Lands End to John O'Groats - Day 001 - Lands End to Sennen

 

Day:	001
Date:	3 May 2010
Start:	Lands End
Finish:	Near Sennen
Daily Kilometres:	10.6
Total Kilometres:	10.6
Weather:	Cool, breezy, mostly sunny
Accommodation:	Camping by ocean
Nutrition:	Fish & chips, Snickers Bar and Orange Juice for dinner
Aches:	Right knee a little sore
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	I got up at 6am and packed and made myself breakfast at my friend's, Keith and Fin's house in Watford before bidding Keith (he was the only one up!) farewell and walking to Watford Underground station where I caught a 7:43am train.  After changing trains and a bit of a walk from Marylebone on a cloudy and cold grey London morning, I arrived at Paddington at 8:30am.  My train to Penzance wasn't scheduled to leave until 10:06am, so I had plenty of time to buy some sandwiches for lunch, get a coffee and check my email before boarding.  The train was an express with only one stop in the first two hours and I enjoyed whizzing through the English countryside while reading the newspaper.  The only thing spoiling the ambience were the three girls under seven in the seat in front who seemed to only have one volume setting.  I enjoyed their company for four hours. From Exeter the train largely followed the coast and there was some spectacular coastal scenery including rocky cliffs, long sandy beaches, muddy estuaries and picture-book villages.  It was a beautiful train trip and to top it off, the weather gradually cleared. I reached Penzance soon after 3pm and waited at the bus station in a bitterly cold wind for the bus to Lands End which arrived at 3:30pm.  There was one other hiker on the bus, of similar age to me, who looked like he may also have been heading for John O'Groats.  We reached Lands End at 4:30pm.  There is a large tourist facility there which seemed to be closing and I had a quick wander around before finding the start of the South West Coastal Path, my route for the next few days.  The coast was treeless and windswept with sheer rocky cliffs and pounding surf.  Visibility was excellent and I could see rocks and reefs offshore and the Scilly Isles in the distance.  The water was a beautiful clear green colour, reminding me of home, although it looked pretty cold. The crowds thinned out as I headed east along the cliff-top path and I was excited to be underway.  After about 3km, the path descended to picturesque Sennen Cove, a fishing, surfing and tourist village.  After walking along the foreshore, I headed upwards and inland to the hostel I was hoping to stay in, but found the landlady just heading out, saying they were closed for the night.  She directed me to a B&B down the road, but the prices there seemed exorbitant, so I declined a room and then returned to Sennen Cove, having walked a 3km loop, with a plan to get fish and chips at a shop I had seen, then continue walking along the coast in the hope of finding somewhere to camp. This I did, and found a relatively flat (one of the few), but quite windy spot near the top of a low cliff in a beautiful location with views across to Sennen and Lands End in the setting sun, and the sound of waves crashing on the rocks below.  I updated my diary but the battery died on the laptop before I could post it.  I found out in the morning I didn't have mobile reception, anyway.  I went to bed and read for a while soon after 9:30pm in the fading light after an excellent day.