Songline On Sea

Breakfast in the campsite was oatcakes, cheese and dates which Martin has carried around for days. It has rained overnight but the campsite was great only charging £2.50 for walkers. We walked into Looe which wasn't far, crossed the narrow estuary for £0.40, did our shopping for the day and got on the coast path again. The walk to Seaton was tough then the walk to Portwrinkle was even harder and frankly not that interesting. I wondered why I felt so tired until thinking back realised I had not had a day off for 2 weeks. It seems like there was nothing in Portwrinkle until we came across the Whitsand Bay Hotel where we had an even more expensive cream tea at £7.50 but enjoyed the comfort and ammenities of an excellent establishment. Martin was tempted to stay with the offer of dinner, bed and breakfast for £90 per person. It did not fit with our schedule which is to get to Plymouth for him to catch the 1.00pm train back to London. The next section of the walk we saw described as a black hole for walkers of the Southwest Coast Path. We understood why when we set off on the road towards Rame Head. The path is forced inland by a large area of MOD property after which everything felt different. There were travellers by the roadside selling things and then what looked like hippy travellers a littler further on. Getting back to the west facing stretch towards Rame Head where I imagine the beaches attract surfers, all the dwellings were merely glorified chalets, no pub or churches and only one cafe which closed at 4pm. It was by then nearer 8 o'clock. We entered Whitsand Bay Holiday Park and were allowed to pitch our tents on the basis that we were walkers and only wished to stay one night. We encamped around the edge of a 1860 Battery built in case Napoleon III invaded, bought a bottle of champagne and drank it with our fish and chips in the bar. This is a lonely bleak stretch of coast which has in the past been part of Devon. The landscape has changed and feels more like Devon where we shall be tomorrow.

We had the best breakfast in our Fowey hostellery with lots of delicious fruit. We were in the delightful company of Will and Laura who has told us of it last night. They were like the Bonnie and Clyde on the run from Shepherds Bush for a few days testing out Cornwall's four poster beds! I had my heart set on a day at sea since we are coming up to Drake and Raleigh country with a trip up the Fowey Estuary in the morning and a sea trip to Palperro in the sfternoon. Martin was horrified that I should suggest not walking for a day. We had a lovely 45 minute trip up the Fowey seeing Daphne De Maurrier's house, the famous recording studios and the present day China clay loading station which moved away from Charlestown in the 70's. There was a Finnish ship being loaded which we later saw out at sea. On enquiring about a boat to Palperro Martin was delighted to hear that it was not possible today because the sea was too rough so we took a ferry across the river and got walking. It was a perfect walking day with a brisk wind behind us and a clear blue sky. The scenery was once more stunning but, oh dear, the going was tough. The 6 1/2 miles to Palperro took us almost 5 hours! On the way we met many one baby families with the young fathers doing the carrying - is it baby day, or something? We were having our third break at the top of yet another hill when hurtling down the path opposite came a man running wearing only shorts with a very tanned body. He must have been in his 70s. He was walking as he got up to us and only stopped long enough to say he was just doing a quick 8 mile circular run. It looked like a daily activity for him. Palperro is a beautiful village in a well sheltered cove. The cream tea was overpriced but we got some useful information. We had to find where we could camp. They are necessarily all inland a little upon the tops of the hills where it is almost flat. We had to walk about 4 miles but are now encamped in a very good site where the friendly people adjacent to us kindly gave us tea and seats as we put our tents. We showered after which Martin demonstrated that he has no handwashing skills whatsoever. A fellow camper told me that heavy rain is forecast for tonight. We have already had a shower and the sky looks threatning. Martin is trying to redeem his washing problem by doing the drying. He was better tonight at putting up his tent except for it being the wrong way round for the slope that we are on. Pity about Andy Murray not winning his Wimbledon Semi Final. At least we can all relax on Sunday, though!

