Molly and Ann at work

Oops, forgot to post this, but took this to celebrate Molly the Gorgeous Collie completing the South West Coast Path

This is the article we are sending in to the local & Cornish press:
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Molly the Famous Collie Completes South West Coast Path

It has taken over two years, and she had to be accompanied by her owner Ann, but Molly the Gorgeous Collie, as she is known to many on the internet, finished walking all sections of the South West Coast Path last week.

It all started off in April 2010, when Ann Armstrong who lives & works in St Ives, decided to walk the whole of the South West Coast Path with her collie Molly. Being a 630 mile walk around the coast from Minehead to Poole, she knew that she would have to do it in manageable sections and that it would take some time. Starting with a 12 mile section from Hayle to Portreath, they began the process on 28th April. Little did she know that by the end of it Molly would end up becoming famous on the internet.

Later that year Ann also joined a photo journay website called Blipfoto, but rather than join as herself she joined as Molly the Gorgeous Collie, and began posting one photo a day of Molly, with a journal from Molly about her exploits at home and on the walk. Ann (or is it Molly) didn't realise how popular this would become, and she quickly gathered a huge number of subscribers to her photo journal, who follow Molly's every move & comment back to her every day.
And so it has continued ever since as Molly and Ann continued with the mammoth task of walking the South West Coast Path, which for them comprised 60 separate walks, half of which she did with family and friends as well. Molly (through Ann) said that the easiest section was definitely around Bideford as it was mostly on the flat, with the hardest section for them being from Lulworth Cove to Worth Matravers which they undertook towards the end of the walk, and admits that they probably pushed themselves too hard and walked too far in the effort to complete the Coast Path. Despite that Ann says the hardest thing about it all was the logistics of planning 60 different walks, arranging transport to the start and from the end of each walk, and finding dog friendly B&Bs for the sections further from St Ives.

Molly and Ann finally finished the walk on 20th October, completing the last six mile stretch from Swanage to South Haven Point with a friend to celebrate with a bottle of bubbly at the end (for Ann not Molly).

Colleagues at Lanhams, St Ives Holidays where she works, made a point of congratulating them both after she completed it, having followed her avidly through the whole endeavour, taking this picture of Ann and Molly in the office to celebrate it on her next day back at work.

If anyone wants to follow Molly and her exploits with Ann, you can find her at www.Blipfoto.com/MollyCollie.

Derek Hall
Lanhams