SWCP Day 31 – 23 Sept 2018

St. Ives – Zennor Head (roundabout)

A gorgeous day with gorgeous views.

Today was meant to be a rest day, but an unfortunate last-minute sms upset my accommodations for monday night (my gypsy caravan had a busted boiler!), which meant that in order to make the closest hostel in St. Just, I will have to walk further than intended on what’s already going to be a long, ‘severe’ day. To make that easier I decided to cut off part of it by walking the St. Ives – Zennor section today.

On advice from my wonderful hosts at the Trevalgan touring park, I walked the 4 or so km across the ancient, stone-sectioned fields…

(does anyone else think these Cornish stiles look like cattle grids The Flinstones might fashion?)

…to Zennor where the 700 year-old Tinner’s Arms pub was reputed to serve a mean sunday roast.

All of this, while delightful, was merely a prelude to the main event, which is, of course, the swcp.

I was given many different estimates of how long it would take to ealk this stretch. It’s not all that far, but the way is rocky enough to require scrambling much of the time (made that much more difficult by the need to digest that enormous meal!). Plus, the wind was still blowing fiercely.