Day 38: Praze-an-Beeble to Cripplesease 12 miles

The St Aubyn Arms leave a continental breakfast outside our room at 8 o’clock. It’s a very impressive spread and more than enough. We exit into the brisk, sunny air and cross the road to the Premier shop to buy lunch and snacks.

We walk on up the B3280 but soon turn off onto a farm footpath. This seems quite good until we go over a stile to find an electric fence enclosing a field of bullocks, unusually with a bull as well, albeit a very handsome one. There is a short plastic cover, presumably intended as a crossing point, but it is narrow and the fence is quite high. The attached battery nearby is flashing green so the fence is definitely live.

We elect to pass out rucksacks over and shimmy underneath. The cattle are congregated by the stile on the opposite side and take great interest as we approach them. As one of the bullocks approaches us, the bull headbuts him out of the way and escorts us to the electric fence by the upcoming stile. We quickly duck under this one and I have a chat with the bull, who is trying to eat brambles from under the fence, while Richard clambers over the rather rickety stile. Regrettably, I don’t take a picture of the bull.

We briefly rejoin the B road and cross to take a track heading south of Leedstown. Though some of the paths are muddy and indistinct, they are all passable.

We cross the B3220 and pick up a promising track that leads into a farmyard, but there appears to be no way out. We speak to a young woman feeding her horse and she reckons the path must be overgrown. We’ve come a fair way down the track and are not keen to turn back. A closer inspection reveals a footpath sign in some brambles. There is a bridge across a ditch that we only identify by luck as it’s covered in foliage. When we climb over the wall, however, there is a good track below, accompanied by bellowing from a large, caged pig.

The track leads quickly to the B3280 again. We walk on this for a short time, past a primary school with children at play time, who come and say hello. We turn off again down a good track and stop at a sheltered, grassy spot for a break.

We move off and the paths continue to be quite variable, sometimes with beautiful views ahead towards our destination, other times Rich is on his knees again, albeit only briefly. I spot blue flowers that I initially think are forget-me-nots but are, in fact, birdseye speedwells.

We go downhill in one field and meet a farmer digging a hole for a gatepost by hand. He’s lying in the dirt and it looks like a horrendous job. As we go uphill beyond, we meet a calf on its own, separated from a herd in the next field. It follows us hopefully for a few steps, then realises we are not going to be much help and stares at us dolefully.

Next it’s round a few tracks and we find ourselves in a field of sweetcorn, taller than my head. There is no way around the field perimeter, so we have to make our way through as best we can. Rich leads the way, though sometimes I lose sight of him. I can’t see my own way, as my hands are in front of my eyes to prevent the leaves hitting them. We exit the field onto the road earlier than planned, but that’s fine with us.

We soon arrive at the bustling village of St Erth, where we have an orange juice and tonic at the Star Inn, then find a bench by the church for lunch. We’ve done well for our rest sites today. There are few Anglican churches (and therefore benches for lunch) in Cornwall, as this is mostly Methodist country and their chapels are somewhat more modest.

St Erth has a station with a direct line to London Paddington and we take a path that crosses the railway line. A train passes beneath us and I wave at the driver, who gives me a thumbs up in reply.

We cross the busy A30 again and take our last footpath of the day which, like all the others, is hit and miss in both quality and route layout. On the whole though, the paths have been pretty good today.

We rejoin an unclassified road and start heading up the hill to Cripplesease, which sits at around 180 metres. This will be an accurate height as sea level is set at the average height of the sea in nearby Newlyn Bay.

For a short time, we follow a section of St Michael’s Way. This is the first time we’ve been on a waymarked route for quite a few days. St Michael’s Way is a single day, 13.5 mile, pilgrimage route established in 1994. It follows a path likely taken by early Christians from Ireland and Wales to St Michael’s Mount. A little further on, we get a beautiful view of St Michael’s Mount itself. St Michael’s Mount is one of 43 unbridged tidal islands in Britain accessible by foot and has been inhabited since around 4000 BC.

We turn right onto the B3311 and arrive at the Engine Inn, our stop for the night. Unfortunately, their restaurant is closed due to staff shortages, but Ali’s Kebabs in Penzance deliver much needed pizzas, prompting others in the pub to order out as well.

It’s our last day tomorrow.

Total distance: 513 miles