Weather:
OK then very wet Distance: 12.5 km (7.8 miles)
I knew that the weather forecast for
later in the day was poor so I opted for a relatively short walk. I drove to Freathy and dropped my bike of
there. It took me a while however to find somewhere suitable to leave it, out
of sight from the main road, ot outside anyone's house, somewhere where there was
something to chain it to and not too out of the way to make it look as if it
had been abandoned somewhere.
I drove
back to Seaton, which looked very depressing at this time of year, a desolate
beach with one lone shop. I walked along
the sea wall and beach to Downderry, past the sea storm defences that had
recently been constructed and that Trevor, the owner of the B&B I had stayed in, had mentioned.
At Downderry I cut up off the beach, into the
village and then at the end of the village up a steep path onto the cliff tops. The steep footpath bought me up onto the main
road. The guidebook rightly notes that it is a shame
that this mile long section along the road exists because there is no reason other
than the meanness of land owners why the path does not follow the coast.
Off the main road I took what could
best be described as a seldom used steep road down into the coastal town of
Porthwinkle - the steepness would have done Mumbles or Swansea proud. I thought about a pub lunch when I saw an
inviting sign but on closer inspection it turned out to be more of a hotel -
the sort that may not welcome walkers.
Added to that the weather had started to look threatening so I pressed
on.
There was a section of cliff top
footpath before the main road appeared again where the path followed but on the
inside of a field. The path at this
point followed the road inland because on the coastal side was Tregantle Fort,
an MOD property and firing range. I
bought an ice-cream from a van where it looked as if I had been the only
customer all day.
Once the road swung back to the coast
again, the straggling village of Freathy appeared, full of holiday chalets but
of an old fashioned design. It started
to rain not long before I reached where I had left the bike.
The bike ride back to Seaton took me near enough an hour during which time
the rain got worse and worse and I ended up getting soaked to the skin. The breaks on the bike were poor in the wet
weather and I had to apply them with full force on the steep hills. Once back at the car I got the bike away as
fast as possible, drove back to Rowan Lodge and jumped out of my soaking wet
clothes and into the shower.
I had an
afternoon tea and that night on the recommendation of Trevor and Ann went to a
pub at Dunloe. The meal was good and I
got chatting to another man on his own who came in for a meal. He was an American insurance business man
over on computer business in London. He
would programme the computer and then explore the country before returning to
London to see if the program had worked.
I admired him a lot for having the initiative to travel so much and find
quiet places such as this pub.
 |
| Cornwall - One of the wooden clocks I used to make in shapes of countires our countries. |
Before going back to Rowan Lodge I
popped over the road to the Old Punch Bowl Inn for a drink as it was in the
Good Beer Guide. Whilst having a pint I
started to feel cold though I thought it was because the pub was cold. I spotted the lad who had given me a lift the
previous day. Before going to bed I had
a hot chocolate but by the time I was in bed I was freezing. The more clothes I put on the more cold I
got! Eventually I was wearing more
clothes than when I go walking. I took a
couple of paracetamol and started to warm up. When I woke up I was feeling off
colour. There was no thought of any more
walking or even eating breakfast so I settled up with Trevor, paying part of my
bill with a Cornish clock I had made, and started off for Coventry. When we returned to Rowan Lodge next year the
clock was up on the wall.
I gave a
hitch-hiker a life from near Exeter to the turn off for Taunton. He was a fit lad going to collect a top of
the range mountain bike and ride it home again.
When I got home I had to have two days
off work getting over the flu bug I had picked up.
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