The Set Up -
I have been planning this for a long time...
I first conceived this adventure in April 2003 on trip to Sennen Cove in Easter of that same year. I thought what a great idea to walk the coastal path from Marazion to St Ives to prove I'm hard.
The following the year, in the summer of 2004, I did it... badly. Although many times since I have covered the walk from Penzance to Land's end, I never managed or got round to walk from St Just to St Ives again. I had lots of excuses, it is challenging, the weather was too bad, I was out of shape etc. This time though, I made it a priority and hiked that section first. I did adventure in reverse, I started with the St Just leg first on the Wednesday and then set off from Penzance on the Thursday. There was a good reason for this and that was, it was more important to do the most difficult section first, then at least I could home having completed the hard hike at the very least.
Last ride to the end 2025
Admittedly, I camped in 2004 and it was a wet but humid summer, last week I stayed at Penzance youth hostel at a reasonable price and it made a good base. The beds weren't especially comfortable but the showers were clean. The stretch of coast from St Just is a tough hike, when I did it in 2004, the cloud cover was low and the visibility poor, so I never got to see any of the sights. I spent the whole time trying not to fall of the cliff. There was curious thing I noticed, there were a lot of people younger than me and out of shape walking the path. Also there seemed to be a few people older than me but in shape walking the path. In the podcast I complained that the first day was a difficult hike, upon reflection I would have to say it wasn't as bad as I had originally thought and I would do it again. Let's hope I don't wait another 21 years to do it.
Please check out the 'Five nights in the south west' podcast, which will give a more in depth account.