Let the adventure begin!
Very early start yesterday as John drove me to Salisbury station at 5.15 : bit of an emotional goodbye...for once I'm very pleased they invented mobile phones as at least we can stay in touch each day. Wave105 were airing my departure every half hour in the news! Train down to Newton Abbott and then changed to what was more akin to a shuttle train all the way to Penzance : loads of different travellers from shoppers, stunt bike riders and surfers. Sarah, Kevin, Will, Eddie and Max had gone down to Penzance Friday afternoon and it was really nice to see friendly faces when I disembarked. Lovely weather and set off straight for Lands End. I needed to register my attempt at the Lands End Hotel and add my comments into the 'endtoend' book. Then got my first stamp for my 'passport' which read 'challenge accepted' and had my obligatory photo taken at the signpost.
Will gave me a 26 second countdown (unsure why it was that long but everyone joined in for the last 10!) and then I was off - I continued to wave back at them for quite a while as I was running up and down the coastal path towards Sennen Cove. Loads of surfers in the sea and the view from the top of the sandy hill (which I ran up all the way I'm proud to say!) was stunning. Overall my route was quite well marked and easy to follow : I only went wrong once and that was because there was a temporary footpath change on the coastal path but I easily found my way back. I did fall over once but luckily this was in a field full of long grass and I simply couldn't see where I was putting my feet so didn't see the huge boulder that tripped me up..still, it was a soft landing and hopefully that's got all the falling over with! It seemed that round every corner there was something amazing, from a simple field of young cows that were peering with curiosity over a dry stone wall and made such a cute photo, to the ancient settlement of Cune Euny, stone wells in the middle of nowhere and a tree covered with hundreds of colourful ribbons (couldn't work out if this was a memorial or some sort of witchcraft!!?).
Little bit of roadwork at the end before crossing several fields to Penzance Youth Hostel for my first nights stay.
Now for the facts and figures for the first day : total mileage was 10.2 miles with 'moving time' of 2h01m and 'stopped' time (well, I did say I was there to see the sights as well as run!) of 42m36s. Total ascent was 1,323ft and maximum elevation was 593ft.
Kevin and Sarah picked me up in the evening and we went off for a meal and drink at a really nice family pub in Penzance to celebrate completing my first day! Kevin even arranged it so that the landlady kindly did a quick 'whipround' in the pub and collected a further £23.22 for my fundraising - all in coins unfortunately so I've asked Kevin if he would mind dropping that back home for me! Too much extra weight to carry!
Rained in the night but sun is already out so looking good for my 2nd day over the coastal path towards Helston. I'm loving it!!
Very early start yesterday as John drove me to Salisbury station at 5.15 : bit of an emotional goodbye...for once I'm very pleased they invented mobile phones as at least we can stay in touch each day. Wave105 were airing my departure every half hour in the news! Train down to Newton Abbott and then changed to what was more akin to a shuttle train all the way to Penzance : loads of different travellers from shoppers, stunt bike riders and surfers. Sarah, Kevin, Will, Eddie and Max had gone down to Penzance Friday afternoon and it was really nice to see friendly faces when I disembarked. Lovely weather and set off straight for Lands End. I needed to register my attempt at the Lands End Hotel and add my comments into the 'endtoend' book. Then got my first stamp for my 'passport' which read 'challenge accepted' and had my obligatory photo taken at the signpost.
Will gave me a 26 second countdown (unsure why it was that long but everyone joined in for the last 10!) and then I was off - I continued to wave back at them for quite a while as I was running up and down the coastal path towards Sennen Cove. Loads of surfers in the sea and the view from the top of the sandy hill (which I ran up all the way I'm proud to say!) was stunning. Overall my route was quite well marked and easy to follow : I only went wrong once and that was because there was a temporary footpath change on the coastal path but I easily found my way back. I did fall over once but luckily this was in a field full of long grass and I simply couldn't see where I was putting my feet so didn't see the huge boulder that tripped me up..still, it was a soft landing and hopefully that's got all the falling over with! It seemed that round every corner there was something amazing, from a simple field of young cows that were peering with curiosity over a dry stone wall and made such a cute photo, to the ancient settlement of Cune Euny, stone wells in the middle of nowhere and a tree covered with hundreds of colourful ribbons (couldn't work out if this was a memorial or some sort of witchcraft!!?).
Little bit of roadwork at the end before crossing several fields to Penzance Youth Hostel for my first nights stay.
Now for the facts and figures for the first day : total mileage was 10.2 miles with 'moving time' of 2h01m and 'stopped' time (well, I did say I was there to see the sights as well as run!) of 42m36s. Total ascent was 1,323ft and maximum elevation was 593ft.
Kevin and Sarah picked me up in the evening and we went off for a meal and drink at a really nice family pub in Penzance to celebrate completing my first day! Kevin even arranged it so that the landlady kindly did a quick 'whipround' in the pub and collected a further £23.22 for my fundraising - all in coins unfortunately so I've asked Kevin if he would mind dropping that back home for me! Too much extra weight to carry!
Rained in the night but sun is already out so looking good for my 2nd day over the coastal path towards Helston. I'm loving it!!
3 comments:
Hey Carole! Congrats on completing your first day! You'll be watching for rocks more often huh! glad you didn't hurt yourself. we had a thunder storm this morning hope it wasn't bad for your 2nd day. have fun! Paul
Well guys, we came, we saw, and she's off and running!! Carole has clearly made a huge mpression on the boys as she got a big cuddle greeting her at Penzance train station. I have to say, it was quite embarrassing carrying her small, compact rucksack filled with basic essentials for her 10 week trip, to the car thinking that we needed 2 huge suitcases for our 2 night weekend break to Penzance for a family of 5!! A quick ride up to Land's End and a zip tour of the attractions and then the final countdown before the off (15.30 p.m.)! Carole is actually quite shy so the very vocal countdown from the Harris family came as a bit of a shock, but resulted in many additional, unexpected goodwill messages from walkers strolling along the South Coast path,enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery. As we saw Carole disappear over the distant hills, we decided to return to our little cottage for a Cornish cream tea and then we picked Carole up from the local youth hostel for a slap up meal at the Coldstreamers Inn in Gulval. An impromptu whip round had a splendid result thanks to the wonderful bullying of the barmaid and the kind, generous nature of the locals. Thank you all very much both for your generosity and also for the goodwill messages which made Night 1 special. The final farewell was brief but emotional. Carole - good luck, have a fantastic time, enjoy every second and God-willing we'll see you back home safely in July. You are a brave lady and an inspiration. We're proud to call you our friend, with lots of love Kevin, Sarah, Will, Eddie and Max xxxxx P.S. John - dinner at ours Monday 28th April 8.30 p.m.
Well done Carole
Great to here of your first day.
Look forward to seeing you Sat./Sun
Collected sponsorship from friends
All wishing you best of luck
Do take care
Enjoy Liz
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