Gurnard's Head to Botallack (Oct 1st)

We were up at 6.30, making a quick porridge for breakfast, setting off for the bus station at about 7.30. Other than the main road which we had to cross, it was still and quiet, and a beautiful morning :-) Penzance sunrise

There were only fishermen, workmen and some early morning swimmers out...

Mount's Bay Sunrise

... and bus drivers of course! We had the same driver as yesterday, Steve, and picked up the same children for school, it was interesting watching their dynamic! We were dropped off near Gurnard's Head, and walked out onto the coast path, picking up where the path was open again.

Treen Cove
This cove was once the site of a pilchard business, (called a 'seine' - 3 boats, 2 nets and a fish cellar where the pilchards were processed) and more tin mining. I thought it was a lovely spot.

From here we walked out on to Gurnard's Head with its cliff castle and remains of round houses a rugged little headland that is bigger than it looks!Gurnard's Head

The path is mostly cliff walking from here with only a couple of coves, lots of scrambling over granite boulders and along narrow tracks, demanding on the body again!

New bridge

This bridge had been re-made after the storm damage, there were tracks from the diggers etc, it must have been difficult work as access was very tricky.

Porthmeor Cove - I liked the X!

The path leads on to Bosigran which is a one of the best climbing cliffs in Cornwall. The next picture I've included because it gives an good idea of how steep the cliffs are, the path you can see wending its way half way down the cliff on the far side was NOT the one we took!

When I was at college, I came here. It was the first time I had ever abseiled and I was scared stiff, as the sea was crashing far below, but I was in safe hands.

Bosigran Cliff

You can see a couple standing on the cliff top! I didn't climb all the way up there, just the pink coloured section!

Whirl Pool

The path was very tricky and uneven and a real scramble in places, we caught glimpses of a beach up ahead and I decided I hadn't paddled at all yet on the walk, so I would do it here, despite the challenge of drying feet and getting back into my boots etc!! I was so hot and tired, and the white sand and turquoise sea was so inviting :-)

Portheras Cove

You knew there was going to be a 'however' didn't you? As we descended the path, there was this notice...



... I could hardly believe it... and the sand was SO inviting...Portheras Cove

Tim had visited this beach years ago and it had just been boulders and stones,

the depth of sand was amazing, and the stream cut into it as we watched... beautiful :-)
I hope you enjoy this video.

After Portheras we walked on to Pendeen Watch,

Pendeen Watch

where there is another lighthouse, and sat and had some food, before walking on to Botallack via Geevor and Lelant Mines. We looked out for choughs but to no avail, by now we were very tired and were glad to stop.

Lelant Mine
We caught the bus into St Just, went for a hot chocolate, tea and carrot cake - very nice.

About to go and make my Chrstmas cake ...




... it's in the oven, :-) so just time to finish off this entry...



After catching bus back to Penzance and a shower in the Youth Hostel before the school kids got back, we returned to The Alverne for another lovely meal. We plumped for a starter and a pud for Tim, a frangipane which was so delicious he also wanted to skip down the road!


Tim's pud

The restaurant had a lovely welcoming atmosphere and a lounge area where you could sit by the fire - my pic does not do it justice.

We'd walked about 9 or so miles on the coast, but it had been a hard path, for me harder than yesterdays which Tim had found difficult. Parts were scrambling over boulders etc, but the final section had been on the gravel roads of the tin mines, and they make your legs ache! We had been blessed with wonderful weather again and were beginning to look a little tanned!

..to Zennor

I meant to finish this yesterday, but got sidetracked by soup and over-worked teachers!

The picture above shows how clear the water was, even though it was cloudy over the land,

View from Zennor Head towards Gurnard's Head

We decided to stop at Zennor as the path had been very tricky and we were both tired. Also, we could not have walked further on the coast path there as between Zennor and Gurnard's Head the path was closed with big signs telling us if we did cross the barriers we would be turned back! This was as a result of the strom damage I mentioned earlier, and it will have to be a section we do sometime in the future when it has reopened.

