Land's End (Nearly) Wins

Today, I set out to do what I had not yet been able to accomplish - take the bus to Land's End! Land's End is both the furthest west and the furthest southwest point in England. It's the starting/finishing point for Land's End/John O'Groats, which is an expedition that some people take on, similar to hiking the Appalachian Trail in the US. Land's End to John O'Groats takes you from the furthest southwest corner to the furthest northeast corner of Britain. People have walked it, biked it, unicycled it, etc. I was hoping I would find Land's End similar to St. Ives - a cute town with beautiful rugged coastline to walk along. I picked up a brochure advertising activities in Land's End and it showed a few museums, a "movie experience" and some exhibits on the lifeguard station and Land's End/John O'Groats.


I remembered yesterday's promise to myself and first went to St. Ives to get some fish n'chips. The shop I got them from had little cups of various plain seafood, like shrimp and, the one that caught my eye, cockles. I don't actually know what a cockle tastes like but when I thought about it after I left, I think I would like to try a little cup of cockles. Maybe I'll have to go back AGAIN!


Anyway, I got my fish n'chips and sat on a bench and ate them. It was spitting rain and quite windy, so the hot food was good. A bird (not a gull, another type of little brown speckled bird) hopped around at my feet, chirping, in the hopes that I would share my lunch. I ignored him until he hopped up on the bench next to me. Then I shook my hand at him and said, "Shoo!" He flew off but then, moments later, I heard chirping RIGHT NEXT TO ME! He had landed on my bench again and was chirping at me, so I finally gave in. I tried to toss a bit of french fry a distance away, but as soon as I tossed it, he flew up and caught it mid-air! It was an impressive trick - I tossed him scraps of french fry and fish and he caught all of them in the air! I will have to look up what type of bird he was.


After lunch, I went back and switched buses and finally got on the Land's End bus. We rambled along for quite a while, and finally the bus stopped and I jumped out of my seat and hopped off. The wind was blowing much harder here and it was raining harder. I walked along the promenade for a few minutes before deciding that Land's End was NOT that great and I would just catch the next bus back. The next bus I had seen on the schedule wasn't for another three hours, but I walked back to the bus stop to see if there was another route or bus company that would come sooner. Good news! There was one in only TWO hours.


But as I was looking at the bus schedules, I noticed something weird. The location at the top of the schedules was listed as "Sennen Cove" - NOT Land's End! Oh NO! I had gotten off the bus at the wrong stop, and by the time another bus came, I wouldn't have time to go somewhere else! I was annoyed but I figured I'd find a place out of the wind and rain to have a cup of hot chocolate and wait sadly for the bus. I walked the whole length of the town - every shop was closed up. The only thing open was the lifeboat station, and the lifeboat guys watched me walk past three times. It was still raining and I was really wet and cold, and it had only been half an hour. Eventually, I saw a public restroom and went inside to use the hand dryer to warm my hands. No one was around, so I decided to kill some time by using the dryer to dry the wettest spots of my jacket - my coat is a quilted jacket that thus far has stood up well to the light showers but isn't made for heavy weather.


If you want to contemplate where you've gone wrong, standing in a public restroom drying your coat is a good place to do it. As I stood there, I tried to figure out why I'd gotten off the bus when I had - there were plenty of warning signs that it was the wrong stop, which I'd noticed as I was leaping off. Even though Land's End was the end of the line, there were still people on the bus who didn't get off. Also, the driver gave me a funny look as he let me off. So, WHY had I disembarked?


Suddenly it came to me: I had thought we were at Land's End because the last road sign I'd seen had said "Land's End - 1 mile", so I thought the next stop was logically going to be Land's End. I had forgotten that the bus twists and rambles around. Still, Land's End couldn't be that far! I could walk there and catch a bus! I left the bathroom - fully warmed up - and walked down towards the beach again. I found a signpost for the coastal path and sure enough, it had an arrow that said, "Land's End - 1 1/4 mile". Factoring in the rough terrain, I figured I could walk that in 30 minutes, tops, and then I would get to see Land's End! So, I set out, having to pass the lifeboat station one last time.


Oh boy. This walk was unreal. The scenery WAS rugged and beautiful - all on cliffs overlooking the Atlantic - but the wind and the rain just kept getting worse. I couldn't tell if it was ACTUALLY sleeting or if the rain was just getting blown so hard by the wind that it FELT like ice. I stayed far from the cliffs because I wasn't sure if anyone had ever been blown off a cliff but I didn't want to be first. (In fact, I crafted a mental contingency plan whereby, if I ever felt like I was going to be blown away, I would lay flat down on the ground. I'm not sure what the likelihood of being picked up and blown 50 feet away was but having a plan made me feel better.) The wind helped the rain permeate every fiber of my clothing and soon I was soaked from head to toe. (Actually, this is not entirely true - my poor little quilted jacket wasn't really a match for the rain but generally kept my torso dry.)


While this all sounds extreme, the strangest part was that I ran into people who were also walking along this path, apparently of their own free will. Not many, but a couple. One man was clearly prepared for the weather - he was in a heavy rain coat and rain pants and shouted "Beautiful day, isn't it?" as he approached me. He and I chatted for a few minutes, mostly him recounting the time he'd spent in Chicago in 1982. It was a strangely civil conversation to be shouting at each other over the wind. Another guy I passed looked about like me - totally soaked. As he passed, he shouted, "I'm glad I'm only doing this once!", a statement which I puzzled over for a while. A miserable looking woman passed with her happy looking dog.


Finally, I reached Land's End. Inevitably, it was a disappointment. I had thought it was going to be a little town, but it really was just a cluster of stores and restaurants, all of them closed. Even the stupid sign - one of those that has arrows pointing off in different directions with towns and distances on them - had been taken down for winter, although I could see where it was supposed to be because the booth was still there, along with adverts to get a photo package for £9.95.


In the end, I went to the bathroom and wrung out my clothes, and got on the bus and went back to my hostel, where I promptly got in a hot shower and stayed there until I was totally thawed. I don't think my soaking will have any lasting consequences, although when I was hurrying back to the hostel from the bus station, I felt uncontrollable shivering overtake me and was sure I'd wind up with pneumonia.

Once I was warmed up and eating dinner, I thought over the day's events. In the end, I think things actually worked out the best they could have, under the circumstances. If I had stuck with my intended plan and gone straight to Land's End, I probably would have taken a look around, been disappointed, and then sat around until a bus came to take me home. If I had stayed in Sennen Cove, it would have been the same except I would have tried to see Land's End tomorrow. Instead, I got an exciting and exhilarating walk through incredible scenery. I tried to take some pictures but was nervous about having my camera out in the rain.