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Jay Walking

LEJOG: Stithians to Truro

I woke feeling refreshed and all thoughts of giving up and going home were banished from my mind, I knew I was going to continue as soon as I woke.  I was walking by 8am and quickly diverted from my route after seeing a path round the reservoir.  This proved a good move as the path to the dam was easy and led to footpaths over old mine works and quarries to the village of Stithians. I got a coffee and a bag of crisps from the Post Office, again leaving my maps which I had to go back and retrieve after drinking my coffee.  The day was warm but I was feeling positive.

Stithians Reservoir showing the dam and hills in the distance, set in a clear blue sky
An old quarry filled with water

Leaving Stithians village I headed out on good paths until there was one marked on the map but not present on the ground.  A period of road walking ensued I was looking for the entrance to Roches Wood, which I found but it was an overgrown wooden gate.  Not fazed by this I climbed the adjacent wall and was on the path.   It turned out to be quite an adventure the woodland was full of old mining works and the ways on were all blocked, walls had been built to stop progress.  Undaunted I headed on via old buildings, crossing small streams or jumping across them.  I reached a footbridge which as made of wood and on the side met some people from Liverpool which was a great relief as I was not sure if I was allowed to be in the woods.   After chatting for a bit I headed on trying to find my way out, the OS app bore no relationship to the paths on the ground so I was pushed off my route and to the East.  I didn't mind the woods had been interesting full of old mine buildings, it would have been a massive industrial site when the mines were active.  Now it was a pleasant and cool woodland, used by people walking their dogs.

I ended up in the village of Ponsanooth having to take a scarey road out of it, though  I jumped the wall next to it and found  a safer path.  A few kilometres of road walk would bring me too the village of Perranwell and back to my original route.  I had decided to change the route to head over Carnon Downs and while resting I talked to a woman who gave me details of bike route which lead directly to Truro.  She was very impressed when I told her that I wa walking from one end of the UK to the other.  I was more interested in her lovely dog.

The walk up to Carnon Downs was pleasant on good paths, passing a caravan site and through a small town at the top.  I followed the advice the woman had given and after a period of small amount of road walking I arrived at a busy A road which I crossed.  On the other side was a tree lined cycle path, nice and cool which I followed for a few kilometres which brought me to the outskirts of Truro.

Woodland, trees and a small river in an mining area
View North from Carnon Downs, showing farmland and fields with distant hills

The last part involved a hot walk on a closed road up hill to the edge of Truro, then a descent into the town itself.  I arrived at 2:30pm feeling pleased with the day.  I felt good and had made a good pace,  so I rewarded myself with a few weak beers in a small micropub before heading to the room I had booked.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was much better than the photos had suggested, the owner was friendly and dangerously left a bottle of 12 year old single malt in my room.  My mood was completely the reverse of yesterday, it had been the best day so far. I took up the owners suggestion of going to the Wetherspoons, where I had a vegan burger and a pint, while updating this blog. The food was fine but I actually quite regretted going to a Wetherspoons as there were other independent pubs that I could have and should have visited. There seems little point in walking from one end of the UK to the other and going to a pub chain that you can find in virtually every town. Wetherspoons are cheap and convenient but they are also fairly soulless and lacking in atmosphere and each one is very similar to the all the others.

Additional info

Date walked
Thursday, 14 July 2022
Distance walked
20.5 km or 12.74 miles
Cumulative distance
81.68 km or 50.75 miles
Weather
Sunny and then very sunny