From: Pendeen to St Ives
Distance: 14m / 22.4km
Cumulated distance: 24.5m / 39.4km
Percentage completed: 2.38
Before I even opened my eyes this morning, I knew what sort of weather was waiting outside. At times during the night it felt as if the whole prefab was going to take off, so strong were the gales. And yes, as I made my way across to the pub for brekkie, I could barely keep upright! But there was a silver lining .. much of the snow had been blown away and the temperature was at least 4 degrees. Maybe I could tackle the South West Coast Path after all.
I put the idea to the landlord. Sharp intake of breath. ‘I wouldn’t be doing that if I were you .. people have lost their lives out there on that path or at least broken ankles’. Not totally put off I asked a couple of dog walkers as I ventured along the road. Lots of tutting and shaking of heads. I decided to walk along the road until the point where it almost converges with the path. And this is what I found ..
Ice-packed coastal path
And what you can’t see is just how windy it was! So reluctantly I turned tail and headed back for a day of road walking to St Ives.
Seems the locals were right
Back to the road
The road was uncannily quiet which made for easy walking. I was bitten by the bug of long distance walks when I did the Thames Trail a couple of years ago. I started in the East End of London and finished at the source of the river, near Cirencester. It’s a lovely, flat 184 mile walk which meanders through London and then through many delightful villages and mellow English countryside. I had thought my next walk would be any one of the UK’s national trails .. The Cotswold Way or The Coast to Coast, perhaps. But as I thought about my options, it became startlingly clear that next up should be the longest, while I was at my youngest. And so the End to End walk started to come into focus.
The walk I’m doing is my own cobbled together route. There is no way-marked End to End. Everyone chooses their own path, linking together national trails, bridleways, canal towpaths, country roads, footpaths and occasionally where unavoidable, roads. Starting out, I read numerous blogs and books written about other walkers’ journeys. Gradually it became obvious that what dictates your route is how quickly you want to walk it and whether you need a bed and a glass of wine at the end of each day. I’m very fortunate that I don’t have to crunch out 30 mile days, taking no rests. I’m even luckier that I don’t have to wild camp .. although I know this is the accommodation of choice for many Thru Hikers. I have to say I can’t imagine too many people relishing the idea of wild camping on a day like today though. Unless we have any of Storm Emma’s sisters coming through over the next three months, my route will take in as many National Trails as possible, avoid as many roads as I can and each day will end with liquid reward and relative comfort. Bliss. How lucky am I.
Pretty hot on my decision to walk the length of UK were meetings with Australia’s Black Dog Institute and the UK SANE’s Black Dog Campaign people. I couldn’t imagine doing another walk as long as this one and so I wanted to give it my all and get as much sponsorship as I could for charities that mean a lot to me. Both Black Dog charities on either side of the globe, do phenomenal work in the area of mental health. Their websites describe what they do at length (click on the buttons above to see more), but the aspect that has the deepest resonance for me is the work they do in raising awareness of depression and their work in suicide prevention.
It still makes me shudder when I think that in Australia more young men take their own lives each year than die in traffic accidents. I want this walk to raise as much money as it can to help us understand depression better and to reach out to young people who find themselves in the darkest of places, alone and unsupported. More on the good work of the collective Black Dogs later .. but for now, back to the walk ..
There were lots of tin mines to see today. Mining tin began in Cornwall and Devon in the Bronze Age, a staggering 4000 years ago and ended as recently as 1998. I’d read that going north of Pendeen, well into Devon, the landscape will be littered with evidence of tin mining. Even a brief glance at today’s map, has the word ‘shaft’ repeatedly scattered along the edge of the coast. I don’t really know a lot about mining but did find out that tin was an important commodity, not only in its raw state but also when it was mixed with copper to become bronze. Hence why Cornwall came to prominence in the Bronze Age, a couple of thousand years BC.
Carn Galver tin mine
Carn Galver mine is right on the road-side. I suppose it made it easier to transport the tin away quickly. Mining was a family affair, with the men going underground down the shafts to chip out the rock containing the tin. They’d use hammers, chisels, gunpowder and later, dynamite. At the surface of the mine, women and children would be employed to ‘dress’ the ore, making it ready for the smelting process. Conditions were pretty ghastly, with cholera and typhoid constant companions of the miners. However, it paid better than agriculture or fishing, so it continued to attract workers despite the threat to good health. Life expectancy barely exceeded 40 for men working underground in the 19th century.
