Day 3: Tintagel to Crackington Haven

N.B. A six-day walk on the north coast of the South West Coast Path (Padstow to Clovelly).

Cornwall Navigation: [Next Day] 

Highlights of the day were some natural caves and arches visible from the cliffs, and the Rocky Valley section with flowers, stream, waterfalls and dragonflies. Really nice.

Rocky Valley

By the time we reached Boscastle, we were ready to eat an ice cream, enjoy the view, enjoy a coffee at the National Trust cafe....

Village where we tried lavender honey ice cream -
supposedly the best ice cream we would ever have.
It was ... interesting.  Actual lavender flowers.  Crunchable.

A boat coming out of the ground - it's witchcraft!!!

Bill's favorite flowers on this trip.

As we exited Boscastle, it looked like the coastal path went up fairly steeply.  Sarah thought there was a less steep way around, clambering on the rocks.  So we tried following some alternative footpaths.  One went all the way around a big rocky hill... only to descend, ultimately, toward the sea.  Where it would presumably peter out at some point (blub, blub, blub).  Not so good.  So we backtracked, and Bill and I tried some "trails" up through the heather while Sarah went all the way back to the official SWCP.

She was up the ridge, waiting for us, as we struggled though gorse bushes and cobwebs up our ever-steeper "shortcut."

Butterfly

Today's section would have been 11.4 miles, but we took some short cuts to avoid the ravines. This meant road walking, sans shade and sans views. I found that part of the day more tiring (less motivating), especially since we were getting a lift back to Tintagel at the end of the day to stay a second night there. But on the upside, we did arrive at the C.H. pub very early, and were able to commandeer the lovely shaded picnic tables in back. Bill befriended a small child (as is his wont) and charmed the child's guardians.

It was hot and sunny, and my neck kept getting burned each day no matter how much  sun lotion I put on.  So when we got back to Tintagel, I bought a one-piece neck-scarf thing for full coverage.

Enjoying a well-deserved rest at the B&B.  It took me a while to realize those "windows" in the wall are mirrors.

Feet up! This is the life!!!

N.B. A six-day walk on the north coast of the South West Coast Path (Padstow to Clovelly).

Cornwall Navigation: [Next Day] 

Day 2: Port Isaac to Tintagel

N.B. A six-day walk on the north coast of the South West Coast Path (Padstow to Clovelly).

Cornwall Navigation: [Next Day] 

Overview: Some of the sweetest and most abundant blackberries of the trip!

We took a taxi to the start of our day's walk, but managed to follow a series of footpaths that were not part of the SWCP.  Oh well!  The walking was easy there, at any rate.

It didn't take long to find the official path though, and soon our day of climbing began.

There were actually some treacherous climbs today - and I got a bit freaked out with a steep descent near an eroded cliff. Probably safe enough with the detour, and yet I couldn't help thinking of all the worst case scenarios with scree and flimsy blue ropes marking the rerouted path. (As Calvin says: "My mind is trying to kill me!") 

Looking back at a steep descent we'd made

A close-up of the path and the cliff edge

But we were rewarded for the challenges with a bountiful crop of sweet blackberries atop of one of the hills.




Oh, and some spectacular views.

Today's butterflies were mostly orange and black, though I saw a white one on a dandelion.

 I really liked one ascent through a patch of gorse and heather intermixed:

We did six of seven valleys, and then ducked out of the last one by taking a public footpath to the hotel.

An early glimpse of the church overlooking the village of Tintagel

Not all the adjoining householders are keen on the footpath, apparently. One of them put up a high stile on each end of his property (I wasn't tall enough to step over it), and also routed the path narrowly along the stone wall - with a wooden barrier backed by an electric fence! Not to mention the friendly hand painted signs warning us to keep dogs on leads, danger electric fence, and dogs have killed chickens. It felt really good to leave his property.

Soon, we met some mules (behind another electric fence), whom Bill befriended by feeding them mints. They practically tried to get our mobile numbers after that!

After we checked in to the B&B, we went to look at the castle. I split off and took a detour up following signs to a church. As I worked my way down toward the castle, I saw a signpost with an acorn - I had come across part of the South West Coast Path (a part we'd skipped!). So I followed the SWCP to the castle's upper entrance, and looked in to the courtyard. A nice ruin.

The castle!!!

Then followed the SWCP down to the lower entrance, where I met Sarah and Bill. We ponied up for a Land Rover ride back up the hill to the village!

