Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Portscatho to Portloe (8th Mar)

Same again if you don't mind... we walked this from Portloe to Portscatho and I'll write it that way;
I'm tempted to upload a little film I took from the top of Nare Head, not so much for you to see the view, but so you can hear the wind and see why we chose to walk this way!
(I forgot to put this in yesterday - near Place house - I think you like Camellias Big A?)
We parked at Tregony and caught the bus to Portloe, such an amazing little place,
so typical of a Cornish fishing village. Houses all jumbled on top of one another and a tiny harbour.
The pathway out of Portloe is steep and winding,
the vegetation looks almost artificially contoured but this is the work of nature! We had gorgeous weather again,
blue sky and sea and a warm sun when out of the bitterly cold easterly wind.
We were a little bit early for the daffodil fields,
but they were almost out!
A big sea was running again,
and at The Straythe we were close to it and we got the full effect!
From here walked around a headland into Kilberick Cove,
with Nare Head in the distance. This was stunning,
and had a beautiful 'slip' field which seems to have slipped towards the sea once upon a time.
The wind was fierce and creating the most beautiful pattern of swell around Gull Rock;
I was disapointed that this is not quite in focus but the swell pattern was beautiful... it was almost impossible to hold the camera still on this section! Nare Head is another the site which bears the scars wartime activity; it was used like Nare Point near the Helford as a decoy to attract bombing away from Falmouth and was the site of a Nuclear Observation Bunker that is now looked after by the National Trust.This was the entrance!
When we turned the corner at Nare Head and gained its protection it was a different world. We walked down to Tregeagle's Hole (the giant... you remember...?) and found our narrow path blocked by a little flock of sheep. The single file path is close to the cliff edge and we didn't want to scare them into danger so we went gently down this section, eventually they turned off our path but as soon as we had passed them by, they returned to the cliff path

and I managed to snap them!
The path then took us onto very familiar territory,
Carne
then Pendower,
on to Porthbean
and round Pothcurnick beach
into Portscatho itself where we caught the bus back to Tregony.
On the way home from Tregony we stopped at Cornelly Church with its leaning tower, and this old tombstone;
and then visited Golden,
which was one of Mum's favourite places to walk to from Probus. All in all it was a beautiful day :-) and here is that video for you to sample the wind!




Thursday, March 18, 2010

Place to Portscatho (7th March)

I mentioned the lovely weather we had and the biting easterly wind which on this day made us decide to walk this section the 'wrong' way! It certainly made it easier to walk... but harder to blog, although, I think you are all big enough to cope! So, I'm going to write it the way we walked it!

We parked the car at Froe and walked along a lovely track towards Portscatho, Tim loved this part with the path, gateway and view beyond :-) and I loved the view beyond - it reminds me of something - is it a painting?

The sea was very rough at Portscatho - unusual, as it is usually a protected harbour.
When Tim (son) was born we came and stayed in Portscatho, and Uncle Tim can remember walking along with Phil to go and "Pat the mine" so in recognition of this important event...
The rough sea was crashing over the quay, we battled around the corner out of the wind and walked along to Towan beach where we stopped for a snack on a very welcome seat.
Looking up the coast we could see Nare head and Dodman beyond.
St Anthony Head
has wonderful views in every direction,
across Falmouth Bay towards Pendennis Castle, up river towards Feock with St Mawes, and the lighthouse with its wonderful Fresnel lens which picked up the light like a rainbow.
The headland was used during the war and has remains of the old battery that was here. Walking back towards St Mawes was wonderfully sheltered with stunning views
and some wonderful trees!
Place is actually where the walk restarts after Falmouth and is really pretty with a beautiful church,
but we walked by the riverside through the trees all the way back to Froe.
It was a good walk.

Family stuff

Before we start walking I thought you might like to see what's happening in Carvoza Rd...



... and in the garden...

... not sure if this is just a garage or another house.

The house next door to Mrs Waters has also morphed!
Also, there are changes afoot in Probus...




with a new house being built on what was the garden.

We briefly met the lady who lives in Roseveth, she has two little girls. Sitting in the front window was a lovely dollshouse.