A grey-looking Zennor
I know that there will be a lot of links to famous and even infamous people, as I wend my way north and the first is today .. DH Lawrence, he of the scandalous ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’. Lawrence came to live in the little village of Zennor during the Second World War. He wasn’t a man to care about what other people thought of him .. for example, he didn’t give two hoots about Lady Chatterley being banned and he also spoke out at length against the war. As he walked the cliffs around here, with his German wife, they would sing in her mother tongue .. upsetting the locals big time. Pretty soon he was accused of using the clothes on their washing line to signal to the enemy. It can’t have helped either that his wife’s cousin was none other than the infamous German WW1 fighter pilot ‘Red Baron’. Pretty soon after coming to Cornwall a new law was passed which had them thrown out of the county. Lawrence wrote about their time in Cornwall in his book ‘Kangaroo’. The chapter is called ‘The Nightmare’!
The road from Pendeen to St Ives was much, much hillier than I had anticipated. But it meant that there were some fine views across the snowy landscape. The emptiness also meant it was a haven for birdlife and I loved seeing all the lapwings flitting across the bracken.
The advantage of being up high ..
Simple pleasures in life are often the best and the cappucino at The Gurnard’s Head pub, halfway between Pendeen and Zennor was just such a pleasure. It was a delightful place, with open fires, artwork from local artists and the best coffee! I got talking to a lovely bunch of Italians, over on holiday to enjoy the English spring! And also to a wonderful elderly regular who had written several books about Spitfires. It was quite the nicest pit stop.
The wonderful Gurnard’s Head
Spurred on by the shot of caffeine, I headed back on to the road. The second half of the walk was rather sleety .. painful on the face but at least not settling on the ground. There was another 6 or 7 miles to bash out before I reached St Ives. I’d been relishing the idea of visiting St Ives for years. After the second world war, the tiny fishing village was transformed into an influential art colony and it became the epicentre of the British Modernist movement. In fact it continued to gather momentum for decades, attracting artistic interest until even the Tate opened a gallery. The Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden and the St Ives Art School helped to establish St Ives further as the art Mecca of the South West. There are also numerous little commercial galleries dotted throughout the village and I’m keen to see as many as I can .. although I suppose the weather could well mean they’re closed. I’ll head off to see as soon as I’ve pressed ‘publish’!
Before I sign off .. a huge thank you for all the lovely messages people sent through in response to the first day’s blog. It was fabulous to read them all and made me feel all warm and fluffy!
Black Dog Tails
One from the past .. this was the magnificent Newfoundland, Gander. He won the Dicken award for bravery during the Second World War. The Dicken medal is the equivalent of the Victoria Cross but for animals.
Lovely blog, and glad you had a good day walking. I have similar photographs, but the weather was a little kinder to me. I hope the freeze lets up a bit soon.
It’s looking warmer today, Helen .. so that probably means rain. But hopefully that’ll mean I can eventually get on to the SWCP, if the ice has melted. Thanks for your message.
Brrrr Jules. We are thinking of you, you trooper. Loved the blog
Beck and John, beginning of May sounds good to me! Even the last couple days of April if that works. x
Yeh great Jules – will get to work on it. Last two weeks of April are school holidays so probably wouldn’t get to you til first days of May. Just loving your writing and observations – the sheep my current favourite!!
Fab. Suspect you could take similar photo with one of your cattle! x
Not quite the warm sunny start you’d hope for, but these adventures will make the walk that much more memorable. Kudos to you for doing this and for your wonderful spirit of adventure. I look forward to walking along the route with you…electronically that is!
Linda! Lovely to hear from you. Wish you could be here in person. I’ve loved wearing my blue black dog teeshirt and have had so many comments on it .. so thank you, once again. x
Very much enjoyed reading your blog and seeing the photos for day 2. Brrr! The coastal path looked treacherous (no-one wants to slide off a cliff) and disappointing as it would be to you not to walk that way, I think this bit of road walking will get your stride up and give you a good start. Hopefully soon the weather will abate and you can have walking with a view of the Celtic Sea and a temperate breeze. I really admire you for finding time at day’s end for the drawing, writing a very comprehensive blog and posting it. Just love watching your progress. x
Thank you Marilyn for your encouragement. I have to thank you for your tip about taking a flask of hot tea each day. I paused yesterday and had it with a couple of squares of good chocolate and felt totally re-energised. Going to try the SWCP today as the temps have raised and I desperately want to see Hayle Bird Sanctuary on the estuary. x
Glad to hear you’ve made the best of a tricky day Jules. Hope you were able to see the sculpture garden and had a lovely log fire to sit by in the evening xx
Tick the fire .. off to see the sculpture garden before I set off for Gwithian. Hopefully it’ll be open and the sculptures wont’ be too obscured by the snow! x
Can’t wait to get to St Ives one day – lots of love for a wonderful day whatever it brings!
