Day 24. Porthcurno to Penzance. 17 Kms, minus 5 on the bus ,plus 4 to the Standing Stones. 6 hrs+. Hot day.

I took the wrong track twice in the first hr ending up on public footpaths which are different. So I missed the monument to Marconi( 1st telegraph cable) and didn't go back.
The 2 nd time I crossed paddocks but still couldn't get on the path , so had to drop my pack over a barbed wire fence then squeeze thru.
There were more fractured granite rocks making great patterns. There were several times of walking through shaded woods which was nice.
First I whinge its cold and windy. Now I'm whinging it 's hot !!
I actually drank some water today, not just my tea.
I saw done handsome moor ponies.
Still no seals.
I passed tiny fishing villages centred about a tiny harbour. Most are privately owned by the local 'Laird '
When I got to Lamorna I was lucky enough to have the cafe agree to store my pack and I galloped 4 Kms there and back up the road ( tried hitching with no success ) to see a circle of 19 standing stones in 1 paddock and up the road 2 much bigger ones. Legend says 19 girls were dancing to the music of 2 pipers, on the Sabbath !! So as punishment they were turned to stone !
There is also a Neolithic burial stone but I couldn't find it.
Then back to the beach and up the usual nasty climb out. , back to the cliffs. I had lunch at the top a bit after. 2 pm.
It was then a difficult stony path into Mousehole. ( pronounced mowzell)
I gave up there and got the bus 5 Kms into Penzance.
I'm right by the train/bus station and on the edge of town for a quick exit tmw.

My upper back and shoulders were improved today - 3/10 pain. Good eh !
Legs sorer tho. And I need them happy.
I had a gorgeous Chinese takeaway tonight. Makes life better for 10 mins.

17/6/15. Day 25. Penzance to Porthleven. 20 Kms. 4 hrs, tho I got a bus the last 5 Kms.

My shoulders were unhappy again today. Odd how it comes and goes. It wasn't a very exciting day, the first 3 Kms on a cycle track and along the beach to Marazion. This is where St Michael's Mount is. There is a 14C castle on top of the island which used to be a Benedictine Priory from the 12C, a daughter house of France's famous Mont St Michael. The same St Aubyn family has owned it since the 1600's. I was planning to go there, but it was $25 and didn't open for another hour and there was no where to leave my pack so I kept going!! I'm going to the French one in September. Then there was 10 Kms along the shore, but for a change it was low down, often beside vegetable gardens. I bailed out at 13 Kms , froze while waiting an hour for the bus that was late++, then after checking into the B&B walked back 2 Kms to see a memorial to drowned sailors. Porthleven is another nice little village curled around a fishing industry working harbour. As usual there were plenty of tourists about. My B&B is the most expensive so far of my whole trip- not warranted. The bathroom, just for me, is out in the corridor so I have to take my key and lock the room !! There's no basin in the room( even the youth hostels have a basin in the room, as did last nights. ' budget' room) so I have to go out to the bathroom for water for the kettle! Not happy ! I've YHA's the next 2 nights so shouldn't whinge to much.
Outside the window are 3 seagull chicks being looked after by 2 adults.they are fluffy and brown grey. Nothing like the adult version. I had quiche and a blackberry/ apple pastie for dinner. Balanced meal eh!!!

Sent from the Travelling Dragon.

Day 26. Hard and long and slow. Porthleven to Lizard Lighthouse. 20 Kms 6 hrs+ Oh, the moans and groans today! First my shoulders and upper back, then my front of my shoulders, then the foot I hurt nearly a week ago decided to hurt like heck! I hobbled on feeling very irritated when I found I was a map page behind where I thought I was. I am way behind projected walking times now. It was actually a relatively easy walk, with much of it along nice paddocks above the coast on quite well formed paths. I thought I'd missed the Marconi monument the other day but turns out it was just a memorial thing and today I saw the REAL spot where the original morse code of the letter S was sent to Canada in 1901. Also passed Cornwall's biggest fresh water lake, cut off from the sea by a high sand bar I had to trudge across There were a couple of tiny fishing harbour villages, a couple of nice beaches, an interesting Church- St Winaloe Church, named after an abbot from France in 6C! There's been a church there since 14C with some of the porch woodwork dated to then. I'm in a youth hostel which used to be a Victorian Hotel right beside the Lighthouse. Fabulous spot. My room is full which is sad but I'll cope. I have a bottom bunk and the washing is in a drying room. Not hopeful it'll dry tho. The Lizard is the most southerly point of mainland UK. Yesterday most westerly!! Actually it wasn't yesterday.
19/6/15. Day 27. The Lizard to Coverack. 16 Kms. 6 hrs.

Hard and slow and horrible and I spent all the walk planning to chuck it in and head for - Portugal, London,Oxford, Norwich, anywhere !!! I hurt as usual back or front shoulders in turn, then my 'bad' knee is starting to rumble , the previously improved sore foot is hurting again, toes felt like blisters are coming, I was getting burnt on my arms !!! I think I qualify for the world 's biggest whinger at the moment ( my kids might say always!! ) My hrly mileage is pathetic at the moment. I reckon my 86 yr old friend Shirley with her oxygen tank and walker would be faster than me at the moment. I lost the path at the end but it actually meant I came into the village from the top and straight into the hostel which was the single blessing for the day. Scenery was remarkably uninteresting today except for an amazing lifeboat station near the Lizard. It's just above the water but the staff building is way up on the cliffs and it has a railway type device to get down to the boathouse. At Lizard yesterday a few shops were selling ghastly souvenirs made from a local green striped rock called Serpentine rock. There was a bit of it on the track today, it must be soft and is highly polished from all the boots walking on it and quite slippery. I just remembered I passed thru a minute village called Cadgwith Cove, where's a tiny fishing industry mainly for lobsters, but what was of interest is how many of the houses had thatched roofs.
After getting to the hostel and nipping down to the useless shop for a yoghurt for breakfast and a lemonade can I came back, showered and washed the clothes then hung them on the fence in the garden and lay on a bench in the sun with the rabbits hopping about ( very small, no bigger than a guinea pig, nothing like my friend Anne used to have) and thought about what to do. I'd already cancelled my booking for tmw night and arranged to get the bus the next 2 days then I had a rest day, so that makes 3 rest days. I stupidly had thought I might get the bus on the 3 rd day and go and walk some of the bit I 'm missing. But after today I'm giving that idea away ! So have looked harder at my itinerary and now have to be more ruthless about getting the bus 1/2 the way on long and hard days- or even the whole way. The problem with that is I usually can't check in, or with a B&B even raise a response. And then what does one do for the day anyway. But too bad. I paid when booking tonight's hostel for dinner so was looking forward to some company and a chat ( tho its barely got anyone here ) but alas I was the ONLY one for dinner. They cooked just for me. The main offering was fish which I can't eat so got a vege Kiev, chips , big serve of peas and a salad and roll. First salad and veges for several weeks so tho I didn't need it I ate it ! Then brownie , mixed berries and ice cream. Yum. The much advertised Cornwall ice cream with superior cream blah blah was no better than ours at home. First time I'd had it here. Every minute beach, carpark etc has an ice cream van , and regardless of the time or how cold and windy it is they do a roaring trade. Seems to be compulsory to eat ice cream at the beach here.
So I've done my whinging, felt sorry for myself and yet am going to keep going. Easier than trying to work out several places I could go to for a week each, and getting there.