Day 4 - Trispen to Tregolls
Wet weather gear required today! Jacqui laid on a fab breakfast : grapefruit, cereal, full english washed down with plenty of fresh brew...delice! Had to wait a little while before getting ready as not good to go running on a full stomach! Everything was in waterproof packaging for the deluge that was expected today. Nick and Jacqui wouldn't accept any payment at all which was really, really kind of them - all going to my fundraising! They mentioned that they've had a few 'end to enders' staying including a guy with a horse....he apparantely took 12 weeks but couldn't ride the horse much as his gear was too heavy!
Nice downhill to start with then through sleepy little villages and alongside the main A30. I was hoping to find a little coffee shop or internet cafe in Indian Queens (looked quite big on the map) but the only place I found was an Esso garage which seemed to be the local hang-out...not much happens down here! It had been raining steadily for about an hour and the wind was slap bang in my face - not pleasant. Then, like an oasis, a fish and chip shop turned up and no ordinary chippie - this one had been placed in the top 10 last year for the UK best chippies! Very popular but I decided just to get a hot choc to warm myself up - hadn't realised how cold my hands were until I tried to undo the zip on my backpack! Good job I got inside as the rain started to hammer down. Got chatting to a couple of guys who were confused with my clothing attire! Once I'd warmed up, the rain had virtually stopped and I was out running again when a guy in a car shouted out 'did I know where you can buy flowers?'...did he really think that someone running with a backpack and a large volume of maps draped round their neck knew where to buy flowers??...I apologised that no I didn't! I climbed up to the ramparts of an old iron-age fort at Castle-an-Dinas and at that point the sun decided to show it's face. Ran round the ramparts and then out the other side, being careful not to fall down any of the old mine shafts apparantely dotted around the field! It was now starting to get a bit wet and muddy underfoot and by the time I reached the road, my feet were drenched. Up to Tregonetha (another Tre!) and missed the footpath I'd planned, but still, managed to take the next one and then double back along the road. Decided not to go down the next footpath as it led straight across a newly ploughed field and I had visions of my feet suddenly weighing an extra tonne! Not one village shop did I pass all day nor any pubs...arrived at my next B&B a couple of hours earlier than my previous days and there wasn't anyone in....Lester was out on the farm but they had the foresight to put their mobile numbers on the front door! I'm staying at another farmhouse tonight called Tregolls (and another Tre!) and just polished off a huge tea of chicken casserole, veg, strawberry pavlova, cheese and biccies....good job I'm running all the calories off each day! Marilyn has kindly let me use her office pc to update the blog whilst I still remember what I've done today! I'd bruised my back on the 2nd day with the tube from my camel back constantly banging against my spine : this made it a little bit painful yesterday but much better today once I found out what the culprit was! Managed to get up quite a sprint downhill!!
Today's facts and figures : 17.6 miles with a 'moving' time of 3.51 and a 'stopped' of 1.19
Keep the comments coming - I'm loving reading them all so thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave one for me...