SWCP Day 9 – Reasons to be Cheerful
Last night we had another evening in Watergate Bay, one of our favourite beaches in the South West. As a bit of a treat we had supper at the Beach Hut with old friends Renate and Ian and had an excellent feast from the new menu – huge thanks to Will, Laura and the Beach Hut team for looking after us so well – great food, great service.
No Christmas eve lie-in though and another 5am start beckoned so early(ish) to bed in the camper van – you can see how compact and bijou it is especially when Poppy decides to take up most of the bed.
In the Camper
6:45 and I’m out of the van at Perranporth. It had rained all night, was still raining and rained continuously for the next four hours. Not the greatest start to the day but I started to hum a little bit of Kylie and some Ian Dury to myself and started to think of reasons for not letting the persistant drizzle get to me ……
- It wasn’t windy. Windblown rain is much worse that merely falling rain.
- It wasn’t cold. Sleat is much worse than mere rain. Hail is much worse than mere rain and snow, though lovely, would probably cause me more problems than mere rain.
- Although some might question my sanity for choosing to walk 25 miles a day in all weathers at this time of year, or anytime of year, I am at least free to choose to do so. Many people could not choose to walk 25 or even 2.5 miles even if they wanted for various reasons, just one of which might be Motor Neurone Disease.
- I get to hear seabirds at dawn. Not great if they are herring gulls nesting on your roof but wonderful if they are on a wild coast.
- We have an amazing coastline and an amazing facility in the South West Coast Path. 630 miles of unbroken footpath, signposted, maintained, mapped and free to use. This would be unbelievable to people from many other countries.
- It’s Christmas!
- Rex was with me.
Rex having fun on the beach
Today’s walk was fairly straightforward. No massive climbing, good paths and no major obstacles. This allowed us to make really good time and we covered 24.6 miles by 4 o’clock. Time to head off for some traditional christmas eve pasta (and red wine)
You know you’re in Cornwall when one of these is in the middle of the path …
Wheal Coates Tin Mine
Merry Christmas everyone and huge thanks for your support and good wishes.
p.s. If you haven’t already noticed there’s a donations page at www.justgiving.com/swcp25x25. I’m delighted to see that we now have over £3000 of donations there as well as gift aid and some offline cash.