Showing posts with label southwest coast path. Show all posts
Showing posts with label southwest coast path. Show all posts

18 August 2010

FAME! FAME ON THE INTERNET!

Ooh, one of my photos is on the RSPB page for Fen Drayton (near Cambridge in the UK).

And another one is soon to be in a photo essay by the guy who does these collections. (I'm sure I'll let you know when it actually goes up!)

*

Also, we've completed our walk to Warburton! Pics can be found here (day 5) and here (day 6). A brief selection, in lieu of a proper post (which hopefully I'll get done at some stage, but at the moment I'm sick and stressed with other things, alas):

i love this picture

vineyard and hills

cloud in the yarra valley

j & d at warburton station

21 November 2009

SWCP VIDEOS

For those interested in low-quality video-lets of our walk, you can find 14 on my flickr.



I have a cold and I have to go to work. Boo hoo! At least I start work at 11 today instead of 8:15.

6 November 2009

SOUTHWEST COAST PATH REVIEWS: ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD

We’ve been back in Australia for over three weeks, now – a longer time than we were walking the Southwest Coast Path, although it doesn’t feel like it! There’s so much to do here, it’s so familiar, and the time seems at once to fly by and not to move at all. On the trail the rhythm was so steady, so regular that after a week we felt like we’d been walking forever. Before we forget, we have written up a list of highlights and lowlights, recommendations, tips, and things for us to think about next time we do a longer walk. Here is the first section about accommodation and food.

ACCOMMODATION

We stayed in B&B accommodation every night, and were lucky not to stop anywhere extraordinarily noteworthy for its badness. The least good of a good bunch were:
Whiteways Guesthouse in Penzance. It was small, a bit noisy, and the breakfast was nothing to write home about, BUT it was also only 55 for a double, so we’re not complaining.
Housel Bay Hotel on The Lizard. This was expensive, booking and confirming was a haphazard affair, and the room wasn’t special, BUT they had a very good breakfast and a lovely view from the dining area. And a bath.
Rashleigh Arms at Charlestown. Also expensive, and we slept really badly due to the hotness and stuffiness of the room, BUT the room was luxuriously big, there was a gorgeous deep bath, the service was good and they made me a flat white for breakfast!
Jago Cottage near Portloe. Nothing at all wrong with the accommodation, though it’s a bit of a hike from the path at the end of a long day, and you might not want to stay there if you don’t speak English!

Places that stood out as being excellent were:
Copper Kettle in Porthleven. The hosts are friendly (we had conversations with people over breakfast who we kept in touch with over the walk) and knowledgable, the breakfast is good, and the packed lunch was enough to keep us going right through the day (we didn’t need dinner!). The rooms are also nice.
Honeycombe House in Mevagissey. Again, the hosts are friendly, and we had one of the balcony rooms with absolutely spectacular views over the bay and harbour. The breakfast was also nice, although you’d be hard pressed to notice given the amazing vista out the breakfast room window!
Chyavallon in Polperro. Friendly host, bright and clean room, lovely village, very delicious breakfast (strawberries and kiwifruit on the fruit platter, yum yum yum!)
Parc-an-Grouse in St Keverne. Perhaps we liked this one mostly because we stayed two nights and had a chance to explore the area – the ponds, St Keverne village and Roskilly’s icecream dairy! However, the room, food and hosts were good and there was a lazy cat and a gorgeous old dog to pat.

Best breakfasts: Chyavallon, Housel Bay Hotel, Copper Kettle, Landrivick Farm (near Helford).

