Walking the South West Coast Path

Final North Walk: Coverack to The Lizard

2009-08-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 19th: Today was the final leg of my 630 mile mission to walk the whole of the SW coast Path - not in one go, but in stages throughout the year. I had started it on the weekend of August 8th, 2008, and committed myself to completing it within my 50th birthday year. Unusually, I had decided to walk it from both the start and the finish in opposite directions - finishing at The Lizard which is near enough halfway. Also raised some money for the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation along the way!

For my last day of walking, I had been joined by my friends Jeff and Marie Weeks and we stayed overnight at Cadgwith, a small fishing cove nr the Lizard on the Saturday. I had explained to J & M, that apart from just finishing the walk- I was also on a mission to see Dolphins, which had been noticeably absent on the previous 618 odd miles of walking. AND having just missed seeing a Cornish Chough near Lands End, and subsequently finding out a bit more about them ( they are birds!) - I knew there was a breeding pair on the Lizard somewhere - SO - that was the second mission - "Spot the Chough" Eyes would be peeled!

The first problem was to organise transport - the Bus Services were limited particularly as it was a Sunday. In the end, it was easier all round to get a Taxi from the Lizard to Coverack, our starting point and leave Jeff's car at The Lizard.

It was a relatively short stint of 10-12 miles to be walked, but with a fair few ups and downs. Jeff and Marie weren't regular walkers, but were looking forward to getting a bit of a taste of the Coast path. (Marie had packed enough goodies for an assault on Everest - but we were glad of it later!)

Meanwhile, we had had a hearty full English at the Cadgwith Cove inn which needed to be walked off. I had last ended my walk at Coverack at the Paris Hotel near the harbour on Dolor Point, so this was where we started from. It was a lovely sunny day - but forecast for a few showers later.
After a quick bladder check we set off in tandem, with Jeff setting a cracking pace at the front.

The path climbed steeply out of Coverack and then followed the cliff around to Perprean Cove and onto the rocky outcrop of Chynalls Point. It was good walking weather, not too hot but very windy. The views were good as we headed towards Black Head, with it's disused Coastguard look-out hut and then ascended steeply into Downas Valley. Our first target destination was Kennack Sands which would be about our halfway point and a good place for a coffee stop. So far, so good - after a few miles, Jeff and Marie were still blisterless, both had dodgy joints to look after - Jeff with his knee, still recuperating after keyhole surgery last year and Marie with her Netball Ankle injury!

As we approached Kennack Sands across the gorse and heather of Eastern Cliff - the clouds gathered ominously. There are two beaches at Kennack - North and South and by the time we approached the Southern beach, the one with the cafe's it was raining quite heavily. Fortunately after a nice coffee break, the rain had passed and it was onward and upward.

We soon reached a little place called Poltesco and Carlean Cove which used to have a thriving Pilchard fishery. In the 1860's some of the fish cellars were converted into a factory for producing ornamental products form the local rock, Serpentine. At one point up to 20 people were employed and products were taken by barge to ships in the bay for distribution. The old buildings are now owned by the NT.
We were now not far from Cadgwith Cove where we had stayed the previous night. As we passed around Enys Head - we met a group of 6 wild Ponies. One of them made a bee-line for us and seemed intent on following us. Marie shot off like Usain Bolt with Jeff in pursuit. I tried to halt the beast with a pat on the nose - he was just after some of the goodies in our backpacks, but we fooled him with a pincer movement in opposite directions and he lost interest.

We soon got a good view of Cadgwith Cove from an old Coastguards Watchouse at the head of the bay. It is a very picturesque village with thatched cottages and working fishing boats on the beach.

Cadgwith Cove
We were ready for another pit stop so stopped for a quick snifter at the Cadgwith Cove Hotel and sat out in the sun watching the bizarre sight of a girl with bright pink hair, tiny tight shorts and fishnet tights who was part of a group on a cycling trip! My attempts to take a sneaky photo ( just for this blog) were thwarted. Leaving Cadgwith, tucking in to Marie's sandwiches - we passed by the unusual collapsed cave known as Devil's Frying Pan with it's bridge shaped inlet and then for the next mile or so, the path was quite open - and we had clear views of the Lighthouse complex at The Lizard.

The next point of interest was Church Cove, another former Pilchard Fishery which had been converted into spectacular private dwellings with a superb setting nestled into the cove.
Around the next point was Kilcobben Cove, the dramatic setting of the Lizard Lifeboat with steep rails carrying the lifeboatmen down to the boat in carriages.

Still no signs of Dolphins or Choughs, although there had been a few false alarms with the odd distant Raven being mistaken. Choughs,are black but have distinctive red beaks and red legs and an unusual high pitched chi-ow call.

At Bass Point, where there was a large Coastguard station, it didn't look as if we had far to go - Lizard Point being just the other end of the large Housel Bay. Overlooking the bay, was the superbly situated Housel Bay Hotel which looked inviting. As we traversed across a wide open area heading towards the lighthouse complex, Marie suddenly piped up - " look - Chough's" I glanced up, expecting to see just about anything vaguely black with feathers except a Chough, but to my astonishment, 3 black birds with red beaks and legs were flying at high speed across the low cliffs below us. I grabbed my camera, but they were gone in an instant. Well, what could I say, they had made an appearance right on cue - we were only 20 minutes away from the Lizard - now, where were those Dolphins!

The next walkers we bumped into, I excitedly told them about the Choughs, but I probably just sounded like some eccentric twitcher.

We reached the edge of the lighthouse Complex and then just a bit further on around the corner we got our first glimpse of the rather shabby looking Lizard Point. Disappointingly, there was the distinctive choking smell of raw sewage pervading the area and looking down you could see the sea tinged with brown. I found it unbelievable that they could let that happen in such a landmark area - particularly on such an occasion - ie the grand finish of my walk! I would have liked to have collected a sample in Marie's tupperware sandwich container and posted it 1st class to the Head of Cornish County Council!
We reached the Point, a collection of small buldings all claiming to be the most Southerly - gift shop, cafe and National Trust office.

The walk was over - 630 miles done and dusted - photos were taken, but I was more interested in getting my laughing gear around another Cream tea. Not even the whiff of human effluent could put us off and we sat in the sun and tucked into Scones, cream and homemade meringue.

It had been a good day's walk, the promised rain never came to anything, and it was good to finish in bright sunshine. Finishing the whole thing was always going to be a bit of an anti-climax, but it was nice to have had some company at the end. All in all, I was quite Choughed!

Final North Walk: Porthleven to The Lizard

2009-08-16T04:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday July 18th: Just less than a year after starting this walk at South Haven Point Nr Poole - I now have just about 25 miles left to finish the whole of the SW Coast Path culminating at The Lizard Point.

For my final weekend of walking, on the Saturday, I would be reaching The Lizard from Porthleven and on Sunday, I would reach it from Coverack in the other direction with friends, Jeff and Marie Weeks for the final leg.

I had caught the Friday evening train down to Penzance from Exeter and bussed it to Porthleven, staying in a small B&B called Seefar overlooking the harbour. The weather was forecast to be a bit dodgy - so I didn't hang about and was back on the path just after 8.30am

True to form, it started drizzling before I had left the village with the path leaving the harbour edge past the Clock tower and alongside the seafront cottages out and up to the low cliffs beyond.

Before long I had reached the edge of the massive length of Porthleven Sands which stretched for 2.5 miles all the way to Gunwalloe Fishing Cove. The path carried on above the beach until it reached Loe Pool and Carminowe creek - Cornwall's largest natural lake which edged up to the back of Porthleven Sands. Crossing the sands, it was then a shortish walk up onto the cliffs again to then reach Gunwalloe and then up to the imposing Halzephron Cliffs. A pair of Peregrine Falcons were searching for food, hovering quite close to the cliff edge.

The next point of interest was Church Cove, with the 15th Century Gunwalloe Church nestled into the cliffs above the cove and constantly at risk from erosion. The path passed alongside a golf course before reaching another pleasant cove at Poldhu. Despite the weather - there were several families enjoying the beach and the RNLI lifeguards were in attendance.

Further on, beyond Poldhu Point there was the Marconi Monument, marking the area where the first transatlantic telegraph signals were sent across to America.

The next cove was Polurrian, a small beach resort with cafe and hotel and then at the top of the cliffs beyond an old coastguard Hut, was the large Mullion Cove Hotel looking down onto the small fishing hamlet of Mullion Cove, with Mullion itself, further inland. This small harbour has been battered by the waves over the years, and has belonged to the National Trust since 1945. Its very unspoilt as you would expect and the small cafe looked as if it hadn't changed since the 1940's. Still raining - it was a good time for a pit stop before the last 7 miles to Lizard Point.

Mullion Cove

The coastline was much more rugged now, and would remain so for the rest of the day, it was just a shame that it was so drizzly and misty. There were a series of steep descents and ascents with sheer cliff faces and small caves. At the top of the cliffs was a herd of Long Horn Cattle literally grazing over the cliff edge. Eventually after walking around the Rill Point - the various buldings at the Lizard were clearly visible and in the foreground a series of small islands and rocks which marked the well known Kynance Cove. I could also hear the Lizard - as the Lighthouse was booming out a fog horn at regular intervals. This was my first visit to this area of Cornwall and I was conscious that I wasn't seeing it at it's best. The rocks were the local Serpentine - red and green mottled in appearance interspersed with granite. The cove, also owned by the National Trust sits in a steep valley and is a fantastic setting.

Again, very unspoilt, Kynance Cove consisted of a Cafe, self catering cottages and a toilet complex which was built into the rocks and has a natural roof with flowers. Signs in the toilet, which I graced, described how it was very much a hi-tech Bio-Bubble toilet with all waste being treated and converted into clean water. The roofs of the other buildings had special solar tiles and everything possible had been done to make the whole complex as eco-friendly as possible. I will return on a
better day!
Kynance Cove

The tide was still low, so I was able to take the path at the back of the beach and then climb steeply up to the Kynance Car Park. The views back to the cove and Asparagus Island were superb as I carried on towards the Lizard.
Lizard village itself is a mile or so inland, but the Point was my destination, the most Southerly point of England and the finishing point for my walk. As I approached, it all appeared a bit scruffy. Looking downwards, I could see the remains of an old Lifeboat station and then there was a ramshackle Gift Shop and Cafe which was doing a brisk trade. It was much better inside than out and the home cooked fare looked very tempting. The decision to have a Cream tea took a millisecond and it was superb. I was due to meet my friends Jeff and Marie here - but they were running late - so agreed to catch up with them in the village pub. With some time to kill - I carried on along the path towards the large Lighthouse complex which is also a tourist attraction and then headed inland towards the village. A bit touristy as you might expect, the village was dominated by shops offering Serpentine stone products - mostly in a dark green mottled colour - mostly pretty naff.
I headed for the pub and before long Jeff and Marie turned up, having driven from Exeter. They were keen to join me for my final walk, and it was good to have their company. I had booked a couple of rooms at the Cadgwith Cove Inn which sounded an idyllic location, just a few miles from the Lizard.

Cadgwith was very picturesque and a working fishing village with the boats hauled up the beach by tractor. The Hotel wasn't the best, but it was all about location. Amazingly, Jeff spotted someone he knew walking past the hotel, in this obscure part of Cornwall and they joined us for some drinks.
We then had a great meal - fish was obviously the specialty and it didn't disappoint. Jeff and I were tempted to have a session, but with a 12 mile walk to complete the next day we erred on the cautious side. So, one more day of walking to go - from Coverack back to the Lizard from the other direction - might be tempted to have another Cream tea!

South Walk: Gillan to Coverack

2009-08-16T02:22:00.000-07:00

Gillan beach and Creek, nr Helford

Sunday July 12th: Woke up early in the strange surroundings of the caravan at Gillan - it was a beautiful morning after a horrendous night of rain - so before I tucked into breakfast I went for a wander. The estuary was looking very beautiful in the early morning light and I was looking forward to the walk to Coverack, which was only about 11 miles.

Boots were still squelchy wet but at least I had a dry pair of socks!

The path headed out towards Nare Point where there was a large manned coastal observation point. From there, it was a pleasant walk to the small seaside village of Porthallow which has now been recognised as the Official halfway point of the SW Coast path - and an attractive waymark has been erected in it's honour. Apart from that, it didn't have alot to offer. From here, there was a confusing choice of paths according to my guide book - depending on the tide level, so I played safe and stuck to the official path which headed out of the village on the road and took the inland route before dropping down steeply to Porthoustock cove which had some lovely old cottages but was somewhat spoilt by some massive industrial buildings on the beach. This whole stretch of coast has alot of quarry workings, which has meant alot of the path being diverted inland.

From Porthoustock, the path once again headed back inland towards Rosenithon. Apparently, the SW Coastpath Association are pressing for a more coastal route to be established in this area, but the occasional change of scenery is pleasant, especially on such a nice sunny day.

From Rosenthion, it headed back down to the long stony beach at Godrevy Cove and would remain a coastal path all the way to Coverack. The beach is in fact made up from alot of quarry stone waste.

