We enjoyed a nice day off at Rebecca's Little Art House in Penzance. A Sixth Form art teacher in a local college, Rebecca was a lovely hostess who was more than happy to go the extra mile for us. Prior to our arrival, my new Berghaus ultra-light sleeping mat had arrived and the good / bad news was that it is thicker than Joanna's but not discernibly heavier. One of us was happy with that news. Our day off was spent on a number of activities including shopping (spent a furtune in the chemist), eating and sleeping. We ate in a number of local restaurants including the wonderful Archie Brown's vegetarian shop & restaurant and, the Turk's Head restaurant where, apart from arriving just after a huge dinner party resulting in a long wait for food, we enjoyed a lovely meal. On the food front, we stocked up on snacks for the trail and dehydrated meals for the camping, as well as a new bottle of gas and recycled the old bottle.
09/05/18
With a fairly short day in store today, there was no need to rush this morning and we took our time packing up, making sure the rucksacks were balanced and that we left nothing behind. The major staging posts on the route today are Newlyn, Mousehole, Lamorna Cove and St Loy, finishing at Treverven campsite, just before the fishing hamlet of Penberth.
The early part of the route will be walked on the road, before cutting off on to the clifftop just after Mousehole. The weather forecast is mixed, set to be fair in the morning but with a threat of rain later in the day. Initially, the walk is fairly flat through to Newlyn, rising as you walk up to and come out of Mousehole, dropping to rolling countryside, climbing again after Lamorna to above Tater-du (approx. 76metres, 250 feet), rolling hills, back down at St Loy's Cove and then a steep climb to reach our campsite at Treverven campsite just outside Penberth.
Walking on this low road we could recall visiting the harbour to buy fresh fish and how tasty it had been. Going through Newlyn there are a couple of really good, well-stocked fishmongers where there is a wonderful range of fresh and processed fish and shellfish. As we walked today, the light on Mount's Bay had a lovely steely-blue hue to it while over Newlyn harbour the clouds on the horizon were just tinged with a rosy pink that gave it a kind of Salvador Dali outlook.
Exiting the wood on to a shore studded with large rocks, we started on a section of gentle rise and fall with, in the distance, our first views on a far hillside of the houses at Lavorna Cove. Approaching the cove on Kemyel Cliff, the path got rougher and stonier and there is a tricky wee bit, particularly if you are carrying a heavy rucksack, where you are clambering over large rocks and boulders and a wee bit of care is required. Although the day had not brightened noticably, carrying the rucksack generated any heat we needed and I never got out of t-shirt and shorts all morning.
Tater-du is the newest lighthouse in Cornwall, built in 1963 following the loss of the Spanish ship the 'Juan Ferrer'. Also on the clifftop above the cove there is a small Cornish Cross memorial marking the site where a young man, David Wordsworth Watson, died in 1873, while picking ferns. The letters and numerals 'DWW 1873' are carved on the stone. This is a lovely, wild, rocky and slightly challenging section of the walk that certainly stretches the calf muscles and checks out whether or not you did your 'lunges and squats' before you set off. There are numerous interesting rock features and endless wild flowers and flowering shrubs on the hillside.
We had the choice of the whole camping field, so with a storm expected that night, we pitched up behind a hedge that in height was just above that of the tent and should offer us good protection from the wind. Tent up, we headed for the showers, choosing to use the shower for people with disabilities, on the recommendation of one other camper, as it was so much roomier than the other stalls and offered more protection against the wind.
The site had a wee shop and when the site manager turned up we were able to pay our camping fee and buy some treats for tea. In conversation with the lady, she informed us that the farm had been in the family for generations and over the years they had built up a prime dairy herd. Sadly, with the prices being offered for milk now, the herd was no longer a going concern and they were to be giving it up later in the year. It was really sad and we could clearly see the distress the thought caused.
Returning to the tent, we hurried to cook dinner before the storm gained full momentum. Just as we finished dinner heavy rain and wind arrived and we settled in early to the tent and the sleeping bags for the night, prepared to see out the storm.