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Tuesday, 29th August 2006
A Story
Well, it's taking a bit longer to compose my thoughts then I intended, so to tide you over, here's a report written by a good friend of mine who walked with me for a couple of days.
Gary goes round the bend AND has a bath!
Written by Bill Crabtree who walked with Gary from St Ives to Newlyn 10-12 July 2006
See the pictures that go with this report using this link
Readers will know that Gary is walking from Hampton to Cornwall and back. Getting to Lands End on 11th July and turning back on the homeward straight was a big milestone for Gary. Fortunately the weather was beautiful – blue skies, a warm evening sun with a gentle breeze and all of these were perfect ingredients for a professional photo shoot to celebrate the occasion. At last Gary felt he was homeward bound and that he’d done over half of the journey. There was even a moment for speculation about what he’d do when he returned – pizza, beer, bed, bath and the chance to do NOTHING for as long as he wanted. Yet the time for dreaming didn’t last long – we had to get to the camp site, cook tea, do the chores and fall asleep – after a couple of beers of course!
After my ‘stroll’ with Gary I’ve concluded that he’s been ‘round the bend’ for some time – he must be to do what he is doing. The daily challenge of walking 18, 15 or ‘only’ 10 miles until you’ve done about 900 miles is an act of madness – or heroism, depending on your point of view. We had an interesting conversation about what was driving him and the reply was something like: I’ve asked myself that lots of times … I could have done half the distance … You’ve just got to, once you’ve started … Got to make the most of things … I’m doing it for my mum. Friends and supporters know that ‘he’s gone off walking’ and it’s easy to forget him as we sit at the table for dinner, or go to the tap for a drink of water, or lounge on the sofa watching telly. What do you normally do at 8.30, or 12.00 or maybe 3.30? Spare a thought for Superman – he’s walking, all day, every day! I discovered that the walking day has a routine – you get up, get going early, and get the walk finished early, so that there is time to rest and recover for the next day. Gary advised that getting to a camp site late is bad news, because you always feel that you’re chasing your tail and then the walk drives you rather than vice versa.
The Cornish coastal path is beautiful, especially when the sun shines, the breeze blows and the seagulls call overhead. The flowers and vegetation were stunning in places with a mass of different colours. We enjoyed watching the rolling waves crashing on the rocks as we walked around another headland with another post card view. Yet at the same time it can be miserable and dangerous. The rocky paths are often covered in vegetation and as soon as you take your eyes off your next step, a rock is likely to ‘leap out’ and trip you up. Handling that is easy if you are just walking, but with a 40-50 pound pack on your back it’s easy to lose your balance. Just a simple slip could spell disaster for Gary, but fortunately he is obviously a tough act! We did share a few curses from time to time Cor. F F F fancy that … These bleedin brambles are like leeches etc. You could always spot a walker on the Coast path – shins and thighs were scratched and sometimes bleeding. I did learn not to fear nettles any more – you just walk through them and the sweat soon washes away the sting.
Fortunately the weather has been good for Gary this year though it has probably been far too hot on occasions. When it rains I discovered that Cornwall is like another planet. Arriving at Pendeen Watch in the mist and fine rain was weird – we never saw the light house but we heard the fog horn. It was like autumn had arrived – you could barely see one of the other tents in the field behind a pub, but we did manage to find the back door to the bar. Blow-drying our gear in the hand drier in the Gents was a new experience. Apparently the Cornish have a word for fog and rain – it’s called ‘mizzle’. Later on in the evening, we looked out of the pub window and the sun was shining and we could see blue sky. It WAS like being on another planet!
The other memorable occasion for Gary on this short stint of his journey was having a bath! He discovered that the toilet block in a posh campsite in St Ives had a modern, tiled, single bath room tucked around the back. The man could not believe it – he even had a bath before going to the pub and for good measure, he got up early and had another soak before starting off the next day. He confessed: I feel like a new man, but I now know that by the end of the day he’d be knackered and that walking down hill with a pack is a shuffle – you just put one foot in front of the other and try to forget that the weight of your pack is pushing your toes down into the front of your boots. But the views are fantastic; the people you meet are interested and even amazed. And that first pint – well that’s nectar!
So readers, please spare a thought for our hero. He went through hell at times, but he won’t tell you. Please give generously to the cause.
PS As far as I could tell, Gary has been a regular user of campsite showers!
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Diary Entries:
Wednesday, 18th April 2007
Tuesday, 29th August 2006
Sunday, 20th August 2006
Saturday, 29th July 2006
Tuesday, 11th July 2006
Saturday, 24th June 2006
Monday, 5th June 2006
Friday, 2nd June 2006
Monday, 22nd May 2006
Monday, 3rd April 2006
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