Walk 9: Zennor to Hayle


 After not walking with Sarah for a month, I was really looking forward to getting out onto the coast again, especially as it was a lovely weather day. Although I had heard that the first section from Zennor to St Ives was quite tough, I was excited about walking through St Ives and then heading on to the stunning estuary of Hayle. 

We parked in Hayle and kindly got a lift to Zennor. The first six miles to Zennor was hard work - not so much due to steep paths but because of the rocky ground underfoot. There was lots of shale which led to slipping, a rocky patch of boulders to navigate and at one point we found ourselves walking down a little waterfall. We even saw a puddle full of tadpoles. The view was stunning though. The remoteness and landscape of Zennor is quite unique and the sea was a gorgeous turquoise. We also, surprisingly, passed a steady stream of very friendly people: Americans and Canadians on their holidays and a very energetic group of young people who were raising money for their rugby club. 

By the time we hit St Ives, which was very busy due to the sunny weather, we were in desperate need of an ice-cream and it was probably one of the best I've ever had. Then we popped to a favourite local bookshop, The St Ives Bookseller, before moving on towards Carbis Bay. I was feeling unexpectedly zapped at this point and didn't expect the couple of steep up-and-downs we hit before the path levelled out. I was keen to take Romeo down onto the very golden and deserted sands of Lelant for a lope around but in the end we stuck to the path in case we couldn't get back up. (The tide is also something to be very wary of by the estuary.)

Buoyed by the views and the fresh air, we pushed through the fatigue until we reached Hayle. It was a bit of a long walk back to the car as we had to go round the estuary but rewarded ourselves with some treats from Asda. 



Job done! It was great to spend the day chatting with Sarah again and, after dropping her home, I headed home for a Saturday night movie.


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