Sights along the coastal path:

I am including in this blog some of the images I have seen as I have hiked along the coastal path over the last week and a half.  I have 2 hiking days left and just realized I have not done a blog since I started hiking.  The reason for this is simple - I am just too tired when I and the rest of my group arrive back to St Ives and our rooms.  We leave in the morning on a bus at 9am and return between 5 and 6.  So it's a long day and the terrain is rugged with many steep ascents and descents.  We have had some rock scrambling, some walking on soft sand (my least favorite hiking surface), lots of rocky paths with nice prickly bushes on either side and lots and lots of stinging nettle along the paths.  I can hear the chuckling now and the question why?  Once again it is simple: the scenery is incredible, the weather warm and sunny, the people friendly and fun, the food simple but good, nice wine available for the communal dinners, and of course a profound sense of accomplishment (assuming I get through the last 2 days of hiking).  What else could we ask for? 

Many beautiful beaches along the way.  You can see surfers (little black dots) waiting for a good wave.  The white vehicle is the lifeguards' vehicle.  Many of the beaches I have crossed have guards with vehicles, a shack up in the dunes, and orange zodiacs, ready for a rescue.

  

A wonderful hideaway beach.  Have seen kayakers come into these beaches to picnic or rest.  Too far from the roads for casual swimmers or families.

The morning mist below after we have climbed a hill.  Down one side of the valley and up the other happens a number of times each day.

Many of the cliffs have had significant damage from the serious storms last winter.  Some of the coastal path has been rerouted inland a bit to avoid the cliffs with undercuts.  

I have been very lucky having had a really great leader last week who lives in Cornwall and so can call herself a Cornish lass.  She stopped along the trail to tell us about the tin mines, the fisherman, the little villages.   The NW path goes from Treyarnon Bay to Cape Cornwall, 108 km.  This week we picked up where we left off at Cape Cornwall and will finish at Helford, a similar distance.  Our guide this week is Chris, a fellow from Dorset.  He has been a great leader.  They are all volunteers and very well trained with leading groups.  I was chatting with him about finding the hiking difficult in the 2nd week and he started to tell me about some great gals from Seattle and Kamloops who hiked with him on this trail a few years ago.  They had also done back to back hiking trips like I am doing.  I said that sounds like Arlene, my cousin.  Was he surprised!!  Arlene and her friend June from Kamloops were a couple of his favorites.  Another interesting coincidence.

Another favorite of mine:  mmmmmmgood!!!

They do make good cappuccinos here in England!