two months on...the fundraising page is still open

this time two months ago i had just finished my walk and was a bit at a loss as to what i was going to do with my time.


turns out that wasn't such a problem. when to fit in everything in my life was more of an issue.

sometimes i look back at the summer and it seems like this thing i did years ago that wasn't such a big deal after all.

sometimes i look back and think it was the best way to spend a summer.

sometimes i think i was crazy.

sometimes it think 'damn it, i never chased up all those people who said they'd sponsor me but didn't get round to it'

today is one of those days...

fundraising to date has been awesome. online sponsorship is standing at around £880 including gift aid, and i have over £250 raised offline to add (£312.50 once gift aided) giving a running total of almost £1200.

now don't get me wrong, that's a lot of money. but if you haven't yet sponsored me, and can find it in your heart to log on to my fundrasing page and donate a few pennies, i think the folk over at oxfam* would love you as much as i would. i'm a bit of a sucker for round numbers and would love to raise £1500. can you help me get there?

jin x

*why oxfam? because oxfam support people in the developing world. help them to work themselves out of poverty. they campaign for a fairer deal for those in need. they campaign to fix 'the system' which is crippling developing counties. they help in the fight against the climate change which (as a graduate of earth sciences, who has written dissertations on the subject) i couldn't be more convinced that we are directly responsible for. they help, in short, to deal with what i consider to be the two biggest problems which face our species.

anyone still here?

just in case anyone is still bothering to check this thing, thought i'd post an update.

the last few weeks have been hectic with being ill, starting a pgce (aka: teacher training course) and prepping for my sister's wedding which is totally diy and happening this weekend.

they have unfortunately not been full of keeping on top of all my post walk blogging, or training for the cardiff half marathon, which is in two weeks (when the hell did time start going so quickly?!)

on the plus side, starting the pgce course is giving me the drive to get back on top of stuff and stay there, so hopefully there'll be some more posts coming about the walk.

there'll also be a hell of a lot of posts coming about my thoughts on teaching. for the course, we have to keep a reflective diary - and much like my thoughts on keeping a training log, i think i'm more likely to actually do it if i make it public. so from this week on you can expects to see plenty of pedagogical ponderings. in amongst talk of adventures. and pictures of weddings.

jin x

where i was and when

so i finally got round to going back over the maps and blog posts and have used the official south west coast path distance calculator (and the very handy fact that the four little pink diamonds marking the path on OS1:50,000 maps equate to a mile - handy tip from arthur - the swcp veteran) to re-do the table of daily distances*

i've also worked out that the final average was 16.37 miles per day. the shortest day (the last one) being 7.5 miles. the longest day being 30 miles - 14.5 of those at night time. the next longest: 22.8 - between braunton and westward ho!

i had 38 nights on the trail, 11 of which were spent in actual beds under actual roof tops. 3 nights camping on proper sites with showers and stuff.

i had 8 solo walking days, and 7 solo nights - 3 of which were wild camping.

i had 15 different people walk with me.

i had 1 day where i seriously considered just not bothering. i had a great many more where i couldn't have imagined a better way to spend my summer.

