The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Sunday 4 September 2011

Beyond Launceston to by St Breward

Distance: 16ish miles for Mick and Becks; a 10-mile out-and-back for me
Number of slips, trips or falls: 3 (none by me)

It wasn't a bad day when heads first popped out of tents this morning. Early cloud cleared over breakfast and with the night having been warm it was dry tents that got packed away (not that it really mattered as they were only going in the car, but it is nicer to deal with dry fabric).

A drive down scary Cornish lanes took Mick and Becks back to where we had finished yesterday and then over to the other side of Bodmin I drove. After a thorough tour of lots more lanes (I spent a long time with every road sign telling me that St Breward was 1.5 miles away as I drove a big circle around it), I parked up and made my way north.

Alas, by half past eleven the predictions of the doom-mongers had come true; it was starting to rain and it looked like I wasn't going to see the top of Brown Willy at all. Then it cleared and (misplaced) optimism soared that it just been a passing shower. Even better a quick exchange of texts told me that Mick and Becks could see the top too so it looked like our planned rendezvous was going to work nicely.

As it happened, I got to the top 20 minutes early (still not badly timed considering the distances and terrain covered by each of us to get there) and by the time Mick and Becks arrived it was starting to rain again. By the time food had been shovelled into mouths it was properly raining, and proper wet rain too (because we all know that some rain is wetter than other rain).

Worse, it was being blown head-on for the whole of the walk back to St Breward and even effective waterproofs couldn't stop the water getting in around the face and trickling down. We all finished the day rather soggy and happy to stop.

Becks reported that she'd enjoyed the yomp across the moor (a nice change from the road walking that prevails through the centre of Devon and Cornwall).

With darkness having fallen (those nights are fair drawing in, you know) and another shower just passing by, we've now retreated to the tents, hoping for less wet and more dry tomorrow.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

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