FOOD AND DRINK

We ate and drank our way through a wide selection of fare – some of it excellent, some of it too hideous to finish. We ate a lot of standard pub grub which is not what you would call inspired in its vegetarian options (J is vegetarian, D is not), and there were some nights we were too exhausted to contemplate leaving the room, so we dined on the biscuits from the coffee trays. There were, however, a few non-B&B food high- and low-lights, which we feel we should share. Let’s start with those things best avoided by future walkers!
• The fish in Fowey: from the takeaway shop on the quayside, this fish was at once watery, soggy, flavourless and rubbery. It was a genuinely unpleasant experience.
• The veggie burger at St Keverne. From Three Tuns Pub, this ‘burger’ was literally a fried veggie patty between two halves of a cardboard-tasting white bun – no cheese, no sauce, no pickle, and only a few bits of salad on the side. Luckily the chips were very good and there was some live music and interesting wall hangings to take one’s mind off the burger.
• The ‘oriental’ meal in Penzance. Can’t for the life of me remember what the place was called, but the food was fairly insipid, chips were on the menu, and the other patrons seemed to be giving us the stink-eye for being a same-sex couple. Fun times.
• The cider in Polperro. From Blue Peter, this cider was The Worst Cider I Have Ever Met. It was warm and flat (as was the beer), and tasted like rancid apple juice mixed with cow urine. Coupled with the ‘hilarious’ (read: sexist/stupid) sayings on the rafters, this is possibly our worst-of-the-walk.

And now onto those places that make your day better, the ones you remember nostalgically when stuck half-way up a horrible hillside without a food source in sight at 2pm a few days later. Heh.
• The pasty in Helford. From Down by the Riverside Café, the pasty was fresh and hot, with chunky filling and a crisp pastry. The cream tea was also noteworthy, with freshly cooked scones a perfect accompaniment to a sunny afternoon. The staff were also very friendly and helpful.
• The icecream and food at Roskilly’s, St Keverne. Could it get any better than watching an icecream making demonstration then heading to the café and buying cones with huge scoops of delicious creamy goodness? Yes, it can! If you go at lunch time, you could also have a meal with nutritious soup, crispy salad, and tasty vegetarian tart (not J!) in the courtyard.
• The meal at Citrus Café in Falmouth. After however many days of walking through places where vegetarian food consists of chips and salad and maybe soup, finding Citrus Café was an event to remember. Although not all the options are veg, there were many interesting dishes, like a walnut and blue cheese salad, goats cheese tart, a tasty moussaka, and cakes, cakes, cakes! The music and ambience was also lovely and cosy, and just slightly hippie.
• The Thai meal in Plymouth. Thai Palace was literally around the corner from our final B&B, and we thought we would treat ourselves to a nice meal. And it was a fantastic meal, with a wonderful balance of flavours and textures in every dish, good customer service, and – most surprisingly for me – a selection of tasty Thai wine. I had a rose, which proved so good that I had to have another glass. This was the best meal of our walk, and also far and away the most expensive!
• The hot chocolate at Life’s a Beach café in Maenporth deserves an honourable mention. It was exactly the sugar rush we needed at the time: Hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, dotted with marshmallows (vegetarians might like to ask for them to hold the gelatine), drenched with chocolate topping and finished with chocolate shavings.

3 October 2009

SOUTHWEST COAST PATH: FOWEY TO PLYMOUTH

Monday 28th September: Fowey to Polperro

All pics of the day

D had a large kipper for breakfast (stinky and tasty!), and J had lots of fruit and no cooked breakfast – you know what they say, a change is as good as a two week walking holiday. We were glad it was going to be a short walk, especially as everyone wanted to tell us that it would be a particularly strenuous stretch of coast and the guidebook described one section as having “severe gradients”. We jumped on the ferry to Polruan for the short crossing, and began the inevitable climb.

men, women, toilets

fowey from the ferry

garrett steps, polruan

Despite the stunning views on offer, the most exciting sight that greeted us this morning was an inquisitive and ottery stoat! A STOAT! Hee! This was extra exciting because in Fowey we'd seen the house on which Toad Hall was based. To recover from this excitement, we stopped for a rest and a cup of tea at the lovely Lansallos Cove. J took the opportunity to de-boot, and for the first time this trip he dipped his feet in the sea. A group of walkers in their 70s showed up and had a thoroughly good time skimming stones; one of them even went for a swim, then rolled around on the stony beach to exfoliate.

the path around the edge of the country

lantic bay

j on top of pencarrow head

j paddling at lansallos cove (landscape)

walkers watching

paddling in the sea FTW!

