Day: 107 4/4/94 Freathy to Cawsand

Weather: Cold and showers  Distance:  9.5km (5.9 miles)    Total Distance: 1353 miles

Margaret, Sean and I drove down on Saturday to Rowan Lodge, the B&B in Llanreath where I had stayed the previous October for a weekend and very much enjoyed.  It was an easy journey, since it was Easter rather than mid-summer and the traffic was light.  We made good time and in order not to arrive too early we decided to stop.  I turned off at Saltash, not really knowing where I was going, and we found ourselves at St Antony Passage, a village on the estuary just south of Saltash, and a good enough spot to stop for tea out of our flask and for Sean to see the sea.

At Rowan Lodge we had a warm welcome from the proprietors and their daughter granddaughter who was only a month older than Sean.

On the Sunday we went to the Easter service in the church over the road.  Margaret came down with a stomach illness and went back to the house, partly because of the illness and partly because the egg Sean had found in the hunt the egg chase was melting in his sweaty paws and making an awful mess.  Margaret got worse and went to bed. It started to pour with rain, but never the less I took Sean out for a little picnic in the car to West Looe and we talked to the seagulls.  When I got back I took him to the farm museum next door to feed the chickens and rabbits but it pretty wet and soggy.

Back in the house I gave Sean afternoon tea in the tea room and then chased Maisey and Sean around on the floor to tire them and me out!  Margaret made an admirable recovery later in the night and came downstairs for a while.

On Monday it was starting to brighten up a little.  Margaret dropped me off at Freathy, though I had to wait in the car for five minutes for a heavy shower to go by.  I was beginning to think if coming down over Easter was  not a good idea!  We made the decision that I would walk for a short distance and meet Margaret to survey the weather. I walked along Wiggle cliffs where the path broadly followed the road. This area was full of holiday chalets nestling in the cliffs. I met Margaret in a lay-by and got into the car whilst another heavy shower past.

I then walked onto Rame Head and took the path all the way up to the church on the head.  It was very windy at this stage but dry. I met Margaret again in the car park but since the weather was still holding out, we arranged to meet again in Cawsand.  It was a pleasant, comparatively flat walk to Cawsand and a lot less windy.  Good views were beginning to appear of Plymouth sound.

I popped into a pub on the harbour at Cawsand for a drink because I was early to meet Margaret and Sean.  They were having lunch in a nearby cafe at the same time.  I met them by the car in the car park and on the way home we called into the monkey sanctuary.  The monkeys roamed about freely so we could get very close to them though Sean was not overly impressed.  Back at Rowan Lodge I had one of Ann's cream teas.

 

Day: 106 11/10/93 Seaton to Freathy

 Weather: OK then very wet      Distance:  12.5 km (7.8 miles)   

 

I knew that the weather forecast for later in the day was poor so I opted for a relatively short walk.  I drove to Freathy and dropped my bike of there. It took me a while however to find somewhere suitable to leave it, out of sight from the main road, ot outside anyone's house, somewhere where there was something to chain it to and not too out of the way to make it look as if it had been abandoned somewhere. 

 

I drove back to Seaton, which looked very depressing at this time of year, a desolate beach with one lone shop.  I walked along the sea wall and beach to Downderry, past the sea storm defences that had recently been constructed and that Trevor, the owner of the B&B I had stayed in, had mentioned.

 

At Downderry I cut up off the beach, into the village and then at the end of the village up a steep path onto the cliff tops.  The steep footpath bought me up onto the main road.  The guidebook rightly notes that it is a shame that this mile long section along the road exists because there is no reason other than the meanness of land owners why the path does not follow the coast.

Off the main road I took what could best be described as a seldom used steep road down into the coastal town of Porthwinkle - the steepness would have done Mumbles or Swansea proud.  I thought about a pub lunch when I saw an inviting sign but on closer inspection it turned out to be more of a hotel - the sort that may not welcome walkers.  Added to that the weather had started to look threatening so I pressed on.

There was a section of cliff top footpath before the main road appeared again where the path followed but on the inside of a field.  The path at this point followed the road inland because on the coastal side was Tregantle Fort, an MOD property and firing range.  I bought an ice-cream from a van where it looked as if I had been the only customer all day.

Once the road swung back to the coast again, the straggling village of Freathy appeared, full of holiday chalets but of an old fashioned design.  It started to rain not long before I reached where I had left the bike.  The bike ride back to Seaton took me near enough an hour during which time the rain got worse and worse and I ended up getting soaked to the skin.  The breaks on the bike were poor in the wet weather and I had to apply them with full force on the steep hills.  Once back at the car I got the bike away as fast as possible, drove back to Rowan Lodge and jumped out of my soaking wet clothes and into the shower.

 

I had an afternoon tea and that night on the recommendation of Trevor and Ann went to a pub at Dunloe.  The meal was good and I got chatting to another man on his own who came in for a meal.  He was an American insurance business man over on computer business in London.  He would programme the computer and then explore the country before returning to London to see if the program had worked.  I admired him a lot for having the initiative to travel so much and find quiet places such as this pub.

Cornwall - One of the wooden clocks I used to make in shapes of countires our countries. 

Before going back to Rowan Lodge I popped over the road to the Old Punch Bowl Inn for a drink as it was in the Good Beer Guide.  Whilst having a pint I started to feel cold though I thought it was because the pub was cold.  I spotted the lad who had given me a lift the previous day.  Before going to bed I had a hot chocolate but by the time I was in bed I was freezing.  The more clothes I put on the more cold I got!  Eventually I was wearing more clothes than when I go walking.  I took a couple of paracetamol and started to warm up. When I woke up I was feeling off colour.  There was no thought of any more walking or even eating breakfast so I settled up with Trevor, paying part of my bill with a Cornish clock I had made, and started off for Coventry.  When we returned to Rowan Lodge next year the clock was up on the wall. 

 

I gave a hitch-hiker a life from near Exeter to the turn off for Taunton.  He was a fit lad going to collect a top of the range mountain bike and ride it home again.

When I got home I had to have two days off work getting over the flu bug I had picked up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.