Morning Blog Fans..... Day three of holidays from yesterday - Walk in the Rain, Family Rocket come around for the Play off final. Ellie makes scones. Eat a big Chilli. Take in a walk down around the lighthouse and introduce the Rockets into Geocaching. Strangely, they are too busy to see us today.
Up a little later today. There is Sunshine, so I can show a view from our cottage.
View from my garden
Today we drive around 7 miles to Mullion Cove. We park a way south of the cove at a national trust carpark where the road literally runs out. There is a cache in the car park. We head inland again, going north along wonderful green lanes, sunken paths and through waist high dart grass.
Dog will follow me anywhere.
The ultimate aim is Mullion Cove. A harbour, a small gathering of cottages including a new build which Sonia had her eye on. Unfortunately, it is a dry village and had no pub. Or library. And there is only so far you can go on stunning sea views and seals.
Harbour Wall
Retrace our steps and up a steep cliff to gain the SWC path and expansive views over the sea.
Stiff Climb
Mullion Cove
Then its a straightforward walk back. Stopping only for Sonia to take a phone call from a man with a special delivery for her. "We are on holidays", she shouts above the wind. Lets hope Mr UPS isn't a part time burglar. Then we stop for a cache overlooking Mullion Island. Top location. Sonia starts texting and I go looking. I give and Sonia goes "Its there you duffer". I give her the honour of signing the log.
Dog looks out for Muggles
Mullion's Island
Straightforward return - we take the opportunity of a short cut, which I dont mind as it was a repeat of a section of day 1 walking for me and I have already been to Jolly Town.
Day 2 of holidays. A recap of yesterdays events yesterday for my three avid blog fans. After the walk, we went to Family Rocket for a visit. This involved a beautiful walk down to the beach for some surfing, followed by a game of football. Family Mapp showed their competitive side by - Sonia (Goal Hanging), Alex (Shoulder barging a 40 year old lady to the groud and Ian (kicking a small child).
We don't care about the weather
You may notice that Ellies name is missing from the list. This is because she stayed at home revising and planning the evening entertainment. This was a meal out - so she spent 1 hour revising and 2 hours pampering. Here are the highlights from that.
Ellie - On finding out that we weren't driving the 300 yards to the pub, changing her lady gaga heels for grannie chic.
Sonia - Disappointed with the lack of chips with her fish cakes. Made up with brownies.
Alex - Loving scampi until someone told him it was made of prawns.
Ian - Enjoyed Surf and Pie after Alex's disappointment.
So we woke at 7am today and looked out of the window. Couldn't see anything so tried a different window. It appears as though we are in a fog that would put Victorian London to shame. So we head out for the longest drive of my walks on this holiday to Prussia Cove. It transpires that this wasn't fog but the cloud that we were in because as we get around three miles out of the Lizard, it is chucking it down proper.
Get to the parking place and head off in land for a return along the coast. Love the views of St Michaels Mount behind us.
Damp but nice views
The inland part of the walk is made up of an increasingly ingenious set of stiles to clamper over. They certainly take their time making them in Cornwall.
Assault Course
We drop down a lovely woodland path and pick up the coastal path at Kenneggy Sands. Nice views and the first cache of the day which drops us down onto Bessy Cove for Molly to have a swim.
Bessy Cove from East (Stopped Raining)
Bessy Cove from West (Started raining again)
Some stunning scenary, as you would expect. Next cache is an adventourous one which involves a climb up Cudden Point. Sonia stays behind with Molly on the lead as I go off hunting and scrambling. Views are amazing and there is nothing between me and the americas.
View from a cache
Bit further on and we see a lone seal having a bon around in the sea. Sonia liked the way the flippers poke out the water. Then its more views of the Mount as we head back to Perran Sands and the car park at Perranuthande where a woman is waiting for me for her £3. Tried yesterday's ruse, but she wasnt having it.
After the champions league final of last night, which proved to me that supporting any british football team leads to misery, I went out early for a head clearer today.
My walking juices were obviously whetted by falling asleep to Julia Bradbury's canal walks last night. After the excitment of the football, a 5:30am start, 5.5 hour drive, half a bottle of red, a pint of Tribute and four cans of stella, this was not unexpected. This led to a refreshing nights sleep in our quiet cottage and up at 7:30am for get this, an excited dog that actually wanted to go out.
Drove the 2miles upto the national trust parking place and saw that the final mile road is a toll road. It was that early on a Sunday that no-one was there to collect the money, so I got away with it.
Dogs not allowed on this beach...
