When – 11 February 2012
Where – Cornwall Coastal Path – Penzance to Sennen Cove
Distance – 17 miles
Slept – Last night on the sleeper train from London Town. Tonight The Old Success Inn, Sennen.

Utterly glorious weather (you know, for early February. In the UK) helped massively with a long walking day that started just after 8am and didn’t finish until 6pm.

The first four miles out from Penzance to Mousehole were easy walking mainly on concrete by the sides of roads – it wasn’t until we left Mousehole that the constant up and down walking that seems to characterise the Cornwall Coastal
Path kicked in. Spend 15 minutes climbing up, walk through mud and heave yourself over rocks… and then head down again to a pretty sand or pebbled cove. Before climbing Straight. Back. Up. Repeat numerous times.

Best sights spotted today were: bonkers lads swimming in Penzance Harbour; St Michael’s Mount; beautiful fields of daffodils (and the poor buggers bent over double picking them); Tarer-Du lighthouse; the forest of ‘stunted’ trees and the huge boulders and stones that make up St Loy’s Cove (as well as the beautiful house right by it); spying the legendary Minack theatre; the fab and easy walking past Porthgwarra; some incredible looking sea coves, getting a picture at the Lands End sign and racing against the night to get to the pub where we’re staying before the light went.

I’ve had a fantastic day of walking in a part of the UK that is 8 degrees warmer than London was yesterday. Something about almost nine hours of walking really takes it out of you though (odd that!) – it’s not even 9.30pm but I am totally exhausted! I’ve eaten a delicious Cornish fish pie for my dinner, washed down by two pints of tribune, and now? Now it’s time to sleep!