jin x

*

	Walk Day	Day	Date	End Point	Total Distance		Daily distance
					km	miles	km	miles
	1	Saturday	16/07/11	Somerset-Devon Border	23.6	14.65	23.6	14.65
	2	Sunday	17/07/11	Nr Holdstone Down	49.6	30.80	26.0	16.15
	3	Monday	18/07/11	Bay before Bull Point	70.8	44.00	21.2	13.20
	4	Tuesday	19/07/11	Campsite by Chivenor	104.6	65.00	33.8	21.00
	5	Wednesday	20/07/11	Westward Ho! YHA	141.3	87.80	36.7	22.80
	6	Thursday	21/07/11	Hobby Path - Nr Clovelly	156.5	97.25	15.2	9.45
	7	Friday	22/07/11	Elmscott YHA	179.1	111.30	22.6	14.05
	8	Saturday	23/07/11	Far end of Widemouth Bay	206.2	128.10	27.0	16.80
	9	Sunday	24/07/11	Tintagel YHA	235.9	146.60	29.8	18.50
	10	Monday	25/07/11	Port Quin Bay - valley after Trevan Point	256.5	159.40	20.6	12.80
	11	Tuesday	26/07/11	Treyarnon bay YHA	286.9	178.30	30.4	18.90
	12	Wednesday	27/07/11	Dunes behind Crantock Beach	315.7	196.15	28.7	17.85
	13	Thursday	28/07/11	Trevaunance Cove	333.8	207.40	18.1	11.25
	14	Friday	29/07/11	Sandsifter Bar, Gwithian	358.9	223.00	25.1	15.60
	15	Saturday	30/07/11	Zennor Backpackers	387.0	240.50	28.2	17.50
	16	Sunday	31/07/11	Cot Valley for St Just YHA	406.4	252.50	19.3	12.00
	17	Monday	01/08/11	Above Point Spaniard - nr Mousehole	435.2	270.40	28.8	17.90
	18	Tuesday	02/08/11	Barefoot Café on Baulk Head	470.3	292.20	35.1	21.80
	19	Wednesday	03/08/11	Boak House B&B, Coverack	504.0	313.20	33.8	21.00
	20	Thursday	04/08/11	Field above Swanpool beach	534.3	332.00	30.3	18.80
	21	Friday	05/08/11	Pendower	555.2	345.00	20.9	13.00
	22	Saturday	06/08/11	Mevagissey	582.6	362.00	27.4	17.00
	23	Sunday	07/08/11	West combe - Lantivet Bay	616.4	383.00	33.8	21.00
	24	Monday	08/08/11	Car park before Freathy	648.6	403.00	32.2	20.00
	25	Tuesday	09/08/11	Plymouth - Mayflower Steps	668.7	415.50	20.1	12.50
	26	Wednesday	10/08/11	Behind Wonwell Beach	704.9	438.00	36.2	22.50
	27	Thursday	11/08/11	Bolberry down for Burton Farm	722.8	449.10	17.9	11.10
	28	Friday	12/08/11	Hallsands	748.8	465.30	26.1	16.20
	29	Saturday	13/08/11	Sharkham Point	782.9	486.50	34.1	21.20
	30-31	Sunday	14/08/11	Oddicombe Beach	807.9	502.00	24.9	15.50
	30-31	Monday	15/08/11	Starcross for Exeter	831.2	516.50	23.3	14.50
	32	Tuesday	16/08/11	Sidmouth	853.0	530.00	21.7	13.50
	33	Wednesday	17/08/11	Lyme Regis	880.3	547.00	27.4	17.00
	34	Thursday	18/08/11	West Bay	896.4	557.00	16.1	10.00
	35	Friday	19/08/11	Back of Fleet Lagoon, nr Wyke Regis	927.8	576.50	31.4	19.50
	36	Saturday	20/08/11	Portland YHA	946.3	588.00	18.5	11.50
	37	Sunday	21/08/11	Lulworth Cove YHA	973.3	604.80	27.0	16.80
	38	Monday	22/08/11	Swanage	1007.0	625.70	33.6	20.90
	39	Tuesday	23/08/11	Poole Harbour - South Haven Point	1019.0	633.20	12.1	7.50

friendly faces

as i said in my last post but one, i had a lot of great support on my trip this summer. probably the most important support i had was from those that came to walk with me. whether it was for an hour or two or a week or two.

a month before i left i thought i was going to end up walking mostly solo. in the end i think there were only about 7 days total that i was on my own. i can only imagine how much harder it would have been without you guys:

jin x

so this is what the real world is like...

even though i haven't actually done a massive amount since i've been back (two weeks tomorrow - really?!), life has massively eaten up time. i've been galovanting round the country, catching up with friends, and trying to get on top of bridesmaid dress making/general planning and preparation for my sister's wedding in five short week's time.

that's odd. in five weeks and four days i walked 633.2 miles. surely this should be easy? right?

anyways, i just wanted to post and say that there will be a whole bunch of reflective stuff coming up about the walk, along with gear reviews, things i'll do differently next time, tips i picked up along the way and the like.

i'll also start using this as a bit of a training blog for my half marathon which is fast approaching (once i actually get started on the training). and i'll be changing tack to musings on the adventure that is teacher training.

so stick around, if you want to that is. otherwise, check back in ten months or so when i'll be in full on planning mode for walking the pennine way - 268 miles in 14 days.

jin x

you made it happen

i want to say thank you.

thank you to everyone who's read this blog. everyone who's commented. everyone who's texted me or called me. everyone who's liked a facebook status, or photo, or left a comment. everyone who joined me, or let me join them. everyone who fed me, brought me a tea, let me use their land for camping or looked after my bag.