This is a straightforward walk, heading up the South West Coastal Path to Lower Prendannack Farm and then back across some wild inland moorland - passing through the wonderfully named "Jolly Town".
A bit of a wild start
Overlooking Kynance Bay
Jolly Town - Cornish Optimism at its best
A great start to the walking holiday. We will be returning here for the cafe on one of the evenings where I will ask Alex to assist me on a cache on the equally wonderfully named "Asparagus Island". If the tide is out.
Drop Ellie off at work. Two days running, there is little doubt that she will be coming home today having told them where to stuff their cafe. I needed to go out walking today to road test my new hat. Original plans were for going over to Long Mynd but wanted to get back for the fascinating conclusion to the premier league, so decided on a more local walk over Broadway.
Go there too early to park at the Tower, but found some on road parking in a layby. They say you can see 13 counties from here... and the drive up Fish Hill always brings back memories of going to the Reading festival before the M40 was completed.
Broadway Tower
View from the Top
On the way down
Pick up the Cotswold way from the tower back towards Fish Hill and then on new paths for me that drop me down to the town, going under the bypass and then onto the old road. This has been a fine wooded track gently dropping down. First potential cache of the day was a nano with a clue at bottom of a tree. Didn't really help in woodland, so I gave it a wide berth.
Broadway is a tourist trap for Americans that have no concept of the calendar. Check out who I bumped into....
The retail equivalent of that fella on the walshes who doesnt take down his xmas decorations
Broadway is a fantastic town. There are some great pubs. I really, really want Sonia to surprise me and say that she will drive me to a blues night at the Crown and Trumpet. It sounds exactly like my cup of tea. I will add it to my bucket list and if she obliges, I'll let her pick one from hers.
Go past the Crown and Trimpet and know that I will have a stiff climb back up to the Tower. First, I get to play with some puppies. This isn't on my bucket list.
Cute
And I even get to sneak up on a cow.
I'm not getting up for anyone
For a walk, there has been a high number of caches on the route, which has been a nice bonus. Soon back on the top of the hill, and I know there is a dog friendly cafe there for a cup of tea and a teacake.
Cheers!
And my new hat was great... didn't blow off in the high winds and I looked rather cool.
Back home for two and my predications are that Wigan, Blues and Blackpool will all lose and it will depend on who loses the worst!
Staying at the Holiday Inn. I stayed here on one of the first times that I visited Edinburgh. The customer took me out for a few drinks (Scottish Phrase) and I vaguely remember being taken to Leith Docks at the end of the evening for a late one. When I awoke, I could only hear monkey noises from the zoo. As I knew I had been down the docks, I half expected to be waking up on a boat off the coast of Africa.
Today, I had the views from the hotel room to admire.
View from my hotel
Decided to walk into town - after the road bit of Corstophine Road, you can enter a completely different world at the Water of Leith. This is secluded and takes in the wonderful Dean Village, which is a real hidden gem. Edinburgh just grew around it and absorbed it and like this walk, its wonderful to know that you are in a peaceful place that is a stone's throw from the most beautiful city in the world.
There are five caches down the water. The first one with the helpful clue of Nano was not worth a hunt. Then a clamber up a bank for an easy find but did involve a 41 year old man hiding behind a tree stump as some evening walkers went by below. Spotted a couple of herons at the cache locations of the next two.
Eventually arrive at the bottom of Dundas Street for my climb up hill to George Street. First refreshment of the evening at the Jekyll and Hide where the toilets are hidden behind a false bookcase. Still makes me laugh when newbies attempt to find them. A quick look at the George hotel, where i lived for 3 months and actually had mail delivered to me there on occassions.
Dropped down into Princess Street at the Scott Monument and climbed my way up to the old town. It felt like coming home.
Royal Mile - St Giles Catherdral
Then it was a question of where to go for entertainment. Seems that every other pub Scotland has live music on at some point. Tonight it was the Black Bull in the grassmarket, where there was an excellent band playing. Sat for an hour watching Canadians dance.
Its not hard to think of the Grassmarket from its medieval roots and you can really soak in the history of the place at every turn... the pub "the last drop" is not a reference to drink but the fact that this square is where the gallows used to be.
Sorting out a load of old e-bay purchases and found my oldest copy of Country Walking Magazine, from April 1991. Cover price of £1.60 with a rather fetcing purple winner in the Cagoule group test on the cover. In the down your way section, it has a relatively local walk in an area that I have not been to before, so I decide to give it a go this weekend.
As well as the fashions, the modern maps have improved. This one took a while to decipher and plot, due to its tiny scale.
