Day: 105 10/10/93 Polperro to Seaton

Weather: Fine

Distance:  14 km (8.7 miles)    Total Distance: 1340 miles

I drove to Seaton first to drop the bike off and then back to the large car park at the top of the village of Polperro. The start of the days walk was thus the steep road down to the harbour, parallel to the stream (it was this stream that flooded later in the winter in a storm causing great damage).  It was a good autumn day for walking and quite a few people were out walking and playing at Talland Bay.

Looe is reached via Hannifore, a stony beach and road of largish hotels.  Looe itself is a bustling fishing town. I stopped for coffee on the west side in a corner cafe where people were beginning to wander in for their Sunday lunch. The crossing point over the river was a road bridge about half a mile upstream but it was a pleasant walk through the town.  The east side of Looe has the fishing harbour.  A steep path concrete path led out of the Looe and than onto the coastal path again.

The remainder of the walk to Seaton was quite hard, lots of ups and downs, through a wooded area, outside the monkey sanctuary.  This led finally onto the road, and then a steep descent into Seaton.  I was disappointed to see that my bike had been tampered with; it had been thrown over the railing it was chained to but there appeared to be no damage.

The bike ride back to Polperro took quite a while since the roads were steep and narrow.  I had to walk the bike at times such as the climb back out of Polperro.

An Australian couple had booked into Rowan Lodge.  We all had dinner together. This was followed by an enjoyable evening together chatting with the Australian man, a trombone player and navy man, talking about brass bands and playing tapes and his wife exchanging desert recipes with Ann.

Day: 104 9/10/93 Penpoll to Polperro

Weather: Fine

Distance:  20 km (12.4 miles)    Total Distance: 1331 miles

I drove down to Cornwall last night and had a terrible journey.  The M5 southbound was blocked so I had to make a detour via Worcester. I did not arrive at the B&B at Llanreath until 11pm but had a warm welcome from the B&B proprietors Trevor and Ann Farbrother.

I drove to the hamlet of Penpoll, and parked the car.  For the first of the walk I was unable to follow the creek but instead was forced to walk over the fields then down lanes to Mixtow.  I then found it hard to find a footpath to Bodinnick and it was very muddy due to cattle.  Things improved after that and I followed a lovely walk through NT land on a wooded path up Pont Pill to Pont and back down the other side.

At Polruan I went into a pub near the harbour and had a drink and a sandwich.  Some very fisherman folk were in there having a drink They were easy to identify with their weathered skin, yellow wellies and aran sweaters.  After lunch I rejoined the coast path.  It had taken me two and a half days to round the Fowey estuary but again there were some lovely parts to it, missed by coast path walkers.

I strolled through the back streets of Polruan and up onto the cliffs.  It was a scenic walk all the way to Polperro along the cliffs and not much sign of anyone else.  There were a number of steep climbs and descents including at Lantis Bay.  The weather was good and it was great to be on the cliff tops again.  By the time I reached Polperro I was tired and thirsty.

I bought a Pepsi and caught a small open backed bus to the top of the hill.  I spilt part of the can on the bus and felt guilty for not informing the driver but I was really whacked by then.  I then tried to hitch back to Penpoll but had trouble.  I only got one lift from Pelynt to Llanreath and had a fair walk from there to Penpoll.  I was relieved to get back to the car. I saw the guy who gave me a lift the next night in the pub in Llanreath.

I had a very nice evening meal with Trevor and Ann in the B&B, a very family affair.

Day: 103 7/8/93 Lostwithiel to Penpoll

Weather: Good

Distance:  12 km (7.5 miles)    Total Distance: 1320 miles

A short walk today to finish off the holiday.  We packed up the cottage and left by the deadline of 10.00am.  It had been a very pleasant holiday cottage adjoining Mevegissay House. Margaret and Sean dropped me off at the railway station in Lostwithiel.  They then went on to explore Polperro for a couple of hours. 

The first couple of miles walking was gentle, along country lanes and well-walked paths.  Once I was down at the river's edge in St Winnow I asked an elderly lady, just coming out of a small church, the way I should be heading.  She encouraged me to go in and have a look at the 16th century church decorated with wooden fretwork. It was well worth a visit.  She directed me along the riverbank itself as there appeared to be no path marked on the map.  Once the Great Woods began I took to the well marked out path in the wood.  There were some good views over the estuary.  The paths became much busier towards Lerryn.

