Zennor to St Ives - 6 miles

Today I've been for a really lovely walk with my friends Doug & Dave, the Jack Russells, and Ann's friend Bev. Ann drove us to Zennor for the start of our walk. She thought she was being quite clever to do it this way round. Doug & Dave are a bit naughty in the car and jump around all over the place so Ann thought it was better if they did jumping around when they were clean. Bev drove us back to Zennor at the end of our walk so Ann could pick up her car. As usual I was extremely well behaved in the car.

It was a hard walk today. At least it was hard for the humans - us doggies had such fun. I was allowed off my lead straight away and I didn't have to go back on it until we got to St Ives. Dave had to stay on his lead while we walked down a little lane to the start of our walk 'cos he can sometimes be a bit disobedient and go running off. Ann was busy chatting to Bev and telling her what a good girl I was and how I would never go running off so that I got completely lost. Dave was giving me the 'evils' as if to say 'what a goody twoshoes you are'. So I decided I'd show him just how rebellious I could be. We were walking past a big house with a pond in the garden so I ran in, jumped in the pond and had a good old wallow about. Ann was shouting at me but I ignored her. I emerged covered in green algae stuff. There were loads of people about and they all laughed at me. But I didn't care. I'd shown Dave just how naughty I could be and I think he respected me a bit more after that.

We started our walk at 12pm and got back to St Ives at about 3.30pm. Ann and Bev were really pleased 'cos they'd thought it would take more than 4 hours. There were loads of people out walking today, probably as it was such a lovely day. However, we did have a very irritating couple of spaniels following us for the first part of our walk. One of them was continually barking, for absolutely no reason which disturbed the peace and beauty of the dramatic scenery. Fortunately when we stopped for lunch at about 1.30pm they passed us and we didn't see them again.

Our lunch stop was great. We stopped by a little stream so that we could have a play. Ann had made big egg mayonnaise baguettes for lunch so I went and sat beside Bev. I love Bev because when we go to the pub she buys us packets of crisps and if we go out for the day she normally brings 'mystery bags' for us. 'Mystery bags' usually have little cocktail sausages in them. Ann doesn't give me anywhere near the number of treats Doug & Dave get so I thought I'd get loads if I sat by Bev. I did get a little bit but Bev was cross with me 'cos I was wet and smelly and was constantly nudging her. Ann said I was a greedy fatty and I should have eaten my breakfast. But then I think Ann felt a bit sorry for me so she gave me the last bit of her baguette but it fell down a hole under a rock and I couldn't get it out.

This section of the coastal path is one of the hardest sections of the entire walk. We had to clamber over loads of rocks, the path went down and up loads of times and in places it was also very muddy. Having said that we met one woman who was dressed in a skirt and sandals and another that had her handbag with her. I bet the rescue services get really annoyed when they get called out to help people who clearly have not thought about being equipped and dressed appropriately.

There was loads of streams for us doggies to drink out of today. There was also at least three lots of mud for me to wallow in. Bev thought it was really funny the way I can stiff out all the mud that is suitable for wallowing in. At least she did until Ann pointed out we were going back to Zennor in her car! But there was also loads of lovely streams for me to get clean in and Ann knew that when we got to Clodgy just before St Ives I would go in the rock pools to get clean. Doug rolled in something (we don't know what) and he absolutely stunk!

Todays walk has been great. I've had such a good time with my friends. Now I've had my dinner and am having a snooze. Ann thinks she will ache tomorrow because we've done so much clambering over big rocks and walking up and down. But what a lovely way to spend a Sunday - much better than watching the omnibus of East Enders?! I can't wait to do another section of the SWCP. I think we might be doing Newquay to Perranporth next.

Coverack to The Lizard - 10 miles

Today I went for a walk with Ann's sister, Sue, her nephews Dan & Jack, and neice, Emma. We walked from Coverack to The Lizard and it took us a very long time and now I am a very tired little collie dog.

I went in Ann's car to The Lizard with Jack & Emma. We parked on the green and Sue took us to Coverack for the start of our walk. We got to Coverack car park at 10.50am but we didn't actually start our walk until 11am. I was allowed out of the car but then I had to stand and wait in the car park while the 'humans' organised their rucksacks, put their walking shoes on and went to the toilet. When it's just me and Ann she goes to the toilet, organises her rucksack and puts her shoes on before she leaves home so when we arrive at the start of our walk we can just get on with it.

This walk was only 10 miles long so Ann thought it would take us 4-5 hours. In fact it took us almost 7?! This was because we kept stopping. We'd only been walking about 15 mins when Sue asked what time we were stopping for coffee. Stopping for coffee? We never stop for coffee. We always walk for at least 2 hours before we stop for a rest. Today we managed to walk for 35 mins before the humans wanted to stop for a drink of water. Then after another 35 mins we stopped again - this time for coffee and a snack. We never take snacks on our walks. Sometimes we don't even take lunch. After that Ann managed to persuade the other humans that we had to walk to Kennack Sands before we could stop for lunch. Emma was being a bit whingey on this part of the walk. She kept asking when we were stopping for coffee, how long it was to the end of the walk, how long it was until lunch, how far had we walked, how far had we to go, etc, etc.

Kennack Sands was lovely. I got to have a little rest and a few titbits. In fact Sue gave me loads of titbits. Ann never gives me any treats when we're on our walks. I did loads of swimming at lunchtime. Dan kept throwing stones into the sea for me to chase. I did quite a lot of swimming out of my depth. Normally I don't go out of my depth but I was having such fun with Dan.

The first part of this walk was actually quite hard. It was quite up and down and we also had to scrabble over a lot of rocks in certain parts. It was about 5 miles to Kennack Sands from Coverack and it was about 1.40pm when we stopped for lunch.

