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…… These posts seem to take more time to appear as each one progresses and this is only the third one (and may indeed be the last!)

At the end of my last musing The Fellowship had just completed a little walk by the coast and although we were still talking we had difficulty walking. So after a lingering breakfast we decided that we should see as much of Cornwall… by car. So we set off for west Cornwall to Land’s End and then work our way back up the south coast.

Yet again the weather was beautiful: bright sunshine, warm and hardly a cloud; the sea was clear blue, and the tat emporiums were still flogging their rubbish (Callestick ice cream excepted). We wondered around the cliff edges and sat enjoying the weather - and then waited for Ruth to stop ‘Blue Screening’.

This was the first of several occasions when Ruth would be found staring, usually out to sea, and imitating a computer ‘Blue Screening’.

Having re-booted Ruth we headed off to Mount’s Bay, where we had a nice walk in the water and then drove to Lizard Point.

More bright sunshine, blue skies, blue sea and blue screening from Ruth.

Here L-H tries to re-boot Ruth remotely.

… not sure what Ruth and The Hobbit are up to here

The following day was again glorious and we decided that we would head out for the Eden Project, I have visited Eden several times now and have never been bored. Here are a few pictures of our time, others may eventually make it to my Flickr album.

After Eden we went to visit my sister and her four kids. This involved a lot of exercise and spinning around. The Green Man proved popular when it came to spinning nephews around.

Suddenly we hit Thursday and where had our week gone? After an indecisive start to the day we headed to The Monkey Sanctuary to say hello to Two Shed’s adopted monkey Frosty.

Frosty didn’t want to sit for the camera very much, so here one who did:

We left the Sanctuary for a visit to Polperro, a lovely fishing village with very narrow streets, we also had a lardy cream tea in a little tea shop (okay here?)

Our final full day in Newquay dawned bright and early. The main event day had arrived, so we took it easy and stayed in Newquay. A session of cricket on Fistral beach, a wonder through the many tat emporiums in Newquay and then readied ourselves for the bale-push … which will have to wait for part 4. However, here is a taster of the “action”

Well it has taken me a while to write part 2 to this verbose story of the Rotund Society’s trip to Pastyland. There is no real excuse, so I wont bother with one. Except to say that when we left Pastyland the England rugby team had just been trounced by South Africa and were, quite frankly rubbish and would be lucky to make the quarter-finals…… in the meantime they have become a different team and are now in the final against South Africa! Hopefully our boys can produce a different result.

Now back to our holiday, which I left around the small matter of a nice coastal walk from Newquay to Padstow - about 23 miles. I think they may have been country miles! The day dawned bright and was not too warm. Ian, L-H and I drove to Padstow to leave one vehicle there and then returned to start our little journey. We bought a 12 hour parking ticket - which should give us plenty of time for fish and chips at the end, washed down by a few pints of Doom Bar, looking at the Doom Bar.

We started our intrepid trek 30 mins late, which is nearly on time for the Arse! As we had walked around the Pentire and fistral headlands on Sunday night, we made straight for Towan beach, and as the tide was out we thought that it would be nice to walk all the way to Lusty glaze beach. Nice views and a bit of gentle bouldering.

After being shouted at a lifeguard for climbing a cliff (it had steps but no sign!) we made our way up some approved steps, down to Porth and as we had been on the go for over an hour a second breakfast was called. Bacon/egg butties were called for. It was at this point I thought - we are behind schedule: it was nearly noon and we weren’t out of Newquay yet!

We headed out across Watergate bay and into Mawgan Porth and go a real glimpse of some fantastic coastal scenery…

… and wildlife.

We stopped at Mawgan Porth for lunch and time was marching on - we weren’t halfway yet and we were behind my idea of a schedule.

We pressed on up another headland and I could now tell that everyone really enjoyed going up hill, the President particular liked them: ‘Great! Another F**king hill’. We pressed on towards Porthcothan bay, which is about halfway… and got there around 3pm. An ice cream later and we made our way up another hill, heading for a series of bays which should lead us to Trevose Lighthouse, and ‘just’ beyond there we would find Padstow.

