Lelant Saltings – St. Ives
Slight miscalculation made today. I was thinking an hour in light rain wouldn’t be too bad for my hiking trousers. They could cope with a bit of wet, then quickly dry off in the near-constant gale-force winds. What I didn’t factor in was how much water the grasses and trees and prickle bushes and and and… would all hold, then brush off onto me. Within about half an hour the water had all run down into my socks and drenched my shoes. Everything would have been fine if only I had worn my waterproofs. Sigh. I have learned my lesson and now live to tell the tale.
(Please forgive my lack of photos from today – didn’t want to risk frying my phone in the rain.)
One thing that kept me going was the prospect of getting to St. Ives and reprising the experience of a dressed crab salad at the Rum and Crab Shack (for deets please refer back to last year’s St. Ives blog post). Needless to say, it was delicious again, though a bit more earthy flavoured this time around. Maybe the season changes the crab taste. Hmmm.
For my inaugural camping experience on the swcp this year, I chose the Trevalgan touring park a couple kms west, south west of St. Ives. No good reason for this other than St. Ives is a very expensive place to stay, even in the off season. I managed to get out there, much to the surprise of the owner/managers who seemed to assume nobody would be foolish/brave enough to want to camp in gale force winds. They obviously don’t know Penloper!
Impressed with my fortitude, I was offered the use of a small coal BBQ and some sausages. Starting a fire without newspaper and kindling and wood was a novelty, and somewhat tricky in the blustery wind and occasional rain.
A bit over an hour later, as an atmospheric cloud swamped the elevated camp ground, I had eight little half-charred pork and apple sausage morsels for dinner, accompanied by a large bottle of elderflower fizzy water. What more could a Penloper want?
Stats: 20738 steps; 85 floors; 14.39 km.
PenLoper 