After some upping and downing (steep, but with plenty of time to recover), we knew we were nearing civilisation – there was a dramatic increase in traffic passing us in both directions. We stopped for flap jacks and tea at the top of our last climb, and then arrived at Polperro at the ridiculously early time of 2.30. Polperro was a cute little village, even if it was full of tourists.

boat and matching house, polperro

fishing paraphernalia

wonky house, polperro

After checking into our B&B we explored the village for an hour or so, looking at art galleries, buying postcards, drinking the worst cider J has ever had the displeasure of encountering (seriously, it was warm and flat and like some horrid combination of off apple juice and cow urine!), sticky-beaking and scouting out potential venues for dinner. We found a number, but when we went back at 6:30 (the advertised start of dinner time) we discovered that pretty much every place was closed on Monday nights. We ended up at the Three Pilchards, which was inevitably quite crowded, and ordered our food: fish pie and mushroom stroganoff (J also got a glass of wine ON TAP!). A few minutes later, a nervous, awkward teenager in chef's uniform came over to us and announced that they were “out of the stroganoff”. J had “Luxury Burger” instead. Yes, that is what it was called. No, it didn't have turrets.

view from the window of chyavallon b&b

Tuesday 29th September: Polperro to Crafthole

All the photos!

An amazing breakfast greeted us in the morning – mountains of fresh fruit and nuts, home-made spreads, well-cooked and fresh hot food... a lovely start to what would be a long day. In fact, we decided that to play mind tricks on ourselves and make it more manageable, our walk would only officially start in Looe: the first 8kms of our journey would just be travelling to our real walk.

morning reflections, polperro

We started our not-walk by climbing out of Polperro past many, many benches, overgrown plots once used by residents as vegetable and flower gardens (the plots thicken...) and through Talland, where we first noticed the purple slate rocks in the cliffs. By the end of the day the colourful rocks had convinced J that a career in geology was calling.

purple rocks, talland bay

In Hannafore we chatted with some walkers who were just finishing their stint on the path, and entering Looe we passed a statue commemorating Nelson, a bull seal who had been something of a celebrity in these parts – the inscription described him as being “a fine ambassador for his species”.

nelson the seal

markers: red flags and weeds

We came across the about-to-depart ferry (the boat, for those interested, was called Merlin), parted with the 40p each for the crossing and sailed over, saving ourselves several hundred yards of walking in the process. Well, maybe two hundred. After stocking up on food had coffee/tea and cake before commencing our walk proper. This, of course, began with a climb up a steep hill.

day fourteen: path 2

Millendreath, despite its fun-to-say Middle Earth-sounding name, was a bit of a dump. Its dominating feature was a run down old entertainment complex. It felt like the badlands, and we hurried on, even though our knees were not so keen. We approached a stretch of coast which our guide book described as “undulating”. We now know that “undulating” means “lots of upping and downing with no flat bits, which will lead to tired legs and sore feet”. However, there was some stunning scenery (as well as a dead mole, which was not so nice). There was a monkey sanctuary marked on the map, but no monkeys were forthcoming.

After all that upping and downing, what we really wanted was a nice flat stretch on soft, even ground. Imagine our joy, then when what we got was a steep descent from close to the highest point on the South Cornish coast into Seaton (on sea level) on steps (ow, my knees) and then tarmac (ow, my feet). We sat in a park and took off our shoes, eating food, drinking drink, and watching the many ducks, seagulls and jackdaws amusing themselves around us. From Seaton to Downderry, there was a choice of routes: up a hard road or across the beach. The beach is not passable at high tide, but the tide was just going out so we decided to risk it. It was mostly easy walking and J further developed his purple rock geology obsession before we had to scramble across large boulders to avoid the lapping waves.

purple and green slate

finely striped pebbles x (and x and x and x) marks the spot red and white striped pebble

db on the rocks!

nix on the rocks!

