dog walk

Rain, rain and more rain and then St Mawes in even more rain….

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Twas a wild night last night and the rain just kept coming, in the end I decided to put the roof down when we went to bed and that indeed was a good call. It has been very cold in the van during the last few nights after we have settled down and turned the heating off, so I was quite surprised at how the van retained its warmth with the roof closed – lesson learned!

The rain continued in earnest until about 2pm so we binge watched Shetland before heading off to St Mawes. The pause in the rain was brief and as we parked up the heavens opened again though this time it was short lived and was mostly dry as we wandered around St Mawes.

The first beach we encountered was the rather seaweed strewn Idle Rocks beach….

The small harbour has a small sandy beach….

Heading towards the castle we came upon Tavern Beach also very weedy….

The town itself is very well maintained and the seafront dominated by pretty fishermen’s cottages, a smattering of galleries and gift shops, several up market hotels and thriving pubs and of course countless holiday lets. The castle is very small and sits proudly on the headland looking out to Falmouth and the open sea…..

Just beyond the castle is Castle Cove by far the prettiest beach….

Beyond the Idle Rocks beach lies Summers Beach….

Less weedy so we went down for a play before the rain started again….

A pleasant wander and respite from an otherwise dull day – do you think the weather needs reminding that it is the 1st of May tomorrow?

Rainy day exploring from Portscatho to St Anthony’s Head….

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Well yesterday’s illusive sunshine has clearly run for the hills as today has dripped on us all day. However, ever hopeful that the forecast might be wrong, we continued with our plans and made our first stop in Portscatho. Firstly walking away from the village to visit Porthcurnick Beach….

Then walking back on ourselves along the coastal path to Portscatho, a pretty fishing village which seems to cling on to the side of the cliffs like so many others here in Cornwall.

In the village there are two smallish sandy beaches – the town beach….

And the harbour beach….

Next stop was due to be Towan beach but as it was raining heavily we carried on past to take a look at St Anthony’s Head lighthouse….

Walking on beyond the lighthouse to take a look at the magnificent beach of Great Molunan with St Mawes just about visible in the rain across the Percull river estuary….

Looking back over the beach towards St Anthony’s Head lighthouse

The rain is not giving up anytime soon so we went for a damp walk along Towan Beach – having picked up a coffee and rather delicious BLT at the cafe there…..

We ventured along the coastal path, back towards St Anthony’s Head to encounter first Elwinick Cove….

I’m not sure that this beach is accessible and here we encountered the full force of the strong winds with the rain splatting us directly in the face so we only ventured a short way further on to see Porthbeor Beach in the murky distance….

Looking well worth a visit on a much nicer day…

Damp and somewhat bedraggled it is time to be blown back along the coastal path to our home on wheels and back to site to dry out and warm up.

Tomorrow is another day..

On the road again…..but just a chillax day for us…

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Well it has been a while but with a fair wind and maybe a little bit of sunshine we shall soon be back on the road full time. For now we are just happy to be away in the van and ‘living the dream’. Easing ourselves in gently and making the most of a rare sunny day we revisited Porthluney Beach at Caerhays Castle for a bacon bap and mooch on the beach.

Tilly the Poo

Our next stop today was Portloe and a very pretty little fishing village perched high above a small cove…

On the way back to site we stopped at Carne beach to catch (just about) the last of the day’s sunshine….

Looking pretty stormy out to sea

Ending the day with a walk along the beach to Pendower….

To the northern most beach on the east coast of Cornwall

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And we are off again, after a 3.5 year break, in our pursuit of visiting every beach in the UK. We have just got a week so decided to head up to the northern most point of the east coast of Cornwall in the hope that this lovely September weather holds.

After a tedious traffic bound trip to Truro the rest of the journey to Cremyll was a breeze. Cremyll is no more than a few houses on the edge of the Mount Edgcumbe Country Park with a small car park, pub and a pedestrian ferry across to Plymouth.

Looking across the Tamar towards Plymouth
Cremyll Beach looking towards the Mount Edgcumbe Estate

We followed the Coastal Path through the Mount Edgcumbe estate to find our next beach Barn Pool….

Barn Pool Beach

We took a circular route back to catch a glimpse of Mount Edgcumbe (it would have been rude not to!).

Before heading off to our next stop the beautiful villages of Cawsand and Kingsand.

Cawsand into Kingsand
Cawsand Beach
Kingsand Beach

After a sit in the sun with an ice cream it was time to make our way to our first site of the trip at Maker Heights.

A rather basic site – just pitch up anywhere in the field with views over the hedgerows and across the Tamar to Plymouth or over the valley with glimpses of Cawsand and Kingsand. The camping field is a bit rough and ready but there is an excellent shower / toilet block an indoor common room / pot wash / reception. A cafe on site and wood fired pizzas in the evenings at weekends and plenty of stuff going on at the main exhibition building just a short walk way – not bad for £12 per night.

A walk from Carn Galver Mine to Porthmeor Cove, oh and a little detour…..

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A damp start, but as forecast, it soon perked up and developed into a lovely sunny afternoon. The forecast for tomorrow and much of the week is horrible so we have decided to head home for a few days – yes I’m afraid we are becoming fair weather campers!! However we are not losing a day so we head just beyond Morvah and park up at Carn Galver Mine. Now I could quite happily have set up camp and stayed here for the afternoon but Poppydog has other ideas….

We follow the footpath which closely resembles a stream down towards the sea and join up with the coastal path just above Porthmoina Cove. Access to the cove looks to tricky for us and the tide is quite high, so we continue along the footpath heading eastwards (towards St Ives).

I found the going fairly tough, I think partly as it comes at the end of nearly a fortnight of clambering up and down the coastal path. It is one of those stretches were you need to watch your feet as the path scrambles over rocks and slithers into muddy patches. After about a mile we are looking down over Porthmeor Cove, with patches of turquoise water, hinting at lovely white sand beneath.

Unfortunately here again access was too tricky for us to contemplate alone, though we did enjoy a brief rest sat in the sunshine just above the cove – the tide is still too high for the sand to be exposed but the promise is certainly there.

Porthmeor Cove

Now it is time for us to hike back up the hill and over grazing land to the van with a little look through the window when we get there.

Room with a view…

As the afternoon is still lovely, on the way back home we pop down to Perranuthnoe as a treat for a proper beach walk and to enjoy the rest of the sunshine.

There are a few other like minded people around so Poppydog has to stay on her lead, but still she can run, play ball and have a splash about.

As for me, well I can just take it easy and take photos of the sun behind the clouds…

A great day and we’re home and unpacked in time for tea….

Home for tea