John O'Groats to Land's End - Day 068 - St Agnes to Loggans

Day: 068

Date: Sunday, 07 August 2022

Start:  St Agnes (after bus from Truro)

Finish:  Loggans

Daily Kilometres:  28

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1901

Weather:  Warm, sunny and breezy.

Accommodation:  Hotel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pastries

  Lunch:  Pastie/Sausage roll

  Dinner:  Burger & chips (Macca’s), chocolate

Aches:  Nothing significant.

Highlight:  None really.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

The first bus from Truro back to St Agnes, where we stopped hiking on Friday, didn’t leave until 8:50am, so no early start for us today.  We ate breakfast, purchased the previous night, at our AirBnB then walked down to catch the bus on a beautiful sunny morning.

The bus was on schedule and we were hiking by 9:30am following a narrow country lane down to Chapel Porth Beach where we rejoined the Coast Path.  The sun was shining, the aqua sea calm and holiday-makers were already out swimming, sunbaking and walking.  There was little haze and we could see a long way back along the coast, to far distant headlands, just visible on the horizon, that we must have walked over in the past week.  It seems both unbelievable and satisfying that we came from there so quickly.

The guidebook had warned that there were a few nasty descents and ascents and Dave soon had his poles out to help with the steep and high steps.  Fortunately, the elevation changes weren’t as great as a few days ago, and the climbs not as energy-sapping.  We did, however, see some other hikers struggling with both the climbs and the “heat” (~25°C) under the blazing sun.

The views all day were stunning, and we reminded ourselves how lucky we were to be here, enjoying such great scenery.  We frequently paused to look over the edge of the precipitous cliffs to isolated little coves below lapped by crystal clear water.

Around noon, we descended to the very busy little port village of Portreath where we bought lunch from a bakery which we ate on a bench overlooking a crowded beach.  It’s amazing how a bit of water, some sand, and buckets and spades can amuse children.  There was a small stream (of unknown toxicity) flowing down the beach from some kind of drain and scores of children were happily playing in it.

From Portreath there was more lovely cliff-top walking to Godrevy Point, with its small seal colony and offshore lighthouse. Then it was back to the hubbub of holiday-makers as we descended through crowded carparks to busy Gwithian Beach on St Ives Bay.  For 5 kilometres, we then walked along the hard-sand beach passing clusters of beachgoers at the access points with longer quieter stretches in between.  Very pleasant.

Our accommodation was inland a few kilometres, so we eventually climbed over the big coastal dune and made our way through the vast St Ives Holiday Park - acres of prefab cabins/mobile homes full of vacationers - to Loggans, on the outskirts of Hayle, and our hotel which we reached at 5:00pm.

Later Julie went to the nearby Macca’s to buy dinner, and found them struggling with the number of customers on a fine sunny Sunday, and with equipment failures due to the “heat”.

Only two days to go!

John O'Groats to Land's End - Day 067 - St Agnes (but staying in Truro)

Day: 067

Date: Saturday, 06 August 2022

Start:  St Agnes (but staying in Truro)

Finish:  St Agnes (but staying in Truro)

Daily Kilometres:  0

GPX Track:  Click here, here, here and here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from her activities today.

Total Kilometres:  1873

Weather:  Warm, sunny and breezy.

Accommodation:  AirBnB

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pastries

  Lunch:  Pasties

  Dinner:  Pizza, Raspberry cheesecake.

Aches:  Nothing to report

Highlight:  None really

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: No pictures today

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

No hiking today.

A very relaxing day for Dave, who spent a lot of it on his laptop with either the Commonwealth Games on the TV or the Australian Rules Football on the radio in the background .

He did wander down to the centre of Truro to get some breakfast and later joined Julie for a walk downtown to get lunch and do the laundry at a local laundromat.

Julie, on the other hand, rose early and walked/jogged the 8 kilometres to the Trelissick Parkrun where she ran the 5 kilometre race, winning her age group, and then walked/jogged the 8 kilometres back to our AirBnB.  Later in the afternoon she went for a walk on what was a beautiful afternoon.

John O'Groats to Land's End - Day 066 - Newquay to St Agnes

Day: 066

Date: Friday, 05 August 2022

Start:  Newquay

Finish:  St Agnes (then bus to Truro)

Daily Kilometres:  24

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1873

Weather:  Warm and mostly sunny, with a cool breeze.

Accommodation:  AirBnB

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg mayonnaise sandwich/Breakfast bar.

