Tuesday 24th April: Weather: 8°C to 12°C: Raining this morning, rain easing but really windy gusting to 70kph
Padstow to Treyarnon: 20k walk: 400m ascent
Accommodation: Treyarnon YHA
Padstow to Treyarnon route map
Beautiful breakfast at 14@padstow
It’s already raining when we leave
Ferry on way to Rock from Padstow
Empty ferry to from Padstow
Path through black thorn bushes
Rain, wind and cows
Devonshire tea Cornish style
Wind and rain at Trevose Head
Back to where we came from
Trying to look ahead through mist
Richard and Val at Trevose Head
Wind gusts of 70kph Trevose Head
Treyarnon in distance
Getting blown away in sand dunes
Wild surf Treyarnon beach
Treyarnon YHA at last
Highlight was just getting to the Treyarnon YHA reasonably dry. We had stayed in this YHA 38 years ago and we were looking forward to seeing it again, but today was either raining or very windy and sometimes both.
We knew it would be a long 20k today and the weather forecast wasn’t good - heavy rain late in the day, so an early start was in order. No time to blog or phone this morning as we arranged to have breakfast at 7.30am. On queue, Lesley trots up the stairs to our personal lounge/dining room with tea followed by muesli and yoghurt followed by toast followed by a typical Cornish breakfast of fried eggs, thick cut bacon, mushrooms, fried tomato, pork sausage and baked beans. There’s no doubt about it - the Brits have BnB down to a fine art.
We leave at 8.30am and Lesley obliges with a “group” photo - me and Ian. Usually it’s me OR. It’s already raining and cold at 8°C so every piece of rain gear is on - Icebreaker T Shirt, Camplin thermal, Aldi wind jacket, Hagloffs Rain jacket, North Face rain pants and Sea to Summit Poncho. My pack is extra light without all the gear and despite the bottle of mayonnaise and glass jar of black current jam.
It’s 9am when we’re back in Padstow Harbour and the Rock to Padstow ferry has just started operating. He’s not very busy this morning. The streets of Padstow are deserted. The track is an easy grade with not too much up and down, and despite the rain there’s not much wind and it’s not freezing cold. It’s quite pretty walking up through the white flowering blackthorn bushes. The country side in the past few days has changed from sheep to cows and we’ve passed through several dairy farms in the last few k. By 11am it’s pouring rain and also windy but there’s no place to stop for coffee.
It’s almost midday when we come to the first sign of life since Padstow - a little village called Trevone. And who should be there but our friends Aussie Richard and Val. It’s bleak, windy and mizzly rain. Richard and Val go off to find a pasty. We find a sheltered seat and have a Jet Boiled coffee and a slice of baguette with black currant jam and clotted cream - Devonshire tea Cornish style.
Replenished we walk through more farm fields towards Trevose Head, but passing through Harlyn Village, the Coast track disappears across a sandy beach. We take a back road, bypassing Cataciews Point, and walk straight to Trevose Head down a country lane, somewhat sheltered from the now gale force winds. At the end of the road, there’s a sign to rejoin the Coast Track and we’re immediately blasted by these relentless winds. Around Trevose Head, Dinas Head and down into Booby’s bay where the Coast Track signs disappear again. Heading inland to avoid the 70kph gusts which threaten to knock me over, we get lost in the sand dunes and finish up in the middle of a golf course, with golfers waving at us to get out of the way. One of them takes pity on us and shows us a gap in the hedge to a path which leads us way off course to the village of Constantine and from there we’re back on a road to Treyarnon which leads us almost directly to the YHA. We’d stayed here before in 1980, but nothing was familiar about teh place and according to the locals it had a major face lift and now served meals and alcohol - a no no 38 years ago.
It’s 3.30pm when we walk through the door and shown to our basic room with a double bed/single bed double bunk and a private shower. There’s room to spread out our gear so this suits us perfectly. ASAP we’re down in the dining room having a very late lunch of tea and biscuits before returning to have a nice hot shower and washing out a few clothes to take upstairs to the drying room.
By 5pm, we famished and sit in the warm dining/lounge room with views of the rain tumbling down to eat our bacon and sausages from breakfast, with fresh capsicum bought from Tescos last night, and mayonnaise that I’ve been carrying for 5 days. There’s not many people staying here - a few walkers but mostly surfers. Gone are the old YHA days where all the young ones sat around chatting about where they’d hitch hiked from that day.
A bit more blogging and time for bed. Tomorrow will be our 15th straight day and we will pass the 300k mark on arrival in Newquay.