The day dawns misty and overcast but improves as the day goes on, eventually becoming a scorcher. I'm sat here feeling sore and wishing I had put sun cream on earlier.
We get up just after 0630 and, after a quick breakfast, park the car by the museum in Camelford (free parking) and catch the 0825 bus to Tintagel. Our bus passes aren't valid before 0930 so we have to pay £3 each. Walking down the main street in Tintagel towards the Coast Path, we bump into the couple we have met 3 times already. They are catching the bus to Port Isaac and walking back to Tintagel so we should expect to meet them just after half way.
The first part of the walk to Port Isaac is fairly easy, passing Tintagel Castle and the Tintagel Youth Hostel before descending steeply into Trebarwith Strand where we have a cup of coffee in The Port William pub. That is our last encounter with civilisation until we reach St. Geverne just before Port Isaac. We cross several deep valleys with steep sides, each one different and beautifully rugged in its own way. We count 5 such valleys which descend almost to sea level with ridges about 125m high in between. There are also 3 smaller valleys plus the valleys at Trebarwith and St Geverne.
Half way along the walk there are 4 deep valleys in quick succession. We stop for elevenses in the first by a pretty waterfall. We meet our "friends" again as we climb out of the second and stop for a chat. We meet and have a long chat with another couple from Minehead as we climb out of the third and we stop for lunch at the bottom of the fourth.
We are tired when we reach Port Isaac and are have a welcome cream tea in one of the many cafes in the town. We take a photograph of a friendly giant walking on the beach.
We catch the 1605 bus back to Camelford - our bus passes are OK this time - and buy supper in the local Co-op. I can't quite put my finger on it but Co-op stores all over the country never seem happy places like the big four supermarkets. If they could improve their image I'm sure more people would use them.
We catch the 1605 bus back to Camelford - our bus passes are OK this time - and buy supper in the local Co-op. I can't quite put my finger on it but Co-op stores all over the country never seem happy places like the big four supermarkets. If they could improve their image I'm sure more people would use them.
The guide book classifies today's walk as "severe" and there isn't another such day until we reach St. Ives, so the next weeks' walking should be dead easy - ha ha.
Distance completed today: 9.1 miles
Total distance completed: 155.1 miles (24.6%)
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