After a cosy night’s sleep (single beds as Pam had been expecting Steve to arrive with another man!) and a fine breakfast, Vic kindly dropped us off at Par Sands so we start off on today’s adventure.

 

We asked Vic to drop us off at the camp-site where we had some ‘economy’ family holidays in the past – my it’s changed – all smart holiday homes now.  And the location of the camp-site shop/cafe has now turned into an Italian Restaurant called Milos.  This was the shop where regularly at 9.30/10.00am they still would have no milk, bread or newspapers to sell and the shop assistant clearly did not care a jot about that!!  It was where one morning when Steve clearly felt he was not receiving the customer service he deserved that he uttered the infamous remark to the assistant “Is there something wrong with you!?”

When we found the coastal path out of Par we were fascinated to see a sign on the first path saying ‘Bat Walk.’  A hundred yards on when we stopped to glance over the beach we were mad we hadn’t photographed the sign ……. because of course it was Par Sands that another legendary family incident occurred, involving Caroline and Jim and a Cricket BAT!!

And so the walk commenced, now if yesterday was steep, today was even steeper – more hills, more descents, more steps – it was an unforgiving day.  As I’m climbing sometimes I feel so much hate – I hate the hill, I hate Cornwall, I hate my husband (and I’m sure he hates me and my whinging) and I hate myself for getting into that position.  But then you finally reach the top and see fabulous views …. and you breathe … and you relax … and all is well with the world again.  

Arrived in Fowey at lunchtime and treated ourselves to a little look around town.  As you walk in it’s so pretty with palm trees, pink and blue hydrangeas, wind in the willows garden, pastel coloured cottages – love this place.  We were soaked and muddy up to our knees but found a lovely restaurant where they insisted we come in, despite our look!!  I enjoyed a chunk of pork pie, rocket salad and homemade piccalilli (thought of you Gina!).  After lunch we took the ferry to Polruan and started on the second part of today’s 15 mile walk.  

The journey continued to be relentless in terms of climbs – back to rugged cliffs now and more edge of the cliff walking – feel I’m getting a little braver in this regard – well I just don’t look to my right to be honest!!  Our B&B host tonight has just told us that there are 900 steps between here (Polperro) and Polruan – and that’s just half of our walk!!

Met a little more wildlife today – still too many cows for my liking – but also came across Freddy Frog basking in the sun on our path and there were hundreds of Red Admiral butterflies – some outstretched on the path, others fluttering around in great numbers.

So, although we love Polperro, after 7 hours of walking we are just going to relax in our very sumptuous B&B room (splashed out!) – we have king size bed and TV.  We’ve brought in supplies for a cream tea, wine and nibbles.  A chilled evening is on the agenda!!

Robin cooked a fine breakfast and chatted busily as he did so ….. we set off a little later than planned.

It was very much a STEEP day – steep hills both up and down, steep steps both up and down (more than 100 in one flight and there were many flights!) and steep in mud!!  The weather had brightened up today – in fact no rain and some sun – but yesterday’s downpours have left patches of very boggy ground.  We were caked in it!

So a tough day of walking.  The funny thing is we knew it would be as the guide had indicated roller coaster climbs.  But literally every time we dragged ourselves to the top of a hill there would be an immediate descent right to the very bottom where another hill would be lurking, hardly any flat walking for most of the day.  So although pre-warned we still grumbled every time – “so mean” “this is ridiculous” “I don’t believe it” – “who designed this coastline!!”   I think today we started our third ascent of Everest – I can understand your comparison now Nigel.  We actually decided that in this fast developing technological world escalators and conveyor belts might be the way to go …. could also promote diversity – equality of access and all that!!

We had to take the descents slowly as so slippy underfoot – Steve came a cropper as he dared to glance over to St Austell, removing his eyes from the path for a nanosecond, a particularly wet rock left him on his bottom and with a badly grazed knee.  He soldiered on!!

Stopped off in pretty Charlestown for some lunch.  A harbour town, with many tall ships and famous for the filming of Poldark.  

Arrived in Par after our 12 mile hill hike, hit the pub and downed a beer or two while we waited for our kind B&B host, Pam, to pick us up to drive us to our ‘today nest’ in St Blazey Gate.  Beautiful room and bathroom – just about to relax my weary limbs in a hot bath with lashings of bath foam.  Then out to the pub to eat – someone has to do it!!  Hope the bill’s not too STEEP!!

Carol was our airbnb host last night in beautiful Portloe, such a wonderful house and we loved Carol, didn’t want to leave.  When Steve set off this morning to cover the first (ridiculously steep) mile and a half on his own, Carol and I enjoyed lots of chats before driving to Portholland to meet Steve.  Steve of course had managed it in record time – looked a bit flushed though so sure there had been some running involved.  I was a little anxious about this walk as it was to be ‘strenuous’ so when Carol offered to drive me on to Mevagissey, boy was I tempted.  But I took up the challenge … and survived.  The weather had changed today to full on winter – rain (torrential at times), wind and thick fog.  Steve and I definitely came to the conclusion today that we are BONKERS!!