St Winnow church
(Photo: David Gearing, Geograph)

At Lerryn I crossed the river on steppingstones and stopped at yet another Ship Inn for a pint of 6X sitting in their small beer garden next to the road, soaking up the sun.  The path through the next section of woods on the south side of the inlet was much less well defined.  It came out in the hamlet of Cliff, the sort of place where you get lots of strange looks because they don't expect walkers to come trundling through!  There was a path mapped out to St Veep but not much of it existed on the ground.  I ended up walking over fields and at one stage had to vault a bramble hedge and barbed wire ending up in a bed of nettles, very painful on tender sunburnt skin! The remainder of the walk to Penpoll was along country lanes.

I waited at the hamlet of Penpoll for thirty minutes for Margaret.  She had got very lost in the car trying to find such a small place and arrived feeling very frustrated.  In the meantime I sat on the bridge over the Penpoll Creek looking at the very varied bird life; a swan, ducks, a buzzard and the highlight - a kingfisher.

We stopped in Lostwithiel to get some ointment for my stings, and then in Landybrook Hall for an ice-cream.  That night we broke the journey back to Coventry by staying in a very nice farmhouse B&B not far from Launceston.  Sean enjoyed the animals including watching the cows being milked.

Day: 102 6/8/93 Fowey to Lostwithiel

Weather: Fine

Distance:  10.5 km (6.5 miles)    Total Distance:  1311 miles

I had a delayed start to the walk since I could not resist calling into the nice cafe "Crumbs" with the family for one of their great cakes.  I sat amazed at a family on the next table with five children. It’s hard enough managing one.  I’m beginning to change my mind about wanting a large family!

There was no path up the estuary from Fowey so I had to walk inland onto the main road.  The main road passed over a private road owned by English China Clay along which the lorries took clay to the port and railway depot.  I cut off the road to the right, along a track and then down to the coast through some very quiet woods and then along a well walked path into Golant.  I popped into a pub overlooking the estuary of half a pint of Ushers. The pub was pretty quiet too.  In fact the whole village looked very sleepy and rather idyllic.

 

River Fowey at Golant
(Photo: Chris Downer, Geograph)

From Golant I followed the steep back-streets of the village past the church. I caught up with a man and two children who were walking with the aid of a guidebook which was not much help since the footpath had been ploughed up and turned into a pea field which made it difficult walking.  I warned a group of walkers heading in the opposite direction of trouble to come.

Much of the rest of the walk was along minor tracks and roads.  At Milltown the path went under a huge railway viaduct, down into some fields with less well defined paths and then into Lostwithiel.  I met Margaret and Sean at our prearranged meeting point, the railway station.  The town did not look all that inviting - quite a bit of grey stone around.

Day 101 5/8/93 Charlestown to Fowey

Weather: Fine

Distance:  15 km (9.3 miles)    Total Distance:   1304 miles

Today was a much better day weather wise than yesterday.  It was a pleasant walk out of the harbour town of Charlestown but it soon deteriorated.  

Gull Island between Charlestown and Carlyon Bay
(Photo: Derek Harper, Geograph)

Carlyon Bay was not at all idyllic but instead spoilt by a hotel, amusement park and pleasure park slap bang in the middle.   I walked through a golf course and then had to wend my way through the china clay works where the coast path was well fenced off from the works and the main road.  I wandered into the busy and not very attractive town of Par hoping to get down to the beach but was prevented from doing so by a caravan park through which I could not find a right of way.  I backtracked onto the road, got to the end of the road at Polmear, and eventually managed to get back onto the cliffs again.

After a short walk on the cliffs, I stopped for a drink at the Rashleigh Inn in Polkerris, and sat outside in the sun looking back on a disappointing mornings walk.  The Rashleigh Inn had a dominant position on the beach with a walled beer garden.

It seemed a long stretch but pleasant walk to Gribbin Head where the path became poorly defined for a stretch.  It was then along the cliffs and then inland to Polridmouth, quite crowded with visitors, where there is a freshwater lake behind a low dam.  I hadn’t expected it to be so crowded since there was no obvious car park nearby.  There were some more nice cliffs all the way around to a crowded beach at Readeymoney.  I climbed the steep path out of out of Polridmouth.  I thought I was making good headway, only to reach the top and realise I had been caught up by a female rambler.  I was obviously not going as fast as I thought.

I had arranged to meet Margaret at the Tourist Information Centre in Fowey which was a bit confusing because it appeared to have moved!  It was quite a climb out of the village to the car park where she had parked the car. 

Day 100 4/8/93 Gorran Haven to Charlestown

Weather: Poor, rain and drizzle.