The path proceeded to go straight through the old workings of Dean Quarry which didn't look as if it had been closed all that long. There were old buildings with hard hats and bits and bobs still inside - even if all the windows were smashed. There was quite a nice beach below the quarry, which had it's own Jetty.

Once that Industrial scar was passed, the path became more scenic and natural. It was mostly open low cliff walking from Lowland Point all the way to Coverack. Shortly, I reached an Information board about Lowland Point area being an important nature reserve and there was a lovely picture of 2 seals on the beach. So with seals uppermost in my mind, I found myself gazing at an odd shaped rock just off the coast. As I got nearer, I convinced myself it was a seal - and after zooming in with my camera lens, it was confirmed! The path was actually quite away from the waters edge, so I clambered across the rocks as near to the Seal as possible. It was quite amusing, because the rock was just poking out of the sea and he was perched quite precariously on top. As the sea rose, the seal would arch his body to keep himself from floating off, making him look as if he was actually surfing!

At first he was facing away from me, but I swear that he actually repositioned himself and was keeping a beady eye on me. After taking about 50 photos, I carried on and made sure that I told a few other walkers about it, as it could be easily missed. I said to one man " There's a seal on a rock a little bit further on" "What a real one" he replied!! "Of course it's a real one" ( you stupid man) - what I should have said is, " No it's a 100ft inflatable one, it's part of a new Cornish Disney Theme Park and watch out for the 6ft Remote controlled Dolphins that are leaping all over the place"

Anyway, it was the highlight of the day for me, although I've still yet to see Dolphins on this walk - and only 30 miles to go, so running out of time.

Before long, I reached the outskirts of Coverack and it was a lovely view across the bay to the small harbour at Dolor Point. Coverack is a popular resort with a lovely beach. It heavily promotes the Organic Ice Cream of Roskilly's which is made at a farm nearby in St Keverne. Of more interest, was the oddly named Paris Hotel pub which was offering a Sunday Roast Carvery, which proved impossible to resist, and I still had plenty of time to sample the Ice Cream which didn't seem anything to write a blog about in all honesty.

I had to get a bus back to Helston and then catch another to Truro, where yet again, I was able to enjoy luxury Ist class travel back to Tiverton on my pre booked £10 ticket!

One more weekend of walking left now - just 12 miles from Coverack to the Lizard in one direction and 14 miles from Porthleven to the Lizard in the other direction. My 50th birthday walk was nearing it's end!

South Walk: Falmouth to Gillans Creek, nr Helford

2009-08-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday July 11th: Travelled down to Falmouth Docks by Train, early Saturday morning. Another bargain train ticket bought online - Tiverton Parkway to Truro - FIRST CLASS for just £7!! That was actually cheaper than Second Class! The train from Tiverton was a small shuttle train - but I had to change at Plymouth and then for the first time ever, made my way to the First class carriages to find my large comfy leather seat. In my usual backpacking scruffy attire, I reclined in luxury - the rest of the carriage AND the next carriage completely empty except for little ol' me. Not only that - but I got a complimentary cup of coffee and ginger biscuit thrown in as well. You might have noticed alot of photographs accompanying this Blog for each of my walks. Well, I have to admit to having inadvertently deleted all the photos for this particular days walk - doohhhhh!! Anyway - it was a foul day - got completely soaked and didn't actually take many pictures fortunately.

The plan was to get to Coverack over the weekend, leaving me with just one days walk to my final destination, the Lizard. Helford was my original destination on the Saturday, across the Helford River by ferry from Helford Passage. In fact, I struggled to get accommodation and ended up finding someone who had a 4 berth Caravan available for B&B at a place called Gillan - by a small creek - a few miles further on from Helford.

By the time I reached Falmouth Docks by luxury train, it was starting to rain. The path went past the docks and arround Pendennis Point and along Falmouth promenade towards Swanpool Beach.

It was now raining pretty persistently - so I got my head down and upped the pace. The walking was fairly straightforward mostly along low cliffs, reaching firstly Maenporth and then onto Rosemullion Head. As I approached Helford Passage, I met a serious looking walker coming in the opposite direction. I stopped and had a quick chat - he was doing the SW Coast path, but had also walked all the way from Scotland! I wanted to question him further - but he didn't seem too inclined to stand in the pouring rain and chat, - he was camping along the way - so no surprise if he was in a bad mood.

I eventually reached the Ferry Point - for the short trip across to Helford. The Helford River is one of Cornwall's favourite tourist destinations and is a big sailing area. I wasn't seeing it at it's prime as the weather was so foul. I had passed quite alot of well known gardens along the way as well, such as Trebah and Glendurgan, owned by the NT.

At Helford, I stopped at the old Shipwright's Inn to find it closed! - so I used there undercover outdoor tables to eat my sarnies. There were a German family of 4 travelling on Tandems also sheltering from the rain.

A little further on, I passed a lovely Tea House within an old chapel, so stopped again for a cuppa and to dry out a bit. The path followed the estuary edge towards St Anthony in Meneage at the head of the Helford estuary. Gillan, my destination was just across a small creek around the head. At low tide, you could walk across, but the official SW path went down the creek to Flushing, which was a nice walk despite the weather. I saw a Curlew and various Egrets. From Flushing, the path was a bit cross country and rather vaguely signposted. When I reached Gillan, I was pretty tired and didn't have a clue where this caravan was. However, it's a very small place and as it happens, the first person I saw turned out to be the husband of the lady who I had booked through, and the caravan was in their garden.

It was still sheeting it down and I could see no way that I would get anything dry overnight.

The Caravan was very comfortable and in a secluded area of the garden. The deal was that she supplied an evening meal as well - the nearest pub was Helford. We stood in the pouring rain at the door outside the caravan as she explained that she would bring over a lasagne to the caravan at 7:00pm. That was fine by me - one of my favourites. Soaking wet boots were left under the caravan as I gingerly stepped inside trying not to make a mess. All the stuff for breakfast was laid out - bread rolls, jam etc - plus a nice bit of cake - and the best of all - a large can of lager in the fridge!

Tried to have a shower - but anyone who has caravanned will know what a palaver that is.

The Lasagne arrived - suitably waterproofed - and boy, did that go down well!

The weather proceeded to go from bad to worse as a big storm passed over - but I crashed out fairly early. The next day, I would head for Coverack and the forecast was for a bit of sun - marvellous.

North Walk: Marazion to Porthleven

2009-08-15T03:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday June 28th: It was a grey old day with rain forecast later on in the day, which was unexpected - so seeing as I hadn't brought any wet weather gear, I didn't hang about, and left Glenleigh Hotel so quickly that I managed to leave my walking pole in their porch! I would pick it up later on my way back to Penzance on the bus. The path headed out of Marazion on the main road with good views back to St Michaels Mount, before turning off back towards the coast towards Venton Farm and Trenow Cove. This stretch of the path was pretty uninspiring as I headed towards Perran Sands near the old village of Perranuthnoe. Further on the path returns to the clifftop towards Cudden Point and then round to a couple of small coves - one called Prussia Cove and also Bessy's Cove apparently named after Bessy Bussow who ran an infamous alehouse on the cliffs. I headed up a trek and found myself in the courtyard of an impressive old house with a fantastic position overlooking the sea. I was now not far from Praa Sands, a popular holiday spot with a long sandy beach and large campsite. It was a good time to stop for a quick caffeine input and then I walked the length of the beach and rejoined the path to head up back to the cliffs. The clouds had gathered, and the rain soon started - so I got my head down and ploughed on. There were some old mine workings at Trewavas Head and a dramatic cove with sheer cliffs near Tremearne, but apart from that, it was a straightforward and unremarkable walk to then reach Porthleven. I reached it in good time. My pre-booked train from Penzance wasn't until early evening, so I had plenty of time to kill.

Porthleven was a pleasant fishing village with a large harbour. It has a history of boat building including large Clippers and is also well known for some dramatic storm photographs from 1989 when waves were seen crashing over the top of the town Clock Tower. I had a wander round, and then retreated to the bus shelter as the rain came down again. Some entertainment came in the form of a group of youngsters who were hanging about the bus shelter, swearing and smoking - they looked about 12-13yrs old. One of them had a lighter and was fiddling about with it before somehow managing to spray himself with the lighter fluid and setting fire to himself! That was something to swear about - and it shook him up a bit as he flapped about trying to prevent himself becoming a walking inferno. I was ready to spring into action and fan the flames, but he put himself out without injury, apart from his pride of course, as his mates thought it was hilarious.

Porthleven Harbour

Eventually got the bus back to Marazion, picked up my pole, had some lunch and then got another bus back to Penzance.

With time still to kill - I wandered back to penzance harbour where they were still celebrating the Macey Day festival with an outdoor street market and a musical group from South America with wooden pipes and bongo drums and wailing type of vocals, very ethnic. Uneventful journey back to Devon. I was now just one day's walk away from my final destination, The Lizard, on the Minehead ie North direction of the walk!

North Walk - Lands End to Marazion

2009-08-09T03:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday June 27th: I travelled down to Penzance on the Friday night from Exeter. I had discovered some really good train ticket deals on this route - £6 each way from Exeter to Penzance - a bargain. Stayed at the Swordfish Inn at Newlyn on Friday night, where there was live music and the pub was pretty packed, but good clean room for the price. Popped into the Chippie next door where there was a massive chap in a Spurs Shirt. "Didn't expect to find a Yiddo in this far corner of Cornwall" I said rather bravely! He could have thought I was a Gooner and shoved a Cod and chips up my bottom, but fortunately we ended up having a good long chat about 'arry and who might come and go pre-season.

The plan on the Saturday was to catch the early bus to Lands End. I thought I might have to leave without the obligatory bacon and Egg breakfast fest, due to the early bus time - but they had a system where you left a breakfast menu card outside your room indicating what you wanted to eat, and when I explained my predicament to the Landlord - he said, just put a note saying what time you want your brekkie - and no problem. That worked - So I was able to catch the excellent no 300 open top bus which circulates in each direction from Lands End - every day during the Season and was at Land End for 9:15am.

As I left the bus - I spotted another walker who was obviously on a mission - and he disppeared in the direction of Penzance from the car park whilst I headed for the Lands End point where I had ended my walk previously. I thought I would catch up with him later

It was a beautiful day which I was glad of, as this stretch of the coast path was going to be one of the most spectacular of the whole path. I had walked part of it before from Minack a few years previously.

There was a group of Cyclists getting prepared for what was no doubt a trip to John O'Groats, but my destination was Penzance, although I was staying at Marazion that night, so legs willing - I might do the extra few miles.

I could see alot of evidence of path erosion at Lands End - due to the popularity and mass tourism, but they had roped off alot of the old paths to allow them to recover. The seascape around Lands End is quite spectacular, if you can ignore the theme park touristy environment around you. There are a series of rocks and small islets and the sea is always in a turmoil. I left the Hotel complex and headed off from Dr Johnson's Head towards Nanjizal bay. The sea was a gorgeous colour and the views just got better and better as I headed in a southerly direction towards Gwennap Head from where I would get my first glimpse of my very final destination - the Lizard! - I would have turned the corner so to speak. For a few miles - I could look back and still see the lands End complex, but after Gwennap Head, it was finally out of view.

At Gwennap - there was a large Coastwatch Station - and I gave the coastguard a friendly wave. It must be a lonely job manning these stations - and many of them are just volunteers, but they do a vital job, not only looking out for ships in trouble - but also logging the likes of myself who might inadvertently go for a nosedive! The rock formations all along this part of the coast were very interesting, with lots of cave formations and strange shaped rocks.
A little further on, I reached a small cove called Porthgwarra where there was a welcome shop. From there the path went up to a high level cliff before dropping down into the beautiful sandy Porthchapel beach. The sea looked quite inviting and it made me think that during all the miles I had walked, I had yet to stop and have a swim! I would be reminded of that later on in the day. From here it was a short hop to the famous Minack Theatre situated at a high vantage point just before Portcurno Beach. The path went right through the Car Park to this popular tourist destination. I had visited Minack before and it has an interesting history for what must be the most spectacular theatre destinations in the country. Built into the rocks within what was a natural amphitheatre, the Theatre was the brainchild of Miss Rowena Cade in the 1930's who helped build it initially for performances to friends and family. The backdrop to the stage is the sea and rocks with Logan Rock looming in the distance. If the weather is kind - it must make for a fantastic evening's entertainment - and there are professional performances all throughout the summer.

Porthcurno Beach

From Minack - it was a very steep climb down to Porthcurno beach where the sea looked Mediterranean in colour. It is one of Cornwall's most beautiful coves and from here it was another 12 miles to Penzance . The path climbed steadily up to the cliff path. I made the diversion out to Logans Rock point from where you got a great view of the Minack Theatre across the bay.

It was at about this point, that I kept meeting running athletes head on. There was obviously some sort of race on, and on the narrow rocky path, it was sometimes difficult to dive out of the way. From then on, they just kept coming all day, men, women - all ages and when I eventually enquired what the race was - a sweaty lady told me that they were running from the Lizard to Lands End!! - just the 45 miles - they had started at 6:00am, the slackers. It is an endurance race that has been staged for the last 3 years apparently - and has raised quite alot of money for charity. I decided that there was no way that I could moan or complain about sore feet at the end of the day - in comparison to that lot of nutters.

