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.

Day 43 - Crediton to Okehampton - 21 Miles

I've definitely had it with Compeed now.  Sure, they protect your blister from the friction of the boot whilst walking,  but you need to cover them with tape to stop them moving or sticking to your sock like glue,  but the worst thing is that when you try to remove them at the end of the day, they have stuck to your skin so strongly that pulling them off removes the skin from the blister as well, and that hurts.  So instead, today, after spending a night worrying about if I was going to be able to make it through today and how many Nurofen I have got left, I decided to just put a non sticky bit of plaster over the blister and tape it down well.
I set off pretty gingerly for the first few miles, but soon I'd forgotten all about it and just got on with the walking. Taking it off again at the end of the day was also a breeze, so Compeed is now history.
The walk today also turned out to be one of the best of the trip so far.  Leaving Crediton behind,  we wove a route through minor lanes in a generally Westerly direction.  With all the traffic drawn off to the A30, the lanes were as quiet as anything we have experienced since the Scottish Borders region, with only the local postal van making an occasional appearance.   With the weather much cooler and no stile hopping to slow us down, the 21 Miles to Okehampton flew by, passing picturesque villages like Yeoford and Spreyton where we stopped for coffee,  it was a really nice day, we enjoyed it so much that the significance of passing the 1000 Mile point completely passed us by.
Accommodation for tonight is Okehampton Youth Hostel, which is fine. We were seriously considering ditching the tents at this stage,  but with a brutal 35 Mile day across Bodmin Moor looming,  I think we'll keep them a bit longer.

Yeoford in the morning.

Statistics

Distance: 20.4 Miles

Moving Time: 6 Hours 52 Mins

Cumulative Distance: 1007.34 Miles

View the route for day 43 here.

Day 42 - Tiverton to Crediton - 17 Miles

After the previous few days high mileage,  I was in need of a rest.  My feet have come out in some new blisters,  making things painful,  so it made sense to check into some good accommodation in Crediton and rest up, rather than push on trying to gain more time.
The day had started well, with the nice lady at the B&B dropping us off at the point where she had picked us up yesterday when we were struggling to find the address. We then followed a river trail to Bickleigh Mill and Castle,  before heading towards Crediton along some steep, but quiet typical Devon country lanes.
Once checked in at Crediton, I took a bit of time to read the blog of the guy who's route we have been following since Glasgow and it makes very interesting reading. He was doing the journey South-North and at this point in the walk he tells a very similar tale to our journey through Scotland, with blisters, swollen shins, limps and compeed stuck to his feet in a congealed mess.  Maybe everyone has to go through this pain, or maybe as the man operating the signpost at John o'Groats pointed out,  "most people take three months to walk it, not seven weeks!"

The only thing that has got heavier as we go on is the medical kit.  All this is needed to get our feet through each day.

Statistics

Distance: 16.9 Miles

Moving Time: 5 Hours 42 Mins

Cumulative Distance: 986.94 Miles

View the route for day 42 here.

Day 41 - Taunton to Tiverton - 28 Miles

I said that I wasn't going to complain about the weather again in this blog, and I won't,  but oh my god it was hot today! At one point we had to knock on someone's door to ask for water.  Fortunately the nice lady that answered was happy to fill our bottles with water and ice. 
The route was nice enough,  following initially the Taunton to Bridgewater canal,  then onto the West Deane Way, which was considerably better maintained than its sibling, the East Deane Way, that we followed yesterday.   There were some lovely wooded sections that provided shade from the burning sun, and none of the busy roads of yesterday. The rest of the walk followed the Great Western Canal which is interesting for a few reasons;  it was designed to link up with the Taunton to Bridgewater canal,  but was never completed, also, it is the only canal that I have ever seen where the water is clear enough to see the bottom and finally; it is being actively maintained which we noted as we passed a section that had been drained and dug out.
The Great Western canal terminates in Tiverton and Tiverton is in Devon and Devon really feels like we are getting there.
The lady in at our B&B this evening asked us if we had seen a man with a staff who looked like a Pilgrim heading to John o'Groats.  We hadn't,  but we had been mistaken for Pilgrims ourselves by a Swiss cyclist in Scotland.  Surely it won't be long now before we bump into one of these people.

Great B&B we stayed at tonight.

Statistics

Distance: 27.8 Miles

Moving Time: 8 Hours 57 Mins

Cumulative Distance: 970.04 Miles

View the route for day 41 here.