Distance:  14.5 km (9 miles)    Total Distance:  1295 miles

We drove to Gorran Haven from our holiday cottage in Mevagissey going the long way round since the road through Mevagissey itself looked very narrow.  Margaret and Sean dropped me off before heading on for some retail therapy. It was a fairly gentle walk up to Chapel Point where there is a collection of three lovely white-washed houses.  The path then led into Portmellon, a sister village to Mevagissey but lackluster and not nearly as attractive, just not much more than a couple of hotels.  It was cold and miserable in Mevagissey and plenty of people appeared to be getting caught out wearing inappropriate summer gear. The first climb of the day was the path out of the town to the north.  Our rented cottage was only a short distance away at this point.



Mevagissey Harbour
(Photo: Carol Walker, Geograph)



At Pentewean, the coast path descended from the cliffs, but instead of going along the beach went slightly inland along the road inland from the camping site. It started to rain so I stopped in the cafe in the village for a drink and tea cake.  I headed off when the cafe started to get crowded from what seemed to be children on a field trip.

From Pentwean to Charlestown it rained pretty heavily at times. This was one of the few occasions that I had got wet on the walk so far.  There were some very strenuous ups and downs between Pentwean and Black Head which in the wet was very hard going. It was easier from there on.  The path into Charlestown passes through a small woodland where a very bedraggled young down-and-out sat peering out of a derelict stone hut.

At Charlestown I met Margaret and changed out of my wet clothes.  Charlestown is a pleasant small harbour town serving St Austell.  The port still loads up small coasters with china clay.  We visited a couple of craft shops and then moved onto the local pub which had one of those massive family rooms with just us in and the atmosphere of a morgue, but at least the beer was nice.

Day: 99 3/8/93 Portloe to Gorran Haven

Weather: OK - couple of spots of rain.

Distance:  12.5 km (7.8 miles)    Total Distance:  1286 miles

I was joined on this stage of the walk by a friend of mine from college days, Richard. This was one of few stages of the walk where I'd actually had company.  Richard is a far more accomplished walker than me and regularly takes part in the Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) 100 mile walk each spring.  He is also one of the first to have ‘doubled up’ on the annual Across Wales walk.  In the Across Wales Walk, walkers do just that, walk across Wales at its narrowest point, starting in Shropshire and finishing in Aberystwyth.  Richard and a few others found this a little tame after a while and began walking in Aberystwyth, joining the main party of walkers in Shropshire at the official starting point, before heading back to Aberystwyth again.  As you can tell, today will be a walk in the park for Richard.  I must say that it was nice to have the company but there is certainly less time to concentrate on the surroundings.  I'm able to recall less fine detail of this walk than some of the others this week.

The walk was a gentle affair with some nice narrow cliff-top paths where we were forced to walk single file.  We stopped at the cafe for a cup of tea near Caerhays Castle, which was just visible inland, before getting back to the cliffs again.  Dodman Point was a flat and not too interesting peninsular.  The best views of the day were actually on the way towards Gorren Haven overlooking the beach at Vault Beach.  The path passed high above the sea at this point.



Vault Beach
(Photo: Malcolm Etherington, Geograph)

We walked into Gorran Haven which was very busy because it was Festival Day.  We did not hang around too long but travelled back to Portloe to collect my car and revisit the cafe Margaret and I visited the previous day. 

Day: 98 2/8/93 Bohortha to Portloe

Margaret dropped me off on the road near Bohortha.  They then drove to Porthscatho where my Sean went onto the beach for the first time. Meanwhile I headed across the field down to the coast path and hung a left. 

It was a relatively easy mornings walk, along the cliff top past Poethmellin Head and Greeb Point to Portscatho where I met up with the family relaxing on the beach.  Sean was already developing a dislike of being mucky and was only happy when he was on the blanket rather than the sand.

Approaching Portscatho
(Photo: Philip Halling - Geograph)

After I left them, the walking became somewhat harder with more ups and downs.  The guidebook indicated that I could keep to the coast in front of Pendower Hotel but it was apparent that the owners had had a change of heart and the way was blocked necessitating a cut inland up onto the road.  Dropping back towards the sea I struck lucky in that the tide was was out so was able to walk along Pendower Beach.  At the far end of the beach I caught up with another walker also heading east and we followed each other without conversing much all the way to Portloe.

This stretch was definitely harder than it appeared on the map.  At one stage we both lost the path when we came to a large slipped bank and ended up scrambling to the cliff top.

By the time I reached Portloe I was rather puffed and sat by the harbour recovering and waiting for Margaret and Sean.  Whilst I had been walking, she had discovered a tea shop which was the same one that had been recommended to me on the previous holiday by some walkers. 