A little further on, I reached the small fishing cove of Penberth, where there were several day ramblers having a rest. I headed on and a couple of miles further on, I was stopped by someone who very kindly pointed out that there were some basking sharks clearly visible off Boscawen point. When I reached it - I could see a small boat not far out to see full of people looking at something - but as I made my way closer to the cliff edge, I could clearly see the fins of several sharks swimming quite close to the shore. The cliffs here were tall and steep, so I had a great vantage point looking down on them and with my zoom lens - I could see them with their mouths agape filtering the plankton. they didn't seem as large as I thought - but it was difficult to tell from distance. So that was a first for me, but still no signs of dolphins on this walk! After taking about 50 photos most of which would be no good - I carried on. Someone else told me that there were some basking sharks more close to shore at Lamorna Cove. A little later, as I once again nearly fell into the undergrowth avoiding more runners, I met Sue Robinson. Enjoying the beautiful scenery, Sue, a beauty therapist, had travelled up from Dorset early that morning for a day out and was going to drive to Sennen Cove later on. We walked together for a bit and shared a Cream tea at Lamorna Cove before I headed off for the last stint of the day. Lamorna had a harbour and was previously a busy area for quarrying as you could see from the scarred cliffs. However, there was no sign of any more sharks.

By now - time was going on, so I needed to get a move on. There were still plenty of endurance athletes struggling on. In fact I met one guy laid out by the side of the path under a bush struggling with cramp. I gave him a hand - but he admitted he didn't feel well! Having run 30 miles along a coast path on a hot day, it was hardly surprising. Unfortunately - he had the hardest part of the run still to go.
I was now not far from the tourist hotspot of Mousehole. Suddenly, I rounded a corner and there was the guy who had left the bus at Lands End ahead of me. I stopped and had a chat with him, a retired Geordie, he had been stopping and having a swim at various beaches, which is "what I do" he exclaimed. He was camping at Praa Sands, which was quite a few miles East of Penzance. Obviously quite a fit guy for his age - he admitted that he was ready to stop. I carried on - but then he caught up with me just outside Mousehole and we walked together for a while. By this time, my ankle was giving me quite a bit of jip - so my pace was pretty slow. Geordie boy stopped at Mousehole - he was going to buy a Guardian and have a sit down for awhile! I reckon he would catch the bus from there. Mousehole is a lovely old fishing harbour, mostly a tourist spot now with an interesting history.
Prononuced Mow-zell, it is named after a cave on St Clements isle at the mouth of the harbour where apparently, a hermit once lived. Long ago, Mousehole achieved fame when it was the landing place of the Knights of St John returning back from the Holy Land. From Mousehole - the path followed the road to Newlyn along a new cycle track at the back of the rocky beach.

St Michaels Mount across the other side of the Bay dominated the skyline - and I could see how far I was going to have to walk to Marazion around the edge of Penzance. Newlyn has Cornwall's largest fishing fleets and the massive harbour dominates the place. Apart from a few small shops and the pubs, there is little else to see. I popped back in to the Swordfish for a quick pint as I was passing. From Newlyn, it was a promenade walk all the way to Penzance.

On the train journey up from Exeter, I had listened to some girl students talking about the Mazey Day festival going on in Penzance that weekend. It is the equivalent of Carnival weekend - with colourful parades, street markets and general festivity. As I approached from Newlyn along the road - I could see lots of colourful flags and banners and by this time it was early evening, so people were streeming away from the centre as I came plodding through, having missed the party! There was a large fairground set up and one of the pubs had live music set up outside - so it was all pretty lively.
If I had wanted to catch a bus to Marazion, I would have been out of luck, so although I was struggling a bit - the path to Marazion was level all the way along St Michaels Way - a new waterfront cycle path. The track followed across the back of the long beach which stretched for 2 miles between the outskirts of Penzance and Marazion. St Michaels Mount got larger and larger as I hobbled along. Marazion is thought to be one of Cornwall's oldest settlements with a history of trading in tin - which was smelted on the offshore island of St Michaels Mount. A priory of Benedictine Monks was established on the island in the 11th Century but it eventually became a private residence and is now owned by the National Trust and of course is a big draw for visitors.

You can walk across to the Island along a causeway at low tide. I had visited previously, so gave it a miss this time. I was staying at Glenleigh, where I had been before. It was nearly 8:30pm by the time I arrived. Along the way, I had put my knee bandage on, and the lovely old lady who owned Glendale went into overdrive when she saw me - thinking that I had had some sort of accident - "Oh you poor dear" etc etc. Quick shower and then I made it over to The Fire Engine pub in time. Food was pretty bland and certainly not freshly prepared, but welcome all the same. 22 Miles walked today - one of my longest stints - and one of the most memorable.

South Walk: Portloe to Falmouth

2009-07-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday 7th June: Left Portloe with dry boots, straight out of the B&B boiler Room. It was a dry morning but dullish. Destination was Falmouth across both the Percuil River and the Fal Estuary which would involve 2 Ferries at the end of the day.

The first landmark was Nare Head. It was a pleasant walk which included passing a large property known as Broom Parc where the drama "The Camomile Lawn" was filmed. If I remember correctly, it involved scantily clad if not naked ladies cavorting about on their lawn! It was certainly a superb location for such antics and is now an up market B&B owned by the National Trust. As I approached Nare Head, the heavens opened and I got a good soaking, but it soon cleared. However, the views from the Head weren't as good as they could have been. The path descended towards Gerrans Bay and the long stretch of sand of Carne beach. This was dominated by the well positioned Nare Head Hotel - which I had been to before for an over priced Cappuccino, so didn't bother on this occasion. The path passed behind the hotel and on to Pendower Beach where there was also a Hotel. My first coffee stop would be the village of Portscatho which was 3-4 miles further on.

On the way - I met Bruce, who you might guess was Australian! Obviously on a long hike - it turned out he was walking pretty much the whole path in one go on his own. He'd planned it all from Oz - having had a taster of the path on a previous visit and pre booked all the B&B's en route. He was thoroughly enjoying the experience, having thought that he might get bored walking day after day, in fact it was far from the case.

I soon reached Portscatho. This former fishing village is now a small resort. It didn't look all that special on this drizzly Sunday, but the local pub was drumming up business with a special Sunday BBQ in the road which on another occasion, I might have taken advantage of! However - I restricted my intake to a quick pint and cracked on towards the well known landmark, St Anthony's Head at the mouth of the massive inlet known as Carricks Road with Pendennis Point and Falmouth across the other side. The walk was fairly flat across low cliffs as the head loomed ever nearer. I didn't hang about, as I was keen to catch the Ferries reasonably early in order to get back to Truro for my pre-booked train and wasn't sure how much hanging about I would have to do to catch the ferries.

The main vantage point at St Anthony's Head is dominated by the large battery and surrounding old military buildings. The views were far reaching - and the satellite dishes at Goonhilly near my final destination, the Lizard were just about visible. Falmouth loomed across the water.

The path dropped down through some woods to the Lighthouse and then from there it was a lovely walk around the head towards Amsterdam Point and around into a small inlet at a place called Place!

It descended through some more woods until you reached a delightful old Church - St Anthony's of Roseland - and then followed a lane down towards a boat landing point where you suddenly reach the magnificent Place House - an enormous old Manor House with wide lawns which swept down towards the estuary. Formerly a Hotel, it is once again in private ownership.

This was the first Ferry point from where you would be taken to St Mawes. There were two pick up points depending on the tide. A couple of people were messing about on a boat - so as no-one else was there waiting for a ferry - I asked them where it was picking up from. " You need to walk further on" they said "because of the tide" - so I did as I was told and 10 minutes later I watched the Ferry pick up and leave from the boat landing where I had just been! Fortunately the Ferryman saw my predicament and shouted out that he would be back in 10 mins - so I wandered back, and before long there were several of us waiting. It had turned out to be a nice day - and plenty of people were taking advantage of the beautiful location.

It was a quick ride to St Mawes and I literally stepped off one Ferry and straight on to another much larger craft for the longer trip across to Falmouth. It really is a massive estuary. St Mawes looked a pleasant place and had a spectacular Castle dominating the estuary edge.

I was in good time as I reached Falmouth. This was my first visit to one of Cornwall's largest towns and the Docks had obviously had alot of development dominated by the large National Maritime Museum surrounded by a shopping and leisure area. I carried on round the path which would skirt the edge of the Docks, however I quickly reached the Train station at Falmouth Docks - which was the end of the line for the train from Truro. I had an hour to kill before my connection - so wandered on up the hill towards Pendennis Point from where you got a birds eye view of the massive dry docks.

Another few miles under the belt - I would return here in a few weeks to head for Helford.

South Walk: Mevagissey to Portloe

2009-07-05T01:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday June 6th: Back down to South Cornwall this weekend - caught the early train to St Austell and hopped on a bus to Mevagissey arriving about 9:30 and just when the rain started! Took the opportunity for some Bacon and Egg and a caffeine injection before hitting the path. Last time I was here - it was a sunny Sunday afternoon and Mike Ricketts and I arrived from Charlestown, and the harbour was packed. On a wet Saturday morning, it was mostly local fisherman who were going about their business.

The path left Mevagissey on the road before heading out towards Chapel Point at the southern end of Mevagissey Bay.

Along the way, on the cliffs I spotted a carcass of what must have been a whale washed up on the rocks. Seagulls were tucking into the masses of blubber which were left - I guess it must have been there awhile.

By now, the rain had stopped - but it was a grey old day - and the coast was pretty unspectacular compared to other parts of Cornwall.

The next destination was Gorran Haven, a small picturesque old fishing village with a nice sandy beach, popular with tourists - but it was deserted today. There was a small church in the narrow streets which proved to be a useful place to change back into wet weather gear as the heavens opened again.

I headed out of Gorran towards Dodman Point - one of the highest landmarks along this stretch of coast - it had a massive stone cross at the top - and for the first time, through the gloom I could just make out The Lizard - my very final destination on this whole escapade.

The path descended steeply down to Hemmick beach - a very secluded spot with just one lovely stone cottage right behind the cove - the perfect idyllic hideaway. Further on, I could see a Castle in the distance. I remembered this from a previous trip to Cornwall - it was Caerhays Castle at Porthluney Cove - and even in the wet looked impressive, especially with a herd of Longhorn Cattle in the grounds!

A couple of miles further on were the old fishing villages of East and West Portholland - 2 coves joined at low tide by a large expanse of sand .

The 2 hamlets are very unspoilt with just a Post Office between them - and most of the residences belong to the Caerhays Castle estate who have maintained the area as a working farm community.

By this time - it was early afternoon - and I was soaking wet. I hadn't booked a B&B as I was unsure whether I would carry on to Portscatho or call it a day at Portloe. Apart from a few expensive hotels - there wasn't much accommodation imbetween.

So when I squelched into Portloe, a few miles further on - I had had enough for the day and started to look around for accommodation. The local pub - The Ship Inn looked inviting - so I woke up the landlord and squelched up to view the room in my soaking wet socks. He was a bit pricey - but kindly recommended another place up the road - there were only 2 B&B's in the place apparently. He had a fantastic massive Ebony elephant in the pub, from Sri Lanka - about 2ft tall - I considered trying to buy it off him!

Successfuly booked into Carradale B&B - nice people - and then wandered back to Portloe harbour - it was a very scenic small harbour dominated by the well known and VERY pricey Lugger Hotel. I felt too underdressed to bother going in for a cup of tea - and anyway - the sun had come out by this time - and there were loads of good photo opportunities.

Apparently, Portloe was where they filmed the rather odd TV programme with Dawn French called Wild West - she was an eccentric inbred shopkeeper if I recall.

The evening was spent at The Ship inn - which was very busy - had to wait quite awhile for a table -but the food was OK. When I got back to the B&B - the owner had put my soaking wet boots in the boiler room to dry out - I crashed out and after a snifter too many - also needed drying out!

South Walk: Pendeen to Lands End

2009-06-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday May 24th : Breakfast at The Glenleigh Hotel in Marazion provided some amusement. This rather genteel family hotel is rather "old school" so to speak. The, shall we say, mature waitress whose probably been there since 1950 was a little on the deaf side - and unfortunately, so was one of the guests, so one conversation went...
Waitress: " Would you like brown or white toast?"
Deaf Guest: "Tea please"

I made a quick exit - the plan originally had been to try and catch the bus back up to Pendeen, but I would have had to curtail breakfast, so I drove back up there and re-joined the path at Pendeen Watch. It was about 9:30am - and I kept an eye out for Ann and Tara who I had met the day previous, and who were going to walk to Porthcurno from Pendeen. It was a lovely day again, and the sea looked superb. My ankle was really bothering me - so progress was a bit slow and painful.

Almost immediately, I was faced with the siight of a large old mine - Levant, which has been restored. Further inland, is the well known Geevor Tin Mine, which is now a Museum and popular tourist spot. I had visited it previously, and it was a fascinating insight into the Cornish Mining industry. Apparently, the Levant mine had tunnels which went out under the sea for over a mile - and workers could hear the sea crashing above them.

