Sunday 6th May: Weather: 9°C to 19°C: Sunny all day and warn to hot: Almost no wind
Perranporth to Portreath: 26k walk: 9hrs: 7.45am to 4.45pm Ascent 900 metres
Accommodation: Galland Treath BnB
Lizard to Porthallow
Southernmost Cafe Lizard Point
Bluebells on the path
Looking back at Lizard YHA
Blue skies and jet trails
Thatched cottages Cadgwith
Boats dry moored Cadgwith Harbour
Morning tea Kennack Sands
Sea Views morning tea
Clear blue sea and basking shark??
Black Head, Lizard in background
Wandering into Coverack
Lunch overlooking Coverack harbour
Diversion through farms St Keverne
Half Way Point Porthallow 517k
Gallan Treath BnB with views
Steering wheel, Bundaberg Rum ad
Battered North Cod, chips and peas
Back to blog in bed after 26k day
A stunning fabulous day. Our longest day at 26k, and also our warmest day reaching 19°C. Highlights were the pretty villages of Cadgwith, then Coverack and finally Porthallow, the half way marker of 517k of the whole of the South West Coast Path. And in between there was beautiful coastal scenery, blue skies and clear blue seas.
We’re the first ones awake in the hostel at 5.30am and Ian trots downstairs to boil the jug and bring it up to our bedroom for a cup of tea. We’re showered and packed ready to go before taking our breakfast stuff to the dining room - Muesli, yoghurt, toast and jam with a milk coffee because we bought a large full fat litre of milk last night. A quick Facetime home before leaving at 7.45am, an early start for a long day.
The weather is perfect. A cool 9°C, with little to no breeze, sunshine and blue skies. We leave the YHA at 7.45am, looking back at the Lizard Cafe, the most southerly cafe in England - down here, everyone has the “most southerly” something or other. The track is overgrown by mostly bluebells which have flowered just in the past few days, adorning the edges of many of the tracks since St Ives. It’s such a wonderful crisp morning as we round the headlands, still in sight of the Lizard YHA. There’s white trails in the blue sky from passing jets. We haven’t seen these at all this trip.
It’s 10.00am when we arrive at the pretty village of Cadgwith with it’s thatched roof cottages and small fishing harbour. Soon we’re heading for Kennack Sands and climb the cliff to where there’s hundreds of holiday cabins perched in a green meadow, all of them overlooking the ocean. Time for a morning tea, rather than coffee which we already had with breakfast, with slices of our baguette from last night, jam and clotted cream. It’s a perfect spot in the sun overlooking the beach. There’s a large dark shadow in the clear blue waters below. It could be a school of fish, but there’s an information sign on the cliff top about basking sharks, so we think it’s possible that the black mass we saw could be in fact a basking shark - a better story than a school of fish!
It’s very up and down and strenuous over the next few kilometres through gorse and heather to Black Head where there’s already a few Sunday walkers admiring the views in all directions. One guy is hiking with camping gear and an 11 year old Glen of Imaal terrier from Ireland. They’d already walked ten kilometres and were about to do another ten.
We’ve divided this long day up into three sections, about 9k to morning tea at Kennack Sands, another 9k to lunch at Coverack, then the last 8k to Porthallow. On target, we get to Coverack for lunch at 1.30pm and sit by the harbour eating our egg sandwiches left over from last night as an entre plus a peanut paste sandwich as a main. The water is clear and blue, with kids swiming in the 12°C water. A fisherman fillets his fish, and next to us on the seats is an elderly English couple eating fish and chips. That whetted our appetite to seek out some fish and chips for dinner tonight.
The path out of Coverack is stony, rocky, bouldery and difficult. There’s no up and down, in fact the path is low down at beach level and it’s almost hot with no breeze. Soon we get to Dean’s Quarry, where our guide book tells us to beware of blasting. There’s no blasting nor any sign of life, but the coast track is diverted way inland towards St Keverne for reasons unknown. After climbing up a steep public footpath beside the quarry, the track follows country lanes and footpaths across fields almost to St Keverne. Another couple walking to Porthoustock have been following us on the diversion, and together we try to work out where we are and where we are going as we’ve run out of Coastal Path signs. We choose a country lane to Porthallow and they choose a country lane to Porthoustock.
This diversion wasn’t as bad as it sounds as it had been getting hot hopping over large stones at sea level with no cooling sea breeze and this inland route was very pleasant cool and shady. We follow the signs to Porthallow along narrow country lanes with almost no traffic via Roskilly’s and Fat Apple’s Cafe and come in the backway to the pretty seaside village of Porthallow nestled in a valley. We spy the Five Pilchards Inn and check out it’s menu - yes there’s fish and chips - then across the road is the half way marker of the South West Coast Path noting we have done 517k. before finding our Gallan Treath Guest House where we are very warmly greeted by Clive, a largish man with a grey pony tail, who delighted in telling us of his worldly travels.
After a shower and treadmilling some washing in the bottom of the shower base, we have a beer organised by Clive while I blog - or try to - in between yarns about his time in Australia and the USA. At 6pm we’re wandering down the hill 200 metres to the Five Pilchards Inn, ordering a Guinness Stout on tap for Ian, a Red Sail for me, and times 2 Battered Cod, chips and green peas. Probably one of the nicest meals we’ve had on this trip. The pub has character and is full of people. Rumour has it that the steering wheel hanging on display in the pub is from the Bundaberg Rum ad with pirates filmed near Porthallow Cornwall.
Time to walk back up the hill and finish the blog that I never started. One more day walking to Falmouth tomorrow and our adventure will be over.
Diversion through farms St Keverne