HANKS TRAVEL BLOG

A couple of final things I would like to share. On Sunday, after people watching in the hospital for almost three hours, an asian,friendly short man calling himself Paul finally called out my name from the sick and injured masses in the waiting room. This doctor who apologised for me having to wait so long, explained that he had three complicated jobs before mine, hence the length of time it took before he could get to me. He first had to ask me if I was on any medication, in which I replied confidently, 4 mg blood pressure tablets daily. Which one? was the next question, dunno, came the reply. We need to know, and he rattled off some names. I don’t recognise any of those, I said, so Emily phoned Australia to speak to her mum to get the answer, as Paul could not continue without knowing. Gayle found the box of medication, took a photo and bingo, we could now continue. Anything else wrong with you?no not really I replied, and at the same time, an emphatic yes, my daughter replied. Paul, with a funny smile and look on his face replied, one of you is lying. So after Emily told him about two of my health issues, and I always wrapped gaffer tape around my wounds when ever I cut myself till it stunk and then remove the tape,as now the wounds are healing, he said, I have learnt something today, and looked at me as if I was Mick Dundee. He said I was a real bushman, and I  have a good immune system, which is quite rare these days, as everyone one relies on tablets. The aussie myth for these Londoners lives on.He then went on to do the repairs to my arm, wrapped it up in bandages, and sent me down the hall for some exrays, which came back in my favour. When I finally arrived back on australian soil strolling through duty free on my way to pass port control,I couldn’t help but notice a two, one litre box of Jamieson Irish whisky and automatically picked one up by the handle. I walked about ten metres towards the cash register, when all of a sudden,my box became a lot lighter. Yep,both the bottles jumped straight through the bottom and smashed on the tiled floor. As I stopped to inspect what happened, everyone else within cooee also stopped and were gazing their eyes on me. I looked at the lady operating the cash register and lifted my empty box and confidently said I was holding the box by the handle. She replied leave the box there and get another one. I dropped the box as requested and grabbed another one, making sure to hold the underneath. My cash register lady asked if I wanted to pay an extra twenty cents for a plastic bag, I replied,that would be good insurance and left watching some poor soul cleaning up the mess. After leaving the airport,I caught a train to Eagle Junction to swap for a Caboolture connection. By now its night time. As the train arrived at Eagle Junction, someone pushed the door button, but the door would not open. Mild panic began as the train took off, so I pressed the emergency. The train came to a second halt, and a voice appeared asking if there was an emergency. I  replied, people wanting to get off at this station, but doors not opening. Please wait was the answer. Two or three minutes later, an announcement came over the loud speaker system apologising for the delay, that someone had activated the emergency, and the train will be moving as soon as this was resolved. My fault. Welcome back to Australia I thought. More minutes ticked by when finally the doors opened, and a few of the punters relieved to leave the train. So now having changed platforms, I waited for the next Caboolture train. When it came to a complete stop, I pressed the door button, and not again, the train started moving backwards. I laughed and waved to the people trying to get off. Thankfully the train stopped and the door opened. By now I’m on the phone talking to Emily and reliving my entry back to the land down under with a captive audience also living the moment with me as they were listening in and seemingly enjoying every moment. I even answered questions. I was having fun. Never a dull moment, except for the next few days trying to get my body backto australian time clock.

On my walk to the train station, I finally met an aussie. A young woman who was in England doing work for the university of New South Wales. It was nice to hear a familiar accent. The train trip was going well for the first three hours, and then the announcement came, due to problems, this train will terminate at Plymouth. Everyone will need to take all your belongings, and another train will be waiting on the opposite platform. Hundreds got off to no awaiting train. After fifteen minutes a train coming from the opposite direction finally arrived. We then waited for all the people on this train to disembark, and watched them get on the train we had just abandoned. After reboarding, our train headed towards London and the other back towards Falmouth. Seems crazy to most people, but probably suits the crew as they go back to where they came from. The train then went at half speed as the announcement came the train was limping to London because of some other problems. They also announced if your journey has been delayed by more than one hour, you can make a claim and receive a full refund. The delay was fifty four minutes, so bad luck for the punters. I finally arrived at Emily’s at five pm. We  had a quiet one with Emily cooking a lovely pasta. Saturday morning rain. We ventured out later in the morning,  but lots of buses cancelled due to road closures,for the huge orgaised protest against Israel. When we finally found out way to covent gardens, we saw it first hand. Huge, must have been ten deep, and a mile long. The rain by now was intermittent. We walked a bit and went to the Huntigton museum. Very interesting, the man had thousands of exhibits of human and animal bits of body parts saved in bottles. There were also lots of bones. After checking out a few other places, we rode bikes through London back to Emily’s, which ended in tragedy. At about twenty five kms per hour, and successfully getting through London traffic and roundabouts,  including traffic lights,my front wheel caught the kirb,  and I went flying. I did some damage, mainly to my right arm. We abandoned the bikes and got to a pharmacy just on closing time. The pharmacist suggested the hospital, but I didn’t think it was that bad. Caught the bus home where Emily did a great job cleaning up the mess and bandaged me up. I then inpain,sauced out the local for some medication. Finally out of pain, I slept well. My final day in London was five hours at the hospital, getting sorted medically, which included exrays for any chips or breakages. I came through ok. We then bought bagels and went for a walk in an ancient cemetery in Chelsea. Not finding a spare plot,  we headed home by bus. I thought, no more bikes for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow morning I’m flying home with a bashed up right arm. I have had a great time and hope to do some more next year. Cheers, and thanks for joining me.

The first bus going my way wasn’t due to eleven o’clock, so I had a very relaxing morning at my favourite accommodation of my whole trip. Breakfast was self serve, so I boiled a couple of eggs and made some toast 😋. Went and sat at the harbour drinking my cuppa watching the fishermen going out for the day. It was very cloudy, but the rain was holding off. A long stint on my double decker was relaxing and enjoyable from the top deck. When I finally arrived at Falmouth, I was ready for my last taste of a Cornish pasty. I stumbled upon this nice little pastry shop that made them on the premises. I opted for a medium one, and it was that big, I struggled to eat it all. It was awsome. I then walked around and familirised myself with this lovely village. When I decided to find Jacob’s ladder inn, I had to walk up one hundred and thirty steps up Jacob’s ladder to get there. Quite a surprise. The inn was up on  higher ground overlooking the bay. Another great find. Later in the day, I met up with a couple of younger blokes from Devon, who left their families at home to spend the evening drinking Cornish ales. My friend Tina also came to drop me my stuff back and have a drink before heading the hour drive back to her village. She is a sweetie and I am very grateful to  to call her a friend. The people down here in Cornwall are so helpful,it really warms my heart. After a few drinks, some aussie banter, and the attempted throwing of a few darts, I was happy to say goodbye to my new friends, knowing I had to be on a train to London early the next morning.

Last night I had a very funny experience. When I walked in to the local, a young lady around Emily’s age was standing at the bar, while her black dog kept barking with her tail wagging, seeking attention. When I was the only one that took the action to pat her, she wouldn’t leave my side. I’m talking about the dog, yeah?Any way, Sarah the one holding the leash explained that poppy was her partner’s dog. A pint later and Sarah asking about my travels, she insisted we go meet her partner Kev who worked in the other pub. I said cool,let’s go. She then asked if I could take poppy the two hundred metres, as she needed to run home and grab something. So I did. As I walked, I started singing the rolling stones song walking the dog, and poppy and I were having a fun time.When I arrived at the pub, this guy walked up to me and said, why have you got my dog?I  answered your dog?no mate this is my dog called mate. You should have seen the look on his face. Luckily at that moment, Sarah walked in and told Kev what happened. We all then had a great laugh  and enjoyed the rest of the night. After raining all night and forcast not to stop today, the fog thick as a white brick wall,I’ve decided to just enjoy my last two days in Cornwall. I can’t see the point in breaking my neck on the slippery slopes. Next time I’ll start from the Lizard. I had a later breakfast of fruit, scrambled eggs on toast, and a cuppa. The bus ride took about two and a half hours to Coverack, my next destination, which suited me fine. The reason being, it travels on an inland road and goes down a winding country lane to stop at each seaside village,then turns around and back to the main road. The rain didn’t stop all day. At Coverack, I had a fifteen minute walk to get to my bnb called the old post office. A house built on the side of a cliff back in 1660. The host was quite happy at me turning up at 1 pm, and I was happy relaxing in the lounge room gazing at the harbour and surrounds. The afternoon was drizzle and much cooler,as the weather has returned to normal Cornwall weather. I enjoyed the evening pint with the locals and chicken wrapped in bacon and cheese,chippies and salad for dinner before venturing back to the Post office for a cup of tea talking with one of the other guests.

Last night after some rest,I went next door to my bnb to the Blue Anchor a late medieval inn,which is still brewing ales on site that the monks used to brew. There is nothing fancy to the brewery as the barman was proud to show me the setup. Very ancient and not much to it really. The ale was very palatable. With it’s thatched roof and low timber beams, it dates back to 1380. The opening hours are from twelve midday to twelve midnight and doesn’t serve food. However, you are allowed to bring your own. My comment to Matthew the bar man,was, a pub in Australia would not survive just supplying beer and ales and other alchohol drinks to customers drinking on the premises. I will admit,it is probably the cosiest inn I have ever been in,and the locals were very friendly and accepted their new aussie friend with open arms. I then went across the road and had some lovely greek food for dinner. This morning, after an English breakfast, I caught a bus back to Porthleven to start walking to Lizard Point. When I started walking, the weather was much cooler than it has been. The wind became more like gale force, and very cold. Most locals walking their dogs wore jackets. I was content in my tee shirt. The path started reasonably even through valleys and a beach crossing with heavy sand walking. Later, like usual, the cliffs got higher,which meant bigger uppers and downers. It was awsome except for the extra strong winds. Not fun when walking near the edge. I tried to make myself shorter when cliff walking was the path to go. I was happy to reach my destination, and only one km to my farm house at The Lizard. After discussing the accommodation problems last week with my wife, we have decided that I will come home and come back next year in autumn or spring. I had thought of returning to Spain,but this time of year is crazy. Forty degrees and too many people trying for the accommodation available. I’m not unhappy as six months ago, I wasn’t even sure whether I would ever be able to do this kind of walking ever again. I’ve had a wonderful time. I’ve covered more than half the path, but the problems with accommodation and not knowing how I would get to start points and back to accommodation with the prices as high as they’ve become, has taken me away from why I’m here. I have two more days walking, then I will catch a train to London for one final weekend with Emily and fly back to the land down under.

When I awoke Sunday morning, I still felt exhausted. My body didn’t want to respond to anything I wanted it to do. After a big breakfast, I headed to the supermarket and bought a couple of packets of energy tablets and hydralite tablets and chewed and drank all day. I would have had a second day off, but locked in with accommodation wouldn’t allow me to do this. A couple of pints late afternoon, watching the Wimbledon final between Sinner and Alcharaz and mixing with the locals was welcoming and rewarding, as was the traditional Sunday roast beef, all the trimmings,  and Yorkshire pudding.I only had to walk 100 metres back to my bnb, so that was also a bonus. I needed no rocking to get to sleep. I woke the next morning feeling more revitalised than I could have imagined. After mueseli, poached eggs on toast and sausage washed down with a cuppa, I was ready for some action. As I approached the front door,I could hear the rain. As I opened the front door, I could have been in a Queensland tropical storm. It was pelting rain, and I don’t have my poncho, so I went straight back up to my room and decided to wait a while. I rang Gayle for our second chat of the morning and then rang Ashleigh. I asked Willa for her advice and at almost two years of age, she made no comment. Her four year old brother Luca, was happy just saying hello as I was. By now its after nine, and the weather forecast was spot on by predicting rain to ease with strong winds. Also finally, very warm but not scorching like last week. I walked out for a second time feeling much happier, having talked to family and clouds/sun to walk with. For the first time, the first six kilometres were dead flat before the cliffs came back. After nine kms of rugged cliffs, and knowing the terrain was going to get much worse,  a possible one hour walk to my off route accommodation, I took advantage of being able to catch a bus, firstly for the final six kms and then after an hour wait, a bus up the mountain to my bnb. Do I feel bad for catching a bus part of the way?no, I didn’t want to end the day completely exhausted , knowing a longer walk tomorrow, and having to find my way to the starting gate.

Saturday was going to be a really hard day as the bus wasn’t coming to around 9 am. That meant start walking near 10 am,or start early and walk the extra one and a half hours to the start. What ever way, I wasn’t looking forward to it. By what might have been devine intervention, my host Lew over heard me telling the other guests and offered to take me at 5.30 in the morning. I was most grateful. I made sure I left some beers in the fridge for him. This guy is a legend. His accommodation is above his fish and chip shop, so when his guests buy his fish and chips, he gives a 50 percent discount. And he’s a real character. He loves taking the piss out of people, and just enjoys himself. By the end of the day, I was very happy to have had that early start, as I reckon it was harder than yesterday, and I did struggle the last five kilometres. I’m lucky it was flat walking on roads. The night before I was able to put my drink bottles in Lew’s freezer, so I had cold water. The path was tough, crawling at one stage over balancing boulders and then almost ninty degrees straight up. I’m definitely looking forward to a day off tomorrow.

