WB 09: Snow, Ice and Back into Devon

Progress

Progress has been good this week, and though I have changed specific days due to the weather and moved rest day back by one day, I am still on schedule. I have travelled from Newquay, Cornwall to Appledore, Devon covering 119 miles & 36,618 feet of ascent.

Hardships

Well, I can't really start with anywhere but the weather. They say it never gets cold in Cornwall, they say it never snows in Cornwall but what happened this week! The temperature dropped significantly, the paths froze over, then came the snow which at it's worse in the drifts was above waist high. Though none of this actually stopped me, it did make the going much slower. At points I had to crawl across the deeper drifts, and be very careful of slipping on any ups and downs. My kit did it's job though as I never got cold.

For the first time on the walk there was a short stretch that had no real route from Wadebridge to Rock. My planned route took me along a lane that turned out to be far too busy and with no verge making it too dangerous to walk. I therefore had to create a route following the edge of some farm fields till I reached an official path. There will be a few areas like this on the walk and I just have to find the safest route around them.

Some bizarre behaviour from a flock of sheep, which for some reason attacked me. For more detail on this read the diary entry for day 61. I am now very wary entering fields of sheep, though do not believe this would ever happen again.

General

BodY

Well it's been a while since the last update I gave on my physical condition. The south west coast path has caused some general fatigue but fortunately no serious issues. Walking up and down steep hills has at times caused tight calves, and climbing stairs with my backpack has at times caused achy knees but neither of these are a big issue. Fortunately I have had no issues with blisters or anything else with my feet. My hips still show signs of bruising from the backpack, but these are not painful and I think I may have these for the entire walk.

Kit

This week I will be starting to do my reviews of certain items of kit. So far the kit is holding up well with only minor issues. Rather than going into specifics here, I will leave this to the reviews.

ACCOMMODATION

I was very fortunate this week to have several kind offers that enabled me to keep warm through the extremely cold and snowy snap which struck this week.