(Photo: St Ives harbour in the rain) 2/6.
I had a day off - well from carrying the pack, as I walked into St Ives, checked out the exit route then looked about town. It has nice beaches, a little hill with an old Church and a lifeboat lookout, and then the usual shops selling fudge, pasties, pottery, hand blown glass and kids beach necessities.
Lots of tourists as usual despite the showers. No one at the beaches tho.
On the harbour jetty a guy parked and let his Jack Russell type pooch out. The guy went down a 10m vertical ladder to his dingy below and started rowing out to a bigger boat. The dog was going crazy barking and running up and down the jetty. Once the guy was well out the dog ran down proper stairs to the water and when called jumped into the water and swam after the guy to the dingy. Amazing. Obviously something they've done many times before.
I went to the library to fill in time and shelter from the weather but it was dismal. No newspapers or magazines!
I read some travel books before braving the rain.
The hotel is very ordinary, and then my towel wasn't replaced !!! Ggggrrrrhhh!
And no wifi in the room, only in the bar!
But then there's no wifi at all for the next 2 days.
Tomorrow is a short walking day but the guide book says it's a rough, tough path. Can't be worse than the first week.
13/6. Day 21. End of 3rd week!!! 5 1/2 to go. Poor me. St Ives to Zennor. 13 Kms. 4 hrs.
It is Courtney's birthday today. Happy birthday love.
I added up the distance I've done. 366 Kms. Much slower than Spain but I am climbing up and down cliffs and carrying a pack so MUCH harder.
Today had a 3 km walk to even get to the starting point and I was in agony with shoulder and chest pain. Raising my arms to take a photo causes pain ++.
So I was resting at the start point!
It was a slow 10km to Zennor with large rocks and mud to avoid. I had a half jump off a rock , half big step down, expecting my knee to complain but unfortunately it was the top middle of my foot. Very sore and I am trying hard not to limp as that will cause more problems. Hopefully ok tmw when back in the boots.
I saw a guy walking, caught me up with bushy hair, red shorts and long socks. Looked familiar. Sure enough I had seen him in Scotland. He was walking from John O Groats to Lands End to raise money for his very handicapped son.
He was in his first week then and he finishes tomorrow. Isn't that amazing. He's lost 15 kg in the 6 weeks, walking and running 8-9 hrs a day. I was having lunch at 2.30 pm in the 12C Church cemetery and a Robin (bird) was hopping and singing right by me. I got great photos on the camera , plus later a rabbit and some cows just let into a lovely paddock after bring milked. They couldn't care less about me and just ate the grass with enthusiasm.

I had to walk thru 5 paddocks to my B&B ( a short cut rather than the longer road).
I left most of my pack then kept walking up the rd then dropped down to the track and walked back to where I'd exited earlier. Then back through the paddocks. So an extra 10 Kms probably. Too tired to walk again down to the hotel for dinner so had a 'cup of soup', exactly the reason I was carrying 4. Now 3.
I'm the only guest here tonight.
I had a bath to try and give my legs and feet some warmth and rubbing.
No wifi or TV. Thank goodness I have my lovely music on the iPod.
Better song lists on the iPod than the little Nano so I'll need to duplicate them as am sick of the same songs after 2 months of listening to them daily.
Tomorrow I had intended picking up the track where I left it today but was so slow today and its double the distance so after much looking at the map on the iPad have decided to walk 1/2 of tmw on the road which is basically parallel.
So won't be much shorter( a little as it avoids all the little coves and headlands) but will be much quicker and easier on my sore foot. There are many old mines and shafts around tomorrow including 2 museums and you can actually go miles underground in one. Not my thing.
Oh I saw a badger set today- a hole in the ground surrounded by fresh grass where the burrow is. I only know that because of a nearby sign.
And I saw a small circle of standing stones, probably back to 2000BC.
So an eventful day.
Boats from St Ives were out at an island on a seal viewing tour.
I could see some pale brown things so photographed them but when I looked tonight they were birds not seals!!

14/6. Zennor to St Just. 20 Kms. 5 hrs. Start of 4 th week. My shoulders/back/chest still are complaining about the pack. I feel like being sick from the pain. I couldn't even raise both arms to take a photo. I had to use one arm only! I walked for 2 hrs on the road, and it was further as went inland. But quicker walking. When I joined the path there were ruins of tin,arsenic,copper and lead mines everywhere. There are magnificent engine houses left.
There are mine shafts all over the place with signs saying to not leave the path!
I passed Cape Cornwall which for yrs was thought to be the most western point.
I'm at a youth hostel which again isn't busy.
It allows you inside in the day, so I put my pack behind a chair (very secure spot, no burglar would see it!! ) and went up to the town -St Just. Actually a very small village. It had an amazing Church- St Just Church with bits of it going back 1000 yrs, and some artefacts (font and carvings) back to 8C.
I bought stuff for dinner and then wandered down to the cove which is geologically significant as it has round boulders on it (to do with the ice age).
My sore foot performed quite well strapped tightly in the boot but today I've developed a blister under my other foot. Weird after 3 weeks. It's really sore too. And I had wool under it.
Tomorrow I walk past Lands End so no more walking west!!
Hopefully the wind will be behind me more too instead of side on.