More Like The Med

The ocean here has been looking more like the Mediterranean than the Celtic Sea. The brilliant blue of it is breathtaking - we all walk along the Harbor mesmerized. Indian summer in Cornwall.

Today we took advantage of this beauty by getting on the A16 bus for Zennor (yes, again), and walking our way back. On another gorgeous Mediterranean day we charged up the hill to find St Michael's Way - a 12 mile hike from north to south Cornwall. Hikers get to take the same path that St Ia took when she, and others, brought Christianity to this part of the world. Their goal was to reach St Michael's Mount, and we wanted the same, so we collected maps, and instructions, and then Googled it in preparation.

We started by hiking uphill to Knill's Monument, our first stopping point. We made it there just fine. But after it, the instructions were more ambiguous because you never could tell what they meant by 'the right hand side of the front of the monument', because we could not ascertain which of the sides was the FRONT OF THE MONUMENT. We chose the wrong one, and wound up down at Carbis Bay - not where we wanted to be, and not on St Michael's Way.

A nice lady (walking her doggie) found us flailing about on this wrong path and asked us where we were going. 

"We want to go to St Michael's Mount," we said, still looking hopeful.

She looked at our shoes. "Not in those, you won't." She was decisive on this point, especially pointing out my walking shoes. "Not near sturdy enough." She herself was wearing something akin to combat boots, but I did not call attention to it. She said, "You could always just walk the path from Lelant to St Ives. That's a lovely walk.."

And yes, it is a lovely walk. We have walked it and walked it until we could probably walk it in our sleeps. But we wanted the path those wonderful Saints took centuries ago, and Lelant just wasn't going to cut it this time.

We decided to catch a bus that would take us to the area of St Michael's Mount, and hike from there to other lovely, and more predictable spots. Since we had prepared to walk 12 miles total, we just kept on going. In fact, when we were done having tea and scones at The Copper Spoon in Marazion, we took the bus to Lelant, and walked the walk we have walked tons of times, and enjoyed it all over again. It put us at 13.5 miles total. Hurray!

Sometime we will try the Saint's path, again - maybe even next week as we wind down our Cornwall trip for another year. But I'll have to think about these shoes. That lady sure didn't like them. 

Maybe... combat boots?


See you along the way!
the SconeLady