Today we were going to walk from Zennor to St Ives but it was raining this morning and Ann said there was absolutely no way she was going to walk one of the hardest sections of the SWCP in the rain. I was a bit disappointed but I knew I wouldn't be able to persuade her so I didn't even try.
This afternoon she said we could go shopping for my foldable doggie water bowl in Penzance and then we could do the Penzance to Marazion section which is only about 3 miles. This section, according to the website, should really be walked from Lamorna to Marazion but as there's no direct buses between these two places Ann said we could do a short walk this afternoon and then when we do the walk to Lamorna we can get a bus from Penzance and walk back. I didn't really care where we were going - I was just happy I was getting a long walk!
We parked in the car park by the station at Penzance and Ann paid £1.70 for two hours. I had to stay in the car while she ran into town to buy my foldable dog bowl. She tried three shops - Dogs Boutique, Poundstretcher and Poundland and none of them had any, though Dogs Boutique said they were on order and would probably be in at the end of next week. To be honest I'm not bothered about having a foldable dog bowl any more. Apart from our first walk, there's been loads of streams that I've been able to have drinks out of. Ann was also going to buy a whistle (so that we could attract attention in an emergency) but then she remembered she already had one. She went through a phase of trying to teach me to respond to whistle commands when I was younger. I wasn't very good at that. Anyway she says she'll keep the whistle in our walking rucksack.
I've walked this section of the coastal path loads of times before but Ann said we had to do it again so that we could add it to my blog and take photos. It must be the easiest part of the whole SWCP. The entire walk is on the flat and is along a cycle trail, most of which runs alongside the railway line. Normally when we walk this section we either go Long Rock to Marazion & back or Long Rock to Penzance & back.
It's an OK walk but Ann always makes me go on my extendable lead on the cycle path. She says this is because I can't be trusted to get out of the way of cyclists quick enough. Today we walked from Penzance to Marazion and back again which we think must be about 6 miles but it only took us one and a half hours. From the Tesco roundabout to Long Rock doggies can go on the beach all the year round so I was allowed to go off lead and have a play both going to Marazion and coming back. However, I wasn't really feeling very energetic today so I didn't bother to do any running or bird chasing. I did a little bit of swimming but for most of my time on the beach I just trotted alongside Ann. There were loads of other dogs playing and normally I would go and join in but today I didn't feel like it. Ann was a bit worried about me. She hadn't brought my ball and normally when she doesn't bring my ball to the beach I just steal someone elses 'cos I'm much faster than most other dogs.
It wasn't until we were coming back and I had to come off the beach to walk the short distance along the cycle trail back to the car park that Ann realised what was wrong. Two trains had passed us earlier and I'd been really scared. I was on my lead and I had no escape. I'd tried to run away but I couldn't. It wasn't so much the trains that scared me but the noise that the train tracks made when a train was on its way.
Ann was a bit cross with me and kept shouting at me to hurry up but I thought if I stayed on the beach she'd eventually come and get me and take me somewhere else. She didn't. She just walked off and left me so I ran along the beach until I couldn't go any further then I had to scramble up some rocks to get to her. She told me I was a good girl for coming back and then put me on my lead. I was pulling really hard because I did not want to see any more trains but everytime I pulled Ann stopped and waited for me to return to her side. She had me on a really short lead and kept telling me that the walk was not very enjoyable when she had to keep stopping. Finally, I realised that I would not get back to the car any quicker if I pulled, so for the last 5 mins of our walk I just trotted sensibly by Ann's side and fortunately we didn't see any more trains.
However, I'm mentally exhausted! I've never liked trains - I chase them, but that's when I'm on the beach & know I can't really catch up with them. Ann is convinced it was the high pitched noise the wet train tracks were making as the train approached that freaked me out because I'm not normally this paranoid on this section of the SWCP.
I'm asleep outside on the sun terrace now and have been for the last hour. Ann says on Sunday we're going to walk from Helford to Falmouth. I'm really looking forward to that walk 'cos I've never been there before and apparently we won't be going anywhere near a train track!
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