Once past all the mine workings - the next point of interest was Cape Cornwall which soon came into view and was approached through a lovely valley. This landmark is the second most westerly point in England and is a great vantage point. The coast path takes you straight past it - but it is worth the diversion to climb up to the top of the headland where there is an old chimney taken from an old Cornish Mine. Unfortunately it was covered in scaffolding, due to structural problems. At the foot of the headland were some interesting buildings including a Chapel, but at the top, there were fantastic views in both directions and the lighthouse at Lands End was clearly visible

From Cape Cornwall - the views were dominated by Lands End ahead and the various rocky islands off the coast. Most prominent was the Brisons Rocks which have put paid to many a ship in the past. Apparently - the locals refer to the rocks as "Charles de Gaulle lying in the bath" due to nose and stomach shaped rocks. Another series of rocks which were also prominent were Longships with it's tall thin lighthouse sticking up proudly - and it did occur to me, that perhaps the younger generation of locals might be tempted to rename them as "Sylvio Berlusconi in the Bath" !

Soon I was approaching the glorious sands of Whitesand Bay and Sennen. The sea was a beautiful sight rolling into this bay with various breaking points. It was on this stretch of the path that I was accosted by a gentleman who suddenly said " You just missed a Chough singing at you" Well as it happened, I had just heard an unusual bird song - and apparently it had been a Chough. The Chough is known as the Cornwall Chough - but in fact has been mostly absent from Cornwall for many years.

There is an ongoing project to re-introduce it, and there are now two breeding pairs in Cornwall. Black with some iridescent plumage and bright red beak and legs - it should be quite distinctive - so my eyes are now peeled. There is a breeding pair at the Lizard - so hopefully they will sing for me on my arrival!
Sennen Cove at the far end of Whitesand Bay was packed with day trippers enjoying the beach and sea. It's a dangerous place to swim - so lifeguards were out in force - but it's a popular place, rightly so. Briefly, Lands End has disappeared from view as there is the headland of the Irish Lady with it's coatguard lookout imbetween. I ignored the temptaion of the numerous Sennen Cove tea houses and climbed out of Sennen towards the headland and then towards Lands End itself.

Of course, Lands End itself has been touristified for the mass moron market - and Northeners in their thousands descend en masse to stuff a pasty down their throats and have their picture taken at the "First and Last" Gift Shop and visit the Dr Who Adventure centre . Not many will bother to walk very far in either direction - but it is the seascape which is most impressive and the noticeable difference in the sea around the area which seemed to be in constant turmoil.

Lands End was my final destination for the day. It had been a lovely days walk - one which I had done before - but still spectacular.
I was heading for Thurlestone that evening to spend the Bank Holiday Monday with the parents. During the Summer - there is an excellent Bus Service which goes in both directions from Lands End on a circular loop throughout the day - the No 300 - open top as well if you can brave it. You just have to make sure that you get on the right one! Mine was 30 minutes late!

North Walk: St Ives to Pendeen Watch

2009-05-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

Porthmear beach, The Tate and St Ives Head

Saturday May 23rd: Only just got the car parked in St Ives - with the added bonus that the ticket machine wasn't working! - left a note in the windscreen just in case. It was going to be a nice day - but started off a bit dull. Made my way back to the harbour and then found the small path around the museum which went out to St Ives Head. St Ives is quite disorientating with it's narrow alleys and back streets - and you often can't see exactly where you are, with no clear view out to the head. At the head, also known as The Island, there is a large grassy area and St Nicholas Chapel sits at the top. The path drops down onto the small beach area of Porthgwidden which had a bulldozer piling all the sand up at the back of the beach for some reason. Next was St Ives main beach , Porthmear with the Tate Gallery just behind. At the end of the beach, the path finally left St Ives for good and slowly climbed up to the cliffs.

The destination for the day was Pendeen Watch - some 13 miles or so under normal circumstances, but there were two large diversions inland due to sections of the path having been washed away. You might recall that 3 people lost their lives recently when their car was caught in a torrent of water after horrendous storms. That tragedy occurred along this stretch of coast and seven footbridges were washed away as a result of the abnormal rainfall, leaving the path inaccessible.

I have walked part of this section before - and it is spectacular, so it was disappointing to have to miss part of it, the only benefit being that the diversion now went right past a rather good pub!

As I left St Ives - I could see several walkers ahead of me - all on a long days walking by the look of them. I seemed to be aching all over and crawled along - it was going to be a long day!

For a while, I followed a couple of ladies and then eventually caught up with them - A mother and daughter, they were on a 3 day walking holiday from St Ives to Penzance and were also headed for Pendeen Watch. We watched a Kestrel quite close to the path who was obviously well used to the stream of walkers passing by. I headed off and said " see you later" as I was sure we would bump into each other again.

It was now bright and sunny, and the sea and sandy coves looked beautiful. It wasn't long before I reached the first path diversion, just before Carn Naun Point and the path headed inland skirting around farmland and then back past Treveal before re-joining the coast path the other side of the point. The Carracks rocky islands were in full view and are sometimes home to Seals. Ahead was Zennor Head after which the path would again be diverted. I very nearly took the wrong path, but there were plenty of other walkers coming in the opposite direction and on a different path to me - so I soon realised my mistake. From the Head - you could glimpse the lighthouse at Pendeen Watch in the distance - it looked a long way!

The path naturally headed inland and then the second diversion took it even further inland into the village of Zennor. The Tinners Arms at Zennor was an ideal lunchtime stop. I was joined by Ann and her daughter, Tara, who I had bumped into earlier and we ended up walking together for the rest of the day. From Cambridge, they were good company and quite obviously keen walkers. On an earlier walking holiday in Cornwall, they had walked from Westward Ho to Padstow which is about 80 miles and only the previous weekend had done a 26 mile sponsored walk!

We left the pub together and headed up the road on the inland diversion. It was reasonably well signposted and mostly though farmers fields. We reached the Gurnard Head Hotel where there was the option to walk down to Gurnard's Head itself, but as the coast path was closed either side of it, we decided to carry on and eventually rejoined the path at Porthmear Cove. The diversion hadn't been as long as we had thought but we had missed a fine part of the coast path.

Glad to be back at the coast we pressed on with Pendeen Watch lighthouse in our sights. We stopped to admire the views at the high vantage point near Bosigran cliffs where the sheer vertical drops to the sea attract alot of rock climbers apparently. We bumped into a Dutch couple of fairly advanced years who were on a weeks walking holiday and heading for Penzance. After a very British conversation about the weather - we left them to their own pace - they were staying at the same B&B as Ann and Tara - so they could compare notes later!

The next few miles were quite difficult walking - very rocky path and interspersed with the odd boggy area. The path was at high level so there were good views in both directions and just before Pendeen we came to Portheras Cove which looked very inviting for a quick dip. It was the first decent bit of sand that we had seen all day since leaving St Ives. Eventually we found ourselves at the car park behind the entrance to the lighthouse. It was built in 1900, as a result of so many ships and lives having been lost on this rugged stretch of coast. The days walk was over - we headed inland to the village of Pendeen itself. Ann and Tara went off to find their B&B and I headed for the bus stop. We would hopefully meet up on the path the next day.
I now had to find myself some accommodation and get back to St Ives for my car. Phoned a couple of places nearby but no luck. Once back at the car and after examining the bus timetables, I came up with a cunning plan to stay the night at Penzance, and then get the early bus back to Pendeen in the morning. The only trouble was - Penzance was FULL. Hoteliers were literally putting up NO VACANCIES signs as I drove past and I found myself crawling along the back streets with several other cars - all of us looking for VACANCIES signs. In the end, I phoned a couple of places in Marazion which is further down the coast near St Michaels Mount. They both said "try the Glenleigh" which turned out to be a lovely old place in the main street which used to be maternity home. It was about 8:15pm by the time I arrived - so I was tired and hungry, but fortunately there was a good pub just across the road within limping distance!

North Walk: Hayle to St Ives

2009-05-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

Friday 22nd May: It's May Bank Holiday and I managed to escape from work early to travel down to the St Ives area. On my last visit on the North walk - I ended a weeks walking in a rush to catch a bus at Hayle and managed to miss the proper path into Hayle. I wanted to reach Lands End this weekend, so the plan was to get from Hayle to St Ives tonight - reach Pendeen Watch by the end of Saturday, and then Lands End on Sunday.

Unfortunately, I hadn't got round to finding anywhere to stay, which was a bit daft, being that it was Bank Holiday - but I knew I would find places. A quick phonecall to St Ives TI on the way down was met with some negativity - " St Ives is filling up - it's Bank Holiday" - that's why I'm ringing you, I replied!
Anyway - I found a place in Carbis Bay which is between Hayle and St Ives and on the bus route if needed. By the time I got there it was 5.30pm so I explained that I was going to dash out, get the bus to Hayle and then walk to St Ives. As I was getting ready - her husband knocked on the door and very kindly offered to give me a lift, so that was a good start to the weekend. He was all excited, as he had just bought his neighbours motorboat and was taking it on it's maiden voyage that weekend!
St Ives Bay looking back to Godrevy

Dropped off in Hayle, I had to find my way back to the point in the dunes behind St Ives Bay where I had strayed off the path. The beach here just seems to go on forever and looked particularly beautiful in the late afternoon sun. As you reach the mouth of the estuary, you pass a whole lot of superbly positioned chalets - some of which looked like permanent homes. there is no feery across the estuary here - so you have to walk all the way into Hayle and around the estuary to the small village of Lelant. Hayle was once the site of the largest engineering works in the SouthWest - Harvey's, but it eventually suffered from the decline in mining.
Alot of the walk to Lelant was on the main road and I then had to get across the Golf course to pick up the path along the railway - one of the most scenic rail routes in England. I took a bit of wrong path and ended up popping up right behind a green just as a trio of golfers were chipping onto it. They weren't that impressed - but I eventually was able to ask them the quickest route back to the path.
Carbis Bay was reached and the path passed behind it and then rose up again to the railway and a small footbridge before heading down towards Porthminster. By this time, it was well into Friday night and the various bars and cafe's were full of early bank holiday visitors and after work drinkers. St Ives was just beyond Portminster, I have visited St Ives before - it is another of Cornwall's gems. I wandered further along through the harbour and out to St Ives head. I wanted to end the evening's walk at the far end of St Ives and also find a suitable car park to leave my car the following day.
I found a packed car park at Porthmear beach, but the attendant kindly recommended another one near the Tate - parking is at a premium in St Ives - I would have to be early!

I was ready to get back to the B&B - couldn't find the bus stop - so ended up walking - quite knackered by the time I got back at about 10.00pm - and somehow I had managed to pass all the St Ives watering holes without visiting any of them!

South Walk: Charlestown to Mevagissey

2009-05-31T06:12:00.000-07:00

Sunday May 10th: Woke up to a beautiful morning in Charlestown - Michael had slept particularly well having invested in a pair of Ear Plugs as protection against my snoring! Outrageous!

Having arrived to a cloudy and grey Charlestown the previous afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the morning sun to get some photos of the tall ships in the harbour before breakfast. One of the ships had left the harbour and was moored in the Bay and it all made for some scenic pics.

Breakfast was top notch - having joked with the owner the day before, about the cafe which only served ONE scone for their Cream tea - she proceeded to offer us TWO fried Eggs with our Full English breakfast!
We got off smartish - it wasn't going to be a long walk to Mevagissey - but the guide book stressed how strenuous it was!
Firstly we had to go inland due to to cliff falls near Charlestown and then doubled back to the coast path through a new housing estate. It was suprising how much property there was around Charlestown, but the village itself is unspoilt. We walked through an area known as Duporth before reaching the deserted beach of Porthpean. The next landmark was going to be Blacks Head and ahead of us was a succession of ascents and descents through Silvermine Point and the woods at Ropehaven. The views were good in places, but the path was quite overgrown and there was no shortage of stinging nettles! By this point Mike was suffering quite badly from his Hay Fever, and proceeded to sniffle and sneeze all day long like a Mexican Pig farmer. I was sure that smearing some of my Tiger Balm around his nostrils would do the trick, but he was having none of it.

As we approached Blacks Head, I was astonished to see a Deer right on the path ahead of me. Of course, before I could say anything, Mike snuffled along and scared it off into the thick cliff undergrowth. Not sure that he saw it - or even believed that I had seen it!

The next strange animal that we met was Sid the Bear! Sid, complete with plastic raincoat was walking the whole of the SW Coast path in one go with Nifty Nev and raising money for a childrens charity in Birmingham. Nev, who must be knocking on 65-70 proved to be a veteran runner and long distance cyclist who had completed all sorts of marathon trips - but by Doctors orders was now walking with his companion bear, Sid. Following along by road was his wife in their Camper Van - he was quite a character.