The bus took us to Penznce, picking up a wonderful, elderly gentlemen called Russell, who chatted away to us and the driver (who knew him well). He kept calling me "my handsome" and "my love" in such a wonderful Cornish burr - it was a pleasure to travel with him. It was school run time so we picked up littlies for their journey home - it was lovely.

Why to Penzance? We had booked into the Youth Hostel there for several nights to use as our base on this part of the walk. It was huge (sleeps 100) and had school groups in, but was clean and very pleasant. It was a mile and a third from the bus stop to the Youth Hostel, and after we'd settled in we set off back into town to find somewhere to eat.

The Alverne is where we ended up, about a mile from the YH, and they served the most wonderful food ever. I chose a fishcake and Tim a goat's cheese creation. I have never eaten anything to match it, the balance of flavours was perfect, and I felt like skipping all the way back to the YH despite having felt exhausted when we walked in through their door. The quality of the food was matched by Sandra who looked after us so well - we decided we would return!

St Ives - Zennor (Sept 30th)

The early bus took us to Perran, and then we hopped upstairs on the next bus - double decker - for a great ride to St Ives - amazing what you can see from up there!

View from St Ives bus stop

We got to St Ives about 10, picking up a pasty as we walked through the town.

St Ives Harbour

It was lovely to be there without crowds of tourists!

Porthminster Beach

We walked out onto the headland, round to Porthmeor, and out onto the cliffs.

Porthmeor Beach

As we walked out beyond St Ives, there was a strange, mournful sound coming from somewhere. We looked round for the cause but couldn't see anything. it came and went very strangely and I began to think I was hearing things - but it was a seal, hauling itself up onto some rocks just offshore. It was a very forlorn, mysterious sound - you could see how tales have arisen about them.

You'll see from the pictures, this is completely different from the other parts of the walk.

Beyond Clodgy Point

The path was full of wild flowers, the smell of bracken, mist, granite boulders and views of a turqoise sea.

This section of the coast path was marked with these 'milestones' which we liked :-)

The path itself wound its way amongst the boulders, it was narrow and overhung with grasses.

The views were wonderful.

I'm going to let you enjoy the next pics without comment.







In April this year Cornwall had lots of bad weather and localised flooding, this resulted in roads and bridges being wahed away, and sadly three youngsters died in this area when their car was washed into a steam. You can see from the picture below how much erosion there has been by this little stream.

It was very damp underfoot in places when we were there, and it had been dry for about a month, so we counted our blessings that we weren't hiking through this in the wet.

Porthtowan-Gwithian part 2

I'm going to let most of these pics speak for themselves... the lighthouse is Godrevy.

We discovered that the crowd of people standing on the cliff edge which I mentioned earlier, were watching a congregation of seals (is there a noun for a group of seals?).We didn't join them, but lay down on the edge of the cliff nearby and peered over.

It was lovely watching them in the water and lumbering around over the stones... you'll see quite a few if you look carefully although the pic blurs a bit.

Other than Hell's Mouth, I do not remember walking this area before though I am sure I must have.
We spent a little while in Gwithian waiting for the bus back home, and visited these two lovely churches.

The Parish Church had this notice on the door...

The churchyard had a wonderful atmosphere...

We stopped for another coffee at the National Trust shop in near Gwithian Bridge, a lovely design for a building and served by a lovely girl. It had been a superb day again, better than I anticipated as I thought this part might not be as good as some of the other areas we have walked.

Porthtowan to Gwithian (Oct 8th)

Our routine on a walking day saw Tim up and about first just before 7am. We made our own breakfasts, usually a porridge of some sort and toast maybe, then packed some lunch things which we may have bought the day before, if not, we'd pick them up from the shop at the bus stop.

My usual rations were; a pack of ready salted crisps, an apple, a banana, 'exotic' dried fruit (apricot, coconut,papaya etc),a lump of cheese, rye crackers, and some form of chocolate! Also, about one and a half litres of water in a platypus.

I found these provisions ideal, and spread out through th day kept me going very well. I'd usually have something at about 11am, then pick at things through the day. Sometimes we had a proper stop for lunch, other times we wanted to keep moving - we seemed to agree about these quite naturally (or perhaps Tim just gave in - you'll have to ask him...).