and on behalf of oxfam, thank you to everyone who sponsored me. from the odd change from strangers on the walk to those who have made significant donations.

without you all, it would have been incredibly difficult to complete my personal challenge of walking the whole south west coast path in one go. dare i say impossible?

so thank you, for allowing me to have what has been one of the best experiences of my life.

jin x

day 39: c'est fini

i've been wondering for a few days how i'd feel when i finish. trying to think of clever things to say. but now it comes to it all i can think is 'it's done'

and as for how i feel, i'll have to let you know.

jin x

7.5 miles today. total miles: 633.2 miles down, 0 to go.

day 38: 630 miles in 38 days?

my dad joined me again last night to walk with me to the end. last night we had one main topic of conversation: how best to avoid the worst of the rain. it was a toughie.

yesterday the forecast was saying rain starting this evening and staying heavy for tuesday morning. while that was the case we were going to ditch the camping stuff to save weight and head straight through to south haven point, just over twenty eight miles away.

it would've been tough, but ultimately doable. then the forecast changed and said rain starting earlier on monday and only cloudy on tuesday. so back to the original plan. which is what we did.

we started off with cool mist:

that looked like something out of pirates of the carribean. at least to me.

then the sun came out, which made it a formidable day: covering over twenty miles. in blazing sunshine. with very little by way of water or refreshment opportunities. and hills. big ones. lots of them.

like this:

and this:

for much of the day my legs felt like lead. i think i've been getting that 'almost there' wind down. bizarrely though, by the end of the day i felt fresher than i sometimes have after days this long. odd.

jin x

20.9 miles covered today. overall: 625.7 down, 7.5 to go (yes, that adds up to 633.2, that's the official end to end distance according to the official distance calculator. no, i'm not changing the name of the challenge, it's close enough.

day 37: sight seeing

i've been blessed, today, with some brilliant sights, some of the biggies of the coast path. and since i'm tired after a day of (mostly) sun, i'm gonna be lazy and do a picture heavy post. first up:

portland in the sun, and some pretty awesome white cliffs.

next: durdle door, classic geology.

and hoards of people en route to:

...lulworth cove. it's like a geologist's pilgrimage. only they're mostly just tourists. and it'd be a pretty short pilgrimage at only a mile between them.

jin x

28.3 miles left, but 204.8 covered. which means the bench saying 500 left to poole but 132 miles from minehead was correct. it is 632 miles total. either way, i've walked around 16.5 miles today.

day 36: bye bye coasters

this morning i said farewell to the coasters, numbers duly exchanged, as they are slowing the pace a little to walk the final stretch with zoe. meanwhile i'll be pushing on to complete the walk in the advertised 39 days.

given that, today was a nice little jaunt around the isle of portland. what started out as quite a grey and miserable day turned into one of the nicest so far.

the island afforded me wonderful views of where i'd been:

where i'm headed:

via a lovely light house:

where i spent a lovely few hours carrying out damage limitation on my tan lines.

jin x

about 588 miles covered now, 11.5 miles today. only 42 miles left now.

day 35: five weeks in

i literally can't believe i've been going five weeks. yet minehead feels like a year ago!

if someone came along and told me they'd added on another two hundred miles, i'd walk them. happily enough aswell. but i'm really quite glad i'll be done in a few days and i'll get to see all my friends and stuff. five and a bit weeks is definitely long enough for me.

i've just realised that sounds downbeat, but it's actually been a great day for walking. we (the coasters and i) did the stretch along the landward side of fleet lagoon today, behind chesil beach. a good, long, mostly flat stretch in glorious sunshine, with occasional whispy clouds and a perfect breeze. good times indeed.

favourite views of today:

the dew on the grass this morning:

the length of the fleet lagoon:

and the sun, lowering in the sky over the lagoon:

i'm pretty sure the sunset will be up there too, but i've got to sign off and watch it first.

jin x

i'm now at 576.5 miles, covering 19.5 of those today. 53.5 left now.

day 34: bailing

it turns out i'm not very good at bailing. i'm very good at almost bailing. but i always seem to loose my nerve and carry on.

take today. it was raining. a lot:

it was also forcast to rain. a lot. all day. i therefore decided that, considering that i was ahead of schedule and could easily make up for a day's rest, i would sit out the rain and actually take a day's rest. i am here to enjoy myself after all. so i found a nice cafe (the good food cafe in lyme regis) with wifi and plug sockets and hot chocolate and cream teas and pasties with salads with flowers in:

and i waited.