There was very loud thunder early in the morning. The Ship Inn where we stayed was at the lowest point in the town. It flooded. It was a good job we came down late to breakfast because they were still mopping up. They are flooded at least 3 times a year so the floor is all stone and the electricity all well up the wall. After a damp breakfast we had to get 2 important things - a new notebook and reading glasses. Boots had nothing so I was forced to buy cheap glasses for £2.99 at a gift shop by the harbour. It was still raining when we left so walked on the road to Charlestown. Charlestown was the creation of a 19th century entrepreneur who developed it as a place to export tin and copper and later China clay. We visited the museum to get out of the rain and got bombarded with too much information about heritage and especially shipwrecks. However, it was the main port for shipping China clay out from the mines above the nearby St. Austell. We walked to the rather austere villages of Par and Parmear through Cornwall's industrail area when we had to decide whether to camp or walk on to Fowey. The campsite was all caravans in an unpleasant location so we constructed a route to nearby Fowey across country via a walk called The Saints' Way. THis was the nicest path of today's walk and although the mist had rolled all over us we enjoyed the novelty of going across rolling countryside. On walking into Fowey we were hailed by a couple who said they had seen us three times today already in a rather accusatory tone but proceeded to tell us of their rather nice B&B which is where we are now staying. This blog is being written in a very pleasant Oriental restaurant where Martin and I are feeling well tired.

First I am absolutely exhausted after possibly the hottest and most humid day of the whole trip and secondly, I am printing this blog in very large writing because today I have lost my glasses. We were out of the carpark there an elderly lady with her wippets asked whether we had been eating rabbits, when all of a sudden Tom Allan said 'Goodbye, got to catch the bus back to Falmouth' and was gone. He had said very loudly one word in his sleep 'Ready'. I asked 'Ready for what?' and that was the end of the coversation. We asked in the Luggar inn for coffee but were refused by reception. Not to be defeated we got a German waiter to serve us on the terrace of Portloe's delightful harbour. They charged £7.00 for a coffee which sounds a lot but we had in the meantime made good use of the bathroom and filled out pockets with fruit. The walk was hard and uncomfortably sweaty. In the process of wiping my brow with Hankie my glasses must have fallen out. We were having tea at East Port Holland (Bible Christian) having passed West Port Hooand which was Weslian Methodist. I rang back to Portloe but it the end had to conceed that the glasses were probably and may still be somewhere on the South West Coast Path. I now rely on Martin who is dictating the printed blog to Kaya. We saw the impressive Caerhays Castle, rounded Dodman's Point where we met a 70 year old lady on a 700 mile walk going the other way. Later we met a husband and wife who were carrying their 5 months old baby from stages all around the coast Path. It was still unbearably hot when we eventually Mevagissy. martin had jokingly said there may be something going on, and sure enough we his Feast Week, arriving during the triathalon event. It was all very exciting and colourful. We found accomodation at the Ship Inn, ate and then walked about the delights of the lovely fishing town and tonights everyone was dressed as bucchaneers on their way to the disco. It's raining.

I have now gone over half way along the Couth West Coast Path and am over half way on this last leg of my journey - I'm coming home. Three of us walked today, 2 Toms and a Martin were joined by Brolly who was happy to be back after her break. The day began with 2 ferries from Falmouth across the estuary to St. Mawes and then to St. Anthony. The weather was hot, the sea was calm (Martin's sentence). Tom Allan featured a lot today. First he left his camera int he second ferry (later retrived), then climbed to the top of a practice mast, then went swimming off a pier, and then at the very end of a hard walk led us off the path so that the last 2 miles took 2 hours. I have not until this very day got lost once. Martin was in the front almost all the time and is a brilliant walker. He is in many ways brilliant except at putting up his tent which I did not get involved in but took the 2 of them almost half an hour. During this time I went to the pub to order food. Events took a dramatic turn as we decended into Pendower Beach. A plump Cornish couple had spied a floating object out at sea through their flashy telescope. They enlisted my help in identifying it - it was clearly a dead seal and not the Cornish sea monster as Martin had hoped. I have mentioned that we are camping in Portloe but not that it is at the grassy end of the public car park where they clearly say Camping is Not Allowed. Read this space to see if we make it through the night.