You’d love it Frannie .. great little gallery and lots of narrow streets to explore. xx
Good luck Jules. Hamba gashle. May the sun always (eventually) shine on your back
Thank you Graham. Hamba Gashle are well chosen words as I’m not a particularly fast walker but I usually get there in the end, with a smile on my face! x
We are so proud of you …
Otto says you are so brave because his ears and toes would be cold inn the snow and wind
Pinkie says you are so clever because he cant map-read and would get lost
Totts says you look fabulous and your admirers grow in number every day
Otto, Pinkie and Totts .. you are all so fabulous in your own individual ways and collectively you are fantastically generous with your wonderful donation to SANE’s Black Dog Campaign!! Thank you all SO much for supporting a much bigger (yet not nearly so chic) puppy than yourselves. So very kind of you all. xxx
Amazing for Cornwall and well done for battling through the conditions….love reading your blog, and good luck for tomorrow!! Jane xx
Lovely hearing from you Jane! It’s been an unusual start to the journey, it has to be said! But I’m loving it. Off to Gwithian, hopefully along the coastal path today. xx
Oh, St Ives! Lovely. Tigger and I spent a couple of days in St Ives some years back. People were sun-bathing and surfing in the waves. We spotted a lovely cove and beach at the bottom of a cliff. On descending to explore, we found ourselves on a nudist beach where among other things we observed the rather nerve-wracking spectacle of nudist rock-climbers and abseilers negotiating the rocky cliff face!
Ha ha! It would take a very brave nudist to be out on any of the beaches today! Very chilly and it was quite enough yesterday to have the sideways sleet stinging my face .. let alone other more tender parts of the body. Looking forward to today’s walk past the Hayle Bird Sanctuary, on my way to Gwithian. Good to hear from you .. hope all’s well.
Hey Jules, not read day one yet, but St Ives and tin mines caught my attention. That’s my family’s hunting grounds on my paternal grandmother’s side. Apparently one of my great grandfather’s family owned a tin mine for several generations until they eventually gave up because it became just too unprofitable and losing money hand over fist. My grandfather then came out here and went gold mining instead. Visited the area when I was 16 from South Africa for the Christmas holidays. Enjoy the walk. It sounds amazing despite the cold.
Great hearing from you, Phil. Do you know which tin mine your GGF owned? I’m seeing so many on my walk .. they make for desolate punctuations in the landscape, especially in this inhospitable weather. Loving the walk .. it’ll be even better when spring stops hiding!
It’s fantastic for us, Jules, that despite being exhausted at the end of each day you take the time to describe so beautifully your fascinating journey. I too loved St Ives. Take care in this weird weather! Xx
Thank you Woze .. the comments I’m getting are so uplifting and I LOVE writing the blog! I’m surprised you don’t have one .. I remember you are a fabulous letter writer. xx
Morning JJ and happy tin mining today. The blog is gold however! I can confirm that Woze is a wonderful letter writer- we exchanged lengthy epistles from our respective FFCOTE many moons ago. Bash on! Xx
Thank you, darling. Long day today but even longer tomorrow. Starting to look forward to my first rest day!! xx
Far too many moons ago! X
Hi, Jules! Sorry for the belated greetings! You are the very definition of intrepid adventurer. I cannot believe you are having to contend with this weather and if I was in awe of you before, I’m even more so now. I hope the heavens brighten and the snow clears to enable you to rejoin the path. I love the blog and all the local and historical stories. Eel i’m There with you, though not quite, as I write tucked up in the warmth with dogs about me! Much love, take good care please. Lee x
Thanks so much Lee! The last two days have been Baltic but I think today is considerably warmer, considering the rain falling outside! Do hope you can make it for a day with Rosa. Would be fab to have you join me and Adi. Much love xx
Your decision to continue against advice from people who probably have little concept of what you are about demonstrates, along with all you write, that you are a truly addicted long distance walker – your whole approach resonates with me. I know Lawrence is undoubtedly held in esteem, but reading Sons and Lovers as a teenager (I am now 78) hardly had me singing with joy. Even though you are not camping I am impressed at your time management, writing long posts, and answering personally the many comments. I always find I run out of time on reaching my daily destination, washing clothes, writing the blog, searching the Internet et al for next night’s accommodation, and cooking (if camping) or walking to the pub for a meal.
Thanks for your message, Conrad .. if I had to camp and book my accommodation for the following day I’d never be able to get the blog out! So, kudos to you!
Hi Jules – the weather seems to be improving little, it is now (just) the right side of freezing in Cheshire so let’s hope you get a steady rise from here on in. Will follow your updates with a mixture of awe and pride. Keep them coming!R
Great being in touch again, Rupert! Might you be able to join me in the Pennines?
Fancy a lift?
Hi Jules,
I am Marina, one of the Italians you met at Gurnards’ Head Pub. Lovely to follow you!
I hope that the weather conditions are much better and you can enjoy your marvellous trip.
A hug from Italy
Marina, it was just lovely meeting you on Friday at Gurnard’s Head. There’s been much more sunshine in the last couple of days .. I hope you’ve been around to enjoy it! Lovely to get an Italian hug! Jx