and then all of a sudden it was brightening up. and the met office app agreed that it was brightening up for the whole afternoon. so i set off, meeting zoe on the path on the way.

it turned out that the met office app lied to me. when we hit charmouth it was most definitely raining again.

zoe was headed off to her cousin's house for a bed, while i found myself waiting out the rain again. as i did, arthur, mike and steve (another coaster who started half way round) turned up.

with it brightening up a little again, we set off for golden cap, with portland bill in the horizon:

(it's that faint wedge shape)

i expected golden cap, being the highest point on the south coast, to feel pretty big. but to be honest, we did almost as much ascent on some of the hills yesterday, so it wasn't too bad. i even had enough energy for the classic trig point shot:

only a few miles further on and we're camped up, looking like a mini camp site in front of a pub where i paid £3.30 for a soda water and lime. £3.30! still, at least we didn't have to to far to camp.

jin x

up to 557 miles today after my shortest day so far: 10 miles. only 73 left now.

day 33: 'ere int it lush?!

the first stint today was a bit of a rude (re)awakening to what hills feel like. it's been quite a while since there've been serious hills one after the other. unsurprisingly my sister, seven years my senior and a smoker, could really feel them. saying that we were equally glad to stop for a cream tea at the first signs of a cafe.

carrying on to beer and seaton, more hills were encountered. and the rain started. stopping for mash with cheese and beens (stupidly simple but brilliant to see on a cafe menu) we hoped it would let up. it didn't.

the next leg, to the dorset border and lyme regis, spanned seven miles, predominantly in a beautiful woodland on a historic landslide. the rain had made it quite slippy underfoot and particularly trecherous with the roots, which there were lots of:

but it also made all the ferns and ivy and everything all shiny and pretty:

i think i lost count of my uses of the words 'lush', 'green' and even 'verdant'.

jin x

547 miles in total now, giving my sister the taste of a 17 mile day. only 83 miles to go now.

day 32: livin' the dream

having got a brilliant nights sleep after staying up all day after staying up all night, it was a little bit of a later start in the morning. walking along nattering with my sister, who's joined me today for two days, time passed quickly from exmouth to budleigh salteron, where we stopped for lunch, and a bit of touristing. with a slightly shorter day today we took the time to have a bit of a look round the town. i'm glad we did cos it's a charming little town.

the path between budleigh salterton and sidmouth was particularly pleasant. the sun came out for us, but there were good stretches with the dappled shade of woodlands:

and there was a good breeze. my favourite type of walking weather.

reaching sidmouth by four, we strolled through the surf:

before stopping for a plymouth gin and tonic followed by reading the papers and sunbathing in deckchairs and feasting on fresh rolls, cream cheese and smoked makerel for tea. yum.

my favourite bits of today though, once again, have been the clouds. the mix when we were sunbathing:

and the colours at sunset:

hands down the best sunset i've seen so far.

jin x

530 miles now. another 13.5 down, and only 100 to go.

day 30: part 2

it was a nice chilled evening playing cribbage and enjoying the (almost) full moon rise. so, rested up, we set off for our night of walking at about half nine.

unfortunately, the first half of the walk, from oddicombe to teignmouth, was fairly wooded. this didn't afford much chance to walk by moonlight. however, when we did get glimpses through the tree's it was beautiful:

the first four hours somehow seemed to pass without a break. which was very tiring. at teignmouth we dragged out the sleeping bags while we brewed up for 'lunch':

looking a little tramp-like, we seriously considered bailing. i was at the point where i was wearing everything i owned, including spare socks as gloves:

we packed up, hoping to pitch up just outside teignmouth, by a bit of grass john remembered by the teignmouth sign. is was perfect. only there seemed to be some other people around, so being cautious, we carried on a little further.

when i say a little further, i of course mean eight miles further. to starcross. by this time we were out in the open, so torches put away we soldiered on, albeit a bit tired. we were justly rewarded with our second consecutive sunrise:

i think i might even prefer them to sunsets. i love the way you can watch for half an hour and it still surprises you when the sun actually shows itself. it's magical.

jin x

up to 516.5 miles in total now. i'm almost thinking of switching to counting down the miles? miles overnight: around 14.5 official, at least one extra for detours. total miles in 24 hours: 30.

day 30: part 1

today started with a sunrise. the first one i've been up and out of the tent for. it was amazing. the camera could not handle the awesomeness.