Perran

We caught the 8.13 bus to Perran, it was still and quiet, high tide and just beautiful. We then caught the bus to Porthtowan and were dropped at the Turn, and walked down to the beach.

As we reached the top of the cliff path we started chatting to a chap who was looking at the surf, he told us about a mother and baby seal in the next bay. We were so glad he told us about them or we would've missed them, the cliffs were a woderful red, and very shaly, but we spotted the pair on the beach below.

Mother and baby seal

Looking back up the coast we could see St Agnes beacon, but the beach we'd walked on to Porthtowan had disappeared under the high tide.

View back up coast to Porthtowan and St Agnes Beacon

The weather was glorious once again. The path only had a couple of descents, this one was Sally's Bottom, and stunning it was too!

Sally's Bottom

I had never walked this part before, around the edge of Nancekuke which is still protected by high, barbed wire fences etc.Portreath has a lovely little harbour within a harbour and shows signs of lots of new development.

Portreath, the bath in the rocks

We walked across the beach to see the bath cut into the rock by The Bassets - the lords of the manor. Apparently there are 6, but we only saw this one.

Portreath sea-water bath

It was generally easy walking from here, along the tops of the cliff towards Hell's Mouth.

This particular part reminded me of a less touristy version of Bedruthan Steps.

North Cliffs

We stopped at the cafe at Hell's Mouth for coffee, and then headed on towards Godrevy lighthouse. The path along this part is well trodden, and paved in part. As we neared Godrevy we could see lots of people standing along one stretch of cliff.

This is a real headland and could see into the Hayle estuary, Carbis Bay and St Ives beyond.


Carbis Bay

Cameron Estate to Porthtowan (Oct 5th)

We decided to leave the Holywell-Perran bit for the very end, Bridgie has been keen to come and walk with us, so we may complete the rest of the walk, then have a celebratory stroll with anyone who wants to join us... and that includes you :-), on what will be the final section!

We parked up on Cameron Estate, and had a gentle walk down to Chapel Porth where we enjoyed a Hedgehog! :-) This delightful creation is extremely good for the soul, though a little less good for the body. Bear in mind that I'm not really an ice-cream person, but this is really something. I had to persuade Tim to have one as well, but he seemed glad to have succumbed! (It was actually he that introduced them to us a few years ago!) Cornish Ice Cream is covered in clotted cream and rolled in hazlenuts...

A hedgehog!

I'd started eating it then suddenly thought I must get a picture of it, which was quite some achievement in the circumstances!

Suitably sustained, and as the tide was out we walked back along the beach exploring under the cliff we'd walked down, to see if we could get into the cave that joins with the mine shafts up above, but the cavern was protected by a huge deep pool of water; that will have to wait for a summer /swimwear expedition!

So we turned westwards again and walked across the wide expanse of beach,

Looking back towards Chapel Porth

as far as Porthtowan. It was a lovely gentle walk with lots of people out enjoying the warm sunshine.

An aside (Sept 29)

After these three days walking we had a rest day, I certainly needed it! I hadn't done any walking preparation this time so it took me a while to get into the swing, Tim had been doing regular walks so was on better form than me, and, no, Big A, we did not walk through the delights of Newquay itself! We're doing the walk.. but we're not daft! We have granted ourselves a Cornish Walker's Poetic Licence! :-)

The day at home gave us time to plan the next bit; the weather in Cornwall had been dry and fine for weeks on end, and the forecast for us was good weather over the next few days, then rain - so we decided to continue the walk out of order. We knew that certain part of the coast path are particularly difficult when it is wet underfoot, so we decided to tackle those bits next, and fill in the gaps afterwards. Basically, we jumped on to do the St Ives/Penzance section, then back for some more local areas, then the Lizard area.

This would be very confusing for you to follow, especially on the Lizard/Falmouth section, so I shall write it in coastline order! I'll put in the dates though just for the record!

