View Getting to the start (Day 0) Washington to Lands En0 in a larger map
Friday Afternoon I left my office in Washington DC a little early, rode the Metrobus to the Airport, and soon made myself as comfortable as possible in back quarters of a United Airlines jet. Breezing through Heathrow customs early on Saturday morning with my 17 pounds of luggage was easy and I strolled to the bus stop to await my National Express chariot to convey me to Cornwall.
One bus, one seat, 3 different drivers and 8 hours later I was the last remaining passenger as the bus rolled down the A30 on the final leg to Penzance. Respectfully, I asked the driver if he could drop me at the bus stop at the Tesco’s 1 mile short of our posted destination. Instead he took me right up to the Tesco parking lot and dropped me at the crossing.
Tesco’s not only provides groceries, it also has a freephone to the local taxi service. My shopping list was short: Water, pork pie for supper, Sandwich for tomorrow dinner, Flake, Mars bar (Don’t you love the British Candy!) and a bottle of Chianti to wash it down. The Taxi arrived quickly and I was soon on my way to my starting point: Porthgwarra.
I know it was going to be tight, I missed sunset by 7 minutes, but I still had 20 minutes of dusk to find a spot and pitch my tent.
Perfect! The southernmost tip of the Porthgwarra cliffs, 30 feet from the edge, there was a small well drained flat spot. I pitched the tent, made up my bed in the dwindling light and opened the wine. Taking into account loosing 5 hours as I crossed timezones, I had travel from my desk in downtown Washington DC to the very end of the land in just 22 hours.
Distance hiked today 0.2 Miles (unless you count the hike from the airplane to immigration at Heathrow)
Well, that went exactly as planned, so far so good, but that was when things started to go downhill (metaphorically, not physically I’m glad to say)
The weather forecast had indicated the temperatures at night would drop just below 50, and that would be accompanied by some rain on the second night, these were the only nights that I would be camping, so my bed comprised a fleece blanket and a small inflatable airbed. Well the first night was very clear and the temperature dropped and dropped as the night went on. The heavy winds whipping up over the cliff edge and the temperature plummeted. Bit by bit during the night I put on every piece of clothing I possessed and finally around 2AM I was forced to break out my Adventure Medical Kits bivvy, a 3 ounce aluminum and polyolefin body bag.
Whew, as soon as I got in the bag I immediately felt the warmth. I slept like a log until the Sun came up at around 6AM
I woke up to traces of frost on the ground, so I’m guessing it got down to the 30’s – But Ooh that windchill!
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