Day 04: 27 Mar 2014; St Ives to Redruth

Walk descriptor	LEJOG2014		Day	04
Date	Thu 27 Mar 2014		Start to end time	07h 59m
Start point	St Ives		End point	Redruth
Miles today	18.82		Cu miles	84.95
Ft today	2,460		Cu ft	15,859
Route miles left	1,383.74		Route ft left	177,318
Today’s weather	Rained solidly pretty much all day, some downpours with hail. Light northerly wind. Cold, about 6 C. A glimpse of sun late afternoon.

Today’s location (the red cross in a circle shows where I am at the moment)		GPX based track of today’s walk (click here to access to access downloadable file)

Commentary

“Although it rained all day (this is getting tedious) and the scenery wasn’t as spectacular on previous days, I actually enjoyed today’s walk more than the others. Mainly because there was considerably less up-and-down and the path was much less rocky underfoot. The beaches were stunning – I imagine on a warm summer bank holiday, they are packed, but today I was pretty much the only living thing for miles.

The first part of the walk goes through St Ives – which is an attractive town that I’d like to visit again, in better weather. Then it follows the coast, complete with obligatory ups and downs – to Hayle. On the way it passes a golf course which was equipped with lookout towers and pill-boxes. Bizarre!. Hayle itself probably looks nice on a sunny day, but today it wasn’t sunny so I didn’t linger.

I followed the coast path through the dunes behind Hayle beach, then after a mile or two decided to drop down and walk along the beach itself. This turned out to be a time-and-distance saver because the going on the hard sand near the water’s edge was quick and easy. I knew from another walker’s account of the LEJOG hike that there were steps up the cliff at the end of the beach but the shortcut nearly turned to disaster when I discovered that the steps had been almost washed away in recent storms. Anyway I managed to claw my way up again and safely got to the end of the beach. Had lunch at a café at Gwithean beach. The café was clearly aimed at surfing clientele but today seemed to be filled with yummy-mummies with perfect children and phones with trendy ring-tones. I felt rather out of place

From there I cut inland through Tehidy Country Park to the eponymous Tehidy campsite, where I actually the only resident. And the sun even briefly came out on the way!

So far so good, apart from the rain and the fact that I have 1 blister on my left foot. Compeed-time tonight!
”

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


There’s even a “proper” railway to St Ives. Dr Beeching must have taken his hoilidays here	Wild cyclamen growing on the path-side

I know flying golf balls can be dangerous, but surely this leve of defence is a bit over the top?	the “escape” route up the cliff from the beach. Now rapidly crumbling into the sea

This rather lovely campsite near Camborne even has flags to show you where to pitch your tent. Sadly I think it was a “members only” site	A curious mixed crop – wheat and daffodils

Panorama of St Ives. The palm trees gave it an exotic, sub-tropical feel. The icy rain and biting northerly wind didn’t