How down your way used to look
Get up at 7:30am and get ready in walking gear. Molly spots me and does one, taking to hiding upstairs. Her fear is getting increasingly irrational and today she is visibly shaking at the thought of what is in store for her today. She doesn't trust me when I am in walking gear and Sonia is in pyjamas.
Coerce her into the car and 45 minutes later, I am working out that the barriers at the water park don't like fake £1 coins. I didn't know it was fake until a closer inspection revealed that may not have been the queen. Get the £3 together from assorted shrapnel to get in.
As the everytrail route shows, water dominates this walk. Head south on the Centenary Way, working through green paths alongside the lakes. This gives the doodle plenty of chance to show off her duck hunting skills.
The walking is flat and the Centenary Way is not too well sign posted but doesn't present a problem. After the quaries around Lea Marston, I come out for a bit of road walking. This is OK, as there is a path to Whiteacre Heath where I pick up the Heart of England Way. It smells of cows.
Heart of England Way - No Crops but a strange smell.
The weather men have been lying to me, as I checked this morning and it said wall to wall sunshine, only for it to start raining at this point. Jacket would have been required.
Its a short jaunt across the field to pick up the Coventry Road for more road walking. There must have been less traffic in 1991, this is a dangerous nightmare of a walk. Not helped my a vintage rally going on. I suppose that if I am going to get taken out, a E Type Jag is a more stylish way of going. I am a bit concerned, as I have to keep crossing over to avoid being in the road on blind corners. My fears are grounded as there is a plague on a tree in memory of 5 people who were killed in 2002. Not the greatest place to be walking.
After half a mile of this, I am relieved to be back on farm land, albeith guarded by horses and their foals.
They're coming to get me!
This brings me back to the water, aiming for the visitors centre in another couple of miles. At one point the dog goes missing... I turn around and call her name and she appears, prompting a jogger to laughingly tell me that she has been rolling in fox poo. The seduction techniques of a labradoodle are in vain, as a stick and a handy jetty mean its bath time.
Fetch!
But what about my musky poofume?
After this splash down, we arrive back at the visitors centre. There is more life here now, including a real life minitature railway. My usual activity of Geocaching (of which there is only one on this walk), pails into insignfiance in comparison to this hobby, where if you are good, you get to wear a hat.
All Aboard!
Interesting experience - now I'm going to go back to the magazine.... the Craghoppers Highland VTX at £40 won the best Cagoule with not a mention of the word Goretex.
Previous Legs - Stage 1, Stage 2
Start - Grove Park
End - Crystal Palace
Miles - 7
Caches - 2
Pubs - 1 on route, Hollywood East - Loads at end in Crystal Palace.
Another glorious night for a walk in London. This is one of the longer stretches of the Capital Ring and I am glad that I have had such a nice night for it.
Waterloo East is just down from my hotel in central london, so its not long before I delivered to Grove Park again. Strange start to the walk, as we head through what can only be described as a rough looking estate. Dodge people with pitbulls and a mad motorcyclist with no helmet before being delivered at my first bit of greenery at Downham. These wooded alley ways which bring me out onto the first major beauty spot of Beckenham Place Park.
Nice multi-cache, where the co-ords are on the greenwich meanline and are gathered by collecting clues from the park information board. Fines for dog poo are £75 and only four dogs per walker add up to give the co-ords for a cache buried under a log. No-one is about in this park, so I have the place to myself. One more, simpler cache is found before I am delivered to the stately home, where everyone is limbering up for their jogs/bike rides.
I am enjoying my walks around London's outer circle but one complaint would be the lack of pubs on route. This is stage 3, and at 5 miles into it, I arrive at Penge East Station for my first on route pint of the walk. This is in the Hollywood East Pub. Lots of "characters" in this place, with dialogue straight out of Martina Cole books. When I pay for my stella, the friendly landlady says "can I wait for my change, as she's only got scores in the till". I told her "she could owe me a monkey, but who's arsking". She told me to get out of her pub.
Penge East leads slightly up hill to a walk around Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Who would have thought I would face dinosaurs on my epic adventue.... as well as the stadium and some nice waterfalls.
More Exotic South London Animals
This brings me to Crystal Palace. Decide to have a look around the town and can see that I am going to have some special views of London on the next route from this high vantage point. Quite liked Crystal Palace.... treated myself to a nice ruby... well it did come with a free starter.
The Wychbold series of caches are proving to be a challenge.
8 days ago, I blogged an attempt on this series on the day of the Royal Wedding which met with minor disaster caused by incorrectly loading a GPX, having too many high stiles for the geodog to attempt and then getting hassle from a bunch of malcontent ponies that mocked my fruitless attempt to cross their turf.