 (Official mileage for this section: 9.1)

N.B. A six-day walk on the north coast of the South West Coast Path (Padstow to Clovelly).

Cornwall Navigation: [Next Day] 

Day 1: Padstow to Port Isaac

N.B. This is the first of six posts about my trip to the north coast of Cornwall and Devon to walk a portion of the South West Coast Path. 
Cornwall Navigation: [Trip Overview] - [Next Day] 

Overview: A coastal path with some steep bits - one long ascent looked to be a 45 degree angle after we were done with it. Some blackberries along the way.  Blue butterflies/moths.  A good day.

We set off from the ferry at Padstow, a more complex undertaking than it might have been.  We had been told about the "main" ferry dock and the "alternative" dock for low tide - supposedly, the way you can tell if the main dock is in operation is that they are flying a flag there.  The flag was flying, and the schedule board said "N/A" for launch times at the alternative dock, but the tide looked pretty darned low to us - and there was no one there, no sign of activity.  So we climbed the stairs, went up and over a hill, and down to the beach on the other side to the alternative site.  There was no sign of activity there either, but we found some locals walking dogs on the beach, and asked them.  They said the ferry has been coming to the main site all summer, and they reckoned it would be the same today.  There is apparently no set schedule; the ferry crossing is driven by customer demand.  (So if we'd stayed put, the ferry might have come over and picked us up already!!!)  Oh well! It was certain a good warm-up, climbing back up and over to the original site, where there was now another passenger waiting.  Sure enough, the ferry came on over, and we soon reached the Rock.  Our fellow passenger skateboarded off to town (stage right) as we headed through a car park in quest of the acorn-marked path...

The Three Musketeers

We saw a few blue butterflies or moths - the first a dusty blue, the second more of a periwinkle.

After a few climbs, we reached a surfing mecca.  It may not be Hawaii or California, but it is clearly very popular - there were many rival firms offering surfing lessons and surfboard rentals.

I liked the logo on this one!

The bungee swinging contraption looked really fun,
but we were on a mission to find a pub!

We bought some pasties at a local pub (mine was chicken and leek) to enjoy en route, and then got cappuccinos at an ice cream shop.  The locally produced ice cream looked really, really good, but we figured that such places would be easy to find in Cornwall.

The climbs soon resumed.

Northbound boat, southbound island?

Zooming in to the rocks below...

The day was hot, and the ascents and descents were non-stop, so we decided to stop for lunch.

A few folks passed by, and Bill chatted with them.  One young couple was off to go fishing, poles in hand and with their young son (Leo) in a backpack.  The father said he had done the entire SWCP (all 630 miles) in 14 days, when he was in college.  We talked this over later, and decided this was a fish tale.

Sarah wasn't hungry, but Bill and I were.  Unfortunately, the pasties weren't particularly good (more potato than anything else, and very heavy).  Afterward, I wished I'd eaten only half of mine...

We pushed on as beautiful landscapes unfolded beneath us.  One highlight was a natural stone arch with water rushing in and out.

A natural archway

We saw a slow-worm on the path, apparently a common legless lizard in the UK.

Slow-Worm.  It is not a worm!!

We took a small detour up a hill to see tiny Doyden Castle, which is built into the hill (and is not open to the public).

Up close and personal

Doyden Castle, viewed from mid-hill.

Doyden Castle, viewed from SWCP.

View from Doyden Castle.  Why yes, we will be descending nearly to water level again - I'm glad you asked!!

Peaceful landscape... with a nice long ascent.

The road goes ever on and on...

View back to Doyden Castle

Eventually, we came to a really punishing long, steep ascent.

You're almost there, Sarah!!!

"More stairs?!"

View from the top (looking down at another hill we just descended)

And yes, there were more stairs to follow.  Here is a view down the next ravine...

We eventually reached Port Isaac, beautiful in the sunshine.

We had a strange encounter with one of the locals while we were waiting for a taxi to take us to our out-of-town hotel; a passer-by even commented "There's one in every village."  Go figure!

Our hotel had a special garden, which we got to see for free as guests of the hotel.  Some of the promised views were blocked by luxuriant plant growth, but it was nice to stroll around the grounds:

The thistles were magnificent - really huge.   The flowers were easily 3 inches high.

We dined at the hotel restaurant - looking into a lovely sunset.  (Two-thirds of us, at least.)

 (Official mileage for this section of the SWCP: 11.7)

N.B. A six-day walk on the north coast of the South West Coast Path (Padstow to Clovelly).

Cornwall Navigation: [Next Day]