Last night we had dined and wined at The Ship Inn and met this lovely little chap with his owner – they had completed the Portloe – Megavissey walk that day and other parts of the coastline – so we stayed way beyond our usual bedtime to exchange walking stories and scary experiences.  

So much climbing involved today, hill after hill after hill, sometimes we thought it just couldn’t get any higher.  A lot of countryside walking today, across fields, through woodland, narrow paths of soaking wet foliage.  Even when the sea was in sight it wasn’t (we couldn’t see the sea!) – the fog was so thick we could literally see a few feet to our right and could just hear the high waves crashing on to the rocks.  And boy did it rain, it didn’t stop all day – we were soaked down to our socks and undies!!  

Such a deserted path today, can’t think why!!!  But then, just before Hemmick Beach, in the middle of nowhere, we stumbled across a man and a lady who were doing a National Countryside survey – they had been there since 7.00am (it was now 11.00am) and we had been the first people to come by – they were tasked to stay there till 7.00pm.  Although we were soaked and on the verge of freezing by then, we could hardly say ‘no’ so we graciously spent 10 minutes answering their questions.  One of the questions was “Do you feel calm and relaxed when walking the Coastal Path?”  Today was not the day to ask that question – I’m afraid it got a ‘strongly disagree!’  

Lots of countryside wildlife too – fields were heavily populated with sheep and cows.  We were joined by a pheasant strutting its stuff along the path ahead of us for quite a distance.  Rather an abundance too of humongous black slugs!!   So am trying to get back to nature … although these cows still stress me out …. I had just handled my anxiety baggage through a field of particularly loitering fresians and escaped over the stile … then came face to face with these two beauties.

Stopped for lunch in Gorran Haven and then walked on to Portmellon Cove …. both places pretty deserted and windswept.  Things look so different when the sun stops shining.  

And so on to Mevagissey.  We used to come here with the children when they were young so have happy memories of sunny days round by the harbour and its twisty lanes.  Today sadly it looked bleak and the harbour water an unpleasant brown colour – lots of people milling round trying to fill their Sunday afternoon.  We were lucky enough to walk up yet another steep hill and find our lovely airbnb – Rosie and Robin welcomed us with tea and cake and friendly chat – then showed us our cosy room – we even have a decanter of port and plums – what else could you possibly want?  😊

If you haven’t been to Falmouth, you must go – great place – attractive harbour, ferry trips, nice beaches, pleasant town centre with interesting shops and restaurants.  We ate out at a place called The Outlook last night – Steve cooked his own steak on a hot stone – stunning view over Falmouth harbour.  

So the start of today’s journey was the luxury of two ferry rides – the first one to St. Mawes on the ‘Duchess of Cornwall.’

 

Would have liked to see more of St. Mawes but it was a brief stop before we boarded the second ferry to ‘Place.’  I know, Steve had a lot of jokes about that – “what’s the name of this Place?”  “What sort of Place is this?”  Didn’t see many houses there so obviously it’s not really the Place to be!!  It did however have the most stunning hotel (funnily enough called The Place Hotel) – perfect setting with lawns rolling down to the river – marquee set up for a wedding.  (Thought of you Emma and John).  
The walk around the headland of Place, past St. Anthony Head and then along to Portscatho was an absolute joy.  Some steep, steep hills and a few cows to shoo off the path but all in all nothing to get the nerves jangling.  In fact I would say quite relaxing – blue skies, deep blue sea patterned by the glimmering sun, the melodic sound of water lapping up on the shore, sailing boats gliding with us as we walked (couldn’t help but share some Rod Stewart lyrics!), an abundance of white butterflies – such a tranquil morning.  

This part of the coastline is so much more populated with walkers – we were laughing about the number of teenagers you see being herded along by their health-conscious parents.  You can imagine them mumbling “not another walk Dad, we walked last year” – just longing to be back in the land of phone signal.  

When we got to the beautiful village of Portscatho I took my leave of Steve as the remaining part to Portloe promised to be a touch more strenuous (not risking it any more).  

The trip along to Portloe proved easier going than expected although a couple of big hill climbs did test the endurance levels, covering nearly eight miles in two hours which made for a pleasant change when arriving at 3pm rather than a couple of hours later.   We have now been walking for some six weeks and have gone well past the halfway mark and perhaps the end is almost in sight, this being a challenge that neither of us realised would be so tough! Mind you just when you think things are easing up then another hill comes into view, its truly amazing how many hills you can find in a relatively short distance! 

