Final Reflections

After reaching Land's End we spent a few hours enjoying the attractions, including 4D cinema and the comfort of the Land's End Hotel where we signed the guest book to formally record our journey.  We also took time to walk around to Sennen again and visit the First and Last pub in England, complete with smuggler's tunnel which we had skipped the previous day.  On returning to the hotel, we were greeted by an amazing sunset that provided an opportunity to get some good photos by the signpost without the masses of tourists.
The following day it felt strange to be getting up at a normal time, enjoying a good breakfast and not having to walk 25 Miles.  Instead, we had to endure a dreadfully overcrowded 5 hour train journey back to London from Penzance.  From there it was another train journey back to Milton Keynes and a final taxi leg where I got the driver to drop me off early so that I could walk the final half a mile home.  And so the long journey ended and it was back to the world of clean clothes, home cooking, daily chores and the day job.
On reflection, it still doesn't seem possible that we walked all that way.  Tim lost one and a half Stones and I lost half a stone which I put on again after just one week of having an insatiable appetite.  I found that none of my shoes fitted me when I got home, my feet had gone up by a whole size!  The blisters have now disappeared leaving the soles of my feet feeling like shoe leather and I have a numb section of thigh that came on in the first week of the journey and still hasn't returned to normal.
Would I do it again? Yes, of course, I'd love to, although at a slower pace, in fact I'd have liked to have carried on from Land's End and walked around the South West Coastal Path.  I'm not sure that I will ever get the opportunity to be away from home and work for such a long period of time again though, so for now it is just nice to know that I have done it and to look back at my leisure on all the amazing bits.

Best Bit
There were many good bits, almost every day had parts that I would like to go back to, but my favourite bit was the stretch of the South West Coastal Path from Helston to Penzance on the penultimate day.  Maybe it was because we had been away from the sea for so long, or that we were just so used to the walking by then that everything felt good, or maybe just that the end was in sight.  Whatever the reason, it was my favourite bit.

Worst Bit
 Reaching Land's End was a complete let down for me.  The realisation that it was all over combined with the masses of people made the ending feel very dull.
Long hot days walking along boring canals with painful blisters will also be an enduring bad memory.

Day 49 - Penzance to Land's End - 12 Miles

We made it!

Yes, at around 1pm on Friday 9th August, after 49 days and 1,185 Miles we finally reached Land's End.  There was no rush this morning,  with only 12 Miles to cover,  we had time to enjoy a full breakfast.   No need to stop and pick up extra food and drinks,  just straight off into the morning sun, navigating our way along the final remaining roads between Penzance and Land's End.  As we neared Sennen,  we had no choice but to walk a stretch of the A30, giving reminders of how this journey started seven weeks ago on the A99.  We had planned to stop at the First and Last Inn in England as we approached Land's End, but as it was still early we were fairly sure that it would be shut, so we decided to forget the First and Last Inn and its busy location and take the scenic route via Sennen Cove.  The decision was a good one and we took time to stop for lunch at the beautiful Sennen Cove before heading off for the final 1.5 Miles along the coastal path to Land's End.

The final mile and a half was a busy multi-cultural procession along the coast until in front of us appeared the iconic signpost,  with accompanying crowd and queue of people waiting to have a personalised photo taken. We duly queued up and had our moment captured for a small fee.

My feelings on reaching the end were mainly anti-climax, the whole heaving tourist spot that Land's End now is doesn't seem to fit with everything that has passed in the last 49 days and undelines more than ever that this has been about the journey and not the end.  We checked into the excellent Land's End Hotel and signed the End to Enders guest book. A quick scan of which confirmed that people have indeed been walking in the other direction in last few months,  but we failed to bump into any of them.

The impact of what we have done has not sunk in yet for me, but I am proud that we have both made it through. As for a reason why we did it in the first place,  I have had plenty of time to consider the answer over the last 49 days,  and the best answer for me came from a conversation in the Saloon in Stonehaugh that went as follows:

Bar man picks up a guitar and plays a few songs.

Pennine walker sitting at the bar says "That's one thing I always wish I'd learnt to do, play guitar"

"You're not dead yet are you?", says a man in the corner with an accordion. 

