Port Quinn to Treyarnon

These are the days you live for. Clear, blue skies; a brisk, cool breeze; golden, sandy beaches; and bacon sandwiches.

We had a lot of distance to cover today, around 18 miles, so we set of at 7am. Walking while the sun rose behind us. We passed round the headland at Rump’s Point and could see the beach at Polzeath ahead of us. After crossing the beach we stopped at cafe for a bacon roll.

Then we continued on to catch the ferry from Rock to Padstow. Luckily for us the low tide meant we could pick up the ferry  1/2 mile sooner, and it dropped us off 1/4 mile up the path. We continued round the easy, going path until Trevon, where we stopped for lunch.

After lunch we continued, along much of the same coastline, crossing a couple of beaches, before reaching the youth hostel.

Words can’t do it justice, but it was an absolutely stunning day.

Treyarnon Bay to Newquay

After a more leisurely wake up time and a bacon roll we left the YHA and headed for Newquay. All the YHAs have individual personalities, this one is like a surf shack and is right on the beach.

It was beautifully sunny again today but quite windy. There was very little ascent as we traversed around multiple small headlands and crossed above stunning golden beaches. 

We stopped for an explore at Bedruthan steps which is a stunning beach with many sea stacks and feels like it should be in a set on Game of Thrones.

We continued to Mawgan Porth for lunch, being my usual cheapskate self I chose the pulled pork loaded chips sharing plate thinking this would be the best money for food quantity option. I wasn't wrong but I nearly made Olly sick as he desperately tried to finish both his and my lunch.

Considerably heavier we continued around the headlands and watched planes pass overhead to land at Newquay airport. After quite a short day we made it to our hostel in Newquay.

The highlight of today was spotting this baby slow-worm crossing the path. I had a job getting a photo as it was actually pretty fast. Olly had never seen a live slow-worm before and he had seen his first dead one only an hour previously.

Caterpillar of the day spotted by Olly (actually seen yesterday), a rare visitor from the continent.

Newquay to Perranporth

Today’s route from Newquay to Perranporth requires crossing the tidal River Gannel. In the summer a ferry runs, but we’re too late in the season to catch that. So we had the option of a 3 mile detour upstream to cross at a bridge, or use a footbridge which is only accessible at low tide.

Low tide was at 13:42, with the bridge passable 2 hours either side of that time. We decided to have a later start than usual, and cross using the footbridge. It also meant that we could do most of today’s walk in the better weather of this afternoon.

After crossing the river, we walked round the estuary, across the dunes, and crossed a few smaller beaches, before reaching the beach at Holywell. The weather had improved by now, and with a touch of sun, I was starting to dry out. 

After a stop for lunch we continued round the headland. Here a couple of military helicopters were presumably doing some training, and kept buzzing overhead. 

We then continued along the beach, and up to the Youth Hostel; perched on the cliff top, looking back along the beach.

Perranporth to Portreath

We started out from Perranporth YHA fully aware today would be a misery walk. However, despite it pouring with rain as we ascended on to Cligga Head, I thought to myself actually this isn't too bad. By 10am we had made it to Trevauance Cove and I was squelching along with my more comfortable, less waterproof boots. To be fair to the boots we had been following more of a coast river than a coast path; with small waterfalls often seen cascading down steps.

We bumped into some other walkers who wished us luck, as we were taking the cliff path, and pointed out a cafe along the route we could change our minds at.

We continued until St Agnes Head where it became extremely windy with some gusts making it difficult for me to walk and one knocking me over (the weather app, later, said 68mph). However trusty walking poles meant I have superior balance and we battled round the headland.

By this point I had suggested to Olly we should go for plan B and stay at the B&B in Portreath, instead of camping, which he begrudgingly agreed to. We made it to the cafe at Chapel Porth, Olly was a little disappointed as he had expected a cosy cafe with indoor seating and quaint steamed up windows. What was there, was much more practical, a serving hatch and some outdoor covered, sheltered seating which meant we didn't have to de-waterproof. We had some hot drinks and ate our sandwiches, the people at the café were super friendly and offered us free extra drinks and flapjacks.

By this point it had stopped raining so we continued on over the headlands, past some disused mine workings and some MOD restricted areas (in which thousands of cabbages were being grown) to reach our B&B in Portreath. 

I feel a bit bad that we didn't make our target mileage/campsite (by 3 miles). However, this is the nicest place we have stayed yet and it's good to have dry feet!

Portreath to St. Ives

We reluctantly left the (relative) luxury of the Portreath Arms, after a slap-up breakfast, and headed out into the wind. It was still blowing a gale, the tail end of Storm Callum, although fortunately the rain which was promised didn’t materialise. 

We made our way up onto the cliff tops, watching some surfers catching some early morning waves as we climbed. We made our way along to Godrevy Point. Occasionally bracing ourselves for the wind, but otherwise it was relatively easy underfoot, and relatively flat.

We rounded the corner, and looked down into a cove to spy a colony of seals sheltering in the sandy bay. 

After rounding Godrevy Point, we made our way onto the beach, and followed the path;  first through the dunes, and then on the beach. It must have been the perfect day for wind-surfing, as there were at least 20 people out on the waves.

At the end of the beach we could see the dunes of St. Ives, just across the Hayle estuary. However the website states in no uncertain terms, that it would be extremely dangerous to attempt to cross it. So we didn’t, and instead continued into Hayle. 

The guidebook suggests the possibility of catching the bus from Hayle to St. Ives, and that definitely would have been preferable. This next section was thoroughly uninteresting. After 4 miles of trudging along roads, we made it to the dunes on the St. Ives side, just across from where we’d been 2-3 hours earlier.   

We stopped for a tea and cake at a small café, in a small building next to the church. We were after something at bit more substantial for lunch, but this was all we could find. We followed the path through the dunes, and then onto a path following the branch line, into St. Ives and to our hostel.

We went out to dinner, at the Seafood Café. Anya’s family have a tradition of visiting there on family holidays. The sticky toffee pudding is decadently delicious!