It’s a wonderful feeling towards the end of each days walk when you finally get to reach your destination, the first sight generally being as you walk around a cliff headland, today’s was no different and I enjoyed the march into town:-

Believe it or not, no complaints today – an absolute perfect walk – full sunshine too with just a little breeze on occasion.  A moderate 10 miles – sea views, woodland walks – of course hills and the usual hundreds of steps but all manageable …. and dare I say enjoyable. 

Another great airbnb experience last night, staying in Mawnan Smith – our lovely hosts were Paul and Gary.  Stunning bedroom views to start the day …. but unfortunately no breakfast!!   We shared lots of tea and chats with them though and went out for a gorgeous tapas meal in the village + a visit to the Red Lion.

So treated ourselves to a few snack breaks along the way today, each time appreciating fabulous coastline views.  

It was a day of giant plants – giant ferns in the woods we walked through, another giant triffid like plant we keep discovering (not sure what it’s called) and some spectacular giant cactus plants along the seafront in Falmouth.

This is our first visit to Falmouth and we love it.  Did the honest thing and walked the whole coastal path around the headland, past Pendennis Castle and into the dock area.  Looking forward to discovering more of it this evening.  Planning a relaxing stroll with some drinking and dining experience thrown in.  Wish you were here 😊

A wonderful day that seemed to go on and on, in no small part due to the lack of Coastal Path signs in the later stages approaching Helford. The guide has once again suggested that this part of the path was strenuous so Steve set out as the solitary walker whilst Dee chose the far more sensible option of a taxi to Helford to await Steve’s arrival.  

Today’s walking turned into something of an epic, including the normal ups and downs but also several diversions inland where the previous Coastal Path was not accessible, making what should have been 15 miles into something nearer 20 miles of hard slog!  Anyway all started well with leaving Cadgwith Cove, another unbelievably beautiful part of Cornwall that remains pretty much undiscovered:-

Upon leaving the cove I spotted a coastal path sign saying Coverack 5 and 3/4 miles, so interesting to arrive some two hours and seven miles later at another great little undiscovered gem, as we move along the south coast there is a lot more kayaking and paddle boarding with the sea being a little flatter, this is the harbour area:-

From here the terrain remarkably became a lot flatter, only to be replaced by ‘boulder hopping’ amongst the flood plains along the very low coast line, however the high points returned and signalled my arrival at the rather nicely named ‘Black Head” which is an absolutely stunning place where you can see for miles in either direction, including a viewing room with binoculars, sadly my picture does not do it any justice:-
From here on in it became a great effort trying to find directions (how difficult can it be to keep the sea on your right and the land on your left?).  Anyway I was in such a rush that I even passed up the opportunity of lunch as this great place:-

From here on in I’m afraid I got completely lost within a couple of miles of Helford and included climbing around in woodland and walking around cabbage fields looks for the missing signs?  All sorted in the end though as I just walked the last two miles into Helford on the country road where the signs work a lot better, a delighted Dee was pleased to see me some two or three hours later than expected!

Well we returned to Cornwall refreshed after a fabulous weekend in Twickenham, hosted by Pete and Barbara – it was SO good to eat, drink and be merry with so many of the family for three days, many many laughs.  

We arrived in Porthleven on Tuesday afternoon and really enjoyed our stay there.  It’s similar to Padstow but without being swamped with tourists.  We dined out at Rick Stein’s restaurant in the evening – very nice too!  Stayed with a wonderful lady Trish whose airbnb was a real home from home.  Had a great night’s sleep in the sumptuous bed and Egyptian cotton bedding and left after a hearty Cornish breakfast – Steve’s plate was so full I’m not sure how he got up from the table.  

So today’s walk was classified as ‘moderate’ and it was just that … and it was spectacular to say the least.  I would say that visually this is my favourite bit of coastline so far – not such family-friendly beaches but for walking and sightseeing you could do no better.  Grass covered cliff tops, magnificent coves and the colour of the sea today – you could have been in the Med.

Everything perfect … except on reaching Lizard Point (1) we got drawn down to the beach area instead of sticking to the higher path – so this involved a steep descent down some boulder type steps and (2) we walked on further (this is because our accommodation for the night was some way beyond and we thought it would be manageable to do the extra).  After 8 hours of walking what turned out to be nearly 20 miles, we wearily stumbled into Cadgwith Bay – a picturesque fishing village with a fabulous pub.  After comforting ourselves with fish and chips and alcohol we made our way up the hill, another mile to our airbnb in Ruan Minor.

So, apart from the crazy distance, the terrain was not scary today.  My biggest challenge was the cows (after our conversation the other night Caitlin!) – we had to walk through field after field of them.  Some walkers were stopping to take selfies with them – not me, I walk briskly and I have my very pointy walking pole which I would not be frightened to use.  One did walk towards us making full eye contact and Steve had to make himself even larger and shoo him away.  They’re obviously quite intelligent cows in this part though as the farmers leave them to graze so close to the cliff edges – didn’t notice any falling off!!