"I think I will learn when I get back", says the Pennine walker.

That summed it up for me, I don't need any other reason than that I wanted to do it and I'm not dead yet.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone for all the emails,  texts of support and donations to charity,  all of which have helped us to keep going when times were hard (and there were many) and it would have been easier to stop. 

  We did it!

Tourists gone and a few drinks later.

Statistics
Distance: 11.3 Miles
Moving Time: 3 Hours 31 Mins
Cumulative Distance: 1,139.14 Miles

View the route for day 49 here.



Day 48 - Helston to Penzance - 18 Miles

'West Highland Way?'
'Great Glen Way?'
'Pennine Way?'
'Cotswold Way?'

This is what people have been asking us over the last seven weeks ask as we pass them by.  Today it was 'Coastal Path?' and I felt very smug in being able to reply with 'John o'Groats to Land's End, day 48', the reply is invariably 'well done! Nearly there now'.
For me, today felt like walking on air as we took the coastal path from Helston, passing through Porthleven, and when we stopped at Pra Sands for coffee I couldn't believe that we'd done 9 Miles already.   The coastal path was fantastic, the hills didn't register any pain, the feet were not hurting and the whole 18 Miles to Penzance felt like a Mo Farah lap of honour at the Olympics.
Our accommodation for the night is a shared room in the Youth Hostel with some guys who are currently serving in the military and know all about Leukotape and foot pain. One of the guys said that he had to carry a 50kg pack once! I reckon mine must be down to 10kg now.
Land's End tomorrow and I'm going to enjoy every last second of it.

St Michael's Mount.

Statistics

Distance: 18.3 Miles

Moving Time:  5 Hours 47 Mins

Cumulative Distance: 1127.84 Miles

View the route for day 48 here.

Day 47 - Truro to Helston - 21 Miles

With just three days to go now and all the big mileage days out of the way, it's time to enjoy the walking and make the most of the remainder of this journey. The weather was good today as we headed out of Truro,  following Sustrans route 3 to Perranwell. Most of the footpaths round here seem to be overgrown and impassable, so the rest of the day was spent following lanes through small villages, Stithians, Carnkie, Porkellis, Trenear, passing by reminders of Cornwall's once thriving mining industry.

The 21 miles to passed pretty quickly and by mid afternoon we arrived at Helston, home of the 'Furry dance' we are informed upon entering.  We stopped at the Blue Anchor for a pint of Springle as advised by the landlord last night.  Apparently, the Blue Anchor is the oldest brewery in Cornwall. We have now visited the highest Inn in Britain, the highest pub in Cornwall, the oldest brewery in Cornwall and on Friday we will stop in the first and last pub in England. 

Cornwall is a beautiful place when the weather is like this.

Statistics

Distance: 21 Miles

Moving Time:  6 Hours 23 Mins

Cumulative Distance: 1109.54 Miles

View the route for day 47 here.

Day 46 - Tredethy to Truro - 33 Miles

Another day starting in wet boots and damp socks, oh well never mind, at least the rain has stopped and we're past Bodmin Moor.  Still a big day to get through though, starting with 8 Miles of unfinished business from yesterday.  We knew today was going to be a long day, but its not too bad when following little lanes, frequently crossing the A30, constantly reminding us that there is a more direct alternative available should we wish to take it.  I don't care though, I have no intention of finishing this walk in the manner we started on the A9.  In fact we have been able to decide exactly how we want the final few days to be, deciding to book all accommodation in advance and finish with an easy 10 Mile roll in to Land's End on Friday.
Having booked ahead, there is no longer any need to carry the camping gear around any more, so seeing as gramms are our currency, the surplus gear got binned at the first opportunity and our packs are now lovely and light, a real luxury for the last few days.
With such a high mileage to cover we were keen to keep moving today.  However, we didn't count on having to deal with the farm dog that decided to start following us.  We just couldn't get rid of it.  No matter what we tried it wouldn't go away and followed us for three miles before we started getting really annoyed with it.  We even tried crossing a big stile into a field and blocking it with our packs, but the thing was over before we could stop it.  Eventually, we had to phone the number on its collar and get its owner to come and retrieve it so we could carry on our way, otherwise I'm sure that it would have followed us all the way to Land's End.
So, the longest mileage day of the trip is over, our feet have borne the brunt, but we're not bothered. We celebrted with a few drinks in the bar and got some more donations from some friendly locals and the landlord. We are going to enjoy the final few days of this journey as much as possible.