i was about to write that we've had a pretty short day. but it wasn't ridiculously short. considering we're now resting up and eating pizzas in preparation to walk another leg tonight.

it was full moon last night. they've given clear skies for tonight. it's a section, by the teignmouth-starcross section of the railway, that i've seen a hundred times in the light. we can rest up all day tomorrow at my sister's. in short, there seems no better time to do a moonlight walk.

as for today. it's gone fairly easily. i've been surprised, as the book said i would be, by the path round the brixham to torquay section. there have been some pretty good sections including lots of nice woods. though the way markers todayproved a little tricky to spot at times:

i'm gonna go now, fresh donuts are calling, but i'll be posting again in about twelve hours, probably quite knackered.

jin x

502 miles now, so 15.5 today.

day 29: logistics

so my friend emma was supposed to be joining us yesterday at salcombe. but she's an overworked nurse who overslept so then she was gonna join us at hallsands. but then one of our other friends was leaving cardiff to go and work in australia. so she had to go out but was gonna join us in dartmouth. then she got to bed at six in the morning and i thought she wouldn't be joining us at all. then she woke up at nearly three, got in the car and drove down to brixham, which is where we are tonight.

it turns out meeting up on the south west coast path can be quite tricky if plans have to be changed because there's big gaps between towns and only very patchy signal. but she made it. in the end.

despite walking a long day today, around twenty miles, i can't think of that much to say about it.

i think one of the most striking things was that i noticed that i now feel as tired at the end of a twenty miler as i did after our first few days of around fourteen miles. so i guess the walking is paying off.

i'm gonna leave you with gratuitous prettiness of the sky over slapton sands early this morning:

jin x

total milage is now 486.5, making it 21.5 miles again. it's crazy how they add up.

day 28: i'd hate to have been today's weatherman

it was raining this morning when we woke up. by the time we set off from burton farm it was pretty much a white out. that lifted to cloud, which eventually separated to give us sun, before clouding over again. i think that's what they call changeable.

it was a late start. but we made good time into salcombe. six miles in just over two hours. and there were hills.

after lunch we made less good time. but we did have a look around a coastwach visitor centre. we also had a bit of a sunbathe.

we're now camped up a mile further on from this sign:

hoping the tents dry out a bit from this mornings hasty packing before we have to get into them.

jin x

going by the sign we're at 463 miles now. going by the official distance calculator, we're at 465.3. it feels more like the 16 or so miles of the distance calculator, than the 14 using the sign, so i'm gonna stick with 465. either way, we're a bloody long way round now.

day 27: a bit breezy

for a little while i thought we might get away with packing the tents away dry today. with such a windy night they it was looking good. unfortunately it started raining at about six and carried on til about nine, when we'd been walking for an hour. ah well. one can live in hope.

it's been a fairly foggy/drizzly day today.

and at times the wind was literally blowing me sidewards. bizarrely i really enjoy weather like that. i kinda want to grumble. but then i find this massive grin on my face.

it was a short day. we got to burton farmhouse, the b&b i used to work at, at around half one. after only nine miles.

we stopped for lunch then headed out for the circular walk from the farm which takes in two miles of coast path. it also takes in over two miles of other footpaths, but means we can start a little further round in the morning.the best bit was we got to go sans bags. good times.

jin x

449 miles in total now, including the extra 2 miles on our bag-less stroll. 11 coast path miles today, just over 14 total miles today.

day 26: waiting

john is back with me today. his feet are mostly better. obviously not completely repaired in just two weeks. but they have skin. which is good.

on the walking front we had a good day. although we did take the first real shortcut. the 'formal' coast path route takes in the wonders of laira bridge and hooe in plymouth while the mount batten ferry acts as a 'shortcut'. all of the other ferries are part of the official route.

having no interweb tonight i can't say exactly how much we cheated. let's call it a few miles. however, even if i'd have realised it was a shortcut, i still would've taken it. we'll make it up with miles inland to hostels and things.

the walking was mostly nice and easy today. nice wide grass tracks with blue sea to our right, blue sky overhead and a good sea breeze. in short, it's was the kind of day john and i both imagined prior to setting out.

we also got to go straight through a corn (or wheat or barley or something, we can't tell the difference) field. so i pretended to be a scarecrow:

it's all about the little things!

in other news, my mum made me a bag cover to say about my walk and count the days i've been walking. it's awesome. and it's helping to get people to come over and have a chat and wish me luck and give me sponsorship pennies. in short, it's doing it's job.

