24th NOV. PORTHCURNO TO PENZANCE

Although we did not do alot of mileage today we were pleased we had got into Penzance 12 miles on.
We left the hostel in the dry walked up to St. JUST and took the bus back to Porthcurno.
By the time the bus got us there we were in drizzle. Basically it got heavier as the walk continued. The going was not to bad,  the path a river in places and our waterproofs proved not good enough to hold out the wet. It was guttsy head down miserable mud walk. By the time we reached Mousehole the water was pouring down the road. I made no attempt to avoid puddles as my feet were soaked. The cuffs of my fleece was dripping and I tried to wringe them out as walked. To say we were wet was an understatement. We had to keep walking as we were getting to chilled if we stopped for breaks.
From Mousehole we walked via the coast road into wet Newlyn. It was so dark,  only about 3.30 but it felt like 5.  Newlyn had plenty of fishing boats in the harbour and which was the most I had seen for ages. Normally there seems to be leisure boats,  yachts and dingys,  actually appeared to be a working enviroment in a twee town.
Water roared under the little bridge just passed the post office. Rain rain.
We walked the front passed pirate theme businesses.  Up to Penzance high street.
Dripping we popped into Wetherspoons and had a coffee. We did not care about what folk thought,  we stripped our wet gear off and sat by the door supping one then two decent coffees with about six sachets of sugar in each coffee.
It was great to be in the dry.
After debating our options it was obvious that the tent was not an option so I phoned the nearby YMCA backpackers hostel. All ok we trekked there in the rain. We needed to dry out.
The hostel was nearly empty so we had a room to ourselves. It was a good thing as emptying our packs we discovered that our sleeping bags were damp. Our clothing and gear was spread out all over to dry. Luckily we have inner plastic bags as water had penetrated deep beyond our pack covers and kept water at bay,  but small holes in the sleeping bag cover had allowed entry.
It was still raining on going to bed about 9 and was driven against the window by strong wind.  So pleased to be inside.