Passing a sign warning naturists to keep away from the school, we left the beach, and zigzagged our way up to the second highest point on the South Cornish coast, stepping gingerly over a small snake as we went. Topping one hill, we looked up to see Plymouth in the distance, gleaming white in the sunshine. It was our first sight of our final destination, as well as of the sun (for that day).

shining white in the distance

We rested our weary bodies, and ate a chocolate bar, and set off to brave the path as it edged its unfenced way along the cliff edge and into the delightfully named Portwrinkle.

where the feck does this path go?

portwrinkle hotel

From here it was another 2km inland along hard roads towards Crafthole, and slowly, hobbling in agony, we approached our destination (“206 yards ahead”, the sign announced, rather specifically).

evening sky, portwrinkle

At the Liscawn, we ate until we were full (J finally got his mushrom stroganoff), opened our desert stomachs for strawberry gateaux, limped to our room, and embraced sleep.

Wednesday 30th September: Crafthole to Plymouth – THE FINAL DAY!!!

Pics, pics, pics

Over breakfast this morning, we came up with an invention that will change the world of breakfast forever: a battery-powered toast rack that keeps your toast warm! No more cold toast in the mornings!

happy happy last day j!

Usually, road walking is neither particularly interesting nor fun, but this morning the road in question went passed a military training facility, and we saw many exciting warning signs (“Do not touch military debris. IT MAY EXPLODE AND KILL YOU”) which makes other warning signs seem, frankly, dull.

IT MAY EXPLODE AND KILL YOU

We also heard gun fire exploding around us, but we figured that they just played a loop CD of gun noises to keep inquisitive walkers and spies at bay. What we didn't see (honestly, guv) were all the cleverly camouflaged soldiers, jeeps and tanks hanging around the grounds.

firing range above the beach

We stopped shortly after this for some refreshments, and chatted to a couple who were impressed by the amount of sweat on our backs, before starting our walk (we tried the same trick as yesterday to break up the day). Today's walk, however, began with the path playing a nasty trick on us – the acorned waymark pointed us away from the road, steeply down a footpath towards the cliffs, before immediately (and again steeply) bringing us right back up to the road! We were not impressed, and were even less happy when it did EXACTLY THE SAME THING AGAIN almost immediately afterwards!

the kind of before picture

DON'T HAVE A BATH

But we could see Rame Head getting closer – we'd been able to see it in the distance since the week before – and it was relatively easy walking up to the 600 year old chapel and the obligatory iron age fort (“No walker will be surprised,” says our book, when they find the ithsmus ditched and banked). It was another clear day, and we could see for miles and miles in each direction. There were expansive views behind us of headlands we had conquered, and headlands we hadn't (and wouldn't!) ahead of us. It was a nice spot to eat an incredibly healthy mix of different kinds of sweet things – hot chocolate, fudge, cake (we shared a carrot as well, so that's all right) – for lunch.

chapel on rame head

rame head chapel

d in chapel window, rame head


After poking around the hollow chapel, we headed off to Penlee Point, where we stopped for another break, because J had forgotten to remove his shoes at our lunch stop, and wished to rectify the situation as soon as possible.

On the other side of a sycamore wood, we found the twin towns of Cawsand and Kingsand (the former site of the Cornish/Devon border) then entered the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, a large parkland of woods, gardens, deer enclosures, manor houses and follies. Follies are hilarious, the end.

DEVON | CORN

BEST!

what a waste of...

folly and possible lenticularis variety cloud?

We sat on a bench by a manicured lawn, overlooking the bay and Plymouth, drinking tea and airing feet. The path took us through some woods, but the route had been diverted at one point, due to a landspill, up a section of the woods referred to by the locals as “the Zigzag”. It was, as we soon discovered, aptly named. Much climbing, followed by much decending, took its toll on our knees and feet. Fortunatley after this point the path was almost universally and deliciously flat and we hobbled on through the formal gardens, past the estate house and up to the ferry port where we waited for about 10 minutes for the boat to arrive, talking to a group of people who had sped past us in the park earlier on.

the final residence of our cornish portfolio

FINISHED! finished and on the ferry.