Newquay to Holywell (Sept 28)

Crantock Pound


We decided to do less the next day so after doing some essential washing, we caught the bus into Crantock where I was fascinated by the Pound.


This is a circular, stone-walled enclosure, right in the middle of the village and was used to keep stray animals safe. We then walked down to Penpol, this is Tim's favoured route into Newquay as there is a footway across The Gannel at low tide.




The Gannel Info
It is very pretty here; it reminded me of the walk from St Clements to Tresillian along the river.

Ferry Crossing at The Gannel

We then walked across Crantock Beach, up the steep dunes and out on to the headland. This is Tim's own territory and it was nice to be walking around his special places.

Crantock Beach

This was one of Mum's special places too.

Butterfly

We were accompanied by this butterfly (is it a Speckled Wood?) on the path to Polly Joke, it kept us company for some way!

Polly Joke

The sand in the coves at Polly Joke were at different levels which played tricks with your eyes! We then went out on to Kelsey Head where Tim had watched the eclipse of the sun in 1999.

Kelsey Head looking south

The view south stretches down St Ives,

Kelsey Head looking north

and north up to Trevose, a wonderful view point - I felt as if I was safe encompassed in the arms of those two distant headlands.

Holywell Bay

We then walked on to Holywell, across the beach and back up the Ellenglaze valley to Tim's. I found this last part very hard and a real struggle up the hill. I was very glad to get back and rest some rather weary legs - but it had been a particularly special walk.

.. and so to Newquay (Sept 27)

Watergate Bay

Watergate Bay was beautiful, and I loved this rock at Whipsiderry Beach - Black Humphrey Rock or Flory Island.
Flory Island
Looks like a massive dog, dinosaur or such like to me, with its back to us and head turned to the right. (I blame my age!!!)



By this time I was feeling very tired, and we hastenend across Porth Beach, passed Lusty Glaze where a youngster had just crossed the beach on a zip wire - you can see him hanging in the middle - and on to the bus home.

Lusty Glaze

As we arrived at the bus stop we could see Gig racing in the bay, and saw a report on it on the TV during the following week.

Gig Racing from Lusty Glaze

You can see them in the pic, but not well focused. We'd walked about 13 miles altogether, along wonderful cliffs, but never far from habitation and often on gravel paths. We were findng it easier just carrying essentials for the day and continued like that using Tim's as a base and using the bus or car to get us places.

Constantine to Newquay (Sept 27)

I'm going to test your resolve... I hope you're keeping up! The next morning saw us heading out at about the same time to catch the bus to Newquay and then another to Constantine Bay. We were blessed with glorious sunshine and retrod our path to the beach, and then onwards around the cliffs to Treyarnon Bay.

Hatless Tim!

Fox Cove
Beyond Teyarnon the cliffs were sheer, and showed signs of massive erosion. Looking down over one particular edge I spotted a lovely pile of stones - reminiscent of the work of Andy Goldsworthy. If you,ve not come across him, he's worth checking out. Hopefully you can see the stones if you click on the picture :-)

Warren Cove

From here the coastline was showing the colours and shapes of yesterday, we were constantly delighted by how beautiful it was and how fortunate we were to be able enjoy it all.

Portcothan

We bought pasties at Porthcothan, and Tim a hat as he'd left his at home.

The cliffs at times, showed signs of smuggling... or so it said, with caves and steps cut into the cliffs. Trescore islands

We walked on to Park Head where there are the remains of a cliff castle but also signs of cliff collapse. From here the path takes you to Bedruthan Steps, which despite being a tourist honeypot, is stunningly beautiful.

Bedruthan Steps

The path took us on to Mawgan Porth...

Mawgan Porth

... and beyond to Beacon cove and Watergate Bay. by this time I was definitely beginning to tire... and it's time for my tea so kitchen here I come!

:-)

Padstow to Constantine Bay (Sept 26)

I thought Trevone was a lovely little place; such a contrast with the two beaches,

Trevone

one gorgeous sand, and the other great rocks for rockpooling!

Trevone Bay and Roundhole Point

The collapsed cavern on the headland was visible from a long way away - Tim thought I'd been there before but I have no memory of it - but that doesn't mean a lot!