We walked out to the headland at Black Head where there were impressive views in both directions. We could just make out Mevagissey in the distance and the long beach at Pentewan was just a mile or two away. Before that was some pleasant walking with plenty more ups and downs. We passed around the point at Drennick before passing through the small cove near Hallane and then onto the village of Pentewan which had the remains of an old working harbour, but was primarily known for it's long and beautiful sandy beach with adjacent holiday chalets. We stopped for a quick pitstop at The Ship Inn. Guess what, Mike got his sandwiches out again - until he spotted a sign stating the bl*****g obvious. The carvery looked tempting, and a Jazz band was setting up in the Beer Garden, but we weren't hanging about and the path left Pentewan on the road out of the village before joining the cliff path and a steep climb up to Penare Point. Before that we had a quick diversion to the remains of Portgiskey, a small cove adjoining Pentewan which once had a fishing community with cellars and a quay all now in ruins.

It wasn't far now to Mevagissey which was bustling with day trippers. Like Polperro, Mevagissey is one of Cornwall's Tourist hotspots but is also still very much a working port and one of Cornwall's main fishing centres. We had a wander around the backstreets, managed to find a pub showing a footie match albeit using some dodgy Esatern European satellite station, and then caught the bus back to St Austell and onto Charlestown. There was an amusing cameo on the bus journey. A couple who had been bickering at the bus stop in Mevagissey asked the driver if he went to Pentewan. "Yes, I do" he says. We all get on and off he goes. As we passed Pentewan and they remained glued to their seats, it did occur to me that perhaps I should query whether they had wanted to get off - but then I thought I would mind my own business. A couple of miles down the road, the amply proportioned and rather fierce looking lady suddenly explodes out of her seat and descends on the hapless driver with hubby trailing sheepishly in her wake. " YOU SAID YOU STOPPED AT PENTEWAN" she bawled. "Well, I do if someone rings the Bell!" was the reply. " I DON'T LIKE BEING LIED TO" shouted Mrs Angry " IF YOU SAY YOU STOP AT PENTEWAN, THEN YOU STOP AT PENTEWAN" "Here in Cornwall, we stops when peoples rings the bell my luvver" Incandescent with rage she and hubby wobbled off the bus in the middle of Nowheresville - it was all going to be Hubby's fault, I could see that, in fact if I was him, I would have jumped back on the bus and done a runner.

Back in Charlestown, there was still time to catch a bit of Chelsea v Arsenal at the Rashleigh Arms and for Mike to sneeze all over everyone before we headed back to Uffculme. A successful weekend - no knee dramas - and when we got back - the F1 highlights from Barcelona was just about to start!

South Walk: Fowey to Charlestown

2009-05-18T22:34:00.004-07:00

Saturday May 9th: I have been joined by my old mate Michael Ricketts, still in therapy after Barcelona dumped his beloved Chelsea out of the Champions League. We were planning to get to Mevagissey via a stopover in Charlestown. All precautions were taken to prevent any recurrence of the Ricketts F1 knee ( It was the Barcelona Grand Prix on Sunday!) - including a special below the knee strap and tailored itinerary to avoid too many severe gradients. I packed a spare knee joint and my school dissecting kit in case any emergency surgery was required, plus a fold up shotgun if all else failed.

We left bright and early Saturday morning - the plan was to leave the car at Par Rail station, catch the bus to Fowey, walk to Charlestown and then bus it back to Par to pick the car up.
Fowey (pronounced Foy! - you look a bit silly when you ask the bus driver for a single to Fowie, don't you Michael!) is an attractive town on the banks of the River - unspoilt by the working industrial Port and Docks which are further down the River. It exports China Clay - but the estuary was also in the news recently as an example of recessionary times. Apparently - the deep waters of the Fowey estuary are ideal for anchoring large container ships - so the number you see holed up is a reflection on the economy! We walked down to the harbour, passing a couple of cafe's wafting bacon smells - which proved too good to miss, so topped up the calories with Bacon sarnies before getting on our way. Fowey was getting ready for a busy Saturday as part of Daphne du Maurier week - which is a regular annual festival. She once lived at Menabilly Estate, just a couple of miles from Fowey - which was of course Manderley, as featured in the novel Rebecca, and Poldrimouth Cove, nearby also featured.
We walked out of Fowey on the high level esplanade with lovely views across to Polruan and down the estuary. The first point of interest was the strangely named Readymoney Cove with a small beach and welcome toilets! As we climbed back up to the cliff path - we could see the distinctive red and white Gribbin Daymark in the distance at Gribbin Head. Before that we passed through Coombe Haven with it's castle remains and Poldrimouth Bay. It was then a long steep climb up to the waymark - this was the first knee tester of the day, and Michael could test his new innovative knee strap - a below the knee black number much favoured by Hells Angels and Dominatrixes.

The views from Gribbin Head were good in both directions and we could see the Industrial harbour of Par ahead of us. The daymark was built in 1832 as an aid to vessels navigating the headland and is now owned by the National Trust. It only opens between July and September, so I was denied the pleasure of pushing Michael off the top. On the way to Par, I spotted an unusual silk nest of caterpillars much to Mike's disgust. I haven't been able to specifically identify these- but possibly some kind of Moth tent caterpillar - certainly unusual. In the excitement of this zoological find and in attempting to get a close up pic - I must have dropped my Map and coast path guide, because after passing through the quaint village and cove of Polkerris, I discovered I had lost them. That's the second map I have lost in 500 miles - particular annoying as it is a specialist coastal path map which I had sent away for. I blamed Ricketts.

Polkerris had a tempting Pub and nice beach cafe - but we carried onto Polmear at the start of Par Sands. We met another intrepid path walker who gave us a clue to where the path went - as it seemd rather confusing. In fact we still got a bit lost trying to find our way into Par itself as it is dominated by a large China Clay plant which you have to walk around. Not the most scenic of places, in fact for Cornwall, you could say that it was well below Par on the scenic front! With the guidance of another local - we eventually found ourselves passing the Welcome Inn - which was indeed welcoming! - in fact the landlady proceeded to give me a pint of lager before we had even asked for anything! I got her to put a top in it, meanwhile one of the locals had his head in his hands at the bar. She had given me his pint - and a few minutes later came out to apologise profusely and brought me a fresh pint - all much to the locals amusement. Mike proceeded to get his sandwiches out much to my discomfort - you can stretch peoples hospitality a little too far!

It was another 4-5 miles to Charlestown - and was quite cold by now. The path went alongside Par Golf course and then behind Carlyon Bay which is now the site of a massive redevlopment project called "The Beach" Once a well known resort and popular nightspot, it has been acquired by Developers Ampersand - who plan to turn it into a sustainable tourist resort with over 500 holiday homes and the usual facilities, although there has been a backlash from the locals who see it as ruining an area of natural beauty. At present it is just an eyesore.

We could now get see the large town of St Austell ahead of us - Cornwall's most populated town, which was just inland from our destination, Charlestown which was soon reached. I didn't know much about Charlestown, but it is a small village with an unspoilt port owned by The Square Sail Shipping Company and home to an impressive display of historic ships. It has a history of being used as a film location including the Onedin Line of course, Poldark and The Three Musketeers.

Meanwhile, the 2 Musketeers were more interested in finding somewehere to stuff ourselves with a Cornish Cream tea. We settled ourselves down in a very smart looking establishment, only to find that they only offered ONE scone with their cream tea and at £4.95 they were certainly taking the "Michael Ricketts" We stormed out in disgust and went to the more genteel hotel on the harbour front where normality was resumed and we proceeded to struggle to eat 2 scones!

I caught the bus back to Par to get the car and on my return we booked in at the B&B which was pleasant enough despite being festooned with Bolton FC memorabilia. the evening pub crawl of Charlestown didn't take long - there was only 2 - but they both had pool tables and Sky Sports! - our kinda place - it turned out that people travelled out from St Austell to watch the footie. The day got even better when I thrashed Mike on the Pool Table - some things never change. Tomorrow we would head for Mevagissey.

South Walk: Looe to Fowey

2009-05-17T10:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday May 3rd: Woke up to a beautiful morning in Looe - so had a nice early morning pre breakfast stroll along the River. The light was beautiful, but the tide was out so it wasn't quite as scenic as it could have been. The B&B was pretty full, but then it was the May Bank Holiday. The destination for the day was either Par or Fowey and then I would get the train back to Tiverton from the main line station at Par. But the first target was the beautiful and popular village of Polperro - a real tourist hotspot. Only 5 miles from Looe and with a bus service between the two - the path was a popular and well trodden route for the tourists.

Leaving West Looe past Hannafore Point, I got a good view of Looe Island. It used to be owned by two sisters, Evelyn and Babs Atkins, but since their deaths, in 1997 and 2004 respectively, the Island has been owned by the Cornish Wildlife Trust, and you can visit by boat trip.

Passing the small bay of Portnadler - it was a very pleasant few miles to Talland Bay. There were plenty of people on the path. At one point, I passed 2 heavyweight couples, the two women struggling to make headway in nothing but slip-ons - well that's not strictly true - fortunately they did have clothes on - but no socks - their husbands were saying " only 3 miles to Polperro" Madness!

Beyond Talland Bay - I met a woman asking if I had seen a Beagle! She was worried that it would be piling into the Cafe at Talland, have a Cappuccino and dog biscuit and then leaving without paying!

Approaching Polperro, I met a massive group of about 15 ramblers all heading for Looe - it was getting a bit like Piccadilly Circus! The views of Polperro as you approached were lovely and the sailing boat in moored just outside the harbour made it even more photogenic. The path winds through the narrow streets by the harbour towards the bridge passing the well known Shell House. I stocked up on liquid refreshment and homemade fudge before carrying on out of the village by the old well known pub the Blue Peter which stands right at the mouth of the harbour.

As you climb steeply out of the small bay - you get another great view of this wonderfully unspoilt fishing village. I was pleased that it was early May, as opposed to the middle of August when I expect the place is pretty unbearable! although I'm sure the local tourist businesses don't complain.

It was another 7 miles to Fowey and according to the Guide Book - it was the second hardest stretch of the whole Coast Path. In fact, I had met another coast path walker earlier that morning who had said it was pretty tough - with a succession of steps that seemed to go on and on for ever. he was one of many South West Coast path walkers who I have met - doing the path over 6 years or so - and spending a week at a time doing a particular stretch.

As it turned out - the steps didn't seem to be as bad as I had expected and I came to the conclusion that they were probably worse going in the opposite direction. Having said that - after nearly 500 miles of the path already walked - I think I am ready for anything the path has to chuck at me!

For a while - I walked with a local man- out exercising his sheep dog - as we walked towards Pencarrow Head . He seemed quite bemused about my walk - but I thought he must have met loads of people doing similar. All the locals I saw were wearing rainwear - even though it was lovely and sunny - but apparently in this part of the South West - it virtually rains every day - so they know to expect it.

Approaching Pencarrow Head , there seemed to be some confusion about alternative routes, but the obvious one was to climb up to the rocky headland where the views were superb. From here it was a nice walk down and behind the popular beach of Great Lantic Bay. There was a couple more up and down stretches before Polruan was in sight and the mouth of the Fowey river. The path went right past the very small Coastwatch lookout and to the head of the estuary with views across to Fowey. It was then a straightforward path down to the quayside at Polruan where along with several other walkers, I waited for the Ferry across to Fowey. It was a quick trip over, and a chance to view Polruan from the water, it reminded me of Kingswear across from Dartmouth. The Ferry stopped at next to a small beach at a lower point than normal due to the tide. It was still reasonably early, so I could have pressed on to Par, but made the fatal error of going for a cup of tea and ending up with the full Cornish Cream Tea at the splendid Fowey Hotel which had commanding views across the Estuary. I made a mess up of my bus connections - had to wait 50 minutes at Fowey - missed one while scoffing scones! - then at Par station missed a train by 5 minutes and had to wait another 45 minutes - so in hindsight, I should have just carried on walking - but my feet were telling me otherwise!

It was an uneventful train journey back to Tiverton Parkway, by which time I was suitably refreshed to walk on home. Next week it's back to Fowey with walking legend Michael Ricketts!

South Walk: Portwrinkle to Looe

2009-05-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday 2nd May: May Bank Holiday and I'm off back to Portwrinkle. After much consultation with Bus Timetables, I decided to leave the car at home and make do with Public Transport.

Firstly, I had to get to the train station - get the bike out, I thought, dust it down, blow up the tyres. Well, I should have blown up the bike itself - b****y thing, tyre went down half way to the station, fortunately because it's not the first time, I left myself plenty of time to finish the journey on foot, but arrived hot and bothered - not a good start to the day.

Took the train to Plymouth and then a bus across on the Torpoint ferry ( that was a first!) and then eventually, after a 45 mnute wait and a quick bacon sarnie, another bus to Crafthole from where I could wander down to re-join the path at Portwrinkle. Despite leaving Devon in full sunshine - South Cornwall was awash in sea mist, and it didn't clear until lunchtime, which was a shame as the first part of the walk across the cliffs to Downderry was supposed to be very scenic and exhilarating even. Further on, I reached another Seaton - much smaller than it's East Devon cousin, a small sandy bay adjoining a local Nature Reserve. From here, the path heads steeply up a lane heading towards the famous Woolly Monkey Sanctuary, first established in 1964. But there was to be no monkey business for me, and the path soon diverted back through some woods heading towards Bodigga Cliff, a popular tourist spot with easy access.