Despite being incredibly tired, we felt a wave of elation as we left Cornwall behind: we had walked along its southern coast in its entirety. On arriving in Plymouth, we were greeted by a stencilled wall reading “POWSAWS AGAS DYNNARGH. WELCOME TO ENGLAND.” Definitely not in Cornwall any more!

POWSAWS AGAS DYNNARGH

That evening we celebrated with a very delicious and very expensive meal at The Thai Palace (the most delicious (for J) and expensive of the whole walk), drank Thai wine and beer, and proclaimed that if that was a 250km/150mi walk then we had done it.

They all drank lemonade. The End.

2 October 2009

MINI UPDATE

Hello! We've back in London, and we'll be updating soon. I'm also uploading photos at flickr and adding them to old posts as I get through them, so if you scroll down to the first SWCP post you will see some photos of the first day!

28 September 2009

SOUTHWEST COAST PATH: PORTLOE TO FOWEY

Thursday 24th September: Portloe – Mevagissey

Pics, pics, pics

Let's start with the positive things about breakfast: fresh, well-cooked eggs, lemon curd, fresh pineapple. The fact that two German women were at breakfast would be neither here nor there apart from the bit where our host appeared to be from the Basil Fawlty school of talking to foreigners: “This is pineapple. Pine – apple. PIIIIINE. APPELLLL.” Oh my goodness. We left the breakfast table shortly thereafter and made our escape back down to Portloe and the coast path.

portloe, snuggled

d & j: the before pic of day 10

day 10: the path looking forward

We foolishly decided to wait to Portholland to buy food (we didn't have a packed lunch), and after quite a scramble through the humid and still morning air, we arrived dripping with sweat to find the promised shop gone, the post office closed, and the toilets only operating because a volunteer had fought the good fight and maintained them without council support. Never mind, we thought, surely there is a kiosk at the carpark and beach near Caerhays Castle. We made the short, pleasant walk around to the cove to find that yes, there was a kiosk. It was also closed. We sat on the grass, drank our tea and ate the biscuits filched from the B&B coffee tray as our nemesisises from the previous day clattered past with their walking poles. We then purchased the castle as it seemed like a good one to add to our collection.

caerhays on a summery autumn day

It was a steep climb, then a descent involving our least favourite thing (tarmac roads) to Hemmick Beach. We threw ourselves on the wall beside a holidaying couple and chatted for a while. They told us about all their misadventures in the motorhome they'd built from scratch and showed us the edible watercress growing in the stream (J took his shoes off and paddled over to pick some – any excuse to have a splash around, really!).

watercress

When they heard about our foodless plight, they gave us a couple of bananas and some chocolate coated digestive biscuits to help us on our way. They have our undying gratitude! We then marched up to the head of Dodman Point (the Dodman), given to the National Trust in 1919. We crossed the iron age earthwork named on the map as 'Bulwark', and wondered at the number of swallows flying about the place – eating the plague of tiny insects and dive-bombing a bird.

go for a swim!!!

When we got to the cross at the top of the headland, another couple told us that the swallows had been chasing a young Peregrine Falcon – one that they'd seen as a juvenile the year before/earlier this year. Cool! We ate our bananas and admired as much of the view as we could see through the swarm of insects, then began the walk to Gorran Haven.

cross on dodman point

db after tea!

icecream at gorran haven

This bit was very beautiful, but I was quite sore in the foot department so we stopped for tea above Vault Beach, then pressed on to Gorran Haven for much-needed icecreams and chocolate. I was so, so, so tired, and unfortunately the next section involved walking very close to the edges of some high cliffs, at which point the fear of (falling from) heights I usually manage to keep under some control came bubbling to the surface, and the first actual tears of the walk fell. It's not nice, that feeling that the ground is moving under your feet, tipping you towards the edge – especially when you logically know that the ground is not moving but that the way you are walking is probably erratic and therefore you're more likely to fall anyway. ARGH!