The sun was well and truly out by the time we crossed Harlyn Bay, watching surfers and canoeists - it was beautiful.

Mother Ivey's Bay was gorgeous

Mother Ivey's Bay

with views out towards the new lifeboat station, which was very impressive. We walked out onto the headland above the lifeboat station and could see up the coast to Tintagel.

View from Cataclews Point

Trevose Head has a very pretty lighthouse,

Trevose Lighthouse

we could have visited many on our journey... next time, maybe! We ended the day at Constantine Bay Constantine Bay with Trevose Head

walking back up to the village to the bus stop to await our chariot ride home. It had been a day of beautiful colours, from turquoise to dark blue, with sparkling seas and an abundance of wild flowers and butterflies. I decided the plants must think it was spring as pink campions and yellow snapdragons were out. About 11 miles altogether which we decided was plenty for that day!

Part Two begins... Padstow-Falmouth! (Sept 26)

Sorry!

I got all excited about resuming the blog... then went down to Wales again for a few days! Back now and ready to post!!! I hope you're ready for lots of pics... several are from my phone camera but the quality seems pretty good, all things considered :-)

Saturday 26th Sept saw us leaving the house at 7.15 am for the bus stop. A bus into Newquay was followed by another to Padstow, and the resumption of The Walk.

Padstow Harbour


The harbour at Padstow is very pretty, but we whisked our way through and on to the paved pathway out of town!

Popular pathway out of town!

It was a cloudy start to the day but the sun peeped through.

Looking back up river towards Padstow

There are some pretty beaches like Harbour Cove,




and I loved these cottages at Hawker's Cove.






We rounded Stepper Point and passed Butter Hole where the whole headland seems rather fragile, and there are glimpses back toward the Camel Estuary.

Near Butter Hole

As we walked down the coast the cliffs became more interesting,

showing marked slippage and erosion.

I was fascinated by the Round Hole near Trevone Bay...

It was amazing! Tim and I were rather surprised that there were not warning signs all over the place and envisioned the results of exuberant youth on a night time walk!!!

More soon...

The wanderer returns!

I have a lovely prospect ahead of me - sharing pictures and moments with you, as I'm just back from another wedding in York, and before that, almost three weeks in Cornwall with Tim, walking the coast path from Padstow to Falmouth! We based ourselves at his, and either caught buses or used the car and bus to complete this 'Part Two' of the walk. There are one or two little bits that we have left out - reasons will become clear, but we have had a fantastic time.


My busy few weeks began with Keith leaving for Kosova, followed by the delivery of the two uni-babies to their respective universities on consecutive days. Tim to Sheffield on the Saturday; his new room was very nice with a lovely kitchen/living area :-); and Bridgie to her lovely house in Manchester on the Sunday :-).

It worked well because it meant I could also visit Meriel for her birthday before heading off on the long trek to Cornwall! We went to The Farmer's Cart for a birthday lunch, and it was delicious... the pictures speak for themselves...

Special Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding!

Back in Bedford I packed for the walk, although I did feel quite unprepared this time - I hadn't made a fruit cake, or bought the usual provisions. I decided to drive down because we thought the car might be useful this time. It was a long journey, 7 hours with the motorway very slow around Bristol, but we had a lovely evening walk around Cubert which was an excellent introduction to Part Two proper!

Ready for the off -Tim's stuff - Saturday morning!

An hour on the Gower!

Well it was more than an hour but I couldn't resisit Big A's assonance?!

We had very mixed weather while we were staying at the flat, an awful lot of heavy rain showers raced through on a blustery wind, but we did get a couple of nice days.

This was typical - looking out, to see a rain shower rushing up the channel!

A shower on the Gower!

The strong winds also meant there was a big sea running, one day the waves were 12/13ft, wonderful to watch from the protection of the flat!

On the Tuesday afternoon, Bridgie and I heard a horn sound, and the lifeguards got everyone out of the water. Very unusual, this, and we just made out the lifeguard call out that they were closing the beach because of Portuguese-man-o-war, (I think you Aussies know them as blue bottles?). They even got all the surfers out which was quite an achievement (though they went back in during the evening once the lifeguards had finished their duty!).