We headed across Constantine bay, using the sand dunes to avoid another trek across light sand, which strips your strength away. Although on the way down from these L-H miss-timed his dismount and went face first into the sand at the President’s feet - a little too much adoration I think! As we left Constantine bay we could see the lighthouse was near, which cheered everyone up, but not nearly as much as the name of the next bay.

Up another headland we came to Trevose Lighthouse, the one landmark I had highlighted as a visual point from which Padstow was ‘just around the next headland’ (that phrase might end up on my grave stone).

Well you see that on the map (not an OS map) the nest headland didn’t look that far away. But reality was something different.

Stepper point is not the very far headland (I think, but the one with the small tower on it) - but either way, when limbs were beginning to ache and blisters moaning just as much, the sight of what was left to walk was a bit of morale breaker.

My reading of the tourist map was now a bit off as well (why have an OS map? Keep the sea on your left and stop at Padstow!) so Google earth was used for a position fix and at Harlyn Bay the President decided that the way to Padstow was as the crow flew and not around another series of headlands. The breaking of the Fellowship had occurred, the rest of us stuck with the Hobbit (he was now running up the odd hill!!)

We were rewarded by the sun-setting over the sea

… but the sun going down and Stepper point not getting any closer brought a bought of reality to proceedings, and when a sign showed a short cut into the Camel Estuary there was no argument.

We crossed a field, over a fence and rejoined the pathway at Hawker bay.

We made our way up stream, now knowing that Padstow was not far away. Gig boats were practicing in the estuary and the treacherous Doom Bar was covered by the tide. As the sun went down we could also see the effects of no sun cream on Hobbits.

By now the Fellowship was strung out, and was looking quite knackered. We climbed one final hill and there at the top was Padstow.

L-H ended walking from this point in his socks as his blisters were hurting so much. As we entered the harbour area the President was waiting, and looking a lot happier than when we had left him. We limped over to Rick Stein’s fish bar (excellent fish and chips) and then all headed back to Newquay. It was a worn out Fellowship, but we had made it.

We had planned to do the walk early in the week so that we could recover in time for the bale push. The next day we were all walking like old people and the blisters were quite impressive. Had we left enough time?

In the spring of this year my father suggested that I bring some friends down to Cornwall to compete in the Crantock Balepush. A locally renowned competition that involved pushing a round-bale of straw around the village of Crantock. This suggestion was made when we all thought that we were due for a hot and sunny summer, before the June rush of birthdays and before I had got my new job: it all seems such a long time ago!

So in early June I broached the idea with the ruling council of Rotund Society of York. Should we enter a team - and have a bit of a holiday as a precursor? After much cogitation agreement was reached and eventually the planning reached the level where accommodation was booked, transport arranged and everyone got ready to take a well earned holiday. All we needed, after one of the wettest summers on record, was some nice weather…..

What we got was a week of sunshine: Proper job!

Our accommodation was a success, the apartment was spacious, bright and over-looked the Gannel estuary from the Pentire peninsula. Once we all arrived it was quite late, so we all walked into town for food and a drink at the Fort Inn. This is a large pub, which was very busy, but it did have Tribute on, which helped to ease the wait. A couple of pints and a steak later we were fit for a trip around the Saturday nightlife in Newquay. This entailed drinks in Senor Dick’s, Barracuda and The Walkabout, before the combination of a long journey, drink and loud music took its toll and we headed for the apartment.

Sunday dawned bright and early, very early as the shitehawks started screeching on the roof at 5:30.

The early risers all walked down to the Gannel estuary to walk on the sand before all five of us drove out to the parents for coffee and see the infamous FatBess. A sumptuous lunch at Viners followed, which was a great way to start the week off, before we returned to Newquay for a walk around the Pentire and Fistral headlands and eventually finished with a Pasty and a pint of Doom Bar. Doom Bar is a very drinkable ale, which is named after the treacherous sand bar in the Camel estuary where many ships met their doom. We were also hoping to see the Doom bar itself, as we planned to walk to Padstow, from Newquay, on Monday. Just a short walk of around 23 miles ……

…. to be continued.

Well I have managed to enable comments on this blog and thanks to Two Sheds I have sorted out a redirect to this page from the main page (so you don’t get all the ugly index).

Pastyland was warm and occasionally wet at the weekend. You will see that I am not the only blogger from the farm. Fat Bess has been updating her IT skills, helped by getting a computer in her room.