My brother John has lived in Newquay on and off since 1975 when he first came as a professional lifeguard alternately working the beaches of Newquay during the English summers and the beaches of Manly, Sydney during the Australian summers. Yes, Newquay is home to some of the most famous surfing beaches in the world. John has renovated multiple houses in both Newquay UK and Manly Australia and currently lives in his renovated English house on the beautiful Pentire Headland jutting out between the Gannel Estuary and the famous surfing beach at Fistral.
John and I chat several times a week, usually about our common interests of travel, building and history so it was a great opportunity to combine a visit to him and his lovely wife Suzie with another hiking holiday. Newquay is only an hour’s drive to the start of our South West Coast Path (SWCP) hike in Falmouth. However, since the SWCP required a fery ride from Falmouth to St Mawes then another ferry across to Place, we decided to start our walk in St Mawes. The first stage of the 10k walk was to be from St Mawes to Portscatho but that changed when we discovered that accommodation in Portscatho was scarce and prices started at £1,200 - PER NIGHT! We decided to do the first leg in reverse and walk from Portscatho back to St Mawes, stay at a hotel in St Mawes, then catch a bus to Portscatho to start the second day’s walk.