CW-LE: Cape Cornwall and the (Land's) End

Yesterday evening I hiked up to the chimney that sits atop of Cape Cornwall (pictured above), sat on a bench, and thought to myself "whatever happens tomorrow, at least I can tell myself I've walked from Cape Wrath to Cape Cornwall".

The weather had remained unsettled, but there was one stunning day amongst it (Tuesday) as I left Newquay having set myself up for a fairly ambitious day to get to Cambrose, 2 miles inland from Portreath.  Maybe the rest and all the fresh fruit I had been eating at Newquay had done me good, but the walking was both easy and enjoyable - right from when I crossed the Gannel inland from the coast.  My garmin logged 22.5miles and 860m ascent that day, yet it seemed tame compared with many of the previous day's walking.

The benefit of this big day was a much easier walk to get to St. Ives the following day which was unpleasantly wet with a cool headwind.  With only 1 full day's walking left to get to Land's End YHA, 5.5miles from the "finish line", I felt like celebrating and went into town - which was heaving in spite of the horrible weather.

Having read the SWCP guide the next morning (yesterday), which stated that part of my planned walk for the day was "one of the toughest sections of the SWCP", and given I had a late start taking advantage of the fab breakfast at the B&B, it turned out to be a much more enjoyable day of wild rugged coastline with gentle drizzle and mist moving in, I felt quite at home with the bouldery terrain and the only problem I had was not carrying enough water for the day and having to ascend to Pendeen via a cow track through the bracken.  2 pints of Cornish Ale and water later I headed back down through the Geevor Tin Mine and a landscape of ruined mining buildings, prettier than it sounds, and got to Cape Cornwall around 6pm when the sun appeared and changed the whole mood of the day!  The drizzle returnes during my short walk from there to the YHA where I was booked to camp outside.  Andy and Bella walked down from their Campervan and we shared some chilled wine in the rain!

Packing up the soggy tent for last time, I realised I was glad of the fact and well and truly ready to finish.  The final 5.5 miles were walked with great care - obviously I didn't want to break a leg or fall off a cliff anyway but especially not at this time.

Arriving at Land's End would have been an anti-climax had it not been for Andy and Bella turning up to see me finish.  They had with them a mini bottle of fizz, and a hand drawn banner and card.  The fizz seemed to go to my head immediately. 

And that still wasnt the end of it because who shows up unannounced (as she had done back in Alston, Cumbria) - Lyndsay and family!  Was totally dazed now, I can't thank them and Andy and Bella enough for being there at that moment it really made it special, as did the messages I was receiving from Martin, Andy and Steve at work, and of course the folks, whilst I walked those last miles today.

Fatigue has really kicked in now - I'm in a hotel in Penzance and already in bed at 8.30pm and my head is spinning a bit (not through alcohol) so if this post isn't making sense that's possibly why.  

I had planned 78 days for this walk and pretty much arrived to where I'd planned to be each of those days, sometimes reaching campsites and B&Bs that I'd booked months ago, how the hell I got away with that I don't know but I was celebrating arriving at these places each day and it removed a lot of stress for me knowing where I needed to get to each day.

Cheers all!