Day 8
A looong hill, up all the way. 2.5 km/1.5 mi.
Sheep!
From here I should be able to see Brown Willy, but it's hidden in the mist.
I saw a couple of "No unauthorized motor vehicles", but nothing specific to walkers, so I kept going.
The mist swirled around, coming and going. Well, almost going.
As I neared the end of the road there was a "Keep out" sign, then "Private, no public through way". So I turned around and went back past the Keep out-sign I met John, also on his way to Brown Willy. He figured we could take another path, so off we went.
A pre-historic settlement
We made it to the top! I really enjoyed having someone to talk to today. We stopped fo tea twice, mainly because I was tired, I think. John is a very fast walker! As we started to descend John went back to his car and I walked towards Jamaica Inn. It should be no more than 4 km/2.5 miles from where we parted ways. Easy going, just aiming for two Catshole Tor and Hillsborough Tor (two hilltops). They weren't visible in the mist, but I followed a compass bearing. Yay I could see the outline of the first Catshole Tor! That's when I came to the barbed wire fence. There should be a stile or gate, but in the mist it was impossible to know if it was to the left or to the right. On the map I could see a road off to the right, if I didn't find a stile before then I could just follow the road. It would only be maybe a kilometer longer, so right I went.
A ruin I passed on the footpath.
The red dots is where I wanted to go!
The person who thought off-white would be a good color for hiking boots should lose their job.
Kilometers: 28-ish
Misty, misty, misty! As I started walking it was very misty and it stayed that way throughout the day. Today's plan was to walk up Brown Willy, the highest "mountain" in Cornwall, 420 meters. Getting there was 12 kilometers, from there it was about 5 more to Jamaica Inn. Let's say 19 including the obligatory wrong turns. I had asked in a couple of FB groups and been told the best way down Brown Willy and also that there would be no problems with the route, so I felt confident that the route was fine. Of course, those people were counting on me being able to see where I was going.
I didn't find the stile, but I found the road, which led to a locked gate, which I climbed over and kept following the road on the other side. It soon disappeared, but I kept going in that general direction, thinking the road would appear again. I don't know if it did, I got to another barbed wire fence. So I followed that one for a while, but it got increasingly difficult and all of a sudden I found myself in a bog. I changed my direction and managed to get out of the bog, but it was now around 4 - 5pm. Looking at the map I could see a public footpath to the north of me. I needed a sure way to get off the moor before dark, so north it was. I was so happy to reach the footpath and the stile next to it, even though I knew there was still a long way to go to get to a road (5km/3mi) and in the wrong direction.
A couple of times the footpath crossed open moor for long stretches that would have been hard to navigate in the mist and almost dark without phone or compass, luckily I had both (and a head torch, which I didn't need). Eventually I made it to a road. It was now almost fully dark and I stopped the next car that came along. I was so lucky, they were going to The Old Inn in St Breward (almost back to where I started this morning), where I wanted to go as well, to phone for a taxi!
Staff at the pub were very friendly and helpful! I had supper there and one of the men, Norman, even took me all the way to Jamaica Inn! All I had to to when I got there was take a shower and then get some sleep.
I just want to point out that I do carry full camping gear, in worst case I would have just stopped for the night.
Blister is ok. The knee's a bit of a bother, what's worse is that my toe that I hurt six months ago is quite painful tonight. If it doesn't improve overnight I think I'll have to take a rest day tomorrow.
My charity, Rare Cancers research ❤️
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