Devon and Cornwall - 3

 Jul 1 - 5 2021

 In an English Country Garden 

Having watched a number of Julia Bradbury’s walks on TV, we had filed away Porthcurno for a visit. Accordingly, on Thursday morning we took the Coastler in the opposite direction, past Land’s End, and on to Porthcurno. Our walk took us inland from the village, across fields to the pretty church of St Levan, before the path gradually edged closer to the coast, climbing up to Gwenapp Head. We sat by the Coastwatch station, having a picnic and admiring the views along the coast. Now back on the South West Coast Path, we headed back to Porthcurno, the path rising and falling steeply around the beaches at Porthgwarra and Porthchapel.

Towards the end of our walk, we passed the famous clifftop theatre at Minack, which we had hoped to visit. Sadly, this was not to be, as a production was in progress. We consoled ourselves with an ice-cream at the beach café in Porthcurno, until it was time to catch the bus.

Our last day at Sennen; another bus ride and another walk. This time we took the bus to Land’s End, and, dodging the crowd heading into the “Landmark attraction”, we made straight for the coast path. Walking past the First and Last House, we came to Mayon Cliff, looking down at the remains of the RMS Mulheim, wrecked on a foggy morning in 2003. We continued around the headland, passing a group of male cyclists, who had abandoned their cycles and were taking a break to admire the view. Then down into Sennen Cove to once again catch the bus back to our site.

The remains of the "Mulheim"

The Longships

En route to our next destination, we found yet another NT house and garden to visit – this time at Trerice. More modest than Lanhydrock, this is a solid Elizabethan manor house, with compact but interesting gardens. Continuing the garden theme of the trip, we then headed for our campsite at Heligan Woods, adjacent to the Lost Gardens. On arrival, the lady in reception told me that we were on a “self-levelling pitch”. Somewhat confused, we headed to our designated spot, to find that the hardstanding had a gentle concave shape, meaning that the van could be rolled back and forth until level, without need for blocks. Simple but ingenious!

The self-levelling pitch

Elsewhere on the site, the modern facilities block was amazing, with spotlessly clean and heated individual bathrooms. By way of contrast to St Ives, the nightly fee was only slightly more than a club site.

Once again, a bus stop was close to hand; after early morning rain on Sunday, we caught the bus down into Mevagissey. Our only previous visit here was 39 years ago, with our one year old son in his buggy. It was damp weather then, too…

We walked around the harbour and up to the cliff to the south; the showery weather was not conducive to lengthy exploring. 

Monday saw us walking the couple of hundred yards to the Lost Gardens. The story of their recovery from dereliction is a tale of devotion and hard labour; the result makes for a fascinating day out. We covered a goodly portion (but not all) of the site, from kitchen gardens to jungle walks and the suspension bridge. Even a non-gardener like John found it enjoyable.

 

And so, time to return; a busy summer ahead, but hopefully a short trip will be possible in September.

Devon and Cornwall - 2

 Jun 25 - 30 2021

 Art for Art’s sake

 On our way to St Ives, our next stop, we broke the journey at the National Trust Lanhydrock House and Gardens. Built in the 17^th century, but restored in the Victorian era, this mansion is noted for its gardens and woodlands. Our limited time precluded woodland walks, but we enjoyed exploring the house and gardens. Pressing on, we arrived at Ayr Holiday Park, on the outskirts of St Ives, early in the evening. 

Lanhydrock Gardens

House and chapel

Saturday morning was dull and grey as we walked down the steep road to Porthmeor beach, to the west of St Ives. We then picked up the South West Coast Path again, following it west, round the delightfully named Clodgy Point towards the Merry Harvesters, a stone circle of dubious authenticity. Porthkervis Bay made a suitable picnic stop before heading back along the path to the campsite.

Porthmeor beach and St Ives

The forecast for Sunday was for heavy rain all day, so we had booked tickets for the Tate St Ives. Donning our waterproofs, we trudged down into town, arriving at the gallery in a rather soggy condition. It made for an interesting morning; we liked a fair few of the exhibits, but some of the installations and artworks left us scratching our heads. A cup of coffee in the café fortified us for the walk back in the rain.

Thankfully the next day was dry, so we set off again on the coast path, this time heading east. The path rises steeply as it heads round Porthminster Point, before arriving in Carbis Bay (no doubt still recovering from the G7 summit a couple of weeks ago). The path was wet from Sundays’ rain as we continued; we were glad of our walking boots, unlike some folks who were wearing sandals or flip-flops. Emerging from the damp woodland, we walked amongst grasses and dunes by Porth Kidney Sands, before reaching Lelant. After a picnic on the rocks by the bay, we walked to the nearby station and caught a train back to St Ives.

