Imagine the worst possible beginning for a long-term hike. That’s what we got. As soon as we jumped off the bus that got us from Penzance to Land’s End, where we wanted to start, we got a warm welcome by a heavy rain shower.

Well, we started anyway. The shower stopped, but it didn’t really stop raining, it was drizzling more or less for the next couple of hours. We passed some nice lookouts with certainly beautiful views – unfortunately, the fog only allowed us to see five feet ahead or so.

We got caught by a few other heavy rains. And since this was not bad enough, we also got lost somewhere. We got to St. Just and we were fed up,  got on a bus to St. Ives, the next big town, and by doing so skipped a pretty hard part of the walk, that we would have had walked tomorrow. Ironically, when we arrived in St. Ives the sun was shining bright, it was warm and nice as if nothing else has ever happened today… Thanks, English weather, at least we now know to expect.

Some statistics:

Ascent: 340 meters

Weather: we got soaking wet, then it was suddenly sunny when we reached our destination

Maximum Speed: 36 kilometers per hour (on the bus from St. Just to St. Ives)

Special feature: On the bus: Getting stuck behind behind a farmer chasing his cows down the road