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

St Breward to Trecollas Farm

The road to Bodmin Moor across Lady Down
The road to Bodmin Moor across Lady Down, with Brown Willy in the distance

Bodmin Moor has an image problem. There aren't many places ending in 'Moor' that keep the cockles warm, but Bodmin Moor is one of those whose very name conjures up images of beasts, ancient legends and desolate inns in the middle of nowhere. In the sunshine, though, Bodmin Moor is a pussy cat, and luckily I had sunshine all day today. True, there was a savage north wind that whistled through the rock stacks and made my ears throb, but given the unpredictability of Bodmin's weather, I got off lightly.

Mark on top of Brown Willy
On top of Brown Willy

Murder Most Foul

Jamaica Inn
Jamaica Inn

Brown Willy might not be a tourist trap, but the next place I came to most definitely is. From the summit of Cornwall I headed south along field boundaries until I bumped into the A30, and for the next hour I was lucky enough to experience exactly what happens when great stories and great locations get bastardised by the tourist industry. The End-to-End route is littered with utterly isolated and unknown gems, but every now and then it wanders past a tourist Mecca, and the Jamaica Inn is one of the crappiest.

Scenery on the way to Brown Willy
Scenery on the way to Brown Willy

Fellow Madman

Rock stacks on Brown Willy
Rock stacks on Brown Willy

Dispirited by the Jamaica Inn I bounced back north across the moor, padding over the springy moorland grass in the general direction of Launceston, my destination at the end of tomorrow's walk. As I prepared to slip into a long bout of walking meditation I saw another walker coming towards me, and there in his hand was a familiar sight; distinctive with its red and blue banded cover was The Land's End to John o'Groats Walk by Andrew McCloy, the same guidebook that I've been consulting every day for the last week. At last I'd found another End-to-End walker, and he evidently recognised the same in me.

Roughtor on Bodmin Moor
Roughtor on Bodmin Moor

Back Over the Moor

Horses on West Moor, Bodmin Moor
Horses on West Moor, Bodmin Moor

The guidebook's suggested route packs a whopping 22.5 miles into the walk over Bodmin Moor, finishing a long way east in Launceston, but with my blisters there was no way I was going to attempt that. Instead Peta helped me track down a farmhouse B&B just past the edge of the moor.