LEJOG day 8: Launceston to Bridestowe

April 25, 2017

OK, you can all ignore the general tone of yesterday's blog: turns out if you don't eat lunch when walking you feel very ill and miserable. I ate a lot more during the course of today and I'm much happier overall! Also thanks go to Gwilym, a friend from Cambridge who is a proper doctor who looks after grown-ups, who suggested the rash on my legs may not be a bilateral cellulitis but sweat urticaria which while it sounds manky is a definite improvement because I already have the means of treating it in my backpack. So I've decided that that's what it is, covered it in antihistamine cream and laced my boots more loosely, and with the cooler weather today it's much improved. Hurrah!

So today's walk was a rather fun trip along about three quarters of the Two Castles Trail, which runs between Launceston Castle in Cornwall and Okehampton Castle in Devon. Oh yes- I've made it out of the never-endingly long county of Cornwall, after a mere week and 108 miles of walking. My brother assures me, from his LEJOG cycle a few years ago, that counties go by much quicker from now on, at least until Scotland.

Like most walking trails, the Two Castles isn't exactly designed with the aim of getting from A to B quickly or directly in mind. I suspect the people who decide the route imagine that if you wanted to get there fast, you might drive. These people have not taken into account the special sort of madness that says "I want to walk a very long way- but as short a very long way as possible". Anyway, this means that the walk looks to take you to pretty things en route which means I took lots of photos but also walked around about five eighths of a circle around a wood to fully appreciate how absolutely you could not see the remains of a motte and bailey from the bottom of a slope.

I also walked past Dingle's Heritage Fairground, which I'd been seeing signs for on the roads for long enough to excite curiosity. It seemed to be a museum of oldy-type fairground rides and, if I'm being totally honest, looked like I'd have struggled to keep a straight face going around it.

I also met some more mad people! A German couple, whose children are reportedly concerned for their mental health, also walking LEJOG. They have stratospherically more walking experience than me- they've walked the Pennine Way, the Herriot Trail (twice), the West Highland Way and done coast-to-coast- but insist that doing LEJOG has been "like starting as a beginner again". Like Catherine and me, they've come across Mark Moxon and I suspect are following parts of his route, but not bothering to repeat the Pennine Way.

We had a conversation as we walked along, in which Maren expressed the opinion that Cornwall isn't really for walkers; the three us agreed that we could sum it up: "so beautiful; but where are all the footpaths?"

If you find you have a desire to some money to charity, how about:

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

It is also possible that some of my good mood may be related to the fact that tomorrow is a rest day - to explore Okehampton and also do laundry.

Distance: 17.1 miles
Time: 5h54
Percentage completed: 10.6%
Boot cost per mile: £0.47
Lunch: a tesco triple hoi sin duck wrap and a bag of doritos; I had a flapjack an hour before and a piece of chocolate later on
Last night's B&B: Oakside Farm, South Petherwin- again comfy and pleasant with a good breakfast and a lovely hostess who seemed very anxious about how small I am and is also the only person other than my Dad to ever refer to my complexion as "English"