  Lunch:  Chicken salad sandwich/Egg mayonnaise sandwich

  Dinner:  Burger & chips, caramel trifle

Aches:  Dave - the usual niggles.  Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  It was nice to have an easy day after a very solid week’s hiking, and to know we have tomorrow off.  We were finished hiking by 2:00pm at St Agnes on a beautiful sunny day, easily in time to catch a bus to Truro (30 minutes away) at 2:30pm and, after a quick stop at a supermarket to buy some afternoon tea, were comfortably ensconced in our AirBnB before 4:00pm.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We chose a slightly later departure time today, 7:15am, for two reasons.  Firstly, we knew we had a relatively short-distance day and, secondly, the guidebook suggested that we needed to cross the River Gannel footbridge on the western edge of Newquay within two hours either side of low tide (~11:00am), or we would have to take a 4 kilometre detour.  After walking through the waking centre of Newquay and buying supplies for the day at a supermarket, we descended to the River Gannel and were pleased to see the tidal bridge well-exposed on the wide sandflats.  In fact, the tide was far enough out for us to also ford Penpol Creek, saving us further distance.

We then followed the Coast Path downstream to Crantock Beach at the river mouth where we were surprised to see a lot of holiday-makers already setting up on the beach (it was only 8:00am!) and the nearby carpark rapidly filling with vehicles.  With a sunny warm day forecast, people were clearly keen to get their spot on the sand.  It did look like a good beach, especially for young children.

The Coast Path then followed the coast around some low headlands, though still involving some climbing, and dropped down to several more attractive beaches, each seemingly busier than the last with people staking out their bit of sand.  Approaching Holywell Bay, we made the mistake of sticking to the marked Coast Path through some high sand dunes backing the beach when we would have been wiser to drop down to the flat hard sand beach itself and walk along that.  Lesson learned.

After another long attractive stretch of cliff-top walking on easy trail, with expansive views along the coast and out to sea, we made a steep descent to Ligger Bay and Perrin Sands Beach and walked along the beach, whose sand wasn’t quite as hard as we hoped, for a couple of kilometres.  Nevertheless, it was very pleasant to be walking along the relatively unpopulated broad beach with the breakers crashing to our right and huge sand dunes rising to our left under sunny skies.  Sadly, the tide wasn’t far enough out for us to walk all the way to Perranporth Beach, and we had to negotiate one more headland before dropping down to this very busy beach.  Despite the sun, the breeze was cool and the water apparently cold (~17°C) as most of the many swimmers and boogie board riders were wearing wetsuits.

We had made good progress all morning and still had time to take a second break, for lunch, knowing we would make the earlier bus (2:30pm) at St Agnes, our goal for the day.  We found a spot sitting on what looked like the remains of an old fortification or industrial site on Cligga Head and were entertained as we ate by some parachutists descending to the adjacent Perranporth Airfield, dating from World War II when it was a base for multiple squadrons of Spitfire fighters.

Our last hour of walking took us down to Trevallas Cove, and the remains of historic tin-smelters, before a long climb to the busy village of St Agnes.  From there we caught a bus to Truro where we have an AirBnB for two nights and a day off hiking.

John O'Groats to Land's End - Day 065 - Wadebridge to Newquay

Day: 065

Date: Thursday, 04 August 2022

Start:  Wadebriidge

Finish:  Newquay

Daily Kilometres:  37

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1849

Weather:  Warm and mostly sunny.

Accommodation:  Hotel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Pastries

  Lunch:  Egg salad sandwich/Ham & coleslaw sandwich.

  Dinner:  Fish & chips/Burger & chips. icecream

Aches:  Dave - the usual niggles.  Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  None really.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were walking by 6:30am on a mild and partly cloudy morning, with the intention of buying something for breakfast in Padstow, 10 kilometres away.  Our route firstly travelled along some country lanes before joining the Camel Trail, a railtrail linking Padstow to Wadebridge.  The attractive trail followed the tidal River Camel and we enjoyed the peaceful early morning scenery of river, mudflats and sandbanks bordered by pretty farmland.  There were a few people out for walks, runs and bike rides, but mostly we had it to ourselves.

At Padstow, a little town on the river that has become a yachting and tourist centre, we happily found a bakery open (they don’t open very early in England) offering yummy pastries and we bought some to eat for breakfast later on.  We left the river here and walked across to the coast on a series of field paths to Trevone Bay, a small beach resort, where we rejoined the Coast Path.  It was turning into a lovely day and many people were already out walking or setting up on the beach.

