Wednesday 30 September 2015

83 Widemouth Bay to Bude

Widemouth Bay

Only a short stretch of Coast Path today as I have hurt my ankle again. We continue along the back of the beach to reach the headland of Lower Longbeak. This is the view north with Higher Longbeak in the foreground and the white satellite dishes of Bude GCHQ in the background.


We walk along the cliff top to reach Higher Longbeak and quite a dramatically rocky shoreline. The tip of a pinnacle of rock has just caught the sun in the foreground.


Phillip's Point, at the end, has attractive folds of sandstone, unusual in Norther Cornwall.


Looking back, the stone pinnacle can be seen with a sort of stone doughnut behind it.


After the hamlet of Upton, the road which has been nearby heads off to the east and the path crosses an unexpected wide grassy area behind Efford Beacon and along to Compass Point on the edge of Bude. This is marked by Storm Tower built in sandstone in 1835. It is based on the Temple of the Winds in Athens and has the points of the compass marked on each of its eight faces.


Just beyond this you turn inland and walk above the sprawling beach and small harbour.


The beach huts on the opposite side provide a nice splash of colour.


Then you pass the massive sea lock which marks the end of the Bude Canal. This rather surprising structure was built in 1823 and runs only a few miles inland to merge with the river Neet. Its main purpose was the transportation of sea sand inland for use as a fertiliser. The sand was collected from the beach and conveyed by a narrow gauge railway to the jetty on the right of this picture.


We diverted slightly at this point to see Bude Castle, built in 1830 by the polymath and inventor Sir Goldsworthy Gurney.


In front of the castle is the rather lovely Bude Light, a millenium homage to Gurney by Carole Vincent and Anthiny Fanshawe. "The cone incorporates fibre optic star patterns which sparkle at night" (Pevsner). The colour-scheme is very pleasing.


Conditions: warm and sunny.

Distance: 3.4 miles (distance now covered 506.2 miles).

Grading: Easy.

Map: Explorer 111 (Bude, Boscastle & Tintagel)

Rating: Four stars, surprisingly interesting and emjoyable.

Tuesday 29 September 2015

82 Crackington Haven to Widemouth Bay

The towering headland of Pencannnow Point

We pick up the coast path at Crackington Haven and start by climbing up to Pencannow Point, which we pass to the back of. The tide is out today and there is a nice view back towards Cambeak.


Next up is a steep descent into a long valley and then a corresponding climb up the other side.


Once at the top, an inviting ridge stretches out ahead.


Across the valley the spire of St Genny's church is visible. The ridge continues and at the end then is a lovely view back down the valley. 


There now follows a section of high grassy cliff (Lower Tresmorn) which ends with a vertignious descent down to just above a seemingly unnamed inlet.


The inland valley is (or was) known locally as Butterfly Valley and once was home to a colony of the rare Large Blue butterflies which became extinct in the late 1970s. We have been seeing a reasonable selection of butterflies as we walk along: Large and Small Whites, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, but now to great excitement we spot our first Clouded Yellow of the year.

The opposite side is Chipman Cliff, a steep and slippery climb.


The next section along the cliff top is reasonably level and views of our destination, Widemouth (pronounced Widmuth) Bay soon become available.


This area is called The Dizzard and is notable for the tree-lined slopes leading dpwn to teh sea. Theer are Sessile Oaks, Mountain Ash, wild Service Tree, Beech, Hawthorn and Blackthorn. It is said to be a remnant of the prehistoric forest which once covered the whole country.  Briefly the path dips down into the woods near Bynorth Cliff and then continues until above Milloook.


 Here it joins the road which passes behind the strange rocky cove with its gravelly beach - apparently a sort of geological heaven with extraordinary rock formations. It leads to another steep climb (we have a leaflet produced by the North Cornwall Heritage Coast and Countryside Service which describes it as one of the steepest on the coast path and we are not inclined to disagree). A further clifftop section rejoins the road above Wanson Mouth where the coast continues to have a sort of black rocky reef. It is probably rather a crass comment, but we found this whole stretch of coast rather gloomy and oppressive - where were the nice sandy beaches we had seen previously in North Cornwall?

On this section of road our day was brightened hugely by the sight of a newly emerged Painted Lady which offered a lovely image with the sun behind its wings.


 At the bottom of the hill we took a path on the left to reach and then walk behind Widemouth Bay.


The North Cornwall Heritage Coast and Countryside Service leaflet mentioned earlier describes this as "one of the finest sandy beaches in North Cornwall". To be honest, having seen several sandy beaches in North Cornwall, I have to say that they must be joking. I would go for "dismal".

Conditions: warm and eventually sunny, but hazier than yesterday.

Distance: 6.8 miles (Distance now covered 502.8 miles - woo hoo!)

Grading: Strenuous.

Map: Explorer 111 (Bude, Boscastle & Tintagel)

Rating: Four stars, principally for the first section.

Monday 28 September 2015

81 Boscastle to Crackington Haven


Boscastle

We are back on the South West Coast Path after a summer break - Cornwall is just too crowded in the summer - and we pick up our route at Boscastle. We walk up right hand side of the stream which flows into the harbour and past the tea shop with its pretty gothic windows to look down over the harbour where the tide is out.


We climb the steep cliff behind Penally Point and head along at cliff top level with the coast stretching away ahead to the oddly named headland of Cambeak.


We are already starting to see lots of Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral butterflies and this would continue for the rest of the walk. We make the first of several steep descents from Hillsborough to reach a cove called Pentargon, where there is apparently a waterfall when conditions are right. Not today though. There is a nice view out to sea however.


Now we climb Beeny Cliff and continue on a mid-cliff path with the rocks called the Beeny Sisters out to sea, a known spot to see seals. Two women walkers we passed had paused to do just that, although we couldn't see any ourselves.


Now we were on a high cliff path with next section to Cambeak stretching out before us and looking rather bleak it must be said. We didn't realise until we had climbed up to it, but the rocky bluff on the right is High Cliff, unimaginatively named but at 223m just beats Golden Cap in height and is apparently the highest sea cliff in Cornwall. (The only higher one in England is Great Hangman near Combe Martin in North Devon, which is 318m.)


At Rusey Cliff there was clearly going to be a substantial descent and then climb and in fact the path went further down towards the sea than I had realised when taking this picture.


 The long steep ascent on the other side brought us to High Cliff, and a grassy area just beyond. The view was green and inviting, allowing us to dream that the hard climbing is all over.


Soon you begin another descent and the distinctive rock formations of this section of coast become clearer: Samphire Rock (one of the few such rocks not called Gull Rock), Northern Door (a natural sea arch, although it appears on closer inspection to have been bolstered with some stone blocks) and Cambeak.


On the descent we spotted to the left a number of goats with long curved horns.


As you get closer, Cambeak looks for all the world like stone monster: head, eye, mouth, neck, body.


Time for another descent and then a steep climb, eschewing the obvious shortcut to the right, to climb Cambeak and enjoy a fine view toward our destination, Crackington Haven.


 Just another steep 50-step climb bars the way and soon we are descending the cliff towards the village. It looks nothing much, but apparently the high water conceals a sandy beach and at low water it is a popular destination.


Conditions; remarkably warm and sunny.

Distance: 6.8 miles (distance now covered 496 miles).

Grading: Strenuous.

Map: Explorer 111 (Bude, Boscastle & Tintagel)

Rating: Four stars.

Wednesday 24 June 2015

80 Trebarwith Strand - Tintagel - Boscastle

Trebarwith Strand

We set out from Trebarwith Strand: the tide was in and no beach was visible, just a large slab of rock. Gