Day 8 - Newquay

Beer drunk: 1 1/2 pints, Distance walked: 22km, Time taken: 7h 7m (1h 14m stopped)

I spent yesterday feeling pleasantly smug.  As a sensible Aussie I had slapped on a hat and slopped on sunscreen and made sure I was wearing a long sleeved top and full length pants.  I know how to deal safely with a sunny day.  Not like all the pasty Englishmen (and women) who were flinging off clothing so that the bits that weren't pasty white were going a charming lobster pink.  That is, I was feeling smug until I got up this morning and realised I'd been pushing up the sleeves of my top and now have lobster red forearms.

Navigation was mainly easy again today.  I only went off track once and ended up in the car park at one particularly good viewing spot.  However, I used the loos and then took advantage of the shelter of the tea shop's verandah to put on my wet weather gear, so I was able to tell myself I'd done it deliberately and move on with my honour intact.

I needed the wet weather gear.  After about an hour of sunshine first thing, it settled in to alternatively drizzle or just plain rain for the rest of the day.  It never got very windy or very cold so it was no trouble to keep going.

I can't say I'm impressed with Newquay. It is a town rather than a village and with mostly modern buildings.  There are several good surf beaches around here and it has grown to cater for them.  There were lots of people out surfing today in spite of the water temperate (freezing).  They are all quite mad.  However, I have to confess my main objection to Newquay is that I had to walk a long way through town to get to my B&B.  Concrete is hard on the feet.

I'm not thrilled with my B&B either.  On the plus side, I have my own bathroom with an actual bath so I had a good long soak in hot water.  On the minus side, the owner isn't very friendly.  She isn't rude, just matter of fact.  I think I got spoilt at the previous places I stayed.  This place is more like a small hotel and it is run in a more business-like fashion.  Mind you, when I asked her for recommendations for dinner she just pointed me in the direction of the town centre and said there were plenty of places to choose from.  True but not particularly useful.   Breakfast is also from 8:30am to 9am.  Don't be late.

Lunch was a pasty and an apple again as that was all there was to buy in the shop in Porthcothan.  It is a pretty place but very small and out of the way.  No mobile phone coverage either which is why yesterday's post was late.  I would have said pasties are convenient food for eating on the move but today I saw a seagull swoop down and take one out of someone's hand.  They are big birds here.  They make our seagulls look like pygmies.

I had dinner at a very old pub called the Dolphin Inn.  It serves seafood or fish or seafood with a token dish for the non-seafood/fish eater.  I played it safe and had fish.  I started with (Cornish) crab on toast.  It seemed a piddly little serve but was quite rich so I couldn't have eaten more.  Main was fish and chips with all the "traditional" garnishes.  It was very good but one of the traditional garnishes was a piece of newspaper lining the plate.  I could have done without that as I didn't need the extra roughage in my diet.  I washed it all down with a pint and a half of St Austell's Tribute ale.  A very pleasing drop.