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

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

Penberth and Lamorna Cove….

A very wild night and through most of the day but a bit of sun around and dry.

Note to self don’t try to put the pop top roof down in high winds with the side door open! You need two pairs of hands and as per, Poppydog is no help – as fast as I was pulling the sides in whilst holding the roof down (actually swinging off it at times) the wind was blowing the sides back out! I did eventually manage to do it and then about 5 minutes later realised what an idiot!! Still we live and learn.

Initially we drove and parked up in Treen, planning a fairly long walk along the coastal path to Lamorna Cove, but on looking again at the map with no real circular route back, I realised this was possibly a tad ambitious. Instead we wandered down across farmland to Penberth Cove.

A completely stony or should I say rocky, as not even suitable for Poppydog to run around on, cove at the bottom of a sleepy hollow valley. The footpath disappearing up the steep cliff to our left did not endear me to the idea of progressing any further along the coastal path.

Instead we wandered up the valley. Nicely sheltered from the wind with a vibrant stream running through and a few houses (for once they looked to be homes as opposed to holiday lets) nestling in rather exotic gardens, it was a very pleasant walk. We passed this rather impressively decorated tree adorned with a multitude of different shaped, size and colour of fisherman’s buoy.

So after barely a couple of miles we are back at the van, next stop the Merry Maidens….

Yup a pretty impressive standing circle. From here a string of footpaths across farmland eventually leads us down into Lamorna – another leafy valley. We had to deal with a couple of path closures which prevented us from going via Tater-du Lighthouse (another day maybe?) but eventually made our way down the steep incline into Lamorna.

The sea was pretty rough but a nice bit of sand was still exposed inside the harbour wall, though no longer in the weak sunshine.

We enjoyed the solitude with the crashing waves our only soundtrack, as there was hardly a soul about.

Soon enough, with a last look back, it was time for us to begin the gentler but quite long route back up to where we had left the van, under the watchful eye of the Merry Maidens.

I’m glad we did this in two hits as we still managed to cover 7 miles and we are ready for food and putting our feet up!

The fast road home …..

Well it won’t be a true reflection of my journey if I don’t record my experience of being ‘grounded’.

Having realised that my days were numbered I had already concluded that the right thing to do was head back down to Cornwall (where I ‘live’ when not travelling around the UK and more importantly where I am registered under a GP) and planned to make the long journey home on Wednesday.

However Mr Johnson put us into lockdown at 8.30 on Monday evening and so after watching this extraordinary announcement, a moment of shocked reflection on the enormity of the worldwide situation and a little bit of packing, I tried to get an early night (though I can’t say that I slept well with all that was buzzing around my head!).

We got up early (for us) on Tuesday and started to prepare for the long journey ahead. By 9.30, I was enjoying my first and last cuppa of the day with Poppydog walked and fed and the van pretty much ready to hitch and go, as I idly watched the Site Wardens wandering from unit to unit advising us that the site would be closing with immediate effect and we needed to be on our way as soon as possible!

How surreal and eerily silent this all feels!

As any of you that follow my blog, will be aware, I rarely travel more than 50 or 60 miles, as we potter slowly around the UK coast, so the thought of the 420 miles ahead of us was rather daunting! I have to say that in my rather fanciful imagination I was expecting road blocks and all to confront me on my way! And at least a row of tanks to greet me on the Cornish border!

As it turned out of course, no such drama, a lovely calm sunny day and incredibly quiet roads – so much so that at one roundabout I actually forgot I was towing, my apologies to the car driver that I ever so slightly cut up! It took us 8.5 hours including just the one half hour stop around Bristol.

Poppydog was brilliant with not a murmur all the way. We snuck into our little holiday home site where we have a small chalet just as the sun dropped below the horizon and were tucked up in bed asleep within the hour!

A wander around Sandringham….

Another lovely sunny day for us, not warm but sunny. It was pretty busy at the coast yesterday and even though we were well away from the crowds, we are feeling a bit guilty and decided to stay closer to home and stroll around the lanes here within the Sandringham Estate. The Estate is understandably closed but a pleasant walk nonetheless.

Strange times – stay safe!

A blast along the beach at Holme-next-the-sea…..

A lovely bright sunshiny day, but wow a seriously cold blast of wind running along the beach. Today we headed to Holme-next-the-sea a small village just around the coast from Hunstanton, to pick up from where we left off yesterday. There is a car park, chargeable, but we were lucky enough to squeeze into a bit of roadside parking for free! I don’t know why I have become so obsessed about parking for free but I have! Beyond the dunes this fabulous beach lay waiting….

The sand is soft but with quite a lot of stones in it and quite a few people out, no doubt, like me, enjoying the opportunity to get out whilst we still can! As we head off in a North easterly direction the wind is ferocious, making walking into it, as we are, quite a challenge and just to add to the mix, blasting a fine layer of sand with it!

Fortunately the tide is far enough out for us to walk on the wet sand away from the low flying soft sand and save Poppydog from a sand blasting!

Here the beach resembles a moonscape and dodging the pools distracts me from the biting wind. After a couple of miles or so we reach Gore Point, where the beach inclines towards the east and Holme Dunes Nature Reserve begins.

After a quick foray inland where it is much more sheltered from the wind, we decide to about turn, admit defeat to the wind and save the next bit of beach to another day…

What a fabulous parting shot as we rejoin the beach at Holme Dunes and get blown by the wind all the way back!