday both times.  My last "service" with Wood Green Mennonite before I head back to the States will be a walking church Sunday at the end of June.

When I was growing up Easter usually involved some major meal with ham, whether it was at my parents, grandparents, or other friend's houses.  I can say I still love ham, and did miss it this past Easter, but instead we had a church lunch (potluck), which was almost as good.  Ham still tops it all anyways as it's probably my favourite meat.  We had a brunch as a household on Good Friday since part of the house were going off to family later that day.  Lois made a really tasty breakfast casserole, I supplied different fruit juices (and some lincolnshire sausage for the casserole), Barbara made a wonderful fruit salad, and Will brought some strong expresso with double cream.  YUM!

Late on Easter Sunday I was on the train up to Coventry to see one of Bridge Builders' associate trainer's and her husband for a few days.  My last course working with Sandra was in February, so this was just an extra chance to say those goodbyes and to spend some time with them.  We went out on a windy/drizzly day into the countryside around Coventry (Warwick area).  Did some hiking, walked through Warwick and had some cream tea, came back and had supper at their place and watched some Indiana Jones (1st one).  Overall, a really nice day, even though the weather was kind of shoddy.  Some pictures of the day are below. 

Thatched roofs, which Steve thought were authentic.

Leads to the River Avon

Warwick Castle from a distance

Cream tea!!!

Lessons learnt from cycling... and pizza

Over the last few years I feel that I've learnt a number of important lessons from cycling, which may or may not seem applicable to the rest of life.  In no particular order:

• When you do something long enough you're bound to be a bit of hard a$$
• Apparently right forearms are expendable when cycling long distances.  I didn't need mine nearly as much as I thought after I was hit by a car in Glasgow
• Being predictable is a good thing, or at least you're less likely to get hit or honked at (I'm thinking of clear signalling and not weaving in and out of the road - e.g. because of parked cars)
• Size does matter, at least when it comes to gear sizes... the bigger they are (in the back) and smaller they are (in the front), the more your knees and quads will thank you later, but in general a wide range is good enough
• It doesn't get any easier just because you're more "fit," the harder you're able to push the more some things will push back (I'm thinking of you air resistance)
• Wear lights, always wear lights, ye I say unto you, lights shall show you the way, and hopefully others will then see you (esp. if you wear more than one)
• Keep the correct amount of pressure in your tyres, it's both easier and you'll get less flats
• Rain can be fun to cycle in for shorter distances, whole days of it aren't near as much fun
• It's amazing where a peanut butter and nutella sandwich can take you
• There's always a curve at the bottom of a big hill just before the next climb
• It's a lot easier to ride behind someone than in front of them (again that air resistance thing)
• Bike locks, while an extra burden to carry, are an unfortunate necessity
• Getting lost or going down the wrong road isn't always a bad thing, you'll sometimes discover things you would have otherwise missed

I find myself ruminating about cycling more lately because I know my daily commute will change in the coming weeks (when I move to the area of Wood Green) and then again when I move back to the States.  I don't have a bike in Vermont, so I'll need to get one while I'm there over some of the summer months.

On a side note, I made some really yummy pizza tonight, from scratch.  Peppers and onions as topping, but it has a really good crust and is different than "normal" pizza because the sauce goes on top (also homemade) of the cheese.

Oh it was sooooo good.  Lots of crushed red pepper in the sauce as well giving it a bit of kick!  Ate almost a one of them while watching the red sox opener on mlb.com's gameday.