that's it in the corner of the photo, taken while we were waiting for the tide to drop so we could wade the erme. the only river with no ferry at all.

we got there around high tide at four-ish. we managed to wade at just gone eight. not too bad, but with the wind it was a little chilly waiting. by the time we got round to wading i'm not sure i had any clothes left to put on!

jin x

past two thirds of the way now at 438 miles. 17.5 of those today. (4.9 skipped)

day 25: home

i got a lie in today cos i only had three and three quarter miles to walk before meeting friends at eleven. or at least i would've done if the sun hadn't woken me up. nevermind.

a quick start meant i had a little wait for kate and rhys, but then we were off. the day passed very quickly. between catching up with friends and knowing i'd be in plymouth it was no time before i was, well, in plymouth.

a quick pit stop for pimms at the edgcumbe arms to bid farewell to cornwall provided a nice rest before the home straight of plymouth hoe.

only of course while it may be home, it's not the end. there's two more weeks to go. and a little bit of me is starting to think i'm gonna struggle going back to real life. i'm really taking to this life on the trail.

picture wise i'm gonna leave you with a view of plymouth from penlee point. a new perspective for me. it almost looks nice there. almost.

jin x

new total is 415.5 miles which makes it 12.5 today. that means tomorrow will hurt.

day 24: solo

so today was my last solo day. and it was a goodun.

i got on the trail before eight and set off for polperro. it was good walking weather sunny, but with odd clouds and a good breeze. stopping for a quick second breakfast and a chat with a local i pressed on to looe. making looe before lunch i realised i should easily be able to make portwrinkle by the end of the day, which would keep my walk into plymouth on tuesday reasonable, so that i can make the most of home comforts.

getting to portwrinkle at about half four, despite stopping for chips, hot chocolate and wifi at the smugglers inn at seaton, i decided to press on. not too far though. i'm meeting friends at rame head tomorrow mid morning so i needed to leve myself a couple of miles at least.

i passed several ideal camping spots by tregantle fort, but being mod property i carried on. i managed to find a nice flat spot at the back of a car park three miles on from protwrinkle at around quarter past six.

by the end of the day i definitely felt like my feet were dragging. but when i checked the distance calculator i'd done 19.5 miles, in ten and a half hours. including several breaks. not bad for my last day alone.

as i said, tomorrow i have friends joining me. then in plymouth, john and his newly healed feet will be rejoining me for the rest of the walk.

i've enjoyed my solo time. for the most part. there've been a few points where i've got a bit homesick, but mostly it's been good. i've had visits from family. and days with various coasters. and generally kept up pretty good time.

but it will be nice to have proper company again

now. photos:

check out the little sheep up there on the horizon...

and the amazing patterns the clouds make on the water...

and the waves coming in through portwrinkle harbour as i soaked my feet...

jin x

as i said, it was 19.5 miles today. which makes 403 in total. getting close to two thirds of the way round now.

day 23: rain

we'd heard forecasts that today would bring rain. so when mike and i woke to glorious sunshine we were pretty chuffed. we packed up and ate our fish for breakfast. poached, along with some eggs and seasoned with parmesan, black pepper and bacon bits in a pitta. yum.

who said backpackers couldn't eat well?!

we had an average start, but earlier than zoe. not far out of mevagissey we met up with arthur again and walked on together.

it's been a bit more up and down again today.

i can feel it in the feet. we were very late to lunch today aswell, almost four o'clock. i could feel that too. i think it's fair to say i was flagging.

we stopped off on a pub in polkerris and refueled on pasties and chips. it was good timing cos that was when the thunder hit.

we waited out the worst of the rain. but we needed to crack on, so on the waterproofs went. luckily, after an hour or so of proper rain it stopped. the head down plodding was miserable while it lasted, but once the sun came back out it became a lovely evening.

i left the guys in polruan, just past fowey, where they were heading for a campsite. but not needing a shower, and keen to get in a couple more solo wildcamps before I pick up company again, i powered on.

i thought i'd go until i found the first likely looking spot, but i seemed to have more in me so i carried on. nearly four miles on. to a little mostly flat spot recommended by a lovely dog walking lady as somewhere not home to a heard of horned cattle.

i'll leave you with some gratuitous (but pretty awesome) clouds:

jin x

3 miles short of polperro makes it 383.5 miles in total, 21.5 of those today. i'm pretty proud of that.