Monday 7th May: Weather: 10°C to 20°C: Sunny all day and warm
Porthallow to Falmouth: 25k walk: 8hrs 15 mins: 8.45am to 5.00pm Ascent 770 metres
Accommodation: Tregenna BnB Falmouth
Porthallow to Falmouth
Half way marker 517k in car park
Jim at the Nare Point Coast Watch
Diversion via Trewarneyas Farm
Country Lane towards Manaccan
Morning tea Gillan Creek
Gillan Creek crossing point low tide
knee high in blue bells Helford
Helford village thatched houses
Ferry across Helford River
Happy on ferry, not 20k extra walk
Crowded ferry bikes and dogs
Helford River busy on Bank Holiday
Lunch on a tree trunk Helford River
Afternoon tea Parsons Beach
Fields of bluebells near Maen Porth
Bank holiday Monday Maen Porth
Maen Porth Beach packed
Pendennis Castle at Falmouth
Swanpool Beach Falmouth
Traffic jam Swanpool Beach
Gyllyngvase Beach Falmouth
Finish of 546k at Tregenna Guest House Falmouth
A long but fantastic 25k into Falmouth on a warm Bank Holiday Monday. Our last day on the South West Coast Path, having completed 546k, just a touch over half way (517k) of the entire 1,034k route from Minehead to Pool. Highlight was just being on the coast on a fabulous almost summers day being part of Bank Holiday Monday and sharing the sights with thousands of people at the beaches and on the paths.
We’re awake early at 5.30am to get ready for a long day. A few phone calls and then we’re showered, packed and down to breakfast at 7.45am. We’re hoping to get away soon after breakfast, but Clive has more stories to tell while we’re eating breakfast. We finally get going but it’s 8.45 by the time we leave Porthallow Harbour where the large engraved stone signifies this as the half way point on the South West Coast Path. We originally had planned to do half the coast walk, but finishing one day further on at Falmouth made more sense with the logistics of having train and bus transport to anywhere, making our exit from the coast much easier.
The path out of Porthallow is narrow and overgrown, and though up and down, nothing more than 40 metres at a time. Mind you, by the time we’d done 20 of these throughout the day at 40 metres a pop, it makes a total ascent of close to 800 metres. In an hour we’d reached Nare Point where there’s a Coast Watch hut and volunteer Jim is outside taking a break. He beckons us inside to show us what goes on and 20 minutes later we know that they watch every boat/ship that passes, taking note of it’s registration number, name, size, direction and time of day. They made 20 significant assists with boating incidents in the past year.
Further around to Trewarnevas Cliff there’s another diversion, about our tenth this trip. The track goes up and up through woodland with no signs of where the diversion exits, ends or goes to. We find our selves in the middle of a dairy farm, and after passing through a number of gates, come to cross roads. A farmer arrives on his tractor and directs us down the road towards Manaccan, from where we can get back on to the coastal track at Gillan Creek. We knew we had to walk the long way around this tidal inlet, as it was high tide and the stepping stones over the narrowest point would be covered. This diversion luckily only added another 1k around the creek.
It’s Bank Holiday Monday and today everyone is out doing something on this glorious summers day with clear blue skies. Gillan Creek has a National Trust path which we walk along encountering many people and a local informs us of a bench seat a bit further on. Perfect for a cup of tea as it’s now 11.30am and we’ve been walking for almost 3 hrs. More clotted cream and jam on a thin slice of stale baguette to go with our tea - we’ve run out of Carnation milk which is so nice with coffee, and use the last of our fresh milk carried from Lizard.
Further along, we see the narrow section in the creek where the stepping stones are hidden by the tide, then walk around the corner towards Dennis Head. There’s even more people out walking along the paths beside the Helford River where we have to walk inland for several k to the village of Helford to catch a ferry over. The wild flowers are in full bloom and and we pass through several beautiful patches of blue bells before wandering into the pretty village of Helford, with many thatch roofed houses. More tourists.
We pass a small local shop hoping to buy some fresh bread - don’t be silly it’s Bank Holiday weekend and they’d sold out hours ago. But they do have a tin of Carnation milk for £1.20 which I buy just for coffees or teas for today and tomorrow. There’s always tea and coffee making facilities in every BnB we’ve stayed in but they only have small sachets of skimmed milk so we use our own evaporated milk.
Through the village to the ferry pontoon and we arrive at the same time as the little cross river ferry. It’s crowded with dogs and people crammed into a 10 seater open boat. Across the other side, we continue on the coastal path passing 6 little coves, each with hundreds of day trippers sunbaking on the stony beach. There’s no place in the shade on any beach to have our lunch. Further along the track, there’s a large tree that’s been cut down and one of the logs is perfect for a table/seat in the shade. Cheese/peanut paste and the last of our bread is good after a long morning. We don’t stay long. Still 12k to go and it’s already 2pm.
The track leaves the river and continues around the coast towards Falmouth, passing more beaches with more people sunning themselves or swimming with no wet suit in the 12°C water. Every square metre of beach is occupied. That’s what the Brits do on Bank Holiday Monday. First there’s Parson’s Beach, then Maen Porth Beach, then further along is the packed Swanpool, and finally as we get near Falmouth, is Gyllyngvase.
And all the time, there's views across to Pendennis Castle near Falmouth. Just to add a tid bit of history, Pendennis Castle was built from 1539 to 1545 when England faced a possible invasion from the united powers of Catholic Europe. To defend against this, Henry VIII implemented a national programme of military and naval preparations, including new coastal artillery forts. These were equipped with guns to shatter enemy warships and troop transports that might attempt to capture English ports.
By the time we arrive at Gyllyngvase Beach, Ian switches on google maps and it’s only another 10 minutes to Tregenna Guest House where we’re greeted by Mark, our host. The first thing we ask is if he’d mind taking a photo of us, having just finished 546k of the South West Coast Path, just a touch over half of the 1,034k walk. He takes us upstairs to our room - we have a choice of a harbour or sea view and we choose the latter because it has a little sitting area and is more spacious.
After a hot shower and a bit of washing, we’re down to the town centre and celebrate with couple of pints at pub on the Quay. Back to our room after calling in at Tescos Express for one more beer and a bag of spinach leaves. Dinner is sausages and bacon saved from this morning plus spinach leaves and a Czech beer with the last of our mayonnaise. A cup of tea, a bit of blogging and bed.