The Long Run

LETJOG – Day 5: Saturday 22 May – PORT ISAAC to BUDE (28 miles)

Today might very well turn out to be one of the longest walking days of my whole trek. The LETJOG formula, allocating 30 minutes per brewery visit, is an adjunct to the established Naismith rule (one hour for every three miles, plus one hour per 600 metres of ascent), and, thus calculated, today’s activity tops most other days on my ‘Daily Profile Chart’.

This section of the route was originally planned as a ‘rest day’ of 12 miles plus a regular day of 20 miles, but I decided to splice them together in order to have a crack at getting to Bridgwater by next Thursday evening, for a family gathering. Unwilling to countenance a walk day of over 30 miles, I re-jigged the route to cut out some of the lengthier (and more precipitous) sections of the Coast Path, favouring instead some slightly more direct ‘parallel’ inland country lanes. Aficionados/pedants of the South West Coast Path (George, take a bow!) may be critical of this approach, (but, then again, they’re allowed ferries, and I’m not)!

Anyway, the ‘official’ measurements of my day’s exertions are now in, and I actually covered 28 miles and 1,174 metres of ascent, implying around 11 hours on the LETJOG formula. However, feeling good today, I actually completed the walk in just under 10 hours, putting the poles to good use, which, as the nordic walkers among you will know, increases performance significantly. As a result the principal aches to my being this evening are in my upper arms, from prolonged poling.

That’s all the technical stuff. I drew a blank again on my brewery visits (must try harder!) as I showed up at Tintagel Brewery 45 minutes before their 10.00 am Saturday opening time, and I wasn’t keen to stand around waiting in the driving rain.

Once the rain eventually cleared, mid-morning, I enjoyed a wonderful walk. Some highlights: