Ready to go!
A few stats from today - 22.4 miles, 49350 steps, 2980
calories, 11 liters of water, lots of hills, 0 blisters - don't ask about the
chafing!
What an amazing first day. Let’s start at the
beginning. We were thrilled that over 20 people showed up at the Eden Project
to give us a send off – including the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of St Austell. We
are really grateful to everyone who took the trouble to come and see us off.
Our great supporters who came to see us off
After some press photos and a quick interview
with the Cornwall Channel, the recently appointed Mayor, Derek Collins, counted
us down and we were off.
Departure from Eden Project
The weather was stunning, in fact probably too
good. This made the going tough and keeping topped up with plenty of water was
essential. Anne and I drank over 11 litres of water between us.
Our first day of walking took us from The Eden
Project, which is on the edge the constituency of St Austell and Newquay that I
hope to be elected to represent next year, to the village of St Cleer, on the
edge of Bodmin Moor, just above Liskeard. A distance of 22.4 miles in total.
Stunning view from Prideaux House to Gribbin Head
Beautiful Luxulyan Valley
Approach to Lanlivery
Western approach to Lostwithiel
Stopping for lunch at Lostwithiel
Leaving Lostwithiel (quite the climb!)
Our route took us through some of the most
picturesque parts of Cornwall’s countryside. From Eden we walked through the
Luxulyan Valley, through Lanlivery and on to Lostwithiel. We then kept south of
the A390 and through the Boconnoc Estate. We then wound our way through a
number of small villages before crossing the A390 just before Liskeard and on
up to St Cleer. If you are interested in the actual route we took you can see
it at the Google Maps link at the bottom of the post.
We were very grateful for the support we had
today – our good friend Neil Bate was driving the support truck and did a great
job of looking after us all the way. Also James Mustoe, who is also a good
friend and part of our campaign team walked with us for the morning.
Our driver for the day Neil Bate
With James Mustoe at Lanlivery
The highlights of the day were –
The send-off - with so many friends coming to
wave us off.
Being given a picture that had been drawn by
children at Little Harbour Children’s Hospice – which we will take with us to
remind us why we are doing this.
The beautiful scenery, especially the Boconnoc
Estate where a herd of deer crossed the road just in front of us.
A 'selfie' at Bocconoc
Being handed cash donations along the way by
people who asked what we were doing.
We finished the day well, feeling happy if
tired, and a few aches and pains as expected. All in all a very good start to
our challenge. One down, 12 days to go!
Tired but happy at St. Cleer
And finally, the best way of encouraging us to
keep going is to keep donating to the charities we are supporting – Cornwall
Air Ambulance and Children’s Hospice SW. If you haven’t yet sponsored us you
can do so here http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/doublesteve
Google Maps Link - Map
of route
