I’m writing you now just to see if you’re better. Thank you mister. Is New York cold?

Che dropped me off this morning at a place called Downderry. From here I will walk to Plymouth, about 18 miles. It was overcast and I was feeling ok about walking. The tide was out and the sand was exposed, so I walked along it as far as I could.

Then it all ended and I had to get back up to the Coast Path.

There was a bit of a rock climb and then a rope up a steep track.

And over the top after a while was Portwrinkle, with a golf club that did breakfast butties. Heavenly. Then on, over the golf course and back down to the beach before the tide reclaimed its land.

It was a dodgy little path that ended up at the top of a cliff with a fractious climb down to the sand below. I was glad to get down.

The tide was coming in now at a fair lick and there were not too many exit routes. I sped up my pace and loved scooting across the sand.

Eventually the sea was filtering through gaps in the sand and cutting off my exit. After a few clambers over rocks and on to the last beach I knew I had to leg it. I raced the tide right up to Rame Head, and then slipped inland. A great run.

The cloud came down and I got my head down and headed for the nearest village, Cawsand.

Then the cloud cleared again and I ended up on a ridge leading out from Cawsand towards a ferry to Plymouth.

Then a quick dash to the station, a train to Looe, a nip across the road and the Kilby’s arrived in the pub I was sat in just ten minutes later.

A good day topped with fish and chips takeaway to our tents and a relatively early night.

I covered 18 miles today. It was great.

Night night.

Well, I started walking yesterday and stopped today. Because the weather forecast was great and I wanted to take my sister to Lantic Bay. It is quite special and relatively inaccessible. But not really inaccessible. In my head I sometimes think that words that I know well don’t sound right and, in extreme examples, might not exist at all. Inaccessible is floating around as a possible. It just doesn’t feel wordy at the moment.

And then it passes and they take their place in my brain again, as if they had never been questioned. My brain is not inaccessible.

I owed my sis for petrol and various things she had bought and brought. So I bought two live lobsters and a kilo of mussels for a barbecue lunch at Lantic Bay. The tide was too far in for us to pick mussels off the cliffs, as I have done a few times down there. So I bought them, and paid off my debt to Che.

She drove us to the National Trust car park on the back of the cliffs and we trekked over to Lantic Bay with a shedload of scran and cooking items.

Then there was a steep drop down to the beach. Such a wonderful place.

We set up camp against the cliffs on the east end of the beach and collected some driftwood. Then we sparked up the barbecue and topped it up with our collected wood.

What a meal!

A veritable feast. Then we relaxed and wandered a bit on the beach.

A lovely day. And I’ve had a shower when we got back and I smell ok.

Hoooooraay!

Tomorrow is an early start. I’m hoping to walk from Downderry to the far side of Plymouth. Nearly 20 miles. We’ll see.

Night night.

Thanks Glenn and two Dons.

Today was wonderful. I had a great sleep, although it really lashed it down with high winds and heavy rain. I’m sleeping heavily recently. At 70 you wonder if it’s significant. Am I transitioning? As people get older they sleep less. Perhaps I’m getting younger. What do you think?

Now that bloke doesn’t look 70. But in January he did. Proof. I’m getting younger and I bet my hair grows back and then I’ll drive down a dark desert highway with cool wind in my hair. YEEEEESSS!

Che drove me down to Polperro where we had breakfast together at the Wheelhouse.

Breakfast was great but expensive so we’re going to do our own from now on.

I think Polperro is the most beautiful seaside village in Cornwall, but heavily touristic in summer.

Looking back the other way is just as good.

Then out on to the salt path. Is dying like this or does it all just go black forever? I think it goes black. Bet you a quid it does.

This is the magnificent cliff protecting the harbour from the south westerlies.

I love this path. It’s great at this time of year with not many folk on it, and those who are on it take it seriously but enjoy it too. What’s not to enjoy? Looking back towards Polperro.

And forward towards Talland Bay and beyond to Rame Head, which protects Plymouth from the south westerlies.

I made reasonable time, despite stopping to talk to solo travellers coming the other way. People wanting to feel the freedom and transcendental effect of trekking day after day. People trying to find something.

You might be thinking ‘Pretentious prick’. If you are then it’s an accurate thing to think but it contains a swear word so you are barred from this blog for at least 5 minutes.

Five minutes?

Yes, starting now. But you have to self-time it. Don’t cheat……You cheated you prick!

Talland Bay is lovely too.

I was feeling very unfit and I wasn’t carrying a heavy rucksack, just my daysack. The long uphill stretches were doing me in. I hadn’t trained and I was feeling it. But it’s only 12 miles today.

I’m leaving a gap from Fowey to Polperro that I will fill in on Sunday with my friends Senor y Senora Kilby. Tomorrow I’m having a rest day with my sister, just walking to places that mean a lot to her emotionally, and on Friday I’ll walk Downderry to Plymouth. I’m organised, but I prefer busking it.

This is a hill beyond Downderry. A place where those beneath the crosses will spend eternity. Nice view of the sea.

The shoreline is rugged throughout Cornwall, decorated occasionally by beautiful beaches.

Then over the brow of a brow I could see the outskirts of Looe and the island, to the right of the photo, which Joseph of Arimathea visited with the Christ child. According to local legend.

Between Looe, on the left, and the island, on the right, is Downderry in the background. That’s where I’m aiming for today.

But before I get there I’m walking to Looe. It doesn’t scan as well as New Orleans. But I’m sure the journey compares favourably.

Looe was ere!

The next step was a quick dap up the river, crossing the bridge and a march up the next cliff. But on the way reality kicked in. A poor Navy lad, killed by a nasty get on a motorbike. He got a suspended sentence and Rohan’s parents get a life of grief. The legal system letting decent folk down again.

I didn’t realise that my mate Gary Illingworth was here.

Then up the cliffs again looking back.

And a bank of pure beauty.

Then I came across a place called Downderry.

Che picked me up and I’m back at camp. Great day, great walk.

Night night.

Last April I walked the first half of the South West Coast Path, 378 miles, from Minehead in Somerset to Fowey in southern Cornwall. That left 254 miles to complete the full Path up to Poole in Dorset.

So this morning I caught a bus and a train to get to Sheffield to meet my sis, Che at Meadowhall. In her British Gas van she drove us down to Looe. What a star.

The walk is in aid of Prostate Cancer UK and so far, thanks to the generosity of my sponsors we’ve raised £3,270, plus nearly £700 from Gift Aid tax relief. I’m happy and my mate Chip would be ok with that too.

If anyone wants to donate it would be more than gratefully received, and you can do so at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/blade-goes-west-again-60145

Thank you my dear friends and family.

To be honest Looe looked a bit rundown on the main drag, with groups of ne’er do wells and empty premises. But the view down river was as good as ever.

We’re camping here for a few days, with Che picking me up and dropping me off where I finish each day. She is a kind sister.

Thanks for reading this.

Night night.