Back walking the coastal path today.  Neil set off from Looe around 8.30 and stopped at Polperro for coffee.  Next was Polruan on the Fowey estuary.  En route here he turned a corner and met a fox trotting down the coastal path towards him.  Both stopped, and the fox quickly rethought its route and headed off.

At the Fowey estuary, Neil for once found the ferry waiting for him and was able to cross immediately to Fowey itself.  It was lunchtime so he bought and ate a Cornish pasty on the quayside.  Then on around Gribbin Head to the pretty harbour of Polkerris, and finally down into the china clay district at Par, before finishing the 22 miles section of the walk at Charlestown.

The weather has improved, thankfully, being sunshine and showers, and the new boots are not giving him any trouble.  This is just as well, for Neil comments that sections of the coastal path are as tough as anything he covered on the Pennine Way, and definitely much tougher than the West Highland Way (which he described as ‘a doddle’).

As planned, Neil took to the bicycle today and cycled from Stoke Point to Plymouth.  Here he took advantage of the shopping facilities to buy some new boots, bootlaces, and blister remedy.  Then he pressed on to the ferry where he crossed to Tor Point and cycled on to Looe. 

The going was what he had come to recognise as normal cycling conditions – hills up and down, apparently far more up than down!

July 9th saw the winds at gale force and the rain coming horizontally – a perfect day for staying in the caravan.  Neil did an interview for BBC Radio Oxford, which we have recorded and will make available on the ‘in the media’ page once we’ve converted it to mp3 format.

Neil and Alan met Ian and Barbara at 8.15 and reviewed the situation.  As the weather had been appalling and the forecast still bad they decided there was no chance of paddling today as they had hoped, and that Neil would continue walking alone.

From Hope Cove he walked in heavy rain to Bantham, then took the ferry across the Avon.  He walked past Burgh Island to Wonwell on the east bank of the River Erme, where he stopped for lunch and waited for low tide.  At low tide he waded the river and continued along the coastal path to Stoke Point where he left the path and met up with Alan.

It was a wet and windy day, marginally better in the afternoon, but very little.  Neil is now 15-18 miles east of Plymouth.  While he doesn’t mind walking in the rain, he has a real problem in that they cannot get his boots dry overnight, and walking in damp or wet socks and boots has badly blistered his feet.  The weather is reasonable tomorrow and dreadful for Wednesday.  So the plan tomorrow is to cycle from Stoke Point to Looe or close by.  This will give his feet some time to recover, and he will go through Plymouth on the way, where he’ll try to buy another pair of boots, more blister remedy etc. 

It’s ironic that all through Scotland in May, where he might have expected bad weather, it was beautiful, calm paddling weather.  Here in the sunny south he’s seen pretty much nothing but strong winds and/or driving rain.  It’s been really tough going.  Where is that Azores High?

Unsurprisingly, the wind was far too strong for paddling again today, so Neil, Barbara and Ian set off on foot again to Tor Cross in quite good weather at first.  They went via Start Point and Prawle to East Portlemouth on the east side of the Kingbridge estuary.  All the way they were saying “Look at the surf, there’s no way we could have sea-kayaked on that.”  They took the ferry to Salcombe and met Alan at North Sands where Ian decided to call it a day.  Neil and Barbara battled on to Hope Cove where they found Alan and Ian settled down in the pub…  and quickly joined them.

The walk from Start Point to East Portlemouth is a particularly beautiful stretch of the coastal path.

The day began in bright sunshine but strong winds meant that sea-kayaking was out of the question.  So Neil, Barbara and Ian set off on foot around the coastal path, reaching Kingswear by 12.30.  After a good pub lunch they took the ferry to Dartmouth, and carried on walking.  The wind increased gradually to gale force and in driving rain they arrived at Tor Cross around 5.15. 

In the evening the wind was so strong it was rocking the caravan, even though it was parked in a sheltered spot. All in all, it was a ‘pretty miserable day.’

