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.