It was supposed to be a day off but I had still to do the 6 miles into Falmouth. Plans changed several times during the day. Tom Allan, who is putting me up for 2 nights and I were both nursing slight handovers from a great night so we took it easy during the morning. We had a breakfast of toast, sausage roll and Cornish cream tea. By the time we had recovered from that there was little time before Martin Stoll was to arrive at 3pm by train from London to spend the week with me. It ended with Martin coming and doing the walk with me as an early evening stroll which was most pleasant. It was very hot as we took leave of the delightful Halford Estuary which I had enjoyed so much. The walk was very easy with some nice beaches. We cut off Pendennis Point as we had to meet Tom for dinner. He told us to meet at a restaurant which we found was closed but he drove down to pick us up and drove round to Flushing for a pub supper. Tom and I had had such a good time last year in Scotland making the radio programme when the Blessed Ruth was still with us and it is kind of him to move down here so I can see him again. I had thought that he was very together but I have become suspicious about that when we spent half an hour trying to find where he had left his car last night. Martin and I had got to Falmouth in time to witness the local fire brigade, 8 of them, looking up and trying to work out how to rescue a young seagull who had walked along the edge of the building away from its nest and got stuck on those spikey things designed to keep birds off the building. The RSPB have to pay the fire service £250 for this service. I found it hard to justify this expense. I saw a young blackbird hit by a car 2 days ago and its mother was close by totally helpless. The bird was obviously injured but alive enough to stagger towards a bush. How lucky we are to have arms to put around each other in times of need. I have Brolly back. She had 2 weeks break in Boscastle and then 2 nights on a boat in Penryn. I can only assume that she had a great time. There will be 3 of us walking tomorrow, what fun! We intend camping out tomorrow night.

I am 6 miles behind schedule which means my day off in Falmouth can only be half a day. I left the Youth Hostel with a bill of £35.00 which included dinner, bed and breakfast, 2 pints of beer and a towel. It was not a nice day which I was almost grateful for as it gave me an excuse to walk on the road and along inland footpaths. St. Kaverne was where I met the Cornish flag flying from the church tower. It was here that in 1497 Michael Joseph Angof led a poorly armer group of protesters to London and ended up hung, drawn and quarted for his efforts. The Cornish nationalists have their origins here and it is clearly still an issue celebrated by a significant group. My angel today was Suzie Armstrong who intercepted me at Gillam and knew who to phone for a ferry to St. Anthony where the waters have been served by 4 generations of the same family. It was a more formal ferry crossing over the Halford River where I arrived at the end of a Gig Event. I walked on to Mawvan where Tom Allan picked me up. Tom was the BBC Scotland reporter who featured me on an arts programme last year and who is now doing a course in Falmouth. His cure for all things is to turn upside down on an inversion table and roll on a ball.

I was supposed to get another 4 miles along the coast but I had managed to get a bed in the very good Youth Hostel at Covernack. I had planned to dump my sack and complete the scheduled walk but it had been much harder and slower than expected. I took 7 hours just to get to the hostel. I'm sleeping on the top bunk tonight so am reducing my liquid intake this evening as I don't fancy climbing down and up ladders to visit the bathroom. It's a change to have fresh linen compared with the backpackers dormitory in Penzance which smelt uncared for. It was very hot all day today. There was a lot of overgrown vegetation to walk through which in the heat was claustrophobic at times and the flies were wild with excitement. A lot of the coast is owned by the National Trust. They have a variety of horses, ponies and cattle grazing the coast keeping down the braken and therefore encouraging wild flowers. There are more little fishing villages on the east side of the Lizard which is generally more sheltered. I stopped for coffee in the delightful, still active fishing port of Cadgwith where there were loads of fresh crab and lobster and where the lifeboat has saved hundreds of lives. The air-sea rescue helicopters and the lifeboats are kept busy throughout the year. In addition, today, I passed a lookout post which is manned 365 days a year by unpaid trained volunteers - fantastic! There were lots of people on the beach and in the sea at Kennack Sands but a couple of miles along was a much nicer beach only accessible along the coast path. A man was seemingly alone playing on the beach with his 2 dogs when out of the sea appeared his semi-naked girlfriend. I looked away, of course, despite being a hundred yards distance on the path. Covernack is a small old fishing village not even big enough for a Spar! Kaya is going to hear Bruce Springsteen in Hyde Park tomorrow, Jonathan is performing at Glastonbury, and I continue to sing at least a little over the rivers and streams I cross.

