Day 16: Trevone Bay to Porthcothan Bay

Weather: Misty to start followed by bright sun and a cool breeze
Distance covered today: 16.6 km (10.3 mi)
Last night's B&B: The Harlyn Inn 
% Complete: Cumulative distance: 30.3 %: 306.8  km
Total Ascent/Total Descent: 347 m/ 298 m
GPS satellite track of today's route: Day 7(click!)

A cornucopia of coincidences collided today to make it perfect.  For a start, the weather was wonderful for walking. Next I was in a slightly anxious, but receptive mood, because of an unfortunate incident last evening, of which more later. The walk today took me through ever improving scenery, which became simply stunning. My problem is that I took such an abundance of photos that I am going to have a devil of a job culling them for this blog. Also, the intense climbs and descents of previous days have gradually flattened into agreeable ups and downs as the entire character of the coast has changed, from rugged, awe-inspiring, grey harshness to colourful, coastal harmony. Finally, I do now think that I am approaching the required degree of fitness. The legs have hardened and it makes such a difference.

Let me dispose of the incident first. In planning these walks, I generally take good care to ensure that the overnight accommodation is well located relative to the path. This is not always easy, as appropriate B&Bs may be booked up to a year in advance, and cost is an issue, especially down here in the South West. I thought I had done a good job this year, but in booking accommodation in Padstow, I used a well-known booking app, which secured an expensive, but suitable room for me in St Merryn, Padstow. Unfortunately, St Merryn is not in Padstow; it is almost an hour’s walk beyond Padstow up a rather steep and rather dangerous B-road, this on top of a demanding day’s walk.

In a nutshell, the service provider and I thereafter disagreed vehemently on her totally inadequate service offer and value, and in the argument which ensued, I was told to get out, she didn’t want my money! I was happy to oblige.

So there I was, on the street, with my backpack and a heavy suitcase and nowhere to stay.  A very kind publican at a nearby inn took pity on me, rang a friend on a landline, secured accommodation for me and had his assistant run me round to the new place a couple of miles down the road and nearer to the coast path. I spent a very acceptable evening at the Harlyn Inn at a much reduced price. Still, the whole incident left a bitter taste and was unprecedented.

The upside was that Harlyn is cheek by jowl with Trevone Bay, a resort frequented by my elder daughter as a schoolgirl in the gift of the parents of a friend of hers. As a result of the unfortunate location of St Merryn, I was going to have to miss it or make a very substantial deviation to my day’s walk. As it happened, I made a short backwards detour from Harlyn and was able to see just what my daughter had been on about!

Once back on the trail, I approached Polventon or Mother Ivey’s Bay, marked as such on the OS map. I had not previously come across a place named with a correlative conjunction. It turns out that the common name of the beach dates back to the late 1800s and it seems Mother Ivy was a local wise-woman and white witch. The Cornish name for the cove is Polventon (Poll Fenton) which means pool of a spring. They obviously haven’t been able to decide which is better so they just use both and you can choose.

To my surprise, I discovered that Padstow Lifeboat Station is located at the top end of the beach, protected by Merope Rocks. It was moved here in 1967 after the loss of three lifeboats on the Doom Bar, which grows ever larger in significance.

Things lightened up considerably as I rounded Trevose Head with its lighthouse and descended to a succession of beaches on this stretch of coast, interspersed with magnificent rocky peninsulas and coves. I passed Booby’s Bay (really!), Constantine Bay (they obviously have so many bays in Cornwall they have to stretch further afield to name them), Treyarnon Bay and Porthcothan Bay (that’s better!). These all appear to be excellent swimming beaches, and given all the trailer parks in the area, I imagine they are crowded in summer.

It was the coves though that really excited me; Stinking Cove, Mackerel Cove, Treyarnon Point, Trethias Island, Pepper Cove, Warren Cove and Fox Cove, Minnows Island, and Will’s Rock, all within 4km (2.5mi) of coast, and all easily viewed from the coast path along with the most stunning array of wild flowers I have seen in years.

I was so elated by it all, that the long trek up to Old MacDonald’s Farm, my residence for the night along with all his animals, seemed a breeze. Roll on tomorrow!

Trevone Bay!

The beach at Trevone

Gorgeous flowers on a curzyway wall along the path

Passing the Harlyn Inn, last night's accommodation, at Harlyn Bridge

I met this staffie called Skye. Much to the amusement of her keepers, she only had eyes for me and insisted I throw her ball for her!

Padstow Lifeboat Station protected by Merope Rocks

?? A passer-by told me it is Valerian. Possible, I suppose

Trevose Head Lighthouse

Dinas Point from the lighthouse

Celebrating pregnancy in front of the lighthouse

A skylark, with an annoying piece of grass right in front of his head!

The beach at Booby's Bay

Selling art at Treyarnon Bay

Treyarnon Bay

Trethias Island on the right

A veritable carpet of flowers

Cormorants?

Pepper Cove

Warren Cove

Fox Cove

Minnows Islands

Will's Rock

Porthcothan Bay

McD's Farm: Geese and goats

Alpacas

and a happy sheep!