Summer Training For The Himalaya Trek in November

---

For those of you that don't know (and there won't be many), I spend the summer in Cornwall. And what a magnificent summer we had this year! The weather was unbelievable, lots of dry, sunny days with hardly any wind. I managed to get lots of fantastic walks completed, training, ready for my trek through The Himalayas in November.

The coastal path throughout Cornwall is very scenic and beautiful. Some parts of it are more difficult than others. Over the years, I have managed to complete a fair part of the north Cornwall path. From Tintagel, right the way down to Perranporth and a little bit around Porthtreath. Lots of the path, we have walked time and time again.

My day always started off walking around the headland where we stay, Treyarnon, which is a stunning, rugged part of North Cornwall. Over the years, we have walked with our dog, Biba, but at the beginning of the year we found she couldn't manage long walks as she was approaching 13, so we just did short walks (3 miles) with her. so the longer walks were either myself and my husband, Dave, and when he was away working, it was just me on my own. I don't mind walking on my own as it happens, but I really enjoyed my walks with Biba. Unfortunately, she died in August, so every walk from now on will be without her by my side.

One of my favourite walks is from Treyarnon around the coastal path into Harlyn Bay and then head back to Constantine along the road, walking through Trevose Golf Course and then back into Treyarnon Bay. Its about 8 miles and I usually take a packed lunch and eat it on Harlyn beach. The walk takes you across Constantine and Boobys Bay and on up the hill towards the lighthouse. The slope up to the lighthouse climbs up and up and as you turn around you are rewarded with the most fabulous views back across the bays and on a good day you can see right the way down the coast towards St Ives. From the lighthouse the path takes you around the headland and you can then see back up the coast towards the Camel Estuary. The path then continues towards Mother Ivys Bay, and on past the Lifeboat House, which is a sight to see with all the wood cladding. There are some lovely cottages perched looking over the sea, which would make a lovely stay for your cornish holiday. As you come on around you can look back at the Lifeboat sitting protected by a picturesque sweep of rocks which are always covered in birds. Some walkers have often seen basking shark swimming in this area. I'm always looking out for them, but unfortunately haven't been lucky yet. Mother Ivys Bay can be very sheltered and on a low tide reveals a fairly large beach. From there you climb up on the path until you come up over the brow to see the great view before you of Harlyn, Trevose and on beyond the Estuary. The path then comes on down the hill towards the beach, passing some more holiday homes and a boat slip. The walk across the beach is lovely on a low tide, but if the tide is in, you have to follow the path inland for a little while. There is a drink and snack trailer up on the car park, which I usually stop off for a drink and a rest. Then I take the road out of Harlyn towards Constantine until I can pick up the public footpath again which goes into a little cul de sac and out onto a field before crossing the road again and following the path through a lovely wooded area which is on the edge of a stately home that has recently had a lot of work done on it. The gate at the end takes you back onto the road, which you follow through Trevose Golf Course, on past Constantine Stores and into the top of Treyarnon Bay Caravan Site. Walk on through the site, down onto the beach and from there I can walk on back up the hill to my own caravan.

One day, I decided to walk into Padstow, so from Harlyn Bay I continued on around to Trevone. I had never walked that way before and it was lovely. I was surprised at how close Trevone is to Harlyn by coastal path. Also how big Trevone beach is on a low tide, revealing hundreds of rockpools to explore. When I was able to look down the coast to the Estuary, the Obelisk seemed a mighty long way away! There were lots of ascents and lots of descents and it was a very hot day, so I needed lots of water along the way. I was surprised by the number of other walkers I passed on route, but not too busy. The scenery was stunning and I could have sat and watched the waves crashing against the cliffs for hours, but I knew if I stopped for too long, I wouldn't want to continue. The path was easy to follow and in some places you had the choice of high and low path. I always took the 'safest' path, as I don't like being too close to the edge if I can help it! There was one point of the path, where I was descending further and further and knew I had to start going up at some time, when I looked up and saw where the path was leading. It was almost vertical and there was a choice of three paths to follow. I don't think there was an easy path, so I chose the middle one and kept my head down and started climbing, keeping my breath as steady as possible. I was boiling over by the time I got to the top, but very satisfied with myself. As I was continuing I looked at my watch and saw it was 12.30 and thought that I would stop by the obelisk for lunch. I was walking behind a couple who were walking about the same pace as myself. I looked beyond them and saw that through a kissing gate in the field beyond which edged towards the cliff, were a herd of bulls!!! I became nervous, but then realised that the couple infront of me were going the same way and so felt a little safer. As the couple approached the gate, they started discussing something and then headed for the cliff edge where they sat down and proceeded to get their lunch out of their bags! I wanted to shout at them that they had to keep walking to keep me company going through the field of bulls. What was I to do, I couldn't go and join them or pretend that I was going to do the same. So I had to hide my fear and walk through the gate. I kept thinking that if they got up and started chasing me, where was I to go? The path headed uphill, so that would be a pretty hard escape. The path dived in two, one going quite close to the herd of bulls and the other up over the hill quite close to the cliff edge, but going away from the bulls. I chose the cliff edge path as I wouldn't be walking so close to the herd, but as I took that left turn and continued walking with my back to the bulls, I realised that my backpack was RED!!! I don't think I've walked up a hill quite so fast in my entire life, with continual head-turns! Boy was I glad when I got to the top and there were other walkers heading my way. I was really looking forward to my rest and lunch at the obelisk, but as I approached it was like a coachload of walkers had just been dropped off. There were people sat everywhere enjoying their picnics. So I kept on walking, past the Coastguard lookout and around Steppers Point. I could see right the way up The Camel Estuary from there and it was a fantastic view. You are really very high at this point and the views all around are unbelievable. The sun was getting hotter and I decided that I would have my lunch on the beach at Hawkers Cove on the rocks. I followed the path on past the cottages that used to belong to the coastguards, but have long been sold to private buyers, and down the slip past the old lifeboat house onto the beach. I soon found a suitable rock to rest and lunch before continuing into Padstow, where I caught a bus back to Treyarnon after completing the 10 mile walk.

There were lots of other walks I enjoyed, one of which was Port Isaac to Port Quinn, with Dave. This was also a very hot day and was really draining. The walk itself is only about 6 miles, but the coastal path is like a roller coaster! Lots of up and lots of down!! The views were stunning and I took a huge number of photographs. We saw lots of very red walkers on route who either hadn't creamed up or didn't have any water on them. Its ridiculous how unprepared some people are, very dangerous really.

I feel physically prepared for India now and happy with my training. The only worry is the altitude, but as I've read in a lot of places, that you can't really train for that and there is no rhyme or reason to who gets affected by it. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I won't be affected, but if I do, then I have to make sure I deal with it properly.

Well, bye for now, I will try to write up any more walks I do before I go, but if not, the next time you will be reading my blog I will be in India!!

---