The South west Coast Path Archives - Page 6 of 11

Porthallow to Falmouth on The South West Coast Path

Posted on May 2, 2012September 30, 2017

Today I awoke to a gorgeous sunrise at Halwyn it was an early start for me. In fact I was on the beach at 7.30, I needed to catch the low tide so I could use the stepping stones over Gillan Creek.

The starting point today is the midpoint on the trail so exactly 3 weeks after setting off from Minehead I’m now half way, will be interesting to see what the weather gods can throw my way in the next 3 weeks after the gales, sleet & heavy rain.

It was a beautiful walk today in idea conditions, I had trouble finding the stepping stones, not because of the tide, but because of the swollen state of the river! each stone was at least 6 inches under water, with the seaweed on the top of each stone it became a delicate operation 🙂

The next river crossing at the Helford passage was by ferry boat and at £4 for one way must rank it in the most expensive ferries per minute in the world.(It takes about 3 minutes).

The paths are still very muddy in places but the lush undergrowth of bluebells, wild garlic and numerous other flowers and bird song make this a very pleasurable walk.

I arrived in Falmouth to see the cremated remains of the Best Western hotel at 13.40 leaving loads of time to explore Falmouth in bright sunshine. i treated myself to a haircut not bad for a fiver but obviously Sally’s are much better 🙂

The Falmouth Lodge Backpackers at £25 is not bad value but I will be glad to be in a b&b again tomorrow if Mike can fix it up.

Biggest disappointment of the day was Rick Stein’s fish & chip shop, dreadful value at £11.60 greasy fish and almost soggy chips what is even worse is they use beef fat ughhh

Oh! Terry & Hilary it was good to meet you in your Rohan kit 🙂 Hope you had a good walk.

Pics of today are here stats are here and Everytrail below.

South West Coast Path – Porthallow to Falmouth at EveryTrail

South west Coast path 315 miles walked and now half way

Posted on May 1, 2012May 2, 2012

After the mother of all mega days I arrived at the halfway point a fancy 315 mile marker, on the beach, in the lovely fishing village of Porthallow. According to the GPS today I walked 27 miles (including the stretch up to the Halwyn Guesthouse ) and climbed 6200 feet, so my longest day so far. Some of the length is due to me having to retrace my steps to retrieve The Guide I left on The Lizard plus some wanderings to try and find dry land.

The day was dry with a little wind but the terrain was very, very soggy in many places after all the heavy rain particularly going up to the Lizard, also it was quite treacherous going down into Coverack a pretty hard stage by any standards. The diversion on Permissive footpaths from Godrevy Cove to Rosenithon is a nightmare+ wading through cow slurry 10″ deep to reach the road at the end, a kind lady told me to wash the boots in the stream.

I met up with the Dutch couple in Coverack who I last saw leaving Penzance in the torrential rain & wind on Sunday, they managed to get as far as Marazion before a hotelier rescued them, dried them out and packed them off on a bus to their destination.

The paths around The Lizard are amazingly busy and in the summer must be a walkers nightmare, plus the cafes around there are pretty rubbish.

The stats are here, pictures here and Everytrail here:
South West Coast Path – Mullion to Porthallow at EveryTrail

South West Coast Path – Penzance to Mullion

Posted on April 30, 2012September 12, 2016

Today was a good 23 miler in pretty awful conditions, started with light rain and some sun but then turned into a gale (not funny on cliff tops) with some very vicious squalls. Not a pleasant day at all. Even the Scillonian ferry was cancelled.

All the equipment is keeping dry OK, although its a drag to keep hiding the camera in a dry bag every time there is a particularly big downpour. The iPhone is great in its Aquapac, which is large enough to hold the Tecknet iEP387 batter pack connected up. The iPhone can be operated OK through the plastic, although not so good for phone calls!

The biggest disappointment are the Scarpa boots. The left boot has now sprung a leak so my foot & socks were thoroughly soaked when I arrived, plus they have lost traction in the mud since the tread has worn away. All with just100 hours of walking covering 300 miles in 680,000 steps.

The terrain was a lot gentler to begin with but getting hillier towards the end but certainly hot as bad as the first few days. Adze thought I had climbed 4117 feet today The Guide thought 2848 feet (maybe I should add the Adze figures to the spreadsheet). So a pretty heavy day really. The next couple of days are going to be 20 milers as well.

The Mounts Bay Guest House is comfortable, the owner is very pleasant and he is trying to dry my boots out, the b&b is directly linked to the pub kept by his son. The food was more for car drivers than hill walkers 🙁 maybe I should have gone to the chippie.) Thanks to Mike for booking me in.

Unfortunately the historic Marconi station at Poldhu wasn’t open and the inclement conditions meant I didn’t hang around. Still amazing that transatlantic radio only started in 1901.

Todays stats are here photos here and Everytrail below.
South West Coast Path – Penzance to Mullion at EveryTrail

Day 18 on the South West Coast Path. Porthcurno to Penzance

Posted on April 28, 2012May 28, 2019

After an excellent, if with a somewhat loquacious host, at the luxurious Wearhouse. I wandered around the outside of the Old Telegraph Station marvelling how it takes so long for ‘secret’ places to come out of the woodwork and wondering when the TAT14 landing and GCHQ monitoring station will similarly be celebrated over on the other side of Cornwall (I wonder why TAT14 didn’t come out of the ocean here? Answers in the comments please).

Paul turned up on the 10am bus from Penzance, we quickly caught up with the Dutch couple who I had met at breakfast, they are walking with Budget Walking to Plymouth over the next 10 days, so I’m sure I will be bumping into them again.

it is a lovely walk with magnificient views, it’s interesting how the rock formations are so different over on this coast. After passing a granite cross (In The Guide at Page 75 it incorrectly states it’s a war memorial. It isn’t it is carved with DWW Mar 13 1873 and in fact marks the spot where a young man fell over the cliff and was killed.) then down into the slowest cafe ever in Lamorna Cove a 30 minute wait for my cuppa.

A pleasant walk to Mousehole which is very touristy (but only 90p for a Feast) and then a roadside walk into a very working fish town (although run down) of Newlyn. I found old Penzance quite intriquing who knew that the Spanish invaded it and much later Nelson’s famous victory was first announced here!

A short walk for me of only 11 or so miles but very pleasant chatting to Paul en route all day. He is now of to St Ives to do more of the walk from there. The Dutch couple are walking to Plymouth in 11 days so I may see them again, especially since they are staying at The Tremont tonight as well (Maybe they are using Mike too!).

The weather was pretty well perfect with longer sunny spells and light winds. All though everyone is fearful of tomorrow – even the Royal Navy have moved their fleet into the bay.

As usual the statistics are here and photos here and Everytrail below.
South West Coast Path – Porthcurno to Penzance at EveryTrail