Tuesday 11th June 2002 - Day four, Portscatho, Portloe, Portholland, Dodman Point, Gorran Haven Prev Next

I woke early again at just before six, probably as a result of falling asleep at just before ten the previous night. It was still a blissful eight hours of sleep. I read some more 'Round Ireland with a fridge' before taking another half an hour nap, then it was time to pack before breakfast. Down in the dining room were a couple who were touring around visiting friends and relatives, and some of the local attractions. Yesterday they had visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan and found it fascinating. He told me that these were gardens from Victorian times that had fallen into disuse and been lost with no one to look after them until recently where they have recovered about 300 acres in ten years. They sound worth a visit. He asked me where I came from and they seemed surprised when I said Newbury, apparently they come from Wallingford and the landlady from Reading which are places all quite near to one another.

I completed my packing, paid £22 for the night and went off to find the path. At least I could take some short cuts to start in the bright sunny morning with blue sky, as I had already done this part of the path the previous evening. I was back on the path charting new territory at twenty to ten.

The path follows field edges again but undulated as I tried to keep a reasonable pace. I came across a group of Shetland ponies either asleep lying down or standing dreamily on the path and had to walk between them making sure that I was near the head end rather than the kicking end. These ponies are virtually wild and had been put there by the National Trust to graze and thereby help keep control of the land.

A little further on a chap with a National Trust sweatshirt came the other way and asked if I had seen the Shetlands. I replied that I had and that they were about ten minutes away. I've noticed before that if you ask someone about a feature on the path they often refer in terms of walking time rather than distance which is probably better because walking conditions vary enormously.

The path turned away from the coast edge and went up and inland to a road in order to get round the back of a hotel. It crosses the back of Pendower Beach and used to go in front of the next hotel but here the path is closed and redirects you behind the hotel instead. It looks as though there has been subsidence and there is no longer a safe distance in front. If the erosion continues then they are going to loose their tennis courts.

The approach to Nare Head was easy enough but close up it was a steep little climb that had me leaning forward, hands on knees and rucksack high on my back to give my hips and shoulders a rest whilst I got my breath and legs back. This is something I do several times in the day because of the climbs. I conciously do it to avoid getting exhausted rather than struggle on and have to do it because I am exhausted.

The top of Nare Head is quite a flat open field in stark contrast to the surrounding gorse and steep slopes and the coast path posts guide you round the outside. It started to rain so I got my cagoule out and put it on. By the time I had had a drink the rain had stopped so I took it off again.

Beyond Nare Head and before Portloe was some tough path that meandered up and down with zig-zags taking it backwards and forwards as though it didn't know where to go and made progress very slow. More of this was to come after Portloe too.

I had intended to take lunch at Portloe but was running a little late and spying a post office and general stores from the path headed for it to get a couple of pasties. From what I remember of '500 mile walkies' there wasn't a store in Portloe, just a post office, but I guess they had moved on a bit. Unfortunately it was shut, perhaps the owner had gone to lunch although it should have been open according to the times. It did seem a bit odd though because behind the display on the window a black cloth or paper was draped like a blind to prevent people seeing in too far. I hung around for twenty minutes eating a snack in the hope that someone would open it, but they didn't. As I retraced through Portloe I spotted another post office and got some Snickers bars and an ice cream instead. How many post offices do they need?

I walked on to Portholland although without much hope of finding sustainance, not that it really mattered because I did have some food in my bag and could have done hot pasta in chicken sauce if I needed to. Just before Portholland here is an area of barren land where Japanese Knotweed has been cleared. This is a real problem in some areas where it grows uncontrollably and once it gets into the ground is virtually impossible to remove.

In Portholland the post office was also closed so I continued. Up and out the other side was a steep climb where council workers resplendent in their bright orange trousers were cutting back the vegetation. The path was well made and even had tarmac in places which made for good progress again. I walked around field edges and the back of Porthluney Cove. It was here that it started to rain again and kept raining.

At the other side of the cove it is not clear where the coast path goes. In fact you walk up the hill marked footpath and round the back of a finger of woodland to see a stile with the acorn path marker. Now I was getting closer to Dodman Point as I wound round fields and woods. As I walked round one field edge I saw a few black slicks across the path that could mean only one thing, bullocks. I looked up the slope and sure enough there they were. One looked, then two, three, four, five, six. Fortunately they weren't interested or I was too far away for them to bother and they stayed where they were. In the next field were more but they were chewing the cud and not interested either. I don't know why I have a problem with them.

Finally I began my ascent of 'The Dodman'. It wasn't the easy stroll up fields that I had first thought when I looked at it from afar, but a very steep climb taken in several stages. I could see the cross at the end but it took longer to get there than I imagined because the cross was larger than I thought. I could see that it was about twenty feet tall when I eventually reached it. Inscribed on the bottom is:

IN THE FIRM HOPE OF THE SECOND COMING OF
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST AND FOR THE
ENCOURAGEMENT OF THOSE WHO STRIVE TO
SERVE HIM; THIS CROSS IS ERECTED A.D. 1896.

The cloud was low and beginning to cover this, the highest part of Dodman so I moved on. The second part of walking around Dodman was a much more gentle affair around field edges. As I walked looking for Gorran Haven the mist rolled away from the next headland to give me a brief glimpse and then returned like a magician lifting a cloak and then replacing it. Eventually I rounded a corner and got my first glimpse of Gorran Haven with the highest houses shrouded in the mist.

I enquired about B&B at the stores and was directed up the road to the tea rooms. They had a space for the night at £20 and I was in. The first thing I did was to go out for pie and chips then phoned home before having a nice hot bath. Finally I wrote up my log before settling down for the night. Today had been a long, long walk.

Next page, Day five, 12th June 02, Gorran Haven to St Austell.

Previous page, Day three, 10th June 02, Falmouth to Portscatho.

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