LEJOG day 7: Camelford to Launceston
What a day. I spent a reasonable amount of last night awake, worrying about both today's and tomorrow's routes, but solved both with one good decision- which I then followed with several bad ones.
My worry about today's route was the A30- specifically, crossing it on foot. Now I appreciate that if you are driving or possibly cycling through Cornwall, the A30 is a very useful thing, but from my point of view it may as well be a 20-foot barbed wire fence up the middle of a minefield for how easy it is to cross, especially as I know from the drive along it last week that there are roadworks at the minute around Bodmin Moor. It's a dual carriageway which periodically likes to divide into two and often hides in cuttings, and it's a magnet for every other road nearby- they all run into it, and all the footpaths run up to it and then stop, completely uselessly.
My worry about tomorrow's route was that it's nearly 21 miles long and I've already walked over 100 miles with only one day off in eight.
I solved both of these by walking to Launceston, instead of my B&B- which cuts 5 miles off tomorrow, means I didn't have to cross the A30 on foot at all, and had the added bonus of giving me an 8-minute cab ride which I shall be repeating in the morning. I'll still be walking from Land's End to John O'Groats, just not a ten-mile round-trip from Launceston to a tiny hamlet off the A30.
I plotted my route- quiet Cornish lanes and the odd footpath again- and trotted off , secure in the knowledge that I had food in my backpack and was going to walk through about five little villages on my way.
Then I changed my route. And then I changed it again. And then I had a sit down in the sun and, long story short, my lunch- for an 18-mile day, on the back of not feeling terribly well yesterday after my not-so-wise cream-tea-instead-of-lunch choice- was an apple and a bag of crisps, because when I arrived at the pub they'd stopped serving food.
I arrived in Launceston, and happily trotted to the post office to get my form signed and/or stamped to say I'd been there, and they refused. I could send a postcard and they'd give me proof of postage, they said. I tried the bank, with the same result (except without the suggestion). Happily the lady in the tourist information office was less precious and was quite happy to write "Launceston Tourist Information Centre" and her signature, otherwise I might have cried. And she took the 'blog address too, so hello and thank you very very much, again!
I bumped into Catherine again as she got on her bus to get back to London and we compared notes- she's got blisters, I have self-diagnosed and pharmacist-confirmed cellulitis on the back of each of my calves which is not much fun. For the approximately 4 non-healthcare-professionals who may be reading (hi guys!), cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the skin, usually associated with elderly women with questionable hygiene and poor peripheral circulation, and it can be a bit of a heartsink to treat in those circumstances because the infection happens in part because of poor blood (and immune system) supply to the superficial layers of the skin, which then get infected when there's a break in the skin, but it means antibiotic penetration can be a bit rubbish too. With the support of the pharmacist, I'm very sensibly completely ignoring the problem and hoping it goes away, always a winning strategy with health matters, at least until Wednesday, when if it isn't better I'll be running off some unfortunate GP walk-in clinic or understaffed A&E or minor injuries unit for some fluclox.
Because I know you're all fascinated, here's a top-to-toe list of everything else that's wrong with me:
I have a sunburnt crown
I have sunburnt ears, which keep getting worse no matter how much suncream I'm slathering on
I have a sunburnt nose
I think my lips may also be sunburnt
My neck hurts
My shoulders ache
My back is also hurting, and I can't really bend forwards until I've taken the backpack off for an hour
My hips start aching about two hours into each day
My thighs ache, unsurprisingly
My right calf has an interesting twinge which gets worse going downhill
I have a bruise on my right calf from stepping on a branch which smacked me in revenge
We've talked about the cellulitis
My left ankle aches a bit
My left big toe hurts right in the ball of my foot
All the hard skin on my feet is softening and coming off because my socks are warm and my goretex boots keep all the damp in
I feel much better now I've shared all that.
I had a look at the outside of Launceston Castle. It's a ruin, and they were charging nearly £5 to go in, and I wasn't in the mood for that.
As I've said, I'm not being sponsored, but here are some charities that could use your money:
The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity (SANDS)
Bliss
The Natural History Museum
Any of these cost-effective, underfunded charities improving health in less fortunate parts of the world
Distance walked: 18 miles, ish, my GPS let me down
Time taken: according to said GPS, 4h05. That works out at 4.37mph- I'm fast, but not that fast. It was 7h10 between my "I'm setting off now" phonecall and my "I'm in Launceston" phonecall, but I had breaks and had done all the getting-my-form-signed nonsense as well
Percentage complete: 9.1%
Boot cost per mile: £0.49
Lunch: apple, bag of crisps, half pint of Coke. Insufficient!
Last night's B&B: Silver Moon, Camelford: nice couple, even if He couldn't follow simple instructions to fill in my form, comfy bed, good breakfast and a bath
Moors. I'm not a fan.