Day: 97 1/8/93 St Mawes to Bohortha

Distance: 16 km (9.9 miles)    Total Distance:   1269 miles

Time for another family holiday with my very understanding wife who is happy to happy to drop me off at the start of the days walk and meet up with me later in the day. We stayed just outside Mevegissay in a self-catering cottage inside the grounds of a sizable house which used to be a vicarage but was now converted into a hotel.  The grounds themselves were fairly extensive and the cottage itself had a patio and large lawn of its own to the rear.  Due to the age of the cottage however the windows were small and the light inside was restricted which meant that although the weather was good for most of the week there was always a feeling of damp inside, particularly after it rained.

The cottage was situated close to the hotel which meant that occasionally we could venture to the hotel bar with baby alarm in hand. One night we got talking to a couple who were into making dolls houses.  He was a water engineer and very enthusiastic about his fascinating job unblocking drains and climbing down into the sewage system, though maybe it wasn't the best conversation to have whilst eating.

The first days walking started at St Mawes. It was one of those walks where I made little progress eastwards as it was around the Percuil Estuary peninsular.  There was a nice mix of road, estuary and coastal path walking. 

From St Mawes I found the path that took me northwards along the Percuil River through some boat yards.  The footpath up the river bank soon ended and instead turned inland and a steep climb led me back up onto the main road.  From here there were excellent views back over the River Fal to Falmouth.  The road stayed flat until the grandly named village of St Just In Roseland, most of which was bypassed by the road.  After that it became a bit hillier.  Once across the river, I took to a path through fields until the village of Gerrans, which was quite busy with holiday-makers buying things from the local shops. 

Looking across the Percuil River to St Mawes from near St Anthony
(Photo: Trevor Rickard on Geograph)

The road became narrow and quieter after the village and I kept to it for another mile or so before finding a path down to the estuary just after Froe.  At the end of this section the path goes up a small estuary to the hamlet of St Anthony and across to the church at Place before heading back to the coast again.  At St Anthony's Head the path passes below the car park initially where a lot of visitors were evident.  At the far end the path climbs and then keeps high onto the coast proper.  It was then only a short stroll to the point at Bohortha where I cut off the path and through the field to the road and over into the village where my wife was loyally waiting for me.  They had spent some time in St Mawes on the harbour front before going to St Anthony's Head for lunch and a short walk along the coast path.

St Anthony Head looking over to Falmouth
(Photo: Chris Dixon - Geograph)

In the afternoon we drove back to Mevegissay and went down to the village. Our son came close to having a finger bitten off by a hungry seagull.  The owner of the cottage we were staying at had described how he had an annual battle with the gulls and ended up shooting them.  I was beginning to understand why now.

Day: 96 4/6/93 Ruan Lanihorne to St Mawes

Weather: Fine

Distance: 15.5 km (9.6 miles)    Total Distance:  1259 miles

We travelled from Falmouth over the estruary to Ruan Lanihorne using the via the King Harry ferry, which sailed past the abandoned ships in the estuary presumably waiting to be scraped.  My wife then dropped me off at Ruan Lanihorne before going on to St Mawes with my son.

 

This was probably the least interesting walk of the week.  Up until Philleigh I managed to keep to footpaths and farm tracks.  The views were poor but by lunchtime the sun had started to put in an appearance and people were starting to sunbathe in their gardens.  I had a pint in the Roseland Inn, another good hidden-away pub.  The young couple who were running it were proud of their French chef who had trained and worked in London until he had given it all up to come and live in Cornwall.

There then followed a long section of walking on roads.  I passed someone in a lay-by listening to England lose another test match to Australia.  I tried to keep to close to the coast by walking down to Messack Farm but found that the footpath from the farm to St Just was shared by cows and was just a mud track - that was when I could find it at all.



St Just In Roseland

 It was back to civilisation in St Just In Roseland. There were many visitors out visiting the church.  From there to St MawesI was pleased to see a footpath reappear.  It was good to get back to the coast again - or should I say the Fal estuary.

Just before entering St Mawes I passed St Mawes Castle.  This is one of Henry VIII's coastal fortresses and was built to counter invasion threats from France and Spain.

St Mawes Castle

Arriving in St Mawes was the end of an enjoyable weeks walking.  I feel it is a real shame that those coast path walkers who catch the ferry from Falmouth to St Mawes miss out on a real treat of walking up and down the Fal estuary.

I met up with the family after a while.  There did not appear to be a good tea shop in St Mawes so we opted for catching the King Harry ferry back and calling in at Trelissick again to make use of their tea gardens.

King Harry Ferry (Photo: Geograph)