A nice, but long day on Cornish lanes.

 

The dog that wanted to walk to Land's End.

Statistics

Distance: 32.8 Miles

Moving Time:  11 Hours 36 Mins

Cumulative Distance: 1088.54 Miles

View the route for day 46 here.

Day 45 - Launceston to Tredethy - 25 Miles

Oh my god, what an awful day!  What a crazy idea to try and walk across Bodmin Moor on a day like this. From the moment we set off it was chucking it down, but I was quite well cocooned and dry inside my new waterproof top and trousers. So the first 10 Miles out of Launceston passed quite swiftly, following very quiet roads, then we turned onto the moor.  From then on, it was a case of battling against mossy rocks,  large grassy mounds, gorse, fern and worst of all marshy bog and streams. I soon ripped a hole in my waterproof trousers crossing a barbed wire fence which let water flood into my boot, but there was no point in trying to stay dry anyway as the scrambling through the moor saw us both frequently sinking up to our knees in marshy bog whilst trying to cross streams. Navigation was difficult, trying to keep on track using the GPS to guide us in the driving rain, without it we'd have been in trouble, thank goodness it is waterproof.
After what seemed like an eternity we made it to the other side of Bodmin Moor feeling totally exhausted. Once back on proper roads, good progress was resumed, but we had to stop to wring brown bog water out of our socks.
One thing we have learned all too well on this trip is that long distances on wet feet cause blisters, so not wanting to cause any unnecessary damage we took a shortcut past St Breward, then joined the Camel Trail (an old railway line named after the river Camel) and checked into some accommodation a few miles short of Bodmin.
Thank god we don't have to cross any more moors!

The only picture we managed to take after crossing Bodmin Moor.

Statistics

Distance: 24.6 Miles

Moving Time: 8 Hours 23 Mins

Cumulative Distance: 1055.74 Miles

View the route for day 45 here.

Day 44 - Okehampton to Launceston - 24 Miles

What a difference a day makes, after yesterday's perfect weather and easy going along quiet lanes, today we got a full drenching and were back to struggling to get the navigation right. The day started off dry as we left Okehampton Youth Hostel behind and picked up the Two Castles Trail that links Okehampton and Launceston. Then, one missed turn saw us at the bottom of a viaduct we needed to be crossing over and caused us a costly diversion via the Meldon reservoir to get back on track. At this point the rain began and persisted all the way to Launceston,  making the remainder of the walk a bit miserable. However, we did reach the milestone of passing into Cornwall as we crossed the river Tamar just outside Launceston.
I have read several accounts of Launceston and not found a good word to be said about it by anyone,  so my expectations were not high as we approached the town, set at the top of a steep hill with a castle visible at the top. The place didn't seem that bad to me, even though the weather was bad and everything was shut as it was late Sunday afternoon. There seems to be a Polish community here, judging by some of the restaurants on the high street and Eastern European sounding people in the only shop we found open.  For me, I'll say that Launceston is ok, because our accommodation is great and we're not staying here long enough to put it down.
We gained another day today, but we're not congratulating ourselves, because we could easily lose it again tomorrow if we don't get things right.  With 30 odd miles to cover over Bodmin Moor and a weather forecast to make your heart sink, it's fair to say that we need to get everything right.  Food, navigation, feet, wet weather clothing all need to be right otherwise we'll be camped out on the Moor for the night.  Yes, tomorrow is our Beeches Brook, once we are over that, there will be no big obstacles remaining on the way to Land's End.

Just Cornwall to walk through now.

Statistics

Distance: 23.8 Miles

Moving Time: 8 Hours 12 Mins

Cumulative Distance: 1031.14 Miles

View the route for day 44 here.