I last did this trip, almost, in 2008, but only got halfway because my partner got sunburnt too much. So I stopped dating redheads and started walking alone.
The Route
Pool in Cornwall is one of the poorest places in Europe, but luckily for me I have a friend that lives there, so can leave my car in their drive all day.
The weather forecast for the day was grey skies, light wind and no rain. Perfect for walking West along the North Coast section of the South West Coast Path.
First place of interest was Tehidy Wood. This is a 250 acre, man made, wood once owned by the Basset family. It was a working hospital up until 1988 and is best known for treating tuberculosis.
As Cornwall is not a very wooded area, I frequently visit as there is a cafe.
To get to the North Coast it is a short walk though the woods, cut across the B3301, along the edge of a field and onto the newly refurbished path.
It does not last long, and soon becomes a bad path.
From here St. Ives is visible, on a clear day, but very tiny.
With Gwithian Lighthouse as the first destination to look at seals, this section of the SWCP is fairly easy, and includes a Trig Point
After passing the Lighthouse, it is down hill though the National Trust (miss)managed area to the dunes.
Most the time there are views of St. Ives, only getting a little bigger.
Having once struggles across the ‘3 miles of golden sand’ between the Lighthouse and Hayle, I decided to take a longer, but easier route by picking up the road to Hayle, so only a little bit of the dunes are covered. There is a bridge across the Red River, so called because of the pollution in the past.
Part of the reason to deviate was that I know there is a Lidl on the way, so could get some lunch.
Sunday Lunchtime is not a good time to go shopping, there was a long queue. The woman in front of me had nothing but bottles of cheap wine in here trolley, and a hosepipe attachment.
She was wearing gloves and a mask, so she will live forever, even though she already looked like a 60 year old corpse.
Having got some lunch, I walked down towards Hayle Town, found a bench next to the estuary and had some lunch. The wind had picked up and the sun was well and truly out now. And I had a blister on my left, little toe, so changed socks.
Hayle is a strange place, it has two estuaries, with the town wedged between them. So it just seems to be one long road that loops around.
The saving grace of the place is Philps Bakery, which does, in my opinion, the best Cornish Pasty there is. They always give me dreadful indigestion, so I very really eat them.
The next stage, a couple of miles or so, is around the ‘other’ estuary. This is a bit of a drab section as it passes the industrial area, but the twitchers like it as many different birds go there. They all look like seagulls to me though.
But did spot this.
The next place of note is St. Uny church where the coast path starts again. This is a pretty church, spoilt by the noise of people playing golf.
By now I was feeling quite tired so as soon as I got past some beach goers, I found a place to sit down and have a drink. The day was really warm, for down here, by now, but I knew that much of the next section was shaded, and I was looking forward to it.
With my destination being less than 3 miles away, I felt I was really flagging, and my right foot felt very blistered (it was and the left foot as well).
Next place was Cardis Bay, or Porth Reptor. This is a place I really like, but so do way to many other people, so I don’t go there much these days.
The coast path gets a bit odd here and goes though a hotel car park and past some luxury holiday lodges. Then it gets steep and then a large set of stairs up to the railway bridge. I convince myself that it is down hill from here on, it isn’t.
By now, I was really ready for a sit down, but with less than a mile into St. Ives, it was not time to stop. The final bit is quite easy and you wiggle around the houses and lanes and pop out by the toilets and Lifeboat Station on the harbours edge.
All that was left to do was to finish my drink, walk up to the bus stop and get back to my car.
50 minutes on the bus for what took me 5 hours to walk 19 miles
This morning I looked at my feet, did a bit of home surgery 101 and am now wondering why my boots, that have never, ever, given me trouble in the past, decided to do this to me.