Day 39: Portwrinkle to Plymouth

Sunny and cool with strong westerley
Distance covered today: 25.3km (15.7mi)
Last night's B&B: Whitsand Bay Hotel
% Complete: Cumulative distance: 68.1%:  726km
Total Ascent/Total Descent: 495m/ 643m
GPS satellite track of today's route: Day 39(click!)

So! A radical change of plan! On the other hand, when you think about it, not that surprising! As many long-suffering readers will be aware, yesterday was intended to be a rest day, but as it happened, I walked. To understand this, you have to appreciate the fundamental difference between Veronica and me.

I am a planner. Before the event I think through the plan in exhaustive detail and then I stick doggedly to the details in execution. Changes in external circumstances mean little. The plan is the plan.

Veronica, on the other hand, is much lighter on her feet. To her, the plan is a suggestion, to be moderated, or even radically changed, if circumstances suggest a rethink. The detail doesn’t matter. She’ll wing it if needs be. She is the Spitfire to my Lancaster bomber!

And so yesterday morning, I had a call from Veronica to tell me that she had just been looking at the weather forecast and it was steadily deteriorating for Friday (today).  She suggested that I ignore my rest day and walk yesterday instead. I drew myself up to my full height and informed her that this wasn’t the plan. I was booked into my rest day’s hotel for two nights and my luggage transfer arrangements were immutable. Any change would be so complicated that it would lead to chaos!

She demurred! She suggested that I do the walk yesterday, get a taxi back to the hotel and a taxi back to the end point today. I was half way through objecting to this change of plan on principle, when it slowly occurred to me that a lovely walk to Rame Head in the sunshine, rather than in driving rain, might be really pleasant. Also, I could use my squelchers in yesterday’s dry circumstances, whereas today in the rain, I would have to use the toe-crushers. Why hadn’t I thought of that?

I semi-graciously agreed and leapt to my feet.  I had a most enjoyable walk round Rame Head to Cawsand/Kingsand where I caught the ferry through to Plymouth’s famous Mayflower Steps, where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail on the Mayflower for North America in 1620, and where they landed on what came to be known as Plymouth Rock in New England.   Interestingly, most of these settlers actually came from East Anglia, but they called in at Plymouth for repairs after storms in the English Channel. You may recall that a couple of years ago on Day 7, I came across some even earlier settlers who left Bideford in 1587 to establish what is thought to be the first English-speaking  settlement in America in what was to become Virginia. Day 7

Being the miser that I am, I then declined Veronica’s suggestion that I use taxis to and from the hotel, and used my old codger’s bus pass to catch a bus for nothing! It took a while, but the view from the upper deck of the bus was worth it, especially when the bus boarded a ferry across the River Tamar! That’s a first! I’ve never been in a bus on a ferry before! I was just feeling rather chuffed with myself as the bus arrived at the very last stop of its route, right outside my hotel. I got up to exit, only to find the driver spinning the bus on its axis to go back to Plymouth, and hurling me across the aisle and painfully onto the back of a seat. I now have a couple of painfully bruised ribs to show for it. Yet another easily avoidable accident! What an idiot! I did feel a little better about it this morning when I bumped into a couple of taxi drivers in Plymouth who told me that it would have cost £30 each way by taxi. I’ll accept a sore chest for sixty quid!

Last evening, just as I was feeling a bit smug about how the day had turned out, I met Joanna and Billy at supper. Billy informed me that he is part-way through a retirement project to walk around the entire coast of mainland Britain! My LEJOG walk was 1202 miles, whereas Billy has already completed much more than 1600 miles and counting! What’s more, he is carrying comprehensive camping gear with him every day, and walking much longer daily distances. We had an excellent conversation and indeed share many insights in common, but I bow to his superior ambition and performance!

And that happy encounter ended my last night in Cornwall! After 29 days of trekking around its tricky coast, I am finally back in Devon, but with a few interesting challenges ahead. The question is, will I use Veronica’s or my own planning processes to overcome them?

You will be the first to know!

That's Rame Head in the distance; yesterday's first objective in the sunshine

A couple of goats for Phyllis, one of them so shocked to see me that his horns have gone straight!

Soon, I reached a military firing zone and had to go inland to avoid being shot

Along the road I found this obviously lethal piece of military hardware. I inspected it with great prudence, given the warnings above, but then had a proper look. It's a frisbee!!

Plymouth, the first major city on my Coast Path so far, emerges out of the murk

Looking back towards Portwrinkle over Long Sands at Tregantle with a small arms firing range in the foreground

The flowers remain disappointing this year because of the weather, but this south facing cliff was pretty

Not what one expects to find on the coast in Cornwall!

This was once a fort, but is now a private residence

Very unusually for the South West Coast, this flank of Rame Head was covered in dozens of tiny holiday shacks. I'm surprised planning regulations allowed it, but perhaps they predated the regs?

The chapel atop Rame Head draws closer

A herd (?!) of Dartmoor Ponies attending to their duties on National Trust land near the Head

The Chapel, close-up

The inside of the chapel. No indication of its origin at the site

A Royal Navy warship heading out to sea from Plymouth to protect us from some threat

Oh dear! We forgot something! Going back home!

Suddenly, I'm on a lovely sylvan road in the lee of the Head

The ferry to Portsmouth with Joe and Kate. Joe used to live in Plymouth and explained how to find the bus. Given that we were entering Devon from Cornwall, of which he was dismissive, his comment was "Devon's like heaven, only better!" He's a singer and I've arranged to meet him at his next gig at Paddington Station in London!

Our wake shining in the sunshine. I discovered that this ferry was cancelled for today because of the weather, so if I hadn't taken Veronica's advice, I would have missed it!

The rather underwhelming Mayflower Steps

In a bus, on the top storey, on a ferry! Magic!

Charles Church in Plymouth. Built by permission ("letters patent") of Charles I in 1640. It was destroyed in a bombing raid in March 1941. It wasn't repaired and is now preserved as a memorial to the civilian population who lost their lives in air-raids during the war. The orange fan behind it is a sensitively designed Primark store

Sir Francis Drake, commemorated here for setting out to circumnavigate the globe in 1577. On his way, he discovered "Drake Passage" through the Magellan Straits south of South America and then went and annexed California as "New Albion" in the name of his mentor, Queen Elizabeth I, before being knighted by her aboard the Golden Hinde in 1581. According to Joe, above, he was just a rogue and a pirate!

I was struck by these two elderly ex-servicemen celebrating 100 years of the RAF. As you can see, they were smiling. I had just asked them if they had been there at the start!