We had to stop twice again before reaching Mevagissey (once at Portmellon, but the wait was worth it! We checked in to Honeycombe House to find that we'd been given a room with a balcony and a spectacular view of the harbours, the village, and the coastline stretching right the way around to the north-east. We also had binoculars! A+++, would stay again!

mevagissey harbour

We hobbled down to the village and I had a meal composed almost entirely of vegetables at Quay West (what is the Cornish obsession with fajitas?)

Friday 25th September: Mevagissey to Charlestown.

Photos of the day

Fun facts: Mevagissey (called Meva by the locals and people who want to seem down with the locals) comes from the names of two saints (if my memory serves me correctly), Meva and Issey – in Cornish, Meva hag Issey. Charlestown is named after Charles Rashleigh, china clay entrepreneur, who's business took the village's population from 9 to 3000 between 1790 and 1850. Another fun fact: this was meant to be a short and pleasant daywalk. It was quite pleasant, but it involved CONSTANT ascents and descents, and a 1 ½ mile detour along tarmac roads at the end, so it wasn't as easy as one might expect a 12km walk to be!

We woke up to the sun rising across the ocean, spilling orange light into our room. We hung around on the balcony for a bit before and after having breakfast in the stunning sunroom (OMG THE VIEWS, THE VIEWS!).

sunrise, honeycombe house @ mevagissey

Because this was a short walk, we wandered through the town for a bit, buying postcards, fudge, iron tablets, carrots and raspberries. It was tempting to take the boat to Fowey (where we'd be staying in 2 days time), but instead we began with the first of many, many steep climbs.

db at the start of day 11

boats in mevagissey harbour

d& j: before pic with raspberries

We headed through Pentewan (Pent Ewan, rather than Penty Wan – although I prefer our pronunciation), past a few cats and a man on his knees weeding his white stone front 'garden', then went up a hill and down a hill and up a hill and down a hill and J was sitting around with his boots off (fixing his socks) when an old guy asked us the way to Pentewen, and sped past us. We did some more upping and downing, passed a very cute little cottage in a little cove at the edge of a small wood. It had sculptures in the garden and a little stream running past. We didn't buy this one – I fear the hills may have clouded our judgement!

layers!

tiny cove
The cottage was just to the right of frame here.

We stopped for lunch at Black Head, an iron age fort set on a small hill at the end of a ditch-and-banked isthmus, and had our first full view of Charlestown.

lunch on black head

d and the fort

Despite the threat of rain, we didn't see much in the way of moisture. Still, we popped the overs on our packs and, inspired by the apparent proximity, we set off refreshed. We went down a hill and up a hill and spoke to some other walkers (who were impressed by our packs but turned their noses up at our anti-camping ways) and went down and up a HUGELY STEEP VALLEY and stopped at the top and were OVERTAKEN BY THE OLD GUY FROM EARLIER IN THE DAY OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?

d having a rest.  what else are stiles for?

valley o' doom, argh!

d on the way up the steps

j demonstrating his drinking skills

We stopped in Porthpean (Porth PEEN! AHAHAHA!) for a toilet break (LOL), then went up another fucking hill to the start of the inland diversion, which continued to take us up the hill ON TARMAC. AND THEN! THEN! Where we were meant to turn back to the coast, THE ROAD WAS CLOSED and we thought we were going to have to make ANOTHER DETOUR. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! But we didn't, thankfully, and we arrived at our inn tired and sore and rather shellshocked after a day much harder and longer than we'd anticipated. The room, despite my fears, was great: loads of space, and (glory, glory, hallelujah!) A BATH!!! You can bet your bottom dollar that having a bath was the first thing we did! You have NO IDEA how good it was!

st austle

Saturday 26th September: Charlestown to Fowey

Photos of the day ... like soup of the day.

