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….
After such a beautiful day yesterday, we awoke to the sound of pitter patter on the van roof, needless to say our plan to start the day with a bacon bap was aborted and unfortunately the day just pitter pattered along.
However the rain wasn’t heavy, though persistent, if you follow my drift and we headed to discover Whitsand Bay. Nearly four miles of beaches broken by craggy rocks jutting out to sea, though it is possible to walk most of it along the sand towards low tide. Access is down a pretty steep path / steps at various points from the coastal path.
Whitsand Bay towards Rame Head
We walked along the coastal path to Withnoe and clambered down the path to the beach and east to Tregonhawke the most easterly section of the beach ….
Tregonhawke Beach
And then made our way back westwards along Withnoe Beach….
Withnoe Beach – RNLI lifeguard
Next along is Freathy Beach….
Freathy Beach
The rocks here are beautiful shades of purple and green with fissures in the rock face and fantastic rock pools…
Lastly we had to clamber up the cliff path and back down the other side to reach Sharrow Beach…
Sharrow Beach
Beyond Sharrow Beach is Long Sands which is reached via a permissible (unless the flags are flying) path through MOD land a bit further along by Tregantle Fort but we decided to settle for distant views….
Long Sands (MOD firing range)
By now the rain is coming somewhat heavier so we make a fairly quick pit stop at Portwrinkle a pretty little dead end village with a little harbour a large mostly shingle beach either side….
Portwrinkle EastHarbour – looking pretty disusedPortwrinkle West
We are not done with this damp day yet as we head on to Downderry….
Downderry Beach
And along the shingle beach to Seaton…
Seaton Beach
Neither one particularly interesting, though to be fair we are pretty damp by now so maybe not the best to judge!!
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 KingsandCawsand BeachKingsand 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 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….
A pretty miserable day by anyone’s standards but needs must and all that. To be fair the rain had more or less stopped but visibility was still pretty awful as we drove and parked up in Pendeen. From the village we took the lighthouse road part way before cutting across farmland down to the coastal path. The sea still looks pretty majestic even shrouded with low lying grey cloud.
Very soon we were rewarded with a glimpse of the beautiful sandy Portheras Cove.
Wow, I certainly wasn’t expecting this. Access is the only possible from the coastal path with a reasonable walk from any possible car parking, probably at least a mile. The last bit was a scramble over rocks so doable for most and may I add, well worth the effort.
We almost had the beach to ourselves, just one other couple (enjoying a swim!). So at the far end Poppydog was given her freedom.
She just loves to splash around in rock pools and skitter over the larger rocks in pursuit of something or anything, in this case she had to make do with seaweed as I had left her ball behind.
After a while as a few more folk were arriving, we decided to make our way back up off the beach and follow the coastal path back to take a look at Pendeen Lighthouse.
Before getting there, out of curiosity we followed a footpath down Boat Cove (not labelled on the map but the coastal path waymarker indicated it as such). What a little gem – another beautiful cove – very small but as long as you don’t have to share it ideal!
Boat Cove
We meandered back onto the coastal path and soon arrived at the Lighthouse.
From here we headed inland taking a look along the coast towards Cape Cornwall – this is Tin Mining country (or was) with both Geevor and Levant Mines in the distance.
The weather is closing in again on us fast, so we step up our pace along the Lighthouse road which after a mile or so takes us back to the car. A shortish 4 mile walk today and just in time as the heavens opened as we reached the van.
Freedom Bird 