Walking in Cornwall

This weekend was spent on a Walking trip to the Cornish coast led by Bianca, a Singaporean friend of mine. We set off at around 2.30pm on Friday afternoon, and due to very bad traffic, only arrived at our hostel at around 11pm. There were two walks planned for the weekend - on Saturday we were to walk from the Minack Theatre to Land's End, which is famous for being the furtherest point South in the British isle (but is actaully its Western most point); and on Sunday morning we were to walk from the Eastern side of the Cornish coast ultimately terminating at Lizard's point (which is the actual Southern most point of the British Isle).

Saturday began with a trip to the Minack Theatre, a famous open air theatre set into the cliffside near Minack rock. It was amazing partly for being the result of the vision and dedication of one amazing woman and her gardener, and it definitely would provide for one of the most spectacular backdrops for any stage production imaginable. It was extremely apt that the first ever production to be staged at the site was a performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest. By then it was nearing eleven in the morning, and the temperamental British weather reared its head as it began drizzling rather heavily as we started out from Minack Rock. Thankfully, the drizzle soon abated and gave way to much milder weather and even some sun. It was really lovely walking on the paths alongside the Cornish cliffs, and one did get a sense of the power of nature, as you looked at the many oddly beautiful shapes that the cliffs had been carved into from the sheer power of the waves alone. The sea breeze and salt air was indeed very invigorating, so perhaps it is not too incongrous that the English have always tended to head to the sea for a bit of respite from the grind of everyday life. Certainly, it is wonderfully therapeautic to walk in the countryside, with nothing but fields and grass, and fences and walls made of rough hewn stone with the odd little house. The escape from the cramp and crowded quarters of the city is only made clear when one does get out.

It was a lovely two days all round. Upon reaching Land's End, I bought myself a Cornish pasty (pronounced Pah-sty not pay-sty as you would someone who is looking very pale), to see if it were suitably authentic and thus better than the one's that I had in Oxford. For the uninitiated, a pasty is a pastry with a very think crust, filled traditionally with meat, gravy, carrot slicings and peas. I learned the very interesting story behind how they were invented - apparently many people used to work in the Tin mines, and their hands would thus be covered with poisonous chemicals, making eating lunch a difficult prospect. What would happen is that the pasties would be brought to them and they would hold the thick end of the crust, eat everything inside and then throw the crust away. Sunday was a truly beautiful day - we were definitely blessed by the fact that the rain which had been going on for much of the night and the morning, abated in time for us to set off. They say that the best weather occurs just after the rain has passed (thus the calm after the storm) and I can definitely vouch for that as there was some truly glorious sunshine. This portion of the Cornish coast was slightly more rugged, and had some really spectacular sights. We had lunch in a cove right by the shore, which was cut into the rock by the waves, and it was wonderful just sitting there, sandwich in hand watching the waves lash themselves against the rocky coast. As reward for the walk on Sunday, I bought myself a double scoop of ice cream upon reaching our destination (special Cornish ice cream apparently), which was delightful, as ice cream usually is.

For me, part of any hike is the company, and it often is a very crucial part. I know that some people go on walks to meditate on nature, to find their inner selves or something along those lines, and while I do understand that (after all I sometimes take walks like that myself), I am not sure that it is tenable over a two and a half day period. The group we had was quite an eclectic bunch, with a visitng student from Belarus, a girl from Ireland, a German Phd student and two girls from France making up the numbers, along with a fellow PPEist from the South of England, and of course my old comrade in arms, Charles Ng. Rounding up the group was Bianca and her co-leader, who was an American Phd student who was colleagues with YY, and our two wonderful drivers, James and Ben, who got us around so brilliantly. Overall, the company was pretty interesting - I got into the usual philosophical debates with Charles, about morality and God (what else!), and the whole animal rights issue with Mel, who was vegetarian, and more importantly had also done Ethics with me. All in all, good fun, especially the Saturday evening spent in a really cosy local pub near our Youth Hostel. So, all in all a very satisfying weekend out in Cornwall, which was great except for one thing - I missed the FA cup final between Arsenal and Man Utd, and worse still, Man Utd lost on penalties. Looking back on it, I have come to realize that I have been watching the FA Cup final for the better part of 1o years now. I remember watching Eric Cantona score the winning goal in 1996, and of course the 1994 final before that when United beat Chelsea 4-0 and Glenn Hoddle actually put himself on as a substitute, not to mention the year Chelsea beat Middlesborough, and I was listening to the match on the BBC world service while dad was trying to rush home and Roberto Di Matteo scored within a minute of the kick-off, and of course United win's over Newcastle and Millwall in recent times. The FA Cup has almost become a part of my personal history. But then, that is the beauty of football. Like the myth about receiving word about Kennedy's assasination (how people supposedly remember exactly what they were doing), so I can say when and where I was watching the match. But I digress. It was a nice weekend, and we all trudged back tired and weary on Sunday evening. Enough said.