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.
Distance: 11.3 Miles
Moving Time: 3 Hours 31 Mins
Cumulative Distance: 1,139.14 Miles
View the route for day 49 here.
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