A little further on, and I dropped down into the deserted holiday beach of Millendreath which used to be a Holiday village, but is now a sad concrete mess together with a massive disused warehouse cum sports Hall - it was a real blot on the path.
I headed on, my destination was Looe, although depending on the time and state of my legs, I thought I might carry on to Polperro.As I neared Looe, I kept seeing power boats whizzing about, and it turned out that it was a special competition day based in Looe which added some extra interest for the Bank holiday.
I couldn't remember having visited Looe, but recognised it when I saw it, being separated by a bridge across the river into East and West Looe. I hadn't booked any accommodation, but the gentleman at the TI office was most helpful and I ended up finding a small B&B on the road out of West Looe near Hannafore. I thought afterwards, that I could have headed on to Polperro, but decided to spend a bit of time in Looe instead. For some reason, I had felt tired out all day, but I hadn't walked all that far. Looe has quite a bit of character and a scenic harbour with plenty of bird life up the River.
I didn't have to walk far for a meal out, the pub right near the B&B turned out to be an excellent choice - Tom Sawyer's Tavern gets my recommendation. The next day I would head for Fowey.

South Walk: Cremyll to Portwrinkle

2009-05-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday 12th April: It was another beautiful morning in Cremyll, where I was staying at the Edgcumbe Arms. After the usual Bacon and Egg energy boost, I started on the path for the walk to Portwrinkle -which was about 13 miles away. The pub was literally on the path, being right next to the Ferry Point which was also a Bus stop, so it was ideal and I would get the bus back later that afternoon.

The path immediately entered the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park with superb views of the main house at the top of a tree lined grassy hill. It then went through the Orangery set in beautiful gardens at their best in the early morning sun, and then an ornamental lake, before eventually entering a woodland and meandered at high level with views across the Sound. The woodland area and gardens seemed a bit neglected, but the Estate is now owned jointly by Plymouth Council and Cornwall County, so perhaps that explains why.

After a while, I descended out of the woods and left the Park heading for the seaside villages of Kingsand and Cawsand. Kingsand used to be part of Devon until 1844 and both villages have a long history of smuggling. Cawsand was particularly attractive with narrow side streets and interesting old properties. If it hadn't still been early, it would have been a nice place to stop, but I pressed on. It was a steep climb out of Cawsand up onto the clifftops heading first for Penlee Point and then Rame Head which I would subsequently be able to see for many, many miles ahead. The Official path passed right by Rame Head itself, which is often the case, but I made the detour up to the top where there was the ruins of a small Chapel and far reaching views back eastwards to Bolt Tail near Salcombe and my final destination westwards, The Lizard.

Once you are around Rame Head, you enter the long curve of Whitsand Bay which goes all the way to my day's final destination Portwrinkle. It was a nice walk from Rame Head down to the small cove of Polhawn. There were plenty of other walkers about, Rame Head had a nearby car park, so was obviously a popular day out. The first couple of miles of Whitsand Bay were fairly rocky - and the path winds along the cliffs through an area dotted with chalets. Although in great positions overlooking the Bay, they seemed very difficult to get to. For a while the path went along the main road behind the cliffs passing Whitsand Bay Holiday Park. This was obviously an ideal area for Para Gliding - and there was about 6 of them trying hard to launch themselves into the up currents.

Shortly after passing through a small place called Freathy the path headed inland and around a large military rifle range called Tregantle.

In fact, as firing was not taking place, I was able to take an alternative path through the range with great views down the long sandy bay of Long Sands nnd across the whole of Whitsand Bay! Tregantle Fort was part of the range and had been adapted for military accommodation.

It was not much further to Portwrinkle, and I got there about 2:00pm. I considered carrying on, but in the end, I was lured up to the small village of Crafthole where my bus would depart from. I had 40 minutes to wait, so headed for an inviting looking pub, The Finnygook Inn where I was just in luck - they had ONE Roast dinner left ( what's the name of thsi blog!!) Unfortunately they had run out of yorkshire puddings but you can't have everything. I sat outside - and an elderly couple near me proceeded to leave virtually their entire roast dinners and left their table. I was ravenous, and my dinner had hardly touched the sides - was it socially acceptable to grab their plates and help myself - ooh, I came so close.... in fact when the waitress collected the plates a few other drinkers in the beer garden joked about it. I think they had been unhappy about the vegetables - they were a bit crunchy, but good for your bowels no doubt!

Suitably refreshed, I hung around for a bus which NEVER arrived. I even asked one of the locals who was tending her front garden - she didn't know really, but offered to make me a cup of tea! - how kind was that, I said "No thanks, get me a can of Lager" In the end, after phoning Traveline - I decided to walk back towards Cremyll on the main road - and ended up doing another 6 miles to get to Millbrook where I finally caught a bus back to the Edgcumbe Arms.

Another day's walk over - I headed back over the Torpoint Ferry and rejoined the A38 back towards Uffculme.

South Walk: Wembury to Mt Edgcumbe

2009-05-17T00:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday 11th April: Got to Wembury bright and early - plan was to leave the car there and get the bus back from Plymouth to pick it up later. The day's walk would take me all around the edge of Plymouth, so would be a bit different to the normal natural beauty of the coast.

It was another glorious sunny day and I headed along the low cliffs above the long stretch of rocky beach which is known as Wembury marine conservation area. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to save a Dolphin which had been washed up. I was surprised that it hadn't been removed as it looked as if it had been tagged in the past and normally they do a post mortem to find out what killed it - certainly it had been there awhile. The next wildlife was breathing - a nice friendly Chaffinch!

I headed on, passing an old military building - HMS Cambridge before quickly reaching Heybrook Bay which was surrounded by a modern residential area - almost a suburb of Plymouth. All the time, ahead, you could see right across the Sound to Cawsand Bay in Cornwall with Drakes Island in the foreground. it wasn't until the path passed around the point at Renney's Rocks and headed for the Holiday chalets at Bovisand, that you started to see the Docks of Millbay and Mount Batten Point . At Bovisand, you have the incongruous mix of a Holiday Camp and Fort Bovisand, one of 2 forts built to protect the harbour. It is now used as a Diving training centre. Until recently, the path to Mount Batten had been along busy roads, but the Coast Path Association had worked hard to create the current scenic path through woodlands and thenreached the open grassland area of Jennycliff Bay - which proved to be a good place for a Cappuccino pitstop.

A little further on you reach the landmark of Mountbatten Point with its jetty jutting out into the Sound. Formerly, a RAF Air Rescue centre, it was out of bounds until the late 1990's. From here, you can catch a Ferry to the Barbican and Sutton Harbour, but no short cuts for me! I could now see Plymouth in all it's glory with the lighthouse in full view on the Hoe. The path headed around the edge of the Sound towards Cattewater and Turnchapel passing alongside the busy new Marina area. From Turnchapel - the rest of the walk becomes very urban walking around the edge of Plymouth all the way to Stonehouse and the Ferry point across to Mount Edcumbe Park at Cremyll. Having said that, apart from the section crossing Laira Bridge and going through the Industrial area of Cattedown, it is an enjoyable walk and had has been much improved by Pymouth Council with the introduction of various unusual signs and pieces of art reflecting Plymouth's history along the way. The path from Turnchapel heads around Hooe Lake and past Radford Lake where you walk across a causeway and through the archway of an old lodge.

You are then onto one of the main roads into Plymouth, passing the well known landmark of the Oreston Rhino!

At Cattewater - the path rises through the industrial area and you get a good view across to Mount Batten - albeit a farily Industrial one! Eventually you can see the distinctive shape of the National Maritime Museum ahead of you, and the path literally passes right next to it and suddenly i found myself surrounded by people as the path went across the Sutton Harbour Lock gates to the popular old Barbican area. Suddenly, I felt a bit like a tourist, - but this was all fairly familiar territory for me as I headed to my left towards the Hoe. There were Ice cream vans bumper to bumper, as well as Francis Drake and his missus, strolling about as if he owned the place! - but then it was Easter weekend, I reminded myself! The path followed the foreshore next to the Royal Citadel and near to the Mayflower Steps. Of course Plymouth has a fantastic amount of history attached to it and as well as the obvious landmarks, there are some clever inscriptions and unusual artefacts, all marking historical events. Before long, I was on the promenade which became the Grand Parade, having passed Smeaton's Tower - the red and white lighthouse, which I had been seeing for several hours previous, in the distance. This had originally been positioned on Eddystone Reef but became unstable so was dismantled and rebuilt on the Hoe, whilst another working lighthouse was erected on Eddystone.

The view across the Sound spreads in both directions towards South Devon in the East and across to Penlee Point in Cornwall where I would be walking the following day.

I headed for the Cremyll passenger ferry at Stonehouse via Devils Point and the massive Royal William Yard . I wanted to get across, sign in at the Edgecumbe Arms where I had booked a room for the night - and then get back to Plymouth and catch a bus out to Wembury to collect the car. I was beginning to wish that I had just left the car there all weekend - but my overnight things were in it. The Ferry ran every half hour - there was the unusual sight of a pair of swans nesting just at the top of the road down to the jetty - it was hardly a quiet spot, next to a Taxi rank! From the Ferry, you got a great view of the Royal William Yard part of the Navy victualling Dept which is now being converted into a Commercial and residential centre.

I spent an hour at Mount Edcumbe, sussed out my room at the pub, which was very comfortable and then headed back across. The journey back to Wembury was very frustrating. Missed a bus into Plymouth centre by 10 seconds so legged it only to have to wait best part of an hour for the next bus. It was late Saturday pm - so time to find a pub for the football results - Plymouth isn't your average seaside town. Firstly, I was ordered to remove my baseball cap which was plastered to my head, and then looking around me, apart from the women, I seemed to be the only person who had any hair! - and that's saying something. After a quick snifter, and feeling naked without a single tattoo - I waited at the bus stop and eventually got myself back to Wembury and drove back across via the Torpoint Ferry and then round to Cremyll.

It was Curry night at the Edgecumbe Arms - 6 varieties to choose from in great quantities - most of which seemed to go untouched - however my choice, Thai Green Curry was the most popular - and I got to finish it off with a second helping - so ensuring a jet propelled walk the following day!

South Walk: Mothecombe to Wembury

2009-05-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday April 5th: Back down to South Devon to pick up from where I last got to, which was Wonwell on the Erme Estuary. I was staying with my parents at Thurlestone, so we decided to drive to Noss Mayo, where I left my car and then they dropped me off back at Mothecombe which was across the estuary from Wonwell. It was a lovely morning, so they also decided to have a walk - but I left them to it and started up the path from Mothecombe estuary heading around Owen's point and to the small private beach which belongs to the Flete Estate. This used to be a popular walking and beach spot for our family, when Mum and Dad lived at Wrangaton and also Modbury. The estuary is one of the most unspoilt areas in Devon and provides great dog walking, when the tide is out.

The path headed up onto the clifftop for the pleasant walk to Gara Point at the mouth of the Yealm Estuary. The path passed through rolling pastures up and down between the various small rocky coves including the popular Wadham Beach which is fairly accessible from the nearby road.

Further on was the unfortunate sight of the static caravans at Stoke Beach and a diversion from here could take you to the remains of an ancient Church.

A little further on I reached the ruined coastguard lookout at Gunrow Downs and then shortly joined what is known as the 9 mile drive. This is now a wide pathway, but was originally built in the 1880's by unemployed fishermen for Edward Baring, who was Lord Revelstoke, as a path for the carriages going to his estate at Membland Hall.

As the path continues, you start to see the Eddystone Lighthouse in the distance - built on a large rocky islet off the Plymouth coast.

As the path turns inwards from Gara Point you have nice views of the Yealm Estuary which winds inland and is a popular sailing spot. The path ends at the village of Noss Mayo and across the Creek is the larger town of Newton Ferrers. The estuary was edged by woods and the path wound down to the waters edge and passed behind various riverside cottages and larger properties with superb views across to Warren Point and up the Yealm. During the season, a Ferry runs across on a regular basis. It was just my luck that the Ferry Service started for the season on Monday April 6th! - I was a day early, but I was aware of this, having rang the ferryman, the day before.

The ferry has a long history as seen by the old Toll Board. I carried on up the estuary path to Noss Mayo where I had left my car first thing. It was lunchtime and I was going to have a quick snifter at the pub, but it was packed out, so munched on a cheese sandwich in the car. The obvious plan was to take the car around the estuary and find somewhere to park not a million miles away from where the path started again at Warren Point across the water. So I headed back to the main road at Yealmpton and eventually got myself parked halfway between Wembury and Warren Point . I was fortunate enough to meet a local who showed me the best place to leave the car and described the way back. I was half way to Warren Point when I realised that I didn't have my camera! I then thought I had left it on top of the car! Traipsed back wasting time and energy - it was inside the car - so worry over. So I headed for Wembury . This would be an easy place to resume my walk next time, being on the bus route also from Plymouth. The walk was uneventful, but it was still a lovely day, so there were plenty of day trippers about. Wembury beach is very popular being nice and sandy - and also popular for surfers when the conditions are right. The village is set back inland, but there are good National Trust facilities at the Beach as well as a splendid old Church up on a small hill. Apparently, the Church Tower is still used as a landmark for ships and yachts entering the Yealm Estuary.

