Tuesday: 16th May: Weather: 5°C to 15°C: Very cold start, warmer and sunny
Portholland to Mevagissey: 16.0k walk: 6hrs 30mins: 8.30am to 3pm: 2 x 30 min stops: 650m Ascent
Accommodation: Wheel House Wharf Road Mevagissey
Horse Float at 5°C this morning
Caerhays Castle Estate
Climbing out of Hemmick Beach
Stnning View back to Lizard Point
Morning Tea at Dodman’s Point
Lunch time stop - view to Plymouth
Mevagissey Harbour
Wheel House - Home for tonight
Highlight of our day 3 was climbing to Dodman Point to see stunning views back to Portscatho and up towards Plymouth. Second highlight was arriving in the really pretty fishing village of Mevagissey, named a thousand years ago after two priests whose names shortened to Meva and Gissy.
It was 5°C when we awoke at 6am from a wonderfully warm sleep in our horse float. We’d both slept almost 9 hours, but it was freezing outside and we quickly make a cup of tea to bring back inside the horsefloat to sip snuggled up in bed. Same for the muesli - made it quickly and sat inside on the bed. It was so cold, I had to warm up my hiking clothes under the doona before getting dressed.
It didn’t take long to pack and clean up and at 8.30am we leave in brilliant sunshine and a blue sky day. Through Porthcluney Cove to Caerhays Castle designed by John Nash who also designed Buckingham Palace. Up through the cow paddocks where we meet Phil, another SWCP hiker who began in Minehead a few weeks ago. He’s been camping - not for us! Together the three of us wind our way to Hemmick Beach where Phil stops to reminisce over the place he visited as a child sixty years ago with his family. There’s a huge holiday park at Boswinger at the top of the cliff. The Brits love their holiday parks which are dotted all over the coast of Cornwall and Devon.
A long steep climb out of Hemmick Beach to Dodman Point rewards us with stunning views up and down the coast. It’s 10.30 am - time for coffee. The temperature has warmed to 12°C as we sit at the holy cross on Dodnam Point having coffee and a fig biscuit. We’re soon joined by Phil who tells us the sad story of how his wife died two years ago and this was his sole searching trip. He started in Minehead where we started five years ago.
The long slow descent to Gorran Haven is such an easy path, it gives us the opportunity to look around for seals which are sign posted to be somewhere on the rocks below - but we didn’t see any, though lots of people were looking. Another terrific cliff walk to Chapel Point Headland where we stop for lunch of bread, cheese and jam with a cup of tea. An easy walk down to the village of Portmellon where the SWCP joins a road which takes us steeply up and over a hill top then down into the pretty fishing village of Mevagissey. Our home for tonight is the Wheelhouse Guesthouse, situated right on the harbour where lots of tourists are strolling around.
The Wheelhouse manager isn’t quite ready for us and we’re asked to come back in 30 minutes which gives us time to drop our backpacks out the back and wander around the village looking for a nice place for dinner later on. There’s plenty of places selling Cornish Pasties and even more selling fish and chips. Too much to choose from. We buy a bottle of Moretti beer from the Newsagent and wander back to check into the Wheelhouse. Our room only cost $171, about $25 more that the horsefloat, and has a wonderfuil view of the harbour - no complaints about this booking.com place.
A beer settles the dust and gave us time to sort photos while we think about where to eat tonight. We settle for the Ship Inn just around the corner and have Battered Cod with chips and mushy peas plus a pale ale for Ian and a Guiness for me. Back to the Wheelhouse and an early night in bed by 9pm.