Sunday, 22 July 2012

Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Perranporth → Portreath

perranporth.png Distance: 12.0 miles
Ascent: unknown
Duration: unknown

The Crash
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"Is the path open now, then?" asked our taxi driver as he took us to the railway station at the end of the walk. "Only, it was closed earlier because of the plane crash."

"What plane crash?" we asked. We'd not seen the news since leaving home.

blue-hills.pngA light aeroplane had taken off yesterday from the local aerodrome, with just the pilot on board. It was probably one of those that buzzed overhead as we were walking from Newquay. In clear skies and with an experienced pilot, the plane crashed into the cliffs just north of Portreath, killing the only person on board.

wheal-coates.png"That'll be what the police were doing," said Emma. We'd seen them earlier: a chain of five or six making their way gingerly down the cliff top slope. I'd thought they were on an abseiling exercise and made a light joke with them about it. I feel gutted about this now. Looking back at our photographs, the tail of the plane is visible. It's what I had taken to be an abseil post.

wheal-coates-inside.pngThe crash will be the lasting memory from today's walk, which is a shame because there were so many other things to remember too: starting out at dawn; the motocross trial hill in St Agnes; the remnants of the mining industry. It's been a lovely walk, but tinged with sadness.

There was one other crash too: my GPS reset shortly before ending today's walk, so the weekend's track log is gone and consequently the distance above is an estimate.

Posted by pab at 15:32 | Comments will be back one day. Please email me instead!