Travel Reference
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weren'tlookingbeforeremovingasmallcrystalearstudfromhisear.Hethentookmyarm
and placed the crystal gently in the palm of my hand. 'It will bring you good luck.'
I didn't really know what to say. It was the first time I had been given jewellery from
anyone, and I didn't imagine that I would lose my jewellery virginity to a young man in a
pub in deepest Cornwall. There was something very poignant about it, which I liked - in a
non-gay way.
'You should go with them, Eric,' one of the other men shouted. 'Go on, what's stopping
you? You haven't got a job or any other commitments. You should do it.'
A look of enlightenment passed over Eric's face and we half expected him to follow us
out of the door. He paused.
'Nah,' he said. 'I've still got 'alf a pint left.'
Weweresecretlyrelieved.AsmuchaswelikedEric,wedidn'twantthetriptoturninto
a Pied Piper style affair, picking up stragglers at every village. We told him to catch us up,
andIfastenedtheearringtomyt-shirtasIhadnevergotaroundtohavingmyearspierced.
Outside the pub we met a guy clutching a huge pair of rigger boots.
'Hereyougo,lads,'saidtheman,whowethenrecognisedasbeingoneoftheothermen
at the bar. He was about 50, bald, with a big smile. 'I got these for you.'
Hehandedusthegiganticboots,thatwerecakedinconcreteandeachweighedthesame
as a wet towel. They were, however, far more appealing than the wellies.
'They're from Boomer, a friend of Steve's,' he said. 'He said he had met you in The
Wellingtonanhourago.Hedoesn'tweartheseanymoreandsaysyoucanhavethemifyou
want.'
The Wellington was the appropriately named pub we had been to first.
'Brilliant, thank you so much,' I said. 'Please pass on our thanks to Boomer and Steve.'
'Certainly. Good luck, guys,' he said.
We had acquired our third item of footwear in less than 12 hours. The generosity and
enthusiasm of the people that we had met was completely overwhelming.
I took off my welly and trainer and uncurled my toes for the first time in hours. The
wellies had been a size 6; the rigger boots were about size 14. I dropped my feet into them
effortlessly.Despitetheirsizeandweight,theyfeltluxurious.Theywerelinedwithfurand
my toes were free to roam wherever they chose. If I could have only found another eight
pairs of socks from somewhere, they would have almost fitted me. I agreed to do the first
shift in the boots and Ben wore both trainers, which were more than adequate to get us all
the way to John O'Groats
After a two hour pub break we decided to try and get a few more miles under our meta-
phorical belts. We originally had St Ives in mind as a destination for the night, but this was
nowlookingcompletelyunrealistic.StIveswas13milesawayanditwouldbedarkwithin
a few hours.
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