SWCP Day 34: Slow Sunday

Other SWCP posts:

Introduction
Day 1: Minehead to Porlock
Day 2: Porlock to Lynton
Day 3: Lynton to Combe Martin
Day 4: Combe Martin to Mortehoe
Day 5: Rest day, Morte Point loop
Day 6: Mortehoe to Braunton
Day 7: Braunton to Westward Ho!
Day 8: Westward Ho! to Clovelly
Day 9: Clovelly to Hartland Quay
Day 10: Hartland Quay to Morwenstow
Day 11: Morwenstow to Bude
Days 12-14: Bude to Crackington Haven
Day 15: Crackington Haven to Tintagel
Day 16: Tintagel to Port Isaac
Day 17: Port Isaac to Padstow
Day 18: Padstow to Porthcothan
Day 19: Porthcothan to Crantock
Day 20: Rest day, Holywell bay loop
Day 21: Crantock to St Agnes
Day 22: St Agnes to Godrevy
Day 23: Godrevy point to St Ives
Day 24: St Ives to Pendeen Watch
Day 25: Pendeen Watch to Sennen Cove
Day 26: Sennen Cove to Lamorna
Day 27: Lamorna to Marazion
Day 28: Marazion to Porthleven
Day 29: Porthleven to Lizard Point
Day 30: Lizard Point to Coverack
Day 31: Rest day in Coverack
Day 32: Coverack to Maenporth

Day 33: Maenporth to Portscatho

Day 35: Boswinger to Pentewan

Day 36: Pentewan to Polkerris

Days 37-39: Polkerris to Fowey

Day 40: Polruan to Polperro

Day 41: Polperro to Seaton

Day 42: Seaton to Kingsand

Day 43: Kingsand to Plymouth

Day 34

Portscatho to Boswinger

Approx. 12 miles, 800m ascent

25,445 steps

After packing up camp I headed down a green tunnel of a path and found the wonderful Tatams coffee place in Portscatho. It was clearly a very popular locals spot, so I joined the end of the queue and was soon enjoying an excellent coffee and cheese and ham croissant on their outdoor terrace, with a view over the bay. There were several swimmers enjoying the calm Sunday morning water, jumping in off a platform a short distance out from the beach.

Green tunnel to the sea

Good breakfast

Portscatho bay

Suitably breakfasted, I headed out onto the path and around the bay. The morning was overcast and very pleasant walking conditions. My feet were still sore but not quite as bad as the day before so I made decent progress on the quiet path around Gerrans bay. The path followed low cliffs and dipped in and out of several small valleys. I was soon past the prominent Nare head, and stopped for a brief lunch, although my day-old pasty wasn’t very appealing. I chatted to a guy who had travelled from Denver in the US to walk part of the path, about the only person I saw for quite a long stretch of the day.

Leaving Portscatho

Around Gerrans bay

Overcast morning walking

I rested a while longer, stretched out on a bench, then finally got myself moving again. I found my way into the little village of Portloe, tucked in a steep valley and with a harbour sheltered in between the rocky cliffs. The sun was showing itself and heating things up, and the lack of proper lunch had worn me out somewhat, so I found my way to the village pub. Unfortunately the kitchen was closed so I made do with a pint of orange juice and lemonade and some crisps and sat a while in their garden.

Looking back to Nare head

Approaching Portloe

Portloe harbour

I headed back out of the valley and out onto the path again, following the cliff tops until I dropped back down into the villages of West and East Portholland. The little village and harbour were the location for some of the filming of ‘Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children’ a slightly surreal film from 2016. Unfortunately there wasn’t any form of shop or open cafe in the village, so I headed on across high fields and through a wooded valley past Caerhays castle and Porthlune cove.

Afternoon sunshine

Caerhays castle

A mile or so further on and a look at the map suggested there should be a track leading up to the Youth hostel, my destination for the night, without needed to drop down into the next valley, and back up the hill on the road. The route turned out to be a bit of a gorse-infested scramble, but I soon found a track that popped out by the hostel, a little bit of sneaking under a fence required to get out onto the road.

Feeling very tired from too much sun and not enough food, I was very pleased to find another lovely youth hostel, with a friendly and welcoming host who cooked me an excellent dinner, and was happy to listen to me complaining about my sore feet. There weren’t too many other people staying, just one other woman in my dorm room, and a Dutch couple who I chatted to over dinner, plus a few others. I did some hand washing and sat out in the sun as it dried, enjoying the very peaceful hillside spot and another few miles completed.