Today was a re-attempt at the remainders on the day we had a weather system known as the "Spanish Plume". Lets just say that I got very, very wet.
Good coat, bad weather - at the Railway Bridge
I started at the Church again and crossed the familiar field of sheep to have another go at the high stiles. Crossed the railway line for the first find of the day and then over fields to the canal.
Struggled to find the crossing on the bridge - and the route on everytrail will show evidence of my trespass as I ended up on the wrong side of the canal on private property. Eventually found out that I needed a bit of a diversion to get across for the next in the series.
Why do people have such time wasting hobbies? I thought the fishermen sitting in a row in the torrential rain would win most boring hobby of the day, until I got further around the route and saw a bunch of fellas in a treehouse looking at seagulls on a pond. My god. After they rebuked my offer of showing them how geocaching works, I suggested they would find a better quality of bird at our local tip.
There were that many fisermen that I couldnt look for the next in the series and continued up to the boat and railway pub and a go at one that questioned my own sanity. I ended up looking for a cache at a railway bridge that I didnt find and getting soaked by every passing car that hit the huge puddle at GZ. How the fishermen and twitchers would have mocked my own form of entertainment. Looks like its gone missing, as there are a few DNF here.
The best part of the walk over the two walkscomes around Hobden Hall Farm. After lying low from a suspicious looking fella ferrating around in the undergrowth, I picked up an excellent path along a stream. On finding other caches on the route, either he wasn't a cacher or was worse at it than me, as none of the finds had been signed since yesterday. I can only imagine what he was up to but headlines of "cacher finds dumped body" must be nearing. It used to always be dog walkers that found world cups and the fruits of lorry driver's night time activities.
Liked the look of the Swan at Upton Bridge and the walk around the back of Webbs Nursery. Get my cacher eye back in, as I find all the remainder in the series, inlcuding the Last Post, which appears to have been causing some problems. Its here that Snoop looks miffed that A) she is out in a storm and B) she's not wanted.
Looked rubbish over there anyway.
Come out at the ponies at Henbrook Farm who cause me grief last time. Flicked them the v's and moved back past the pylons to pick up one I couldn't find last week. As Mrs Mappiman always tells me when I can't find stuff at home - "I must be prepared to move things".
Back at the car as rather soggy mess. Enjoyed the series a lot and the walking was very good today. Thanks to dadu 13 for setting up what has been a popular series.
Wasn't going all the way to Devon without a Coastal Walk to blow away the cobwebs. This one had some nice surprises, and one disappointment, in store for Sonia.
Nice surprise number 1 was free parking at Anstey's Cove. How nice is that. We pull up next to Surfer dudes - more of which later.
Need raincoats today, as it threatens rain all day and occasionally provides. We head up to the SWC Path and hear and smell the sea (over the top of the wild garlic) but not see it as we are in woodland. This takes us around Black Head and the first geocache behind a bench.
After a path along a road we come to Hope's Nose. This requires a steep drop down and return up the same path, but it is worth it, as we get close to the sea. There are lots of fishermen here and an EarthGeo which is a geology lesson with fossils under our feet. We were also interested in the trees that looked more at home in the African Savanna than the English Riveria. See Photos at the Everytrail link.
We can see the sea
We go back up the way we came and do get rewarded with views both out to sea and inland and the fantastic properties here. Sonia has found the house of her dreams. I think I will need to do some overtime.
Who lives in a house like this?
Sonia becomes concerned about how far we are walking away from the car. She hasn't had her Devonian cream tea yet, but she needn't worry as we head back in land up through Lincombe Slopes to return to Kent's Cavern.
The footpath runs right past their tea rooms and we think we might find our scones but are disappointed when they are just closing up. As there are people in there still eating, we convince the younger member of staff to sell us some pop, only for the older one to insist they are closed. The south west accent can be quite authoritative when used agressively.
With Sonia chuntering at my heels we walk past the world's most slopey football pitch where a game is in progress.... with the hill, I bet every game is 10-0 at half time, with a miraculous second half recovery pegging it back to 10-10.
This brings us back to the car. The grumpiness caused by lack of cake dissipates by what is in store. We can see the surfers, but apparently they cannot see us. Down comes the wetsuits. The spot us. Have you ever seen a man try and pull up a soggy wetsuite - its doesn't work. One fronted it out (literally), the other scuttled off to the woods for modesty's sake.
Much amusement from the dressed surfers!
Perfect walk for our needs... back in the car for the results and the Albion have beaten Villa for the first time in 26 years.
I think its going to be a fine Bank Holiday weekend.