Mary went back to London from Penzance and I took the bus back to Porthleven. The weather lookee dodgey but cleared, became very hot then dodgey again at the end of the day. There is a lengthy sandbar just passed Porthleven. Entry for 2 rivers into the sea has been cut off through longshore drift so the water has to seep under the sandbar. It makes the sea too dangerous for bathing. The coast path crosses the bar which is like a desert with a little dry vegetation over paths. I had nowhere to stay tonight so went into Mullian and eventually found a B&B. All the accomodation had been taken at the Lizard because there is a big running event between there and Penzance tomorrow. I knew there was a bus back from the Lizard. I did a bit of road walking to catch up on time but did the last 5 miles to the Lizard which was very special. I felt like I was walking on an island as the landscape became very bleak. The National Trust graze special cattle from Ireland over the grass and heather and there was an abundance of very small colourful flora such as can survive the wind and rain. The cliffs were wonderful and closer to the Lizard a few wild beaches. On the cliff I saw newborn cormarants with gulls looking like it is all about to happen. I had to walk very fast to catch the bus back to Mullian. It was reassuring to find I can still walk fast if necessary. Mullian is a sweet little village with 2 pubs, a Spar, and Anglican, Methodist and Catholic churches. It seems appropriate that there was a live band playing in the pub where I ate and a load of guys dancing to Elvis' music in a private house as I walked home. It all seemed to fit appropriately with the death of Michael Jackson which happened last night.

I'm glad we killed a few miles yesterday by walking to St. Michael's Mount. It was cloudy and sultry all day though the south east wind freshened things up. Where is the south west wind which I was looking forward to being behind me from now on. The views looking back to St. Michael's Mount got better and better. As we approached Perranuthnoe Mary got very excited for we saw and then walked past the house which used to belong to her mother and where they spent August each year for family holdays. The house has been tarted up but still has the same name but the big difference was that one of the 2 fields in front had completely erroded away. There was a lot of errosion all the way today except for the granite section. In fact the rocks kept changing. At Prussia Cove we came across some lovely clifftop properties. From a man who appeared from one of them we discovered that he was one of a large group who had rented the lot for a week to celebrate a friend's wedding. We had tea at Praa Sands and then walked another 2 1/2 hours to Porthleven. One of the highlights was meeting 2 Buddhist nuns on a pilgrimage to St. Michael's Mount. They were sleeping out in bivvy bags and since they don't touch money relied on gifts of food which seemed no problem. They walked in brown habits with wide brimmed hats to cover their shaven heads. They were very friendly, young and fresh looking and said we should visit their monastries in Sussex and Berkshire. The last stage to Porthleven was very tough but we ran to catch the bus back to Penzance as we saw it sitting there about to leave. It was at this point that Mary needed to get her day ticket out of her purse. Everyone waited patiently as we went through the contents of her bag several times but the purse was not there. The bus driver gave up on the ticket and drove on. We went over our movements since Mary had paid for tea and could only hope she had left it in the cafe rather than it being somewhere on the 3 1/2 mile stretch of footpath. We got off the bus at Praa Sands and were thankfully reunited with the purse which had been carefully looked after. We had a celebratory drink and got the next bus into Penzance. We had a lovely fish and chip meal at the very expensively priced though very famous and intriguing Admiral Benbow Pub. We are still celebrating the reunion of Mary with her purse sitting outside her B&B drinking whiskey and blogging away.