St Ives to Land’s End

Tuesday 24th July 2001 

Continuing the account of my holiday of 2001 in Cornwall I come now to a really tough day that really pushed me to my limits. I was walking from the railway station in the picturesque resort of St Ives to the Land’s End Youth Hostel in the Cot Valley along the South West Coast Path. I had been dreading this walk for weeks as it was the longest walk that I had planned, but checking the distance I don’t think I would find it that hard now. The distance between St Ives and the Cot Valley according to the distance calculator on the official website of the South West Coast Path is 18.7 miles, which is not an impossible distance even taking into account the hilly terrain, but I had other problems as well that made this walk one of the toughest I have ever done. 

I started just before 10 am after travelling to St Ives by train from Penzance, where I had been staying. The first couple of miles were okay as I walked through the artist’s resort of St Ives onto the South West Coast Path on a fabulously rough path above dramatic cliffs and under hot, cloudless skies. It wasn’t long however before I realised that I had lost my compass and I had to go back for it, eventually finding it some distance back lying on the path, but in my desperate rush to run back I got very hot. I remember stopping for lunch near the village of Zennor and draping a towel over my head as the heat poured off me. Beyond Zennor the terrain is very rough with many steep gradients which were just pure torture in the sweltering temperatures. I hated the heat and every rise and fall of the land was agony. During this time my nose starting running freely and this further drained my energy. Ever since this time I have noticed that during strenuous walks, particularly in hot weather, my nose sometimes starts to run so now I make sure that I have packed some tissues with me. This was the first time I’d ever noticed the phenomena so I had no tissues with me. I’m not sure what causes it (I didn’t have a cold), but it may have been related to not drinking enough water. I had taken just one litre of water on this walk which proved to be nowhere near enough. On a strenuous walk in hot weather one needs to take a lot of water or basically as much as you can carry and ever since I have tried to make sure I take plenty of water with me. 

Once I got to Pendeen Watch the terrain eased, the weather cooled and I was able to buy a drink from an ice cream van. It was now 4pm and I had come to the most interesting part of the walk. Beyond Pendeen Watch is a large collection of old tin mines, most notably Levant Mine. I remember walking through the ruins of our mining past with awe at the high chimneys and the huge area that these mines covered. At Cape Cornwall the remaining part of my carefully rationed water ran out and I limped down the hill into the Cot Valley. During the course of the day I had a pain in my shin got gradually worse but for now that wasn’t so much of a concern as the pain from the sunburn that I had acquired the day before which no amount of sun cream seemed to stop. Eventually I arrived near the hostel but I could not find a way across the river to the hostel. In my dehydrated, exhausted state this was the last thing I needed. Eventually I found someone to ask directions, but I’m afraid I rather snapped at them. I was not in a good state of mind. Wearily I dragged myself to the youth hostel, thanks to the directions that I had been given, where I was able to get a drink from the friendly staff. Despite aching legs I was able to get a long night’s sleep and regain my energy, but this mammoth walk had taken everything out of me.

Land’s End to Porthcurno 

Wednesday 25th July 2001 

The shin splinter that had been getting gradually worse during the course of the previous day was just as bad in the morning as it had been when I went to bed. My original plan for this day had been to walk all the way back to Penzance along the South West Coast Path, but my limping progress the first couple of miles soon put a stop to that idea. Slowly I walked past the popular seaside resort of Sennen Cove to Land’s End and its tacky theme park. At Land’s End I ate a lunch bought at exorbitant prices from the theme park and after writing a postcard home I continued along the coast as fast as my leg would allow. After Land’s End the Atlantic becomes the English Channel and the terrain eases so by walking very slowly and taking every shortcut that I could find along the way I was finally able to reach Porthcurno. It was almost 4pm when I eventually descended to the packed beach having limped my way along ten weary miles (maybe a little less with the route I took), and my forearms were still in agony as a result of my short-sightedness of the previous Monday despite tonnes of sun cream since. I couldn’t go any further so I walked into Porthcurno and visited the excellent Museum of Submarine Telegraphy (the Trans-Atlantic telecommunication cables come into Britain at Porthcurno), before catching a bus to Penzance. 

Any idea of further walking this holiday had been removed thanks to my aching leg. With hindsight I shouldn’t have done such a strenuous walk on the Tuesday when I already had a shin splinter (or whatever it was that was wrong with my leg). Thankfully this is the worst that I have injured myself while walking and it was nothing serious, my leg eventually healed itself with plenty of rest once I got home. I feel like I seemed to have turned a corner with the walks that I did during this holiday. They were my first really serious, strenuous walks and they really put me to the test. Although I didn’t come out of them in perfect health I learnt a lot during this holiday that I continue to put into practice during my walks.