For the rest of the day we followed the Coast Path westwards along the attractive rocky coastline.  The cliffs weren’t as high as for the last few days, but still high enough to be spectacular with brilliant white breakers crashing on the rocks below.  Every so often, the path descended to attractive sandy coves full of holiday-makers  - Treyarnon Bay, Porthcothan, Mawgan Porth and more - with the obligatory cafes, pubs and ice-cream kiosks.  They were all buzzing and the mood was happy in the welcome sunshine.

On the cliffs above Watergate Bay, as we neared Newquay, there were some massive marquees and stages being set up for the upcoming Boardmasters Festival - a great location ….. in good weather.

We reached Newquay, a traditional English beach holiday town with a plethora of fast food joints, games parlours, hotels, etc., at 4:00pm and checked into our hotel.  Although we covered a lot of distance today, there was always something to look at and the time passed quickly and easily.

John O'Groats to Land's End - Day 064 - Tintagel to Wadebridge

Day: 064

Date: Wednesday, 03 August 2022

Start:  Tintagel

Finish:  Wadebridge

Daily Kilometres:  29

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1812

Weather:  Overcast, foggy and drizzle until mid-morning, then mostly sunny and warm.

Accommodation:  Hotel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Cereal, toast & jam

  Lunch:  Cornish pasties

  Dinner:  Chicken pasta salad, rice pudding.

Aches:  Dave - the usual niggles.  Julie - admitted to tired legs after the climbing of the last two days, and Dave noticed that he was actually keeping up with her on some of today’s climbs.

Highlight:  The village of Port Isaac was interesting and lively. An old seaport with narrow winding streets, very old houses and an attractive little harbour, it is now a tourist attraction and was very busy with holiday-makers on a beautiful day.  We each enjoyed a yummy large Cornish pastie for lunch, seated on a wall by the harbour and watching the passing parade of tourists.

Lowlight:  As we walked down the edge of a field in mid-afternoon, Julie’s cap was knocked off by a low-hanging branch and fell into a cow pat.  On a more serious note, we had a scary kilometre of walking along a narrow and very busy road with poor visibility soon afterwards.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

After making and eating our breakfast in the hostel kitchen, we started walking around 7:30am on a grey foggy drizzly morning.  First we went down to see the ruins of Tintagel castle, which sit precariously on some rocky outcrops high above the sea, but we could see very little because of the fog.  Fortunately, we had visited here and had a good look around four years ago, so didn’t feel quite so deprived.

From there we headed westwards along the Coast Path in the dreary conditions, with the ghostly dark outlines of the cliffs dropping down to the sea, just visible below.  We feared more of the roller-coaster trail of yesterday but, initially, there was easier walking as the the path followed the field edges along the cliff-tops.  The first big descent came as we dropped down to the tiny harbour of Trebarwith, followed by a lung-buster of a climb up a steep, and seemingly never-ending, chain of high rock steps.

More ups and downs were to come as we continued on, but the weather cleared dramatically, and we were finally treated to superb views up and down the spectacular coast from the higher elevations. We reached the very busy, with holiday-makers, Port Gaverne and Port Isaac around noon.  Originally, we intended to buy some sandwiches on our way through and eat them later but, instead, bought some pasties and ate them by the harbour watching the world go by.  Very pleasant.

It was amazing how the crowds disappeared just a few hundred metres up the steep road out of Port Isaac and we were soon walking on our own.  Our guidebook route left the Coast Path at Port Isaac and followed a more direct course towards Wadebridge across fields, along country lanes and through cute little villages on a warm afternoon.

We reached Wadebridge and our hotel around 5:00pm, very glad of an earlier finish than the two previous nights.

John O'Groats to Land's End - Day 063 - Stratton to Tintagel

Day: 063

Date: Tuesday, 02 August 2022

Start:  Stratton

Finish:  Tintagel

Daily Kilometres:  37

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1783

Weather:  Overcast most of the day, periods of drizzle and very windy.

Accommodation:  Hostel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Cereal, toast & jam.

  Lunch:  Egg & cress sandwiches

  Dinner:  Chilli con carne/Chicken korma, icecream.

Aches:  Dave - now on the anti-inflammatories for left ankle and right calf problems, and some more nasty chafing on the hips.  Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  Endless spectacular and wild Cornish coastal scenery.  Jagged cliffs descending steeply into a wild green ocean, with occasional protected tiny grey-sand coves.

