Saltash sold out. Someone cleared the stones first.
Three weeks ago Saltash walked its five-mile boundary. The Cornish Times called it a sell-out crowd. Town crier, a vicar blessing the stones, Martin Lister leading, Rotary at the corners, cream tea at Isambard House after.
Buried in the coverage, one line: the council's service delivery team had the boundary stones maintained and accessible ahead of the walk.
That is the whole difference. In 2025 Bodmin's beat was cancelled because the route crossed private land that had gone unsafe. A man who had walked it for years, Andy Coppin, did his sixteen miles alone that May.
Bodmin had devotion. Saltash has a rota: a crew that cuts the growth off the stones, marshals at the corners, someone to file it with the paper.
I spent a fortnight trying to be that for a route. I emailed the paper twice about Liskeard's and Saltash's walks. The paper had already run the Saltash piece on 11 October, a week before my first message. The route did not need me. It needed the stones cleared.
Next walks: Liskeard every May, free, from the milestone by the Morrisons roundabout. Saltash each autumn, tickets from the Saltash Library Hub. A stranger can turn up to either.