After a bad night's sleep (the room was so stuffy and hot, the fan provided was so noisy, the windows hardly opened, and one of them opened onto the noisy air conditioning unit for the whole establishment!), J had another bath and then we tumbled down to an early breakfast, where D had scrambled eggs with a MOUNTAIN of smoked salmon. We checked out the old boats in the harbour (they use it for period dramas and films, so they say), and climbed out of Charlestown.

ship 2, charlestown

I don't mind telling you that I (J) was in a very bad mood – fed up enough with fucking walking that had a bus passed us to Fowey, I would have got on it without a doubt. Luckily, the walking was easy past a golf course and some (ex?) china clay works (it goes into paper and toothpaste, you know), through a caravan park and across a beach to The Ship Inn (one of about 48 we have encountered on this walk) where we had a pint of lemonade each and goggled at the fact you could get wine on tap!

d's stray balls

red rosehip, blue hydrangea

china clay plant near par sands

(T)RAMP

We decided that if we were to walk this far again, we would try to schedule a rest day every fifth day (i.e. 4 days of walking, 1 day off) because going for 6 days in a row is just too exhausting – not necessarily physically, but mentally. We also talked a bit about what our next walks might be. We're keen to finish off the Thames Path (we could probably fit in a couple of days when we're next over) and the Ridgeway, but not so much the SWCP – maybe a little at a time over many years! We'd also like to walk some less well-publicised or big name paths – trying something like the Hertfordshire Way rather than a National Trail might make the trip a bit more of an exploration rather than a tour. Even better, we could design our own!

From Par, it was a quick walk over to Polkerris where we stopped for a pasty and watched some people standing on surfboards and rowing themselves around a series of bouys (fun? Maybe. Funny? Definnitely).

polkerris

woods above polkerris

Then it was on to Gribbin Head and the red and white striped daymark we'd first sighted two days before. We stopped for a tea break and had a chat to a few daywalking birdspotters we'd passed earlier. There were a lot of day walkers on this stretch, mostly toting copies of the same short walks in Cornwall book. We have decided that we should approach Jarrold to market these to teh gays – covers in bright pink, ratings from stiletto (high femme/queen) to lace-up boots (daddy/biker butch) – with the title Short Minces in Cornwall. I THINK THIS IS A BRILLIANT IDEA AND I SEE NOTHING PROBLEMATIC WITH IT AT ALL.

gotcha!

Gribbin Head Daymark

db invites you to tea at the daymark

In Polridmouth, we spotted another house for those who requested property. The only problem with this one is that you'll get hundreds of Daphne du Maurier fans traipsing past to get a look at the cottage that inspired her novel 'Rebecca'.

add this to the wishlist

boat race

From there it was a pleasant (though not flat!) walk into Fowey, watching the sailboats out to sea and stopping by the ruins of St Catherine's Castle for a rest. We knew when we'd reached the town because nobody smiled or greeted us (or returned our smiles or greetings) any more. We've become total country bumpkins, apparently.

polruan through the porthole

no parking

We found our accommodation without difficulty, and discovered that our room . . . HAD A BATH!!! so we had baths! Whee! They also quite kindly let us do our washing and drying, which we did while watching Merlin and while out for dinner, respectively. Mmm, clean clothes are grand!

Sunday 27th September: Fowey to . . . FOWEY!!!

and COMFORT, eh?

DAY OFF!!! WHEE!!! Had bath! Ate breakfast late! Had a gentle stroll (NOT A WALK) around Fowey! WENT ON A BOAT RIDE!!! Saw a kingfisher! Saw a house bought by a man who doesn't want his name mentioned, “So I'll mention his wife, Dawn French”! Bought postcards! Looked in a bookshop! Lolled about! Had a nap! Read the internet! Ate the most disappointing meal of the trip! Sat in lovely gardens, accompanied by the smell of illicit substances! Found a nice cafe! Drank drinks! Rested! Wrote this crap for you to read (I hope you appreciate our dedication)!

DON'T MISS THIS CHANCE TO SEE THE CREATURES OF OUR SEAS j on the boat turrets flowerbed

NOW. Please excuse us, we're going to watch some TV! Probably 'Coast', because we haven't seen enough of it (and we certainly haven't seen Nicholas Crane – I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED, ENGLAND)!

polruan from the sea