Next morning saw the lifeguard methodically combing the beach (low tide) and he scooped up something and dropped it in the back of his truck. I had to find out what it was, so went down to have a look, and this is what they'd scraped up...

It is only little, about 5" long, but I was very impressed, I may have seen one before but I don't remember it. I had a long chat with the lifeguard who told me he'd spent time in Aus and there, they just put up a warning and carried on as usual! Not on our little beach! Anyway, it was very exciting, and Tim (Uncle) tells me it even made the South West News, as they had been discovered at several places along the Welsh coast.

Pics of our visit to John and Chris next time :-)>

A wedding

More catching up now... after Meriel's visit it wasn't long before we headed up north ourselves for Chris and Louise's wedding. Chris is Gill's son, (Gill is Keith's sister) and we spent a couple of days staying at Meriel's but Phil couldn't make it because of his course.

The weather stayed fine for most of the day, they managed to get all but a few photo's done before it rained, but it blew away quickly and everyone had a wonderful time :-)

The ceremony was lovely, and the setting was super. The next pic is for the foodies amongst us...

...this starter was delicious... mmm... fig....

During the evening reception, about 10.30pm, they hustled everyone out on to some steps for some fireworks. I am not usually taken with fireworks but they were the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen. I wish I had been able to photograph them - they were awesome! If I can get hold of any pics I'll show you what I mean - but the were fantastic.

We drove home the next day (Wednesday) and packed the car up ready for an early start next morning, for Wales. Bridgie and I were planning to drop Keith off near Hereford (where I was at college - show Bridgie my old stomping grounds) and then he was cycling to Hay-on-Wye (of second hand bookshop fame) and Bridgie and I were going on down to the flat on the Gower where Katy was staying. Katy had just come back from a couple of weeks in Philadelphia/New York and was having a week in the flat before school began.

A gentle knock on my door heralded the news that dear Bridgie had been sick all night and couldn't come :-( She hadn't disturbed us but had been very poorly, so because Keith had B&B bookings all done, he and I headed off guiltily, leaving poorly Bridgie behind. We kept Hereford for another trip but I dropped him off as planned and he cycled off into the sunset...

I went on to the flat. Keith travels well equipped and had no punctures over the next few days, which was great,(I was on standby to rescue as necessary!) and the weather, though very windy at times, was ok for him.
Down at the flat the weather was wetter and windier than Keith's. We had this beautiful rainbow over the beach one afternoon.

Caswell Bay

Bridgie caught the train down on the Saturday and Keith arrived during the aftenoon too so it was then a full house. Katy returned home next morning and Keith, Bridgie and I had the rest of the week in the flat with another visit to John and Chris... more next time :-)

Catching up!

The sun is shining (unusual for this summer!) and the washing is blowing dry on the line. It's been an age since I last blogged, so here goes... though I shall have to do it in stages or you'll give up before you begin!

Phil has successfully completed his TEFL course and is back home now, awaiting final accreditation, and applying for jobs. He's decided against Indonesia for the moment, but is still planning to head out Far East. The course was very intensive and, as he hasn't really had a holiday this year, he's taken up an invite to go to New York with some mates.They are travelling up to Montreal and Back to Boston, and have two weeks altogether. He certainly deserves a good holiday.


Jobs are scarce over here, so Tim has been working in our garden to earn some cash, Bridgie seems to have nurtured her finances a little more shrewdly and has had some to spend. She's applying for some work while at uni which is a great idea... Costa Coffee or the like.


Meriel came to stay for a week in August and we went to visit Boughton House. En route, we stopped at Geddington to see the Eleanor Cross,




this is where the body of Eleanor the wife of Edward I laid on its journey to Westminster Abbey. Wherever they stopped he built a cross - I think there are only a couple left. The village itself was beautiful and had this pretty ford.

the house itself wasn't really my cup of tea, but the gardens were lovely. There was a beautiful walled garden,

with a wonderful sensory section. The garden had many water features, including this...

which if you can enlarge shows what it looked like before it was restored! There was also a raised mound - a bit like a pyramid with the top lopped off, and next to it a modern 'sculpture?' called Orpheus which I loved. We weren't allowed to walk on it as the grass had only just taken, but basically you can walk down the slopes to the pool at the bottom... and look into the Underworld. An amazing space :-)

home

Thought it was time to post again!


