Day 9 - Perranporth

Beer drunk: 1 1/2 pints (but the 1/2 was lager not ale), Distance walked: 20km, Time taken: 6 h 20m (about 5h walking)

Well, I shouldn't have been so pleased with my navigation skills.  I managed to take wrong turnings twice as I left Newquay.  In my defence, the route out was tricky.  First you had to made your way down to the banks of the Gannel River, crossing at the ford (assuming the tide was out) and then up the mouth of a creek that leads into the Gannel, across another ford and then back down the other bank.  After walking for 1 1/2 hours I ended up on the other side of the river about 200m from my starting point.  I knew I didn't like Newquay for a reason.

There were some other hikers in the B&B I stayed in last night.  Three women walking the SWCP too but in the other direction.  They didn't get in until after 9pm.  I'm not sure if they just had to wait for tides and/or ferries or had stopped for dinner or else were taking advantage of the fact the sun doesn't set until after 9pm to do ridiculously long stages.  Their room was next to mine on the 2nd floor.  All the 1st floor rooms were taken up by non-hiking guests.  I'm not sure why this segregation existed.  Perhaps it was felt that since we hike we can handle all the stairs better than other folk.  I'm on the 2nd floor of my hotel here in Perranporth too.  

The weather wasn't so bad this morning.  A little drizzle but nothing too much.  It turned absolutely foul after lunch.  Rain, not just drizzle, and a howling gale.  Strong winds are a lot of fun when walking on exposed cliff tops and even better when walking along beaches or amongst sand dunes, all of which featured heavily on today's route.  Below is a picture I took on my first day of walking, when it was dead calm.  I should have taken heed of the omen.

 When I got to this hotel I had to take off all my outwear and my boots before coming indoors to avoid trekking offensive amounts of sand and dirt on the floors.  I would say I looked like something the cat dragged in, but I suspect any self-respecting cat would have turned up their nose and left me outside.  Fortunately, this is a hotel rather than a B&B so it has its own restaurant.  I have a table booked for tonight so I don't need to set foot out of doors again until tomorrow.  Sadly the weather forecast for tomorrow is for much the same type of weather as today but with the added benefit of thunderstorms.

Whoever said walking counter-clockwise would mean you have the prevailing winds at your back is a dirty rotten liar.

Dinner was lovely.  There wasn't a choice, you just got what was served, which turned out to be very good.  We each had a megrim sole which was stuffed with mushrooms and topped with a roasted red pepper sauce and samphire picked in a local creek.  This was accompanied with potatoes roasted in goose fat plus peas and edamame beans in a cream sauce.  Dessert was a choice of bread and butter pudding or rhubarb fool.  Those of us who had dessert early complained bitterly when the last table had the sense to ask for some of both (and got it).  I had the bread and butter pudding, which was very tasty but I like our recipe better which spreads seville orange marmelade on the bread before baking.

There were two other groups of people at the hotel, including one Australian couple from Ballarat.  They were also walking the SWCP but in the reverse direction from Penzance to Padstow.  They were very put out to find out that my walking company had provided me with a (printed) guidebook plus maps.  They just were given a small booklet produced by their walking company and had to buy their own maps.

After dinner we all (including the B&B/hotel owners) played a noisy game of something whose rules were never clear to me.  Something about someone having to describe a word without using a set of forbidden words while others had to guess.  It was fun but I never knew when I was supposed to do the guessing and when I was helping the other team.  I have a feeling the rules changed with time.  I think my team won but given I'm not sure what winning required or, for that matter, what team I was on I can't be sure.