After a short break - I headed across an inland path in the vague direction of the car - and apart from one wrong detour, it didn't take too long to reach it . A few more miles done - I would be back, bright and early the following Saturday!

North Walk: A Walking Week - Port Isaac to Hayle - Day 5 - Portreath to Hayle

2009-05-14T13:26:00.000-07:00

Friday March 20th: In an ideal world, I had wanted to reach St Ives at the end of this weeks walking, but I also needed to get back to my car by Public Transport , so the day revolved around making sure I got back to Truro in time to catch the last connection back to Port Isaac and trying to reach St Ives would mean missing that bus!

It was a 12 mile walk to Hayle, another gorgeous day and I headed off back up to the cliffs and across an area known as Reskajeage Downs. This was a rocky stretch with many small rock islands just offshore and I had Navax Point in my sights for several miles. The main road between Hayle and Portreath ran quite close to the path with several cliff car parks, so it was a popular walking spot.

Navax point was at the tip of a headland known as the Knavocks, a wildland area maintained by the National Trust. From here you got a good view of Godrevy Island and it's lighthouse, built in 1859 and now solar powered. The path headed out from Navax Point to Godrevy Point which was an area well now for Seals. In fact I had been here before and seen seals, and wasn't disappointed this time either. There is an excellent Cafe at the Car park at Godrevy and I had a brief stop before crossing across the Red River near to the village of Gwithian. The massive St Ives bay was laid out before me - which stretched around for miles all the way beyond Hayle, merging into Carbis Bay and to Portminster Point, just before St Ives. There were two options - either across the beach or along the path through the dunes behind. I opted to do a bit of both starting off in the dunes - and then dropped down onto the beach at the first opportunity. Nearing an area known as Black Cliff near the mouth of the estuary inlet to Hayle I went back into the Dunes as per my guide book but the path became a bit confused through an area of holiday chalets and I ended up heading inland towards Hayle having missed the correct path around the headland. Because I was short of time, I couldn't retrace my steps - so will have to do that last bit into Hayle on my next visit.

Hayle itself was nothing to write home about - and suffers even more in comparison to St Ives just up the road (or coast!) I had planned to get a train to Truro from Hayle but in the end jumped on a bus - not realising that it went all over Cornwall - so I very nearly missed my Truro bus connection - then thought I would have to change buses 3 times to get to Wadebridge, but in fact the bus just changed it's number at different points! Had a bit of a wait at Wadebridge before getting the last bus back to Port Isaac - and the car was still there - all 4 wheels intact! I had walked about 75 miles in 4 and a half days - so made pretty good progress - and chose the best week of the year weather wise!

North Walk: A Walking Week - Port Isaac to Hayle - Day 4 - Perranporth to Portreath

2009-05-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

Thursday March 19th : Left Perranporth on another sunny morning. Up on the cliffs there were many reminders of the areas Mining history. In fact the whole cliff walk to St Agnes was littered with old mine shafts capped with conical metal cages The main metals mined were Tin and Wolfram ( tungstate of Iron) - but at some points the cliffs were a pinky orange colour of iron and arsenic. It was a fantastic walk to St Agnes - sheer cliffs, stunning colours and marine blue water below.

I was surprised to suddenly come across a couple of Pub style Picnic Tables plonked right next to the clifftop and chained to the ground! The owner was obviously concerned about gangs of scouse seagulls swooping down and carrying them off, I thought. However - a little further on, I could see that I was walking alongside an Aerodrome, so it belonged them methinks.

Further on there was a steep walk down to Trevellas Porth and then an even steeper climb out of the cove towards Trevaunance Cove which is the beach and old harbour area of St Agnes a half mile inland. This is still a working fishng area - mostly lobsters and crabbing although it has a long history of pilchard fishing. On climbing out of Trevaunance Cove - the path is once again at high level heading towards St Agnes Head where there were fine views in all directions and with the sheer high cliffs - lots of swirling sea birds

A little further on, I came across the well known landmark of Towan Roath Mining shaft which has been restored by the National Trust and also appeared on the cover of Du Maurier's book "Vanishing Cornwall" The imposing structure is right on the path and made the cliffs even more dramatic as you looked back on it from further on.
There was a welcome Pitstop at the next cove - Chapel Porth, where the various old Mining buildings have been converted into visitors amenities.
It is a popular spot - particularly for surfers - good beach breaks apparently. Well I was after a snack break - and there was a lovely cafe offering their specialty Hedgehog Ice Cream Cone! - fortunately, it looked like a Hedgehog as opposed to tasting like one.
Another steep walk from here and once again the path is littered with old Mining workings. Also - some very colourful pink cliffs which made for some unusual photos. The next place of note reached was Porthowan where I indulged myself with caffeine top up. There was plenty of people about for a midweek out of season day - but I was soon on my way for the 4 mile walk to Portreath.
it was high cliffs all the way, with numerous old mine workings. I was undecided whether to stay at Portreath that night or carry on a bit further. It was still quite early - but would have meant a longish walk to find any accommodation, so in the end, I wandered around trying to find somewhere suitable to stay. In the end - the local Inn - The Bassett Arms proved to be both a good watering hole and comfortable overnight stay. Food wasn't bad either. Portreath used to be a very busy port in the 19th Century - and used to be called Bassetts Cove after the Bassett's who helped fund the building of the harbour which helped their mining businesses. Now, it seemed a rather strange place - apart from the main beach, there was also a second small area of sand beyond the harbour wall right next to a pub called the Waterfront which sounded alot better than it looked and really only fronted a small patch of sand and to all intents and purposes was in the middle of a housing estate. I think it was the locals dive. Portreath also had a Chinky Takeaway which was tempting - but in the end I decided to back British!

North Walk: A Walking Week - Port Isaac to Hayle - Day 3 - Newquay to Perranporth

2009-04-26T04:09:00.000-07:00

Day 3 Wednesday March 18th Woke up to to a foggy Newquay, which I was quite glad of - seeing as I was resembling an over-ripe tomato. Had forgotten to pack suncream - and it was proving to be one of the sunniest weeks of the year especially in North Cornwall.

Breakfast proved eventful at The Cavendish hotel. There was a large group of wrinklies on tour and staying at the Hotel - probably the "Over 80's Nude Surfing Club" or somesuch and they were first down for breakfast, but also not far behind them were various people all sporting CCS T shirts on a Company Piss up. They staggered into breakfast looking worse for wear - some still clutching bottles of beer! One of the blue rinse brigade rose from her table, marched over to a tableful of hung over individuals and proceeded to give them a blast of her tongue - along the lines of how inconsiderate they were to have been causing a rumpus at 4am in the morning after a night on the lash. They stared at her aghast - too bleary eyed to respond - and she returned to her table to a standing ovation and hurrahs all round.

I had a slow start to the morning - I had to cross the River Gannel which is just South of Newquay and there is a walkway whcih can be accessed 2 hrs either side of low tide - so I thought that would be about 11am ish - so meanwhile - I got myself to the chemist for some Factor 50 - plus a tube of Lip Salve. Standing outside the chemist, I ripped the packaging off and chucked it in a large Council bin - unfortunately, I was left holding an empty plastic tube and had to then dip my arm into a pile of festering waste to try and find it! The path went through the centre of Newquay and past the old Harbour, so I walked down and had a look, but there didn't seem to be much happening.

I rejoined the path and headed up towards Towan Head. At the head o the harbour was an interesting old building known as a Huers Hut. Dating back to 14th century - this was used by lookout men to spot shoals of pilchards and they then alerted and directed the local fishing boats.

My view from Towan Head was spoilt by the fog - but it was starting burn off as I walked back from the head to the start of Fistral Beach - Newquay's famous Surfing mecca. Conditions for surfing didn't look that good, but there were a few people catching the waves at both ends of the long beach. From the far end of Fistral -the path went out towards Pentire Point East, where there was a superb house built into the cliffs with helicopter landing pad and half built swimming pool. I was now at the mouth of The River Gannel and there were several alternative routes to cross it including a small Ferry in the high season. I headed for the footbridge mentioned earlier and the path went through the suburban area of Fern Pit and there was some lovely property overlooking the estuary, which was very beautiful in the early morning sun.

Across the river, the path then wound behind Crantock beach and climbed back up to the clifftop at Pentire point West. The small sandy bay of Porth Joke followed before reaching another popular and more secluded surfing spot - Holywell Beach. It is so named because in the past - there was a trickle of water from a small cave which was thought to have healing properties and sick children were brought along to be dipped in the water.

The path then skirted around a large and ugly army camp at Penhale where there were some unusual looking clifftop radar equipment, before going out to Ligger point with some great views and then you reach the massive long beach of Perran. It was then a choice of scrabbling through the soft sand of the dunes - or the firm sand of the beach - so that was a no-brainer! The beach seemed to go on forever, reminding me of Saunton Sands - but eventually I reached the small seaside town of Perranporth. Originally, I had planned to try and get to St Agnes - but I was fairly footsore, so given that there was a good choice of accommodation - I decided to call it a day. There was also a good beachside cafe - so I took the opportunity to stuff a Cream tea in my face before phoning around for a B&B.

I found one - small grotty smelly single room -I was the only occupant and they were advertising NO VACANCIES - but the man I spoke to on the phone had said YES we have a room I think, but my wife deals with this and proceeded to laugh nervously! Wife wasn't amused to return from the Supermarket to find that hubby had taken someone in - she wasn't prepared! - the perils of finding accommodation, out of season! At least they had a bath. I later hit the town and tried to find somewhere to eat - the first pub stopped serving food at 6.oopm! - bizarre - but not worth employing a chef to stand around scratching his bollocks all evening, I suppose. Anyway, they recommended another much busier pub, The Green Parrot where I had an excellent meal. Probably only about 13 miles walked today - but an enjoyable hike - and I would head for Portreath in the morning.

North Walk: A Walking Week - Port Isaac to Hayle - Day 2- Trevone to Newquay

2009-04-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

Day 2 Tuesday March 17th: As the Sole occupant at The Well Parc, Trevone - I felt a bit guilty that someone came in specially to cook my breakfast - I would have done it myself if they'd asked.
After she had cleared up, she cleared off - and the place seemed deserted. I didn't make a good start to the day - was half way down the road back to the path when I realised that the Room Key was still in my pocket - went back - only a friendly dog to greet me - gave him the key and set off again. Got to the beach and realised that my water bottle was still sitting back in my room. Tramped back in a huff - had to get the dog to let me back into my room - and made my third exit. If I'd been a scouser and not had 18 miles to walk - I could have left with the 42" wide plasma screen strapped to my back!

It was another scorcher of a day as I finally made my way, Newquay was my destination. A little further on from Trevone was Harlyn Bay and on the way, I passed a large flock of Oyster catchers quite close to shore plus another "Round Hole". I didn't look in it, but I hoped it wasn't full of Tesco shopping trolleys and fridges! Looking back - you got the best view of Trevone's Round Hole - like a scar on the cliff face.
For some miles - I had been able to see the light house at Trevose Head - and this was my first point to head for. Having rounded Cataclews Point there was the unusual sight of Padstow Lifeboat Station - seemingly built into the cliffs in the middle of nowhere.

Around the point and the Lighthouse was reached - built back in 1847 - it was a landmark that I would look back and see all day. a little further one - I was convinced that could see a Seal just off the rocks at Stinking Cove!. I spent quite awhile taking pictures - until I realised it was either a seal shaped rock - or a dead seal - still not sure which.

I was now heading due South with Mawgan Porth and then Newquay in my sights. The path passed behind the large bays of Booby's and Constantine which merged into each other -and were apparently unsafe for bathing - although they looked very inviting.

Between here and Portcothan were a series of small coves and inlets - and it was very scenic with dramatic rocks just off the beach - known as Minnows Islands.

I was soon at Portcothan, a small village which had a nice beach and was a lovely isolated spot. I didn't stop, and the path headed out towards the headland overlooking the small Trescore Islands.

The following few miles were hard work but also breathtakingly beautiful and included the wellknown landmark of Bedruthan Steps. This was my first visit, but I could see that in the Summer, it would be a major attraction - so I was pleased to see it with few people about, and on a sunny day. There were a series of sandy beaches with large rock stacks and small islets. From here, it was pretty much downhill all the way to Mawgan Porth. I was now underneath the flight path of incoming aircraft to Newquay Airport - and I was suprised at how frequent they were.
Mawgan Porth is one of North Cornwall's most popular spots and an ideal place for a coffee stop - one of the better Cappuccinno's was duly dispatched overlooking the large bay. As I left the bay - a couple of horses were taken onto the beach - and were being enticed into the sea - but it was pretty obvious that the horse did NOT want a paddle - so it was quite amusing watching the ensuing struggle - you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it .....

A little further on, I reached the start of the long beach of Watergate Bay - one of the longest on this part of the coast. A popular surfing spot of course - it was so big - I couldn't see it ever being packed! A third of the way down the bay - the path crossed the road behind the well known Watergate Hotel where Jamie Oliver has his restaurant 15.

