St Michaels Mount Castle

After a great restful week in St Ives with family, the trek started again today, with my old friend Josh joining me and Becky and Pip returning home. And what better induction to the trail but a walk officially classified as Severe?

Today was tough! Perhaps the relaxation of St Ives has softened me up but it was a pretty arduous experience after the tourist beaches had been left behind.

Buoyed by a fairly good morning, we had set our sights on a headland for lunch on the other side of the bay we were in: we reckoned 20 minutes away. Just minutes later we encountered our first boulder field, and we realised our miscalculation, a challenging scramble with large packs to get over and through a rocky obstacle course. We eventually got to the lunch spot winded after nearly an hour, and this was the pattern for the afternoon. With the naive enthusiasm we still had at this point, we spotted that we'd walk past what was labelled as a whirlpool in the sea.

Although there was a fair bit of ascent, and about 15 miles of walking, the real killer was those rocks: Sharp pointy ones that dog through my barefoot shoes, annoying larger ankle turners that sap your concentration to not cause an injury, and in a few sections, piles of large boulders to clamber over. As the day wore on, we were begging for a conventional path to give us some respite from the granite. And to add to the challenge, instead various boggy messes appeared before us, with uncertain and sometimes submerged stepping stones between.

As the sun began to descend over the dazzling sea, we finally spotted the church in the hamlet where our campsite was. Very slowly we got nearer, progressing at a painful pace through the stony fields. We passed what we thought was the whirlpool, but then realised that it was still some distance away. We ran out of water. We refilled at a stream. We walked on. A footpath to the campsite failed to appear. We trudged through the rocks and bog. We passed the whirlpool without comment or care. Eventually we found our path to salvation. We celebrated at our success in completing the journey, exhausted but still moving after 10 1/2 hours walking. A triumph!

Then the campsite wasn't there. Or rather it was, but only on some days of the year. Today it was a field full of cows with a bull among them making a lot of noise (and having more fun than us, it would seem). I rang the campsite for the third time, no answer. We found a bench and wearily pondered our options.

With the help of a friendly neighbour to refill our water, we ended up wild camping off the footpath into the village, from where I write this. The txt message from the campsite telling me they were closed eventually arrived at 10pm, somewhat too late to help us.

Today of all days we could do with a hot shower, a pint and a pub meal - but these luxuries will have to wait until tomorrow. I have double checked the campsite exists this time!Read more