St Ives

Porth Kidney Sands

 Time to move on again, towards Land’s End. We weren’t sorry to leave Ayr Holiday Park; although we had seen it recommended, we felt that the facilities did not live up to the price. It was by far the most expensive site we have stayed on in the UK or Europe (including Switzerland!).

Our route took us round Penzance, which gave us the opportunity to visit more National Trust gardens, this time at Trengwainton. These gardens contain a wide variety of exotic species that thrive in the mild climate of this part of the country. Although overcast, it made for a pleasant couple of hours wandering around the 25-acre estate.

 Our destination was the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Sennen, north of Land’s End, which we reached in the late afternoon. After settling in, we went for a walk over the fields to Gwynver Beach, about 40 minutes away. The Longships rocks and lighthouse, off Land’s End, were visible in the hazy evening light.

 A real bonus of the Sennen site is the proximity of the bus service, the Land’s End Coaster, which we used on every day of our stay.

 Botallack was our destination the following day and we arrived at the village in warm sunshine. A short walk from Botallack leads to the famous Crown Mines, with their old headframes and ruined engine houses perched on the cliffs. These relics of Cornwall’s once flourishing tin industry will be familiar to the legions of Poldark fans, as the area was a filming location for both productions. I was thinking of the lines from the Show of Hands song “Cousin Jack”, about displaced Cornish tin miners:

“Where the copper, the clay and the arsenic and tin

run in your blood and get under your skin”

 

After a couple of hours exploring and taking lots of photographs, we headed back to the village. A glass of local cider in the Queens Arms proved a good way to while away the time until the bus arrived. Back at the site, we planned the next day’s trip…

Devon and Cornwall - 1

 Jun 21 – 24 2021

 Stairway to Devon

 This was the trip we should have made in June 2020; when lockdown happened, we just rolled forward all the site bookings by a year. It was a good feeling to be loading up the van for a “proper” trip at last.

 After the usual erratic journey on the M5, we arrived at the Camping and Caravanning Club site at Lynton on a sunny Monday afternoon. We were soon settled on a pitch with a view over the fields toward the distant Bristol Channel and planning the next couple of days. The following morning we walked along the lane outside the site, over a hill and down the steep descent to Lynton. A short walk then took us to the top of the Cliff Railway. Before travelling, however, we couldn’t resist the scones, cream and jam on offer at the Clifftop Café; they were delicious.

Looking down the Cliff Railway

Lynmouth Bay

 Dating from 1890, the water and gravity powered railway is a marvel of Victorian engineering, and unique in the UK. At the bottom, we wandered around the harbour town of Lynmouth, and headed along the seafront to Blacklands Beach for a late lunch. Our next stop was Glen Lyn Gorge, home to a hydro-electric turbine providing power for the National Grid, and a lot of information about water and conservation matters, as well as moving tales from the terrible 1952 flood. 

Glen Lyn

After some more exploring of the town, we cheated and caught a taxi back to the campsite (justifying the cost to ourselves by the fact that the ride was only slightly more expensive than the return on the Cliff Railway).

 The next day we caught an early bus from the stop on the main road, a walk of about half a mile. Our destination was Woody Bay, home of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway, and John’s reason for wanting to come to this area. After a life of only 37 years, this narrow-gauge railway was closed in 1935, to the sorrow of many. The day after closure a wreath appeared at Barnstaple station bearing the words “Perchance it is not dead, but sleepeth”. A dedicated band of volunteers is trying to awaken it; only a mile of track exists at present, but the next few years should see much more progress. On a lovely sunny day, with views across the rolling hills of Exmoor to the Bristol Channel, it was a delightful ride.

 Catching the bus from outside the station, we returned to Lynton. The queue for the Cliff Railway was long, so we decided to take the steep path down to Lynmouth. We bought fish and chips from the Esplanade Fish Bar, and enjoyed them sitting by the harbour in the warm sunshine, under the watchful eye of a hungry seagull. We then walked along the East Lyn River towards Watersmeet, but a recent landslip meant we had to curtail our walk. Heading back into town, we decided to return to Lynton up the path we had descended, before catching the bus back to the site for a well-earned (we thought) glass of beer.

East Lyn River

On Thursday we again caught the bus into Lynton, this time with the objective of taking a circular walk along part of the South West coast path, to the Valley of the Rocks, then towards Lee Bay and back to the campsite. Once again the sun shone as we headed along the cliffs, then up amongst the prehistoric rock formations that give the area its name. After eating our lunch up amongst the rocks we descended to Mother Meldrums’ Tea Rooms for a drink before carrying on. 

Valley of the Rocks...

...and inhabitants

The area is home to wild goats, which were numerous as we headed towards the Christian retreat of Lee Abbey. There the path turned uphill amongst pleasant woodland, before leading us back to the site.

Through the woods

Time to move on, but we really enjoyed our taste of the area, which has been added to our ever-lengthening list of “places we’d like to go back to”.