With a weekend of gales forecast, Neil was determined to get at least some sea-kayaking in on the Friday.  He and his paddling buddies Barbara Browning and Ian Hackworthy set off around 10am to paddle to Exmouth.  Conditions were reasonable, but choppy.  They had lunch at Sidmouth around noon, after which conditions deteriorated.  As they approached Budleigh Salterton the swell had increased to around a metre and, finding that they were continually losing sight of each other in the waves, they withdrew strategically from the sea. 

Summoned by mobile phone, Alan arrived in good time, and while he and Ian managed the kayaks and shifted cars around, Barbara and Neil walked on to Exmouth in the pouring rain, arriving around 8pm.

The weather doesn’t look at all good for the weekend.  On Saturday and Sunday they are forecasting 26 mph winds – which would take the sea conditions beyond Neil’s level of sea-kayaking competency.  So it looks as if he’ll have to operate plan B: to walk the coastal path.  From a previous walk he knows that he finds the stretch from Exmouth to Brixham, which runs through seaside towns, not terribly inspiring walking.  So today he decided to cycle the stretch from Exmouth to Berry Head in advance.

Alan dropped him in Exmouth at 8.30, and it transpired that the first ferry across the river to Dawlish wasn’t until 10.30, so rather than hang around he set off on the bike.  From Exmouth he travelled via Exeter, Dawlish Warren and Dawlish, Teignmouth, Torquay, Paignton and Brixham before making the climb up to Berry Head.  Neil’s comment: “Devon is full of hills, and today I seem to have climbed most of them!”

So he is prepared now to abandon the sea-kayaking on Saturday and Sunday.  Friday looks marginal: the winds forecast are just about on the margins of what he feels he could cope with.  So tomorrow’s decision whether to paddle or not looks like being a tricky one.  All he can do is assess the situation on the day.

Up early, Neil cycled back to Ilminster and then continued his journey to the south coast via Axminster and Axmouth to his destination at Seaton.  This he did by 10.30 am and immediately went down to put his hands in the sea – he had completed the coast to coast journey, north to south!

Next was his rendezvous with Alan who transported him back to the caravan where he spent the rest of the day sorting out his paddling kit, looking up navigation information for Friday, etc.

The official finish of the Linda Jordan Memorial Ride-Stride-Glide – the last lap – will be on Saturday 26th July, when Neil will start from the car park in Sennen Cove at 2.30 pm to walk the last stretch of his long journey to Lands End. 

Quite a few of us family and friends are going to be there to walk with him, to celebrate his achievement in style. We’d love you to be there to welcome him at Lands End, or to walk the last short leg of the journey with us from Sennen Cove. 

Several of the older members of the family will be at Lands End to meet the walking party from Sennen. Car parking at Sennen Cove is limited so you may wish to park at Lands End and either arrange to be driven down to Sennen, or, if you are really feeling enthusiastic, you could walk down.  (Tell the carpark attendant at Lands End that you are there to meet someone completing a John O’Groats to Lands End journey.)

Could any friends who think they will be there at the finish, please let one of the family know you are coming? 

Let’s make it a day to remember!

A fairly uneventful day as far as the cycling goes.  Neil set off from the campsite at Seend near Devizes around 7.15am and peddled on mainly flat roads to Frome.  From there to Shepton Mallet the road rolled up and down more as it skirted the Mendip hills and turned down towards the A303.  That major route west was busy all the way to Ilminster.  That night’s campsite was some 5 miles or so further on down the A303 towards Chard, and as he had plenty of time in hand Neil chose to press on.  This meant climbing a ‘north face of the Eiger’ type hill which was not at all what he really wanted at the end of a long cycle.  Nevertheless he reached the campsite at 1.30pm.

Later in the afternoon Alan and Neil met our friends Brian and Christine Clist in Ilminster for tea – a very pleasant end to a successful day.

Seaton and the south coast draws closer.  How Neil travels around the coast now depends on the weather – strong winds will make sea-kayaking too dangerous, so he will be monitoring the weather over the next few days and making plans accordingly.