A photo of someone's house
Launceston Castle
My worry about today's route was the A30- specifically, crossing it on foot. Now I appreciate that if you are driving or possibly cycling through Cornwall, the A30 is a very useful thing, but from my point of view it may as well be a 20-foot barbed wire fence up the middle of a minefield for how easy it is to cross, especially as I know from the drive along it last week that there are roadworks at the minute around Bodmin Moor. It's a dual carriageway which periodically likes to divide into two and often hides in cuttings, and it's a magnet for every other road nearby- they all run into it, and all the footpaths run up to it and then stop, completely uselessly.
My worry about tomorrow's route was that it's nearly 21 miles long and I've already walked over 100 miles with only one day off in eight.
I solved both of these by walking to Launceston, instead of my B&B- which cuts 5 miles off tomorrow, means I didn't have to cross the A30 on foot at all, and had the added bonus of giving me an 8-minute cab ride which I shall be repeating in the morning. I'll still be walking from Land's End to John O'Groats, just not a ten-mile round-trip from Launceston to a tiny hamlet off the A30.
I plotted my route- quiet Cornish lanes and the odd footpath again- and trotted off , secure in the knowledge that I had food in my backpack and was going to walk through about five little villages on my way.
Then I changed my route. And then I changed it again. And then I had a sit down in the sun and, long story short, my lunch- for an 18-mile day, on the back of not feeling terribly well yesterday after my not-so-wise cream-tea-instead-of-lunch choice- was an apple and a bag of crisps, because when I arrived at the pub they'd stopped serving food.
I arrived in Launceston, and happily trotted to the post office to get my form signed and/or stamped to say I'd been there, and they refused. I could send a postcard and they'd give me proof of postage, they said. I tried the bank, with the same result (except without the suggestion). Happily the lady in the tourist information office was less precious and was quite happy to write "Launceston Tourist Information Centre" and her signature, otherwise I might have cried. And she took the 'blog address too, so hello and thank you very very much, again!
I bumped into Catherine again as she got on her bus to get back to London and we compared notes- she's got blisters, I have self-diagnosed and pharmacist-confirmed cellulitis on the back of each of my calves which is not much fun. For the approximately 4 non-healthcare-professionals who may be reading (hi guys!), cellulitis is a bacterial infection of the skin, usually associated with elderly women with questionable hygiene and poor peripheral circulation, and it can be a bit of a heartsink to treat in those circumstances because the infection happens in part because of poor blood (and immune system) supply to the superficial layers of the skin, which then get infected when there's a break in the skin, but it means antibiotic penetration can be a bit rubbish too. With the support of the pharmacist, I'm very sensibly completely ignoring the problem and hoping it goes away, always a winning strategy with health matters, at least until Wednesday, when if it isn't better I'll be running off some unfortunate GP walk-in clinic or understaffed A&E or minor injuries unit for some fluclox.
Because I know you're all fascinated, here's a top-to-toe list of everything else that's wrong with me:
I have a sunburnt crown
I have sunburnt ears, which keep getting worse no matter how much suncream I'm slathering on
I have a sunburnt nose
I think my lips may also be sunburnt
My neck hurts
My shoulders ache
My back is also hurting, and I can't really bend forwards until I've taken the backpack off for an hour
My hips start aching about two hours into each day
My thighs ache, unsurprisingly
My right calf has an interesting twinge which gets worse going downhill
I have a bruise on my right calf from stepping on a branch which smacked me in revenge
We've talked about the cellulitis
My left ankle aches a bit
My left big toe hurts right in the ball of my foot
All the hard skin on my feet is softening and coming off because my socks are warm and my goretex boots keep all the damp in
I feel much better now I've shared all that.
I had a look at the outside of Launceston Castle. It's a ruin, and they were charging nearly £5 to go in, and I wasn't in the mood for that.
As I've said, I'm not being sponsored, but here are some charities that could use your money:
The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity (SANDS)
Bliss
The Natural History Museum
Any of these cost-effective, underfunded charities improving health in less fortunate parts of the world
Distance walked: 18 miles, ish, my GPS let me down
Time taken: according to said GPS, 4h05. That works out at 4.37mph- I'm fast, but not that fast. It was 7h10 between my "I'm setting off now" phonecall and my "I'm in Launceston" phonecall, but I had breaks and had done all the getting-my-form-signed nonsense as well
Percentage complete: 9.1%
Boot cost per mile: £0.49
Lunch: apple, bag of crisps, half pint of Coke. Insufficient!
Last night's B&B: Silver Moon, Camelford: nice couple, even if He couldn't follow simple instructions to fill in my form, comfy bed, good breakfast and a bath
If I would habe made a list oft everything whats wrong with me since walking, it would not be as short as yours. Thumbs up. You'll be okay 😀
ReplyDelete