Jeri’s Steps: 36,210
Miles walked: 14.9
Elevation: 1,246
Pints: 4
Churches: 2
Stiles: 3
Benches: 1

Due to complications involving Royal Mail parcels and taxis, this section was actually walked in reverse, from Jamaica Inn back to Bodmin where we stayed for a second night at the Westberry hotel. The first four miles was road walking near Colliford Lake. We passed Dozmary Pool, the legendary place where King Arthur encountered the Lady of the Lake, but all I could think of was Michael Palin’s point that strange women lying in ponds distributing swords was no basis for a system of government. At a large earth bank at the end of the lake, we celebrated our first 100 miles, a dam fine achievement. Then we plunged into the Cornish countryside proper, i.e. footpaths across farmland. The OS map was our guide here but sadly the actual way was very badly marked, if at all. At the end of the first field we asked a farm worker for guidance and he told us the path was blocked and that we should go over the fence and walk along the left side of the hedge. Barbed wire had to be crossed to do this. Next we had to cross a stream and climb over another barbed wire fence (at the same time). After traversing a hay field we passed through a hamlet and at last came across two footpath markers but alas guidance petered out immediately and we found ourselves crossing our third barbed wire fence and taking a path through the woods next to a stream where the trees were so low only a toddler could walk upright. Tim is 6’5”. After one more stream crossing and a fourth barbed wire fence we broke out into open country and made our way through Castle Dewey engaging in a little bit of trespass before finally reaching the road to Warleggan. Phew.

The good news here was that the church was open so we had our late lunch in the pews, Cornish pasties and strawberries. A simple church with virtually no adornment except a large plaster relief dating from the civil war. From Warleggan we crossed over Treslea Downs to Cardinham. Neither Warleggan nor Cardinham had a shop or a pub and we were low on water so for the first time on LEJOG we filtered water from a stream. The final part of today’s walk took us through the delightful Cardinham Woods and after a final hard climb up out of the valley we found ourselves high up in farmland again and walked downhill into Bodmin. A good walk but strangely enough we encountered not a single shop or pub in almost 15 miles, apart from the Jamaica Inn at the start of the day.