The path climbed back up to the tall cliffs and I now had Newquay in my sights and I was keen to get there in good time to find a suitable B&B. At the end of Watergate Bay was Trevelgue head and Porth Sands just on the outskirts of Newquay. There was a small wooden bridge which linked Trevelgue to the mainland and it used to be the site of an Iron Age castle.

I was now definitely away from Cornwall's natural beauty and had reached Cornwall's largest holiday resort - a mecca for the surfing brigade. By this time, I was well tired and looking forward to a hot bath and putting my feet up. The path eventually ended up on the main road into Newquay centre and I kept my eyes open for suitable accommodation. Down a small side road, I spotted a large and tired looking Hotel - it was cheap and cheerful - had a room with a bath - so that would do for me. The friendly old lady from up North on reception was a bit suprised at me hobbling about like a cripple, and even more suprised when I said that I had walked from Trevone, but then she probably never walks further than the Chip Shop.
Later on, I found a busy City centre pub doing a Steak and chips special with a Free Pint so I was well happy. The next day - I would head for Perranporth.

North Walk: A Walking Week - Port Isaac to Hayle, Day 1 - to Trevone

2009-04-19T03:39:00.000-07:00

Day 1 Monday March 16th : After much consultation with online bus timetables trying to plan out my weeks walking and ferrying backwards and forwards to my car - the obvious decision was to leave the car at the start for the whole week - as I had already ascertained that I could buy a full weeks ticket at the car park in Port Isaac - so that's what I did. Another early start on the road from Uffculme - and I was back on the path at Port Isaac by 9:00am. The weather was good - and in fact the forecast was for sun all week - so I had struck lucky for once. The plan was to get to Rock and then across the River Camel by ferry to Padstow, and depending on what time it was - carry on from there to Trevone and find somewhere to stay. I was familiar with part of this coastline, from staying at Ron and Melanie Ward's bungalow at Polzeath a few years back. In fact they had been quite keen to do some walking with me on this stretch - but it didn't quite work out timing wise.

The morning's target was to get to Pentire Point - which is a magnificent viewpoint in both directions.

Before that - there was some quite strenuous walking to be done. There was only one coastal village along the way - Port Quin which was a lovely secluded place offering nothing in the way of refreshment apart from a cold water drinking tap. The village used to be quite a successful fishing village - but alot of the village was abandoned eyars ago - and now there are just a few National Trust cottages and a large stone house wonderfully positioned at the edge of the small beach commanding the best position- probably the harbourmasters house.

Another point of interest was Lundy's Hole - a natural passageway eroded through the cliff . At various points on the way to Pentire Point and what they call The Rumps - you could get a vantage point looking South West beyond the Camel estuary to Stepper Point which I would reach later in the day. The Rumps was a rocky headland stretching out Northerly and in theory the official path didn't include it - but it looked a dramatic place for a good photo - so I diverted off the path and climbed to the highest point.

Just off the point was a large rock known as The Mouls which has been home to Puffins.

From here it was a short walk round the headland to Pentire Point with some of the most far reaching views so far on this Cornish coast. I could now see Polzeath and a glimpse of Padstow itself. From here - the path was all downhill to Hayle Bay - and the sandy beach of Polzeath - another popular surfing beach. Another short walk across the cliffs brought me to Daymer Bay - and as it was low tide - I was able to take the route along the beach although it meant I missed seeing St Enodoc Church which has quite a bit of history and was apparently once completely engulfed by sand! The beach walk took me all the way to Rock itself , although I didn't see much of it - as I walked straight from the beach onto the Ferry. I was quite foot weary by now - and was looking forward to some refreshments at Padstow - a cream tea had been lingering in my thoughts for a few miles - and I wasn't disappointed. The ferry dropped off further down the estuary as it was high tide - so it was a few hundred yards back to the Harbour where I dived into the nearest Tea Room, which to my astonishment didn't seem to be owned by Rick Stein - and wasn't offering fish flavoured scones!

It recharged the batteries, and as it was quite early afternoon - I could easily make another 5-6 miles onto Trevone. I decided to see if the Tourist Office could book me some accommodation at Trevone - and between us, I found somewhere - The Well Parc Inn. I didn't really have time to look round Padstow much - but it is somwehere I've been to before, so didn't bother me.

The path left the harbour and headed out to the head of the estuary at Stepper Point which looked straight out to Pentire. It was a nice walk in the afternoon sun taking me past various coastguard cottages and also some old pilot cottages which were lived in by the men who guided vessels in and out of the estuary. The path took an inland diversion around an inlet before heading up to the tall stone Daymark at Stepper Point - which had been in view for many miles previous and was an old shipping positional aid.

A little further on - I met another hiker coming in the opposite direction - we stopped and had a chat - he had walked from Newquay and was heading for Padstow - that was probably going to be 23 miles - so he was quite knackered - but in fact as I would find out the following day - the path to Newquay was reasonably flat in comparison to some stretches.

I headed on to Trevone - the sun was going down quite quickly now and the light was superb for photography - and there were some wonderful rock formations at Gunver Head and Porthmissen. As you reach the head at Trevone Bay - there is a massive hole on the Cliff Top - which is a bizarre sight. Some genius has named this Round Hole - and they are quite common apparently - but this is a particularly large one - they are caused by sea erosion - all to do with soft rock seeping out from underneath a band of hard rock in front of it - eventually - ie a year or million later - you get a large hole which young children can fall into.

I was glad to reach Trevone and dying to get the boots off - had walked 18 miles or so - the Well Parc was half a mile from the beach - it was the locals pub as well as a hotel - the man sitting at the bar looked familiar - and he recognised me - he had served me my Cream tea at Padstow! The room was very comfortable with great views out to sea - but they'd probably given me the best one - I was the only one there!

After a good soak in the bath -I headed for the empty bar and ordered some food with a little trepidation. After a while a few locals bowled in - it was Whist Drive night - so plenty of excitement - I buried a few pints, stuffed my face with fish and chips and then headed for the pit.

South Walk: Salcombe to Wonwell

2009-04-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday March 5th. Taken a couple of days off work - so headed down to Mum and Dad's at Thurlestone to pick up the path at Salcombe again. This is a section of the path that I know very well - and has always been one of my favourite parts of Devon, but it had been quite a few years since I had walked out from Salcombe. Dad dropped me off at North Sands beach, where the path officially started again - it was a lovely sunny day, although with a bitterly cold wind and I headed past South Sands and climbed up towards the National Trust gardens of Overbeck. The Salcombe estuary has some superb properties with magnificent views, - some of the most expensive real estate in Devon. Also at Overbecks is a Youth Hostel - they really do have some prime locations - this YHA lot.

The path continued out towards Bolt Head - a prominent rocky point and then there was a very scenic stretch to Soar Mill Cove. As children we had often come to this beach, as it is very secluded and difficult to get to - but lovely once you are there. It was a steep climb out from Soar Mill Cove and feeling a bit sweaty, I made the foolish decision to take my trouser legs off!

It wasn't long before I was on the exposed stretch of Bolberry Down - and the bare legs took a pounding. There wasn't many walkers - but the few I did meet were wrapped up in Arctic clothing and some raised an eyebrow or two at the rambling loony in shorts.

Mum had decided to meet me on the path near Thurlestone and walk with me to Bantham.

I reached Hope Cove ahead of schedule - so visited the Hope and Anchor and had a ( guess what!) quick Cappuccino before meeting Mum on the footbridge beyond South Milton sands, one of Thurlestone's 3 beaches. The South Hams coast has been kept very unspoilt by the planners - so they take some credit for that - and Thurlestone has remained very untouristy, although they are just in the process of creating a new car park and shoring up the back of the beach and improving the small cafe at South Milton. Mum and I walked the well trodden path around the edge of the Golf Course - Thurlestone's main attraction, although deemed to be one of those snobby golf courses it has a great location but is very open to the elements.

Soon we were looking out towards Burgh Island off Bigbury beach as we dropped down the steep path to Bantham. The view here is superb - with all the waves rolling in towards the Avon Mouth estuary, the expanse of sand and the Island itself which is accessible by foot at low tide, and has the famous Tractor which ferries people back and forth to Bigbury when walking is no longer an option. The Island is well worth a visit - having a 650 year old Inn plus the famous Art deco Hotel once visited by Agatha Christie and features in some of her books. Not today though - once we had reached Bantham itself - we phoned for the Taxi service - which was Dad. At Bantham you are faced with crossing the River Avon - not an option even at low tide .

There is a Ferry service which runs during the peak months, but I was in the fortunate position of being given a lift over to the other side. Mum left me to it - and I got dropped off at the other side near the Bigbury Golf Course. What I thought was a quick walk down to pick up the path again at the Ferry point at Cockleridge turned out to be a 2 mile hike and I was starting to feel a bit leg weary. The aim was to reach Wonwell where there was another estuary to cross, by the end of the afternoon- and I could be picked up from Kingston - the nearest village inland.
After passing through Bigbury and then the awful mobile home eyesore of Challaborough I seemed to be suffering a leg strain - which I later put down to the wind chill bare legs factor! It wasn't a long way to reach Wonwell, but there were some steep ups and downs and by the time I had passed through Ringmore and Aymer Cove , my legs had had enough and I could see that I would be getting to Kingston very late - so I took the next inland path to Kingston which was a long and extremely muddy track .

I was praying that the pub, - the Dolphin Inn would be open with a roaring log fire, but I was disappointed and had to wait outside for my lift back to Thurlestone. Mum came armed with a can of lager and a packet of crisps - but by that time, what I really needed was a hot bath and a buxom masseuse to soothe my aching muscles!

Sunday 8th March : Annoyingly, I now had just a few miles to walk to get to Wonwell and the Erme Estuary, and it wasn't going to be worth going much further, so I decided to just make a mornings walk out of it as a round trip from Kingston back to the coast, along to Wonwell and then back inland again to Kingston. Normally, that would be a nice round trip walk to do on a Sunday morning, but for me it was alot of walking but only a few miles to add to my total! I had rested my leg strain for a couple of days anyway - so wanted to take it a bit easier AND as it happened, the heavens opened late morning - just as I got back to my car - so I avoided a big soaking. The sun was shining again and this part of the coast is quite distinct with it's steel grey steep slate cliffs - so it was a very pleasant walk. The Erme Estuary at Wonwell, looking across to Mothecombe is one of the most unspoilt estuaries on the whole of the SW path and is a lovely setting at low tide, very popular with dog walkers, in fact as a family we used to often come here and walk the dogs, particularly when my parents lived at Wrangaton. The estuary is crossable at low tide - but I would be coming back again and starting from the other side another day. It was back to Thurlestone for another Sunday Roast - ( what's this blog's web address!!)

North Walk: Tintagel to Port Isaac

2009-03-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday February 22nd: Left Tintagel full of Bacon and Egg, it was an 8 mile stretch to Port Isaac, so not far - but once again very up and down. Before I went down to pick up the coastal path again - I went and had a look at the Old Post Office - a fantastic building from the 14th century, now owned by the Nat Trust and more interesting than the Castle in my mind.

It was a very grey and damp day and once I was back on the path - there was a fine misty rain coming in from the sea. This made the path very slippy - especially as alot of it was slate - with the famous Delabole quarry, just a few miles inland. Many of the Port's along this stretch of coast had a history of exporting Slate and apart from the main quarry at Delablole - there were numerous other smaller ones dotted about. Many of the stiles were made from Slate - and also, the steps had slate divides, which as I found out very early, were extremely slippery. I had only been walking 15 minutes before I was floundering in the undergrowth legs akimbo!

The path led up from the Castle entrance to the cliff path, passing an old Church , the oldest still in use, in Cornwall and also a Youth Hostel with a superb location on the clifftop - formerly a Quarry office.

The first point of interest was Trebarwith Strand, and along the way - there were several disused coastal quarries - with one having left a large pillar of rock standing at Slate Hole.

The climb down into Trebarwith was very steep, as was the climb out! It looked very scenic and was used for loading slate boats.

Apparently, at the height of the Slate industry - over 1000 men were employed in the various quarries in and around Delabole. Once up on Start Point, through the mist, you could just make out Port Isaac in the far distance. The path along this section included the valley of 'the Mountain' but this wasn't as daunting as it sounded. There is a large beach - Tregardock and a series of interesting rocky points and coves dominated by sheer black cliffs.

Before Port Isaac was the smaller Port Gaverne, which has an interesting history revolved around the slate industry. In days gone by, there was a pier and at loading times - up to 100 horses and many of the villagers would be used to load the brittle cargo.

The path follows the road out of Port Gaverne and soon descends into Port Isaac. Before reaching the small beach and harbour area - it passed the high level car park - so I made sure that the car was still there and I hadn't got a ticket! - before dropping down into the narrow lanes and alleys around the harbour where there is another car park on the beach - definitely short stay!

There were a few visitors about and some of the businesses were open - so I fuelled up with a welcome Cappuccino before heading back to Uffculme. It had been a good weekends' walk - interesting scenery and another 21 miles knocked off the total!