The Big Cornish Write Up Part 7

Day 10

The plan was to walk from The Lizard along the South West Coast Path to Mullion, but once again due to dodgy buses and time restrictions I decided I'd never make it for the 14.50 bus back to Helston (I tend to deviate and admire the views and the bus service skips an hour for the general pop for the school run....make the little buggers walk I say)

So anyway Kynanace Cove....2 1/2 miles said the sign down at Lizard point lighthouse (there and back certainly doable in the 3 1/2 hours I had to explore) so off I trekked. It's a really nice walk, though steep in places and, due to the rain and gloom, patches of slippy thick mud took me a little longer than I'd have hoped (plus I kept stopping to check out the amazing views).

I reached the overlook above the cove with no time to either walk down to the beach or walk back along the coast path back to the Lizard. Whipping out my trusty street map I found an alternate route back to the village green (although I could have down without the extra muddy on the footpath which as I tried to side step lead me into a quagmire, turning my once blue trainers an elegant brown, with added squelchy). I did however get back to the village with time to enjoy a congratulatory ice cream, just as the sun put in an appearance.
I had enough time to spare to go for one more shortish walk before my bus, since there's not an awful lot in the village centre itself....Church Cove was signed as 1/4 mile away so off i trotted...though I somehow managed to take a wrong turn and ended up on a very muddy/squelchy loop to Bass Point. By the time I realised my error I was quicker to carry on rather than turn back...and I engaged top speed as my shortish walk was turning into a much longer jaunt which was putting my return bus journey in jeopardy.
As I got onto the home straight, the village green in sight, the bus pulled in...caked in mud, nursing a stitch and with two very tired feet I ran the last few 100 yards and jumped onto the bus gasping out my destination. I slumped into my seat, guzzling the last of my H2O and observed, with some annoyance, the bus driver jump off said vehicle to entertain a fag for several minutes before we left for Helston.


Days 13 & 14

The reason for skipping a couple of days here is the 'travel' factor....of which I must have clocked up many, many miles and, when I come to think about it, actually spent 5 out of my 14 day holiday doing....no wonder I feel like I need another one.....but, anyway I had left Helston and returned to Newquay (via Truro) where after a fab meal on my last night with Natty and friends I caught my train to London (via Par and Plymouth)....where I must digress here to discuss the question as to just how much does it cost for a 4ft, pink, fluffy, bunny to ride the train these days? There were shades of 'Harvey' as a gent of the disheveled persuasion carried his companion across the platform and into the carriage in which I was positioned....encouraging much amusement and bufuzzlement amongst the other passengers....as the man also had a bicycle with him, I was left to ponder as to just how the man intended to continue his journey.....cut to Frank Spencer/Mr Bean esque sequences.

I arrived in London in the evening and caught the tube to meet my very good friend, and ex-flat mate, Ally...for much hugging, squealing and other such girlie like behaviour, due to the close to one year in apartness (Ally for those who are unsure is my Irish 'giant-like' friend who found fame screaming at god-like rock figures on a popular Beeb television show).

On the first day of my London break Ally was working so I took myself off to the British Museum....a place I keep meaning to spend some quality time in whenever I'm in London but somehow always manage to go gawk at Buckingham Palace with all the other tourists.

I wandered round the Ancient Egypt section utterly fascinated and with all the maturity of a small child in a sweet shop run by Oompa Loompas. After a couple of hours I realised that the cloudless and sunny skies were too much of an opportunity to miss (with regard to the highly unagreeable weather this summer) so I hoofed it to Hyde Park where I spent the rest of the day mooching, lolling, dozing and sunning myself.

I did go for a bit of a wander ending up at......Buckingham Palace, where I allowed myself a few minutes of a game I like to call 'how many tourist pictures can I put in a timely appearance and pull an unfortunate and possible inappropriate gesture'.....(answer more than 1, less than 12)
Soon, I decided to venture back to the park for further mooching and ice cream consumption where I spent another hour or so just taking in the world before tubing it to meet up with Ally and hang out until the end of her shift ( she works at a photographers studio and regaled me with tale of frolics with the rich and famous of which I wasn't at all jealous)

In the pm we headed out to a trendy bar on the South Bank (between London and Tower Bridge) for some catching up with other members of the past Club Mercury crowd, before heading back to Brixton.....in which Ally has a very nice pad which she shares with a lovely couple of fellow Irish girlies.

The following day, another glorious sunny day, Ally and I spent the day in a vegetative state in a local park, reading books we'd picked up in a local second hand bookstore and watching, mildly amused, at the pair of dog owners attempting to control their wayward pets as they rolled in a suspicious substance.

And there we reach the end of my Cornish/London exploration, a jam packed holiday fitting in several months worth of exercise into a little over a week and more friendly socialising than I've done in over a year.....with Florida now out of the question as next year experience I'll have to get my explorer thinking cap on.