The last couple of days have been amongst the toughest. Narrow edge of cliff walking, which is not for the faint hearted. Lots of steep ascents and dangerous descents and today some rock climbing thrown in to make it more difficult. There were some flat bits,and sand dunes.  Another tough day tomorrow and then a day off. I’m looking forward to that. This part of the coast is a lot different. It should be called the granite coast.Huge granite boulders all over the path, probably from land slips over the years, sometimes trying to clamber around them, other times climbing over them,usually right on the edge. Sometimes shits are trumps. But the views are sensational, no argument there. Definitely so much more beautiful under blue skies. And it’s hot. I’m drinking more water than ever before. I’m carrying three bottles, and I’m still having to drink beer at the end of the day to rehydrate. Unfortunately my days are starting a lot earlier and finishing later, as I have to use public transport to get from the accommodation to the path. Accommodation is getting scarce even miles away from the coast as everyone from all over England and beyond are coming to enjoy the best summer in years. Also, this sends prices sky rocketing. I’ve just heard that school holidays start next week, so I doubt whether I will be able to get anything. Last night I stayed in a tent. Supposed to be Glamping, which is a fancy term for camping. I had a lot of trouble finding this place, out in the middle of a paddock in the middle of nowhere. A half hour on the bus and twenty minutes to walk there. No host to greet you and no towel or linen. Won’t be falling for that trick again. Oh!,and a shower out side that read,water should get warm. It was just warm. Hate to be here in the winter. I was the only one there. Then this morning, I had to walk an extra hour as the first bus wasn’t coming to nine am. A five thirty am start was nice, as the weather was still quite cool.I caught a bus after a twenty km hike to Porthcurno, to my accommodation at Sennen, and thankfully it was only five minutes walking. I hope there is a bus in the morning, or I will have an hour and a half walk back to Porthcurno to reach my start point. My shins are feeling numb from the gores scratching my legs. I must have an allergic reaction. People I spoke to had savage mosquito bite marks. Obviously they don’t like aussies, as so far I have not had that problem.

This morning I started with mueseli,fruit and yoghurt, followed by smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and avocado on Turkish bread. Adding the kilometre from the accommodation to the starting gate, thirty kilometres and weather looking hot and sultry. Better than rain and freezing any time. Leaving the beach at Portreath, it was straight up a steep road onto a cliff and then on rocky ground straight down again. Within fifteen minutes I was sweating profusely, whatever that means, believe me I was sweating a lot. Thankfully after another cliff, it levelled out for a number of kilometres and was pleasant. After another cliff, I took advantage of the tide being out and cut out some ups and downs by walking the three mile beach. The problem with that was I had to wade across a small inlet, but it saved me walking all the way round. Besides, it was refreshing to take off my socks and shoes. The book was useless today, and the lack of signs didn’t help either. I’m grateful the locals were always there to guide me. They seem to appear just as you need them. At one inlet, there were seals, but they were hard to spot from far away. Although the last section was up and down, it was on reasonable ground. Early in the day my big toe on my right foot started to give me problems. It became quite painful. Luckily I ignored it, and within an hour it came good. Hopefully it won’t reoccur. I finally arrived in St Ives,which is a real tourist town with a buzzing atmosphere. By the time I walked up the hill, I was happy to find my accommodation at the top of it, and I had a gorgeous uninterupted view of the ocean.

Poor Emily, although the weather didn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves, the sun here makes the world of difference. This morning, after a full English breakfast, I started out for my twenty kilometre hike which  included some rugged cliffs with very narrow stony paths that were very steep going up and down. Thankfully there were also flat sections along the ridges of some of the cliffs. There was lots of antiquated infrastructure from the tin mines that used to operate along this coast line about one hundred years ago. I didn’t see many people today. Some locals walking their dogs, and a young couple walking the coast path. There was a lack of signs on today’s route, so luckily I kept the young couple within eye contact. As I was leaving Driftwood Spas up a steep single lane road, I asked a local, to make sure I was heading in the right direction. He said I was, and in about two hundred yards, it’s going to get real tough. With that, he gave this evil laugh  and drove off down the hill,I then quietly put my tail between my legs and thought, what a nasty man. He was right, and what made it worse, as I’m climbing up this steep cliff, with a very narrow path, a dog came running down from the top, stopped three metres in front of me, and had a shit,and believe me,it stunk worse than one of my grand kids. I won’t mention which one. As I’m stumbling trying to get around the road block, the owner caught up and also laughed 😅. I was happy to get away from there. I reckon that other bloke put a curse on me. Anyway, I continued on,stopped for about half an hour for a cuppa and a piece of toast left over from breakfast at a little beach with a carpark in the middle of nowhere called Chapel Porth. As isolated as this beach was, the only flat land was where the carpark was, and you had to pay one pound per hour for the privilege of swimming there. There were a few people there,and even on a sunny day, that still was reasonably cloudy, most people wear wetsuits as the water is still quite chilly as we know it in Queensland. Some more stiff climbing and downing, past a big dome that was fenced off, some radar thing I think, and descended into the small fishing hamlet known as Portreath. My inn being at the middle of this hamlet was a nice surprise not having to find a bus or taxi to get to enjoy my break until tomorrow. I had a sneak preview of tomorrow’s walk, not looking easy, I’ll tell you tomorrow.