Saturday 8th June 2002 - Day One, Falmouth, Helford Passage, Manaccan, Gillan Harbour Next

Back to the coast path and to pick up from Gillan Harbour. The return to Gillan was to take some time as it is not one of the more accessible places on the coast path, but the connections of trains and busses was reasonable. At Exeter however the connecting train was late but fortunately they held the Falmouth train at Truro for it.

The train journey down took almost five hours and at Falmouth I had to find 'The Moor' where the busses and taxis congregate so that I could then complete the trip to Helford Passage. I headed for the town centre and on the way discovered a map with 'The Moor' marked together with a helpful 'You Are Here' arrow. After that it didn't take long to find.

By the time I had visited Tesco's for some provisions there were only twenty minutes for the bus. I had toyed with the idea of getting a taxi but that would have been unnecessarily expensive. The bus arrived a bit early and whilst we waited the driver got off for a puff on his pipe, and was joined by a couple of the passengers who had a quick smoke before he left. He seemed to know most of the people on board. The roads towards Helford Passage started off wide enough but as the bus went further into the countryside the lanes got narrower and narrower. I would have taken it steady on a bicycle, then unbelievably as twigs tapped on both sides of the bus there was a 'road narrows' sign.

I recognised the stop for Helford Passage immediately and again the bus did a nifty three point turn. I disembarked and walked down the hill to the ferry at the bottom. I also recognised the ferryman from last year talking to someone and he confirmed that the ferry was running, next journey at 4pm.

With a quarter of an hour to the ferry I tried ringing 'The Smithy' bed and breakfast (B&B) that I stayed at on the previous trip but I got a network connection error on the 'phone which I thought strange. Never mind, I'd soon walk there. As four O'clock approached a gaggle of people appeared and stood on the jetty, there were a lot of them and the ferry wasn't very big. I thought that I had better join the queue before any more appeared and caused me to miss the trip. Fortunately there was just room, the ferry is limited to twelve people.

At the far side I paid my £1-60 single fare and began walking to Manaccan. I got hot very quickly going uphill. The weather was grey and kept coming down with a light damp drizzle but fortunately it didn't take long to get to the Manaccan junction and the top of the village.

As I approached 'The Smithy' and the bistro that they also owned next door called 'The Lions Den' I noticed that both the signs were missing and they looked dark. Very dark indeed. A notice fixed to the door gave a strong hint that they were no longer in business. That explained no phone line and also meant that my plan had gone awry. I popped into the Manaccan stores for advice and was given a number for another B&B to the west of Manaccan but when I rang there was no answer.

I headed for Gillan with the idea of ringing later and walking the bit of the path on this portion of the coast that I failed to complete last year. In the end I was getting tired after travelling all day and as I arrived at Gillan I spotted a hotel. I would walk that loop of the path with an eye out for a B&B, and if that failed then enquire at the hotel.

At twenty five to six I resumed walking the path. I made another of these important notes: When I leave off in future then I must think about making access easy for later on. It had taken nearly ten hours to get there. I didn't see any B&B's so cut through to the hotel but they were full. The receptionist however was very helpful and gave me the names and numbers of a couple of nearby B&B's. I rang the first one and they had a vacancy, and as luck would have it they were only a couple of hundred yards away.

I was welcomed in, shown the room, the bath, and the conservatory where breakfast was served overlooking the harbour.

I retired to my room, had a hot bath, wrote my log, planned the next stage of my route and read Spike Milligan's book, 'Mussolini: His part in my downfall' from the bookshelf just outside the room. James the family cat sneaked in to join me. In the room a pair of binoculars had been thoughtfully placed and I scanned the coast and bay where a tanker called 'Bearing Sea' lay at anchor. On the far side of the bay a lighthouse blinked although I couldn't see one on the map. In a couple of days I'll be passing that I thought.

Next Page Day two, 9th June 02, Gillan Harbour to Falmouth.

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