Today was Phil's final day at Lincroft and the students and staff gave him some lovely things. Some took such time and care... this cake was made by one of the girls he taught...

He is starting a 'Teaching English as a Foreign Language' course in two weeks, which lasts all of August. He's then hoping to go abroad - probably Indonesia, to work.

Some of you know about The Ashes tour...

...well the women play too, and Katy and I went to watch their fourth one day match which was very exciting. England won on the last ball of the match! :-) I will say no more!

Thought you maight like to see the progress in Katy's garden too...

She is very pleased with it - it is looking really lovely.

Port Isaac to Padstow 24th March

We were again given a good breakfast before being delivered back to Port Isaac to continue the walk. This was more familiar ground and again we were blessed with wonderful weather... sun and wind :-)

This walk talk us via Port Quin



... The Rumps and Pentire Point through Polzeath and on round to the ferry at Rock.

We watched the dredger taking sand out of the estuary,

and later saw it being offloaded at Padstow pier.

We found a good place to eat, and a willing pair of hands to take a photo to mark the end of Stage One.

We decided to stop here for the summer, Tim caught a bus back home, I stayed in another B&B and then caught the train back the next day.

It has been wonderful - we have walked about 160 miles and climbed about 30,000 feet (36,974 apparently!). The weather has been amazing, from snow to blazing sun, the scenery could not be bettered and the company perfect.

Roll on September/October when we can continue...

Tintagel to Port Isaac March 23rd

To complete the first stage... along the edge of one path huge slates had been stood on end as a boundary,

natural flaws in them had left holes... I couldn't resist experimenting!

The path took us on to Port Gaverne (not pronounced with a hard 'a' as we had always said it as children, but with a soft 'a' as in 'gave') and round to Port Isaac which, with its narrow streets was as charming as ever, but would be a nightmare in the summer!

We found a little cafe for some more sustainance... pity this wasn't real!

Our B&B was some way out of Port Isaac so we were picked up in the car park and whisked off to our final, for Tim, overnight stay.

Here is a little look back at one of the 7 valleys we crossed between Trebarwith Strand and Port Gaverne to give you a taste of the size of the valleys and the type of path, although the steepness is lost as you look down to Tim and follow the path back up to my feet!

Our final day's walk took us on mostly familiar ground from Port Isaac to Padstow - it was beautiful, sunny and very windy.

Tintagel to Port Isaac March 23rd

Our Bed and Breakfast in Tintagel was lovely, and we were treated to another scrumptious breakfast, from Julie and Keith - another place we'd happily recommend :-)





I have to mention the fudge shop again because it was so gorgeous! The pic below is dark, but worth including to see the guy, Tim, working on the fudge on his marble slab

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kjS0aIH9U0 try this link to see him in action... it's a pity you can't smell it because it is wonderful!

We walked on along the cliff, by the youth hostel (closed again - as have been most of them - we were too early in the year!) and along the slate cliffs which have been quarried leaving fascinating shapes and sometimes dangerous paths to walk on.

We descended into Trebarwith Strand which we visited a lot one summer when we rented a cottage nearby and it was our nearest beach.

From Trebarwith you climb the cliff path to about 300' and drop back down to sea level almost imediately - there were 6 more of these to do before we'd finish the day!

These descents into gullies with little streams tumbling into the sea were wonderful and felt completely away from it all. Places you want to explore with a rug and hamper to help!

The guide books repeatedly warned how dangerous these paths can be, especially in the wet, so were were very lucky to have such fabulous weather and be dry underfoot on the slate/shale. It was easy to see how tricky this path might be but we navigated our way safely.

This was one spot I stopped at for some time, just watching the sea.