Today we were joined by Lauren for our journey from Camborne to St Austell.
After an eventful night outside the hotel (domestic disputes, fights, ambulances, police, etc. – none of which were anything to do with us!) it was breakfast as soon as they started serving and then off we set. We ambled through Camborne and the outskirts of Redruth before hitting the quieter roads.
Redruth’s name derives from its older Cornish name, Rhyd-ruth. It means Red Ford (literally ford red). During a boom for copper ore in the 18th century, Redruth (surrounded by copper ore deposits), quickly became one of the largest and richest mining areas in Britain and the town’s population grew markedly, although most miners’ families remained poor.
We then passed through multiple small towns such as St Day, Chacewater and Threemilestone before getting to St Emre (just over half way for the day). We looked for some lunch in St Emre but asking for a sandwich was way too difficult for the staff to understand in the bar so we moved on and agreed our own snacks were the way forward!
Carrying on – btw it was very hot out of the shade, so much so that the caps and hats made an appearance – the hills were also relentless as we made our way into St Austell via an ice cream stop. We also had a good view of the “Cornish Alps” which are really piles of spoil from the local china clay mines.
Safe to say we were pretty shattered at the end – 48km, 900m of climb and heat! Kudos to Lauren who achieved a personal best for distance walked today!
Tomorrow sees us head to Menheniot as we edge towards Devon in a couple of days.
Todays route and a graphic the climbs/descents of the day.
Clearly an early start at 0544. Are you sure that you weren’t the bickering old married couple last night? Sounds entertaining, but probably not what you wanted to recover after day 2! Enjoy today.