I do miss all the blackberries that were lining the path when I walked it back in 2023. They were really tasty and refreshing. They were even better than the ones you could buy in the shops.

This time, as I’m so early in the year, I don’t have blackberries. Instead I’m treated to paths lined with wildflowers. It is very pretty. But there’s something else, and it’s not for people who fear insects. When walking down hedge lined paths they are full of little flying insects. They don’t seem to bite and don’t cause me any problems at all, but I can see them zipping around. On top of that, flying with the little insects are butterflies. Often they seem to be flying in pairs, doing some kind of dance, and normally flying about a foot in front of me. They keep that formation for many yards of walking before they fly off.

I do wonder what they’re all doing. Is there some order to this apparent chaos? I find it fascinating that everything can stay airborne without any collisions.

Eating up the miles

The walk back to Penzance and then through to Mousehole was a breeze. Initially my pack felt heavy which worried me but I soon got into the swing of things. I was feeling quite good.

Then I bumped into Tom who I’d met much earlier in the walk and that made me feel even better. He was with his sister and it was great to chat with them. It felt so strange that we’d met so long ago and I was still just plodding along. Thanks Tom for spotting me.

The only negative this morning was that I really should have loaded up with food in Penzance but as the pack was feeling heavy I was worried about it being heavier and then hurting my knee. It can all be a bit of a balance. Maybe, looking back though I should have at least picked up a sandwich.

Earning your supper

After Mousehole the path gets really difficult. It’s quite overgrown in places so I was constantly being scratched by bushes and it’s also quite a scramble. To be fair to the path, it does declare this as you walk out of Lamorna Cove. It’s interesting but is definitely a challenge to walk. I didn’t expect to cover many miles an hour here, it really was head down, concentrate, and get on with it.

I imagined what it’d be like to walk here with my children. I shuddered at the thought because they’d all be doing something silly. Kian would be walking with his eyes shut to prove it wasn’t dangerous. Jake would be pretending to fall over the cliff but then actually fall. And Toby, not sure, he’d probably just be saying the path was stupid.

These thoughts kept me amused for what was a difficult few hours of walking. Nice and challenging and so pretty. But you needed your head down to make sure you didn’t trip on a rock or that you could navigate little climbs which meant missing some of the views. It was thirsty work so I was just hoping that maybe a cafe would still be open by the time I got to Porthcurno because I really fancied a drink.

Everyone agreed

I met lots of people coming from Porthcurno today and they all said this part of the path was tricky. It’s funny because we often try to compare what we’ve just walked with what is to come. Statements like, it gets worse, or it’s just as difficult. But because we haven’t yet, well not on that day anyway, walked that section of path it’s actually impossible to compare. We all continue to do that anyway.

I think the worst part on this section was how overgrown it was. Some of the bushes were quite prickly as well so there were lots of scrapes as I walked along. I’m so glad I’ve got material covering my legs. It does get a little hotter I suppose but having them protected seems a small price to pay.

No cafe

I really enjoyed the rest of the walk to Porthcurno as I got to reminisce about past holidays with the kids. Those holidays were quite hard at the time but I’m glad I made the effort to do them as it was nice to look back on.

When I finally got to Porthcurno there was nothing in the way of a cafe, not unless you wanted to pay to get into the theatre part anyway. Although a little disappointed I knew that all I really needed was water as I had everything else I needed for the night. So, I wasn’t really in a worse place for it. In fact it’d meant that I hadn’t paid an unreasonably high price for not much. Yes, let’s chalk the lack of cafe down to a win. And besides, I was just thirsty and I soon found more water and was able to mix up a squash drink for myself.

So, with everything now in place, I just needed to find a flat bit of ground. This can often be easier said than done but today it was easy. I was spoilt for choice, and with about 2 miles to run until Lands End I found a good spot. As always I had my concerns but that’s normal, and I soon settled down, made myself some Supernoodles and then went to sleep.

Oh, and I finally saw a Chough. I felt really satisfied about that and wanted to rush back to the woman I met in Portscatho and tell her the news.