After lunch Ann told the other humans that we would walk to Cadgworth and stop there for a rest and ice cream. She thought that would be incentive for them to walk more than half an hour at a time. Having said that they still wanted to stop to drink water. We never stop to drink water. We just do that en-route. Talking of water - there was hardly any streams for me to drink out of today. And then one of the times when we stopped Ann didn't look as if she was going to give me a drink and I was really thirsty. Fortunately Sue gave me loads. I had my little grey foldable doggie bowl with me. Sue didn't think that was very good. She said you can get much better ones at 'Fat Face'. She said she might buy me one.

In the section of the walk between Cadgworth and The Lizard I did something really naughty. I spotted a big quarry type pit with some mud at the bottom which looked suitable for wallowing in, so I jumped in, intending to go for a good old wallow. Unfortunately the mud was too dry for me to wallow in and then, what was even worse, I couldn't get out. Ann had to jump down, lift me out and then when she was climbing out she hurt her back - fortunately not too badly. The second naughty thing that I did on this walk was that I wallowed in a muddy ditch and emerged looking like a completely black dog. Ann wasn't too cross with me because she knew I was really hot and needed to cool down. However Sue said she was glad I wasn't going home in her car. When we got to Church Cove, just before The Lizard, Dan took me down to the sea so that I could have a swim to get clean. I tried my hardest to get clean but my face is still very dirty. Ann says she will take me swimming tomorrow on my morning walk but if I don't manage to clean my face I'm going to have to have a shower.

On the last section of the walk Emma was in 'speedy' mode. Her and Dan were walking loads faster than Ann, Sue and Jack. I just didn't know who to walk with. I like to be at the front of the walk but I also like to keep running back to check that the rest of the group are keeping up. However because Emma was being so positive, speedy and just wanted to get to the end of the walk I decided I'd just walk with her and Dan. Also I was getting tired and couldn't be bothered to keep running back to check on the others. We arrived back at the car much earlier than Ann, Jack & Sue and Dan & Emma let me have a little rest while I waited for them.

I've had an absolutely lovely day on my walk today but we didn't get home until 7pm so I've had no sleep time at all. I'm shattered and am looking forward to a good nights sleep.

Padstow to Porthcothan - 14 miles

We've walked 14 miles today and discovered absolutely loads of lovely big beaches that doggies can play on all the year round. I've had such fun and met lots of other dogs, including masses of collies - but none were as pretty as me!

It took us about an hour and a quarter to drive to 'Porthcothan' where we paid £4.80 to park in an almost empty car park. It was raining but Ann said as we hadn't done a walk for ages we were going to do one whatever the weather. We only had to wait about 5 mins for the 11.54am bus which took us to 'Padstow'. It was the little green bus and I usually bark at those ones but I didn't today. I just waited until it stopped, then I jumped on and immediately lay down under the seat. It cost £3 for Ann to go from Porthcothan to Padstow and I was 'free'. It took us about half an hour to get to Padstow.

Padstow was very, very busy and I didn't like it. We had to walk from the bus station through the town to the coastal path. I was on my lead and all I could see were zillions of pairs of legs coming towards me. I was really happy when we reached the coastal path and I was allowed to go off lead. In fact on this walk I was off lead for the whole of the walk apart from about 2mins when Ann saw a field of sheep in the distance and put me back on my lead so she could double check that I couldn't get to them. I hadn't even noticed them - I was far too busy having fun running around on the coast path and peering over cliff edges. Ann doesn't like me peering over cliff edges. She knows I'm sensible and know my limitations but it still worries her when she sees me near the edge.

Todays walk was relatively easy. It took us just under 5 hours but the worst thing about it was that the coast path went round lots of 'headlands'. It was 14 miles long but almost half of that was probably because the coast is very wiggly and we walked two sides of a triangle on several ocassions.

The other thing that wasn't good today, was it was raining for a lot of the time. The rain stopped after we'd walked about half an hour from Padstow. It was dry for an hour and then it rained for about another hour. But at about 3pm-ish the rain stopped and it didn't rain again until we got back in the car at 5.15pm. However even though it was raining there were people on all the beaches. A lot of them were surfing but just as many were sitting huddled inside their beach tents as only the great British public do. They've come on a seaside holiday and spend a day at the seaside they will do, come rain or shine?! As mentioned above there are lots of wonderful beaches along this section of the SWCP. There are also masses of caravan/camping sites. We had no idea what this area is like 'cos we've never spent any time here. We've been to Padstow a few times but didn't realise there was such a huge 'holiday community' between Padstow & Newquay.

However, what was lacking on this walk was little beach cafes. We hadn't brought any lunch with us because Ann had nothing in the house to make lunch with, so she said we could stop somewhere en-route. We didn't find anywhere. Most of the beaches had ice cream vans parked on them, we saw a burger van in a car park & passed a pub near one of the beaches. And then at the last beach before we got to Porthcothan there was a sign for a cafe at the Youth Hostel. Ann was really happy and said we'd stop for a coffee and a rest, as there was seats outside and it wasn't raining. But, when we got closer we saw a sign that said it closed at 4pm and it was almost 4.30pm so that was the end of that. Ann had water with her but she didn't drink that until she got back to the car and I was OK for drinks 'cos most of the beaches had streams running into them.

Anyway I've had a lovely day. I've had such a nice play on loads of new beaches and when I wasn't on beaches I was trotting along the coastal route which was mainly very well defined paths on top of low lying cliffs. It's always nice when I go to new places and apart from the town of Padstow I hadn't been to any of the SWCP that we walked today.

I've had fun, fun, fun and I'm looking forward to walking from Porthcothan to Newquay so that I can experience more of the North Coast of Cornwall.