Ready for the Real Thing!

Four days and 40 miles later, we arrive to spend a lovely evening with my Auntie in St Ives. Equipment all worked well, only one blister. Only problem was (unusual for Cornwall, this) it didn't rain enough, so we're not quite sure how waterproof we are.

But it seems that our general plan of about ten miles a day should work fine, if we don't fall over or do anything stupid. It was a fun four days, you have casual conversations with lots of people, it's a very different lifestyle and rhythm to our usual London one.

It also turned out to be a bit of a 'Who do you think you are?' trip for me; we passed Porthmeor cove, just south of Zennor, where Parish records show that many generations of Polmears eked out a difficult existence since 1641 or earlier. (It was a bit of a depressing place, actually.) Then, north of Zennor, we watched a boatload of tourists right up next to the Carracks, some offshore rocks, watching a couple of seals in the swell. When I got home and checked, David and Henry Polmeor were drowned in a squall there in December 1833. This all sounds very Cornish and gloomy; I hope they had some good times among the bad. And the beach at St Ives, above, also called Porthmeor, is the best beach in the world.

Anyway, the walk itself wasn't depressing, and we leave on Saturday. So long as I can get to a computer, my next entry should be from Salzburg!

Practice

St Michael's Mount might seem an unusual place to practice for this trip; but my cousin Simon lives and works here, and he and his wife Kerry are giving us a lovely evening before we set off for 4 days walking on the Cornish Coast Path round to St Ives, where my Auntie Wendy lives. The path goes round the land on the right of the picture, which is fairly flat here, but once we get to Lands End - and especially from Zennor - it is continually up and down, the nearest we can get to the Austrian hills we are about to meet.

It didn't rain here today - the first day for ages; but actually we want the full variety of weather that Cornwall can provide, to test out our kit as well as our knees and our walking poles. So far it seems fine, but my boots and pack are new, and need this 35 miles or so to get used to me.

I also wanted to find out how to put a photo into a blog on a strange computer, and it seems to be working.

Beginning to get real

Diana Ambache and I have known we'd be doing this trek for some months now, but the departure date (August 31st 2008) is getting nearer, and the whole project is getting more real.

In mapping out the stages, I find that the walk is 250 miles (longer than I thought), with about 7 miles of ascent overall. We've already raised about £12,000 in sponsorship so there's no turning back now!

We pay homage to Mozart at Salzburg (going by various trains), and set out on Tuesday September 2nd. Each day is about 10 miles, but some are much hillier than others. There are four main stages, each with a rest day at the end of it:
1. Ebenau, Fuschl, Schafberg, Weissenbach, Rieder Hut, Rindbach
2. Habernau, Steyring, Molln, Ternberg, Laussa, Maria Neustift, Waidhofen
3. St Leonhard, Gresten, Keinberg, Puchenstuben, Julius-Stiener Hut, Lilienfeld
4. Reisalpe, Unterberg, Hocheck, Heiligenkreuz, Perchtoldsdorf, Vienna

The way mainly follows Austrian long distance path number 4. If all goes according to plan, we'll be in a comfy hotel in central Vienna on September 28.

It won't, of course.