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Walked
7.7.1996: Ascent 1559ft : Descent 1809ft : Distance 7.58 miles: |
5hrs |
A young man was manning the car park listening to a loud
radio when we arrived to drop John's car at Polkerris. He was
very pleasant and wished us a good walk. We drove to the Car
park at Pencarrow Head through a maze of little roads and John
and Dot saw where they had turned wrong last time (see Pencarrow Head
to Polperro). After we had parked and put our rucksacks
on, John and Dot produced their new walking sticks, purchased
on holiday in France the week before! Off we went tapping away
down the road to the coast path in the lovely sunshine. Pencarrow
Head was looking lovely today but our path went right, down past
Lantic Beach and out towards Black Bottle Rocks and on to Polruan.
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The car park near
Pencarrow Head....On the horizon are the "White Mountains":
China Clay tips near St Austell
Helen, Dot and
John with the coastpath from Pencarrow Head in the background |
It was hard going in places, but the views of the River Fowey
were excellent: We went past groups of people sitting on benches
or standing around, then we overheard someone say there it is!
We looked out to sea and saw in the distance a large yacht; it
was the Royal Yacht Brittania (it was a long time ago!).
We walked down to Polruan, which is a lovely, quaint place, and
sat on a bench and had some lunch while waiting for the ferry.
We got on, dog and all, with lots of other people and off we
went; the wrong way we thought, but the ferryman was only dropping
a fisherman to his boat, then he turned and went over to Fowey.
We got off and found the coastal path again. There were loads
of people about, and then we realised they were all waiting for
the Royal Yacht to sail by. We sat on a bench to finish our lunch
and had a superb view of Brittania as she sailed up the Channel.
We went down through Readymoney Cove, which has some beautiful
houses, then on past St Catherine's Castle. We did not go in
here but carried on for a while crossing streams and stiles and
then through a wood out on to a lovely open field
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Fowey from Polruan
Washing Rocks and
Polruan from St Catherine's Castle: The boat is the local gig
(A 19thC Cornish boat originally with a pilot aboard for the
sailing ships....Now rowed for pleasure by teams from around
the World |
We sat and watched a seal very close to the shoreline till
it was frightened away by a little boat pottering along, reluctantly
we went on down to Polpridmouth Cove. Here there is a beautiful
house surrounded by an ornamental lake complete with swans and
water lilies in bloom. The little beach was so calm we all wanted
to stay, but we could see the steep hillside leading up to Gribbin
Head with its distinctive red and white striped daymark looming
up in front of us. We were exhausted when we reached the top
and sat on the base of the daymark to rest. The views were spectacular
but it was so windy up there we moved away quite quickly to follow
a very long straight path heavily overgrown with bracken bordering
fields where we watched a peregrine, then we walked down through
trees into a thick wood to reach Polkerris. The loud radio was
still on so John asked for the cricket score: The young man looked
very puzzled; he was listening to the football!
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The house at Polridmouth.
Part of the large lake can be seen on the right, and the start
of the protection against creeping sand is on the left. This
is a very nice little cove and within walking distance of Menabilly.
The beacon at Gribbin
Head which was erected in 1832; "For the safety of commerce
and for the preservation of mariners" |
