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Walking Land's End to John o'Groats with Mark Moxon

Truro to Tregolls Farm

Idless Wood
Idless Wood

If I end up aborting this trip early, then this is the day I'll blame. Today I completely screwed up my route planning, but I didn't realise until too late and now it's created my first major hurdle. I have serious blisters, and they mean business.

Dogs with Dogs

Viaduct, Truro
On the way out of Truro you pass under a large viaduct

The walk started beautifully, meandering north out of Truro under the arches of a huge viaduct and up towards the outskirts of Idless Wood, a pretty forest that's run by the Forestry Commission. I follow a strict timetable when I walk – I rest every hour for between five and ten minutes – and my first rest of the day coincided with a leafy ridge on the eastern edge of the wood, where I gladly dumped my pack, shuffled out of my shoes, peeled off my socks and inflicted my feet on Mother Nature. The feeling of cold air hitting hot, sweaty feet is one of the unsung delights of long-distance walking, and as I sat there I fell into a kind of trance in which I could actually feel the effort of my walking evaporating off my toes. And into this trance roared the Hound of the Baskervilles, heading straight for me with slathering jaws, its one good eye pinning me to the spot.

I Fought the Law

Cornish hedgerow in Treworgan
The Cornish hedgerow in bloom near Treworgan

After the delights of Idless Wood the route turned east to follow the lanes just south of the busy A30, the main road through central Cornwall. On the horizon I could just make out the strange lunar landscape of the clay mines near Indian Queens, and seeing as I had the day's destination in my sights, I decided to pop into the next pub I saw for lunch. A few minutes later, in the little village of Summercourt, I spotted the London Inn and ducked through the low door into the sound of clinking glasses and Sunday lunchtime conversation.

An accident memorial in Narrow Lane
An accident memorial in Narrow Lane
A dead cat
A strangely apt dead cat near to the accident memorial in Narrow Lane

Map Mistake

Gnome World in Indian Queens
Gnome World in Indian Queens

The beef was perfect, the Coke helped prevent post-roast lethargy, and I made a friend in the urinal (as you do in the country), but I had a trail to walk, so I set off again with my spirits high and my sights set on a pleasant afternoon stroll. Unfortunately I hadn't yet learned the lesson that you shouldn't measure distances by looking at a map and going 'it's about... this far... so that's about... yeah, ooh, a couple of hours.' I now know that if you do this, you will be wrong.

Cornish hedgerow in Treworgan
A beautiful Cornish hedgerow near to Treworgan
Brown Willy and Roughtor from Castle-an-Dinas
A distant view of Brown Willy and Roughtor from Castle-an-Dinas