Say “No” to ferries and “Yes” to more friendly faces

Day 76: Threwethett Farm Campsite (in between Boscastle and Tintagel) to Padstow (Dennis Cove campsite)

? 38.01 km

?1142m

Today was due to be another big day to get to just outside Padstow.  We warmed up with a couple of smaller valleys and some cliff tops to take us past Tintagel and could already see Port Isaac in the distance, which was where we were headed before leaving the coast path for the rest of the day.

Soon things got a bit bigger and steeper.  We passed through the little village of Trebarwith Strand and then followed the coastal path on a series of big ups and downs and some cliff top walking alongside fields.

We reached Port Isaac and stopped for lunch on a bench just on the edge of town before venturing in and collecting an ice cream and a coffee on the way though.  We left the coastal path here to head inland to Wadebridge since the coast path takes the Rock to Padstow ferry and we are walking from JOG to LE so that’s a no no! ☺️

The route used footpaths and roads, mostly decent and quiet but one stretch on the B3314 was pretty horrendous, probably the worst so far on the trip due to fast moving holiday traffic and no verges.  Once all that was over we arrived in Wadebridge, crossed the River Camel, and popped to Co-Op for supplies.

To get to Padstow we joined the throngs of cyclists on the Camel Trail, which, like the Tarka Trail from a few days ago, tarmac.  The only upside to that was speed!  We motored along the 8km at 5km per hour so it wasn’t too long before we arrived at Dennis Cove campsite.  The guys running the show were amazing and brought us a couple of chairs to chill in.  Thats trail magic, in the form of camp chairs, two nights on the trot! 

We ate and did a few bits of organising for the last few days, finding a cafe to aim for in the morning in Padstow.  Looking forward to a short one tomorrow and some beach time at Mawgan Porth! ?

Day 77: Padstow (Dennis Cove campsite) to Mawgan Porth (Higher Pendeen Camping) 

? 22.31 km

?412m

With an easier day ahead we had a lazy 0630 alarm and were on the move about 0745, arriving at Ben’s Crib Box Cafe just after it opened at 0800.  Katie had a BLT, I had a breakfast burrito.  We both had a coffee to kick start our progress through Padstow and onwards along the end to end route, leaving the SWCP to skip Stepper Point headland, rejoining at Trevone.

Soon our second shortcut of the day. This time skipping the Trevose headland.  It was a lovely calm morning and the early starters were making the most of the beautiful sandy beaches we passed as we rejoined the SWCP at Harlyn for the rest of the day.

Katie seems to have strained the front of her right ankle/shin, and downhills in particular are an issue, so we both enjoyed a much easier day in distance and ascent.  In addition the ascents and descents were mostly a pretty gentle gradient which helped.

After passing through Porthcothan, we had lunch on a bench with a great view of blue seas.  It still seemed relatively quiet on the beaches, at least compared to our expectations.  Today was definitely the busiest on the SWCP, not surprising given we are much closer to populated areas and beaches are sandy and more accessible.

The route continued to wibble wobble around the coastline and we overlooked cliffs into the crystal clear waters.  When we headed over Trenance Point, Mawgan Porth beach came into view, and it was rammed!  The route took us right across the beach so we stopped and I had a swim whilst Katie cooled her feet in the shallows.  We continued across the beach picking our way through the masses and found a Rattler/Tea in a pub by the beach.

On the way to the campsite I grabbed an ice cream and we wandered up the road to find our spot, pitched up and caught up on some blogging so that our fans would be happy.

Day 78: Mawgan Porth (Higher Pendeen Camping) to Perranporth

? 30.87 km

?697m

It was a lovely morning and we set off heading towards the wonderful sight of a sprawling Newquay, knowing that the end of today would have us staying with friends who happened to be at a campsite just off the coastal path near St Agnes.  We enjoyed some nice cliff top walking, spotted some dolphins, and had super views across Watergate Bay with some early morning surfers definitely choosing the best time of the day before it got busy.

We arrived at the outskirts of Newquay and trudged through the concrete jungle, in search of the caffeine which the excellent Pavilion Bakery provided.  Great coffee, cinnamon bun and cardamon bun.  We checked our intended distance for the day and realised we hadn’t checked some of the distances after the recent days re-jigs, so we were due to do 40km, a bit more than expected.  So we re-jigged again and instead of continuing past Perranporth to St Agnes, Pete and the gang would meet us there and drive us back to the campsite, then drop us back tomorrow morning.

That sorted, we zoomed round Sainsbury’s and escaped the clutches of Newquay.  The day then consisted of sandy beach after sandy beach.  And being sandy, they attracted people, lots of people.  It was easily the busiest day on trail so far on the SWCP in terms of crossing paths with others.

We stopped for lunch overlooking Porth Joke and had a lovely sourdough baguette from Pavillion Bakery with some prosciutto from Sainsbury’s. Ooo-la-la!

We eventually popped over Ligger Point and saw the huge expanse of Perran Beach, almost 4km long.  This far end of it was pretty much deserted and looked amazing.  At the far end we could see the hordes had descended on the beach by Perranporth.  We dropped down to the beach and walked along it before the tide required us to climb up and over Cottys Point.

On Perranporth, we then had to try and find Pete and the gang amongst the masses. Like an impossible game of Where’s Wally.  We had just given up after about 10 minutes of looking (Pete had shared his location but to no avail) and sat down to text them our location, when Becky and Freddie appeared before us.  We spent the afternoon catching up, and eating ice cream, then headed back to the campsite.

(Note: We later heard that Cornwall Live had reported that there were 12000 people on Perranporth today! ?‍?)

We setup, showered and did a final clothes wash.  Becky nipped to St Agnes to get fish and chips, Pete had the beers on ice and we had a lovely evening with the gang.