Lowlight:  A very strong and gusty wind made hiking quite unpleasant for much of the day.  Whenever we were up high, which was often, we were buffeted to the point where it was difficult to walk in a straight line, with our packs acting like sails.  It was scary on one narrow ridge where the cliff edge was only a metre or two to our right and the wind was trying so hard to blow us off the cliff that we were both visibly leaning sideways into the wind as we carefully made our way forward.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Although we were very late going to bed, we woke at 6:00am and were walking by 7:30am after making ourselves breakfast in the hotel guest kitchen.  We knew we had another day of arduous terrain, though hopefully not as far as yesterday, and didn’t want to start too late.  It was quite a miserable morning with a heavy grey sky and periods of light drizzle.  We stopped in at the same supermarket as last night and picked up supplies for the day before following roads for 6 kilometres to Upton where we rejoined the Coast Path.

The miserable start to the day seemed even more so when we reached Widemouth Bay, a windswept and forlorn-looking beach resort.  We plodded across the beachfront grey dunes, blasted by wind-blown sand and passed shuttered ice-cream kiosks and a cafe where people huddled out of the wind.

The serious climbing and descending then began as we ascended to cliff-tops and then descended to cross streams at the bottom of narrow ravines, on one occasion passing through a beautiful protected woodland, and on others to some lovely little coves and hamlets.  Inevitably, our progress was slower than hoped, and we didn’t reach the pretty, but touristy, village of Boscastle until nearly 5:00pm, much later than hoped.

We still had 7 kilometres to go, with more ups and downs and, after an ice-cream, we set off hoping to reach our hostel in Tintagel before 7:00pm.  This last leg was enlivened by Julie treading in an unseen hole on the edge of the trail on the descent into a ravine.  With a little yelp, she disappeared off the side of the trail into the ravine, falling a couple of metres and landing on her back (and pack), like an upturned tortoise, in some vegetation on a ledge, holding grimly on to some other vegetation.  One more roll and she would have dropped another couple of metres into the rocky stream.  Some people on the other side of the creek witnessed the fall and one ran around to help, but Julie was OK and with some help from Dave climbed back up onto the track and we resumed our hike.  Lucky!

We reached our hostel a little after 7:00pm and checked in, later getting some microwavable dinner from a nearby store and having a late meal.  It had been another very tiring day, with another 2,000 metres of ascent and descent, and we were very happy to finish.

John O'Groats to Land's End - Day 062 - Clovelly to Stratton

Day: 062

Date: Monday, 01 August 2022

Start:  Clovelly

Finish:  Stratton

Daily Kilometres:  45

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1746

Weather:  Mild to warm and mostly sunny.

Accommodation:  Hotel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Cereal, toast & jam.

  Lunch:  Ham, cheese & chutney sandwiches

  Dinner:  Egg & cress sandwich/Chicken salad sandwich, lemon meringue pie

Aches:  Dave - usual niggles and some nasty chafing.  Julie - nothing reported.

Highlight:  Too hard to pick

Lowlight:  We intended to join a running club committee videocon at 10:00am and planned our departure time to be in a location, Hartland Point, that British Telecom said had good mobile coverage.  Alas, it did not turn out that way and we frustratingly lost the connection after a few minutes and could not reconnect despite much effort.. 

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We rose early and helped ourselves to cereal and toast at our AirBnB, before quietly leaving at 6:45am, time enough to reach Hartland Point, 11 kilometres away, for a videoconference we had committed to at 10:00am.  We based our timing on the guidebook which described the terrain as relatively level, but that was misleading as there were a few very tough and slow climbs and we only just made it in time.  However, we also spent time taking in the absolutely spectacular early morning views along the rugged coast on a calm and clear morning.  Unfortunately, the videocon turned into a bit of a debacle (see above) and we ended up spending an hour at Hartland Point at a picnic table.  A small cafe nearby opened at 10:30am and we bought some lunch sandwiches to take with us before leaving.

The rest of the day was spent following the Coast Path westwards.  It was like the labour of Sisyphus, with us completing one steep and sweaty climb to a headland with spectacular views to have the next steep descent and steep climb revealed and so on.  The guidebook said this was the most arduous day of the whole trip, and it wasn’t wrong.  Our total elevation gain (and loss) was about 2,000 metres, and most of that was very steep.  That said, it was one of our best days, scenery-wise, with never-ending magnificent views.  The trail was easy to follow and spent time in some lovely woodlands and fields as well as passing some picturesque little coves where people were swimming and playing.  There were quite a lot of walkers out as well, some clearly finding the conditions very tough.

It was a long day, distance-wise, and also a slow day, because of the terrain, and we did not get to Bude (and Stratton) until around 8:00pm.  We navigated our tired bodies to a supermarket on the way to our accommodation and bought some food and drink for a late dinner.  We eventually checked into our hotel just before 9:00pm after a very long, but satisfying, day.