Thursday 14th June 2001 - Day six, Coverack, Porthallow, Manaccan Prev Next

I woke early with a pain above the eyes and knew that I was probably in for a migraine. I had a couple of aspirin and went back to sleep. When I woke later it was light and the pain hadn't gone. There was a light breeze and some sun which helped dry the tent as I had the usual pasta sauce, then packed the tent away and by 9 O'Clock I had picked up the path again only to stop after a few hundred yards to get some provisions from the Coverack General Stores where a very helpful lady served me.

On the other side of Coverack the path is off to the right down a road that becomes a track and not as the OS map shows it. I walked along first through a hedge/wooded bit, then out onto the edges of fields. In one field stood bullocks and a bull with a ring through his nose. You know by now, dear reader, what I think of bullocks and I was not happy. Luckily the field edge was at shore level and he shore was made of boulders that I knew the cattle would not venture on to, so I was able to give them a wide berth with an escape route if necessary. A little further along as I approached Dean Quarry the same thing applied. At Dean Quarry the footpath is closed and you have to take a diversion up and round the back of it. This diversion looks permanent and more likely because of quarrying activities rather than foot and mouth.

From the map I read a spot height on this diversion of 95m, and so it proved to be. The path climbed and climbed, then went onto roads. For the first bit I had to keep standing to one side to let large lorries pass. At Rosenithon it started to rain then stopped as I had a snack in the lee of a farm building. A little further up the road were stacked boulders called Giants Quoits, a familiar type of object on the coast but not here. A notice explained that they stood for hundreds of years at Manacle Point and were re-sited because of the expanding workings of the quarry in 1967.

It started to rain again so I put on water proofs. I followed the roads and noticed again that whilst the OS map showed the path as being on the roads, the posts on the ground followed bits of footpath although some still appeared to be closed because of the foot and mouth. At Porthoustock the road dropped all the way down to the harbour and then climbed all the way out. I visited the toilets which again were clean and smelled sweetly. If there is one thing that I can say for Cornwall, it is that it maintains it's toilets well and this is appreciated.

I passed Trenance Farm which by my reackoning marks the halfway point on the path between Minehead and Poole. A significant point.

As I dropped down to Porthallow it started to rain very heavily. I ducked into the pub that I can't remember the name of for a large orange juice and lemonade, and chicken & chips. The pub was well decorated with pictures that had a sea theme. Nets and lobster pots adorned the ceiling. I chatted with a chap on the table opposite, he was walking the path of the path taking a couple of hours at at time and wanted to know about the bits I had been on. I couldn't really do the chicken and chips justice because of the headache which was a shame. I got moving again which was difficult, going from a nice warm comfy pub to a wet howling wind.

Up on the top, the rain was coming across in sheets and although the vegetation had been trimmed back I still put on gaiters. On a couple of occasions the plastic cover that I had made for the rucksack was snatched off by the wind. Across one of the fields an elderly couple came the other way. 'What a day' I shouted to them but their reply was lost on the gale.

I rounded the head and this provided some shelter from the wind. One question kept going through my head, 'What am I doing here?'. If I could have pressed a button and transferred instantly to my bed at home I would have done it. After the fields came close vegetation. Some was very close. Gorse and hawthorn bushes had grown large and were then weighed down by the rain over the path. I had to crouch down very low and even take the rucksack off a couple of times in order to get through.

Eventually I reached Gillan and bumped into the same bloke that I had been chatting to in the pub. He told me that the stones over the harbour were covered by the tide. I had already decided that if the stone bridge was covered then I would abandon there, otherwise cross and continue to follow the path to Manaccan & Helford. At Gillan Harbour I turned off the path and made my way up a long long hill.

I was getting seriously tired as I walked the roads but at least the rain had finally stopped. Ever so slowly I reached Manaccan and sat on the village bench. I kept falling asleep as I sat. As I looked for the toilets I asked a woman where a B&B might be, she suggested I ask at the stores and at the stores I was pointed in the direction of 'The Smithy'. I called in and got a room for the night, went upstairs, had a hot bath and slept the remainder of the migraine off.

The proprieters of The Smithy also own the bistro opposite where I had a light tea of Hot Chicken + Avacado Salad followed by a hot toffee sweet with bananas, pinapple and clotted cream. It was food of the gods. I returned to my room, wrote up my log and quickly fell asleep.

Next page, Day seven, 15th June 01, Manaccan to Newbury.

Previous page, Day five, 13th June 01, Vellan Head to Coverack.

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