Day 85: Canworthy Water to Camelford
📏 Distance: 12.70 miles (20.44 km)
😶🌫️ Weather: Misty and damp morning with gusty winds; cleared to warm and dry by the afternoon
⏰ Start: 10:15 AM | Finish: 3:40 PM
After a lovely evening in Camelford catching up with Jacky and Nathan at the local golf club (who, thankfully, do evening meals), I set off this morning for another leg of the journey—this time from Canworthy Water back to Camelford. Jacky and Nathan will rejoin me in Penzance on Sunday evening, and we’ll walk that final stretch to Land’s End together.
Adam dropped me off at the starting point, but my walk was briefly interrupted by a scheduled interview with BBC Radio Cornwall at 11:15. What the studio probably didn’t realize was that I was standing in a windswept car park by the Warbstow Bury hillfort (the remains of an Iron Age hillfort) in full waterproofs, huddled against the rain and mist as we chatted live on air. Not the most glamorous media moment, but memorable nonetheless!
The morning continued in much the same vein—grey skies, mist clinging to the hedgerows, and a persistent breeze pushing against me as I followed quiet country lanes. There’s something oddly peaceful about walking in this kind of weather,
Thankfully by lunchtime the rain eased up and I was able to shed the waterproofs for the rest of the day. The sun even made a brief appearance, adding a little sparkle to the otherwise muted landscape.
One of today’s unexpected highlights was stumbling across RAF Davidstow Moor, a World War II airfield. The runways and perimeter tracks are still very much visible, a reminder of wartime activity in this quiet part of Cornwall. According to Wikipedia, the airfield saw service from late 1942 to 1945, mostly under Coastal Command, though it was never one of their busier sites.
The walk finished in Camelford where I made a delightful discovery: a hardware store that also serves coffee and cake. so that was my afternoon tea taken care of!
Tomorrow is a shortish day to Wadebridge, around 13 miles.
