Solo unsupported run from Boscastle to Looe. Carried all water and food with no re-supply.
Started early morning just before 9am in Boscastle at the water's edge (the route GPX starts about 100m upstream, but it's a coast to coast route so that didn't feel right). Beautiful sunny but cool morning. Wet feet already from about 3km at the first field crossing, both from bog and dew on the grass. Some road miles passed quickly, with a slight headwind for the exposed Davidstow airfield section. Hitting Bodmin Moor the path disappeared so I ended up on the wrong side of a barbed wire fence I had to vault. The GPX route takes a strange path to the corner of the plantation before turning down the fence line to meet the boggy path around the edge of the mire heading towards Rough Tor - I resisted the temptation to straight line this part, so hope future FKT'ers do the same. I've run this part of the moor plenty of times so it was nice to not need to look at my watch for a while, even setting a decent segment time for Rough Tor to Brown Willy in the process. Note the route does go up Tolborough Tor before heading off the moor to Jamaica Inn.
I ran on past the inn without stopping to Dozmary Pool, a weird place that doesn't feel like you should be there. Then it was potentially the most wild section climbing up Brown Gelly, a few farm gates to hurdle on the way, some bog, heather and no path just long grass occasionally flattened by livestock. Changed my socks for dry ones, saving my feet that had been wet for hours. After some country lanes and a farm field with no path I arrived at the A38 crossing at Dobwalls. By now my initially strong pace was slowing, a sign of what was to come...
The final 15km is a mixture of small lanes, woodland and riverside trails. Some of which aren't easy to navigate and I made a couple of bad mistakes including running uphill for a couple hundred metres before having to turn around, even with a gpx file to follow. With 10km to go I knew I should still break the supported record time if I could keep moving. The Kilminorth Woods threw me a final challenge, with a steep zig-zag climb up to the top path then another navigation mistake resulting in hiking back up the steep hill again before I could finally run the last 2km through Looe to the pier.
Nowhere near the time I was hoping for but still proud of myself for pushing through, and supporting The Green Runners crowdfund. I enjoyed some cake and cola at the lovely Courtyard Cafe before taking two buses back to Launceston. The following morning I cycled back to Boscastle to collect my car - minimising my travel impacts as much as I could.
Overall, a fascinating and varied route with probably 60 to 70% trail. Coast to coast definitely feels quite special too. Just a few of the paths that were somewhat overgrown (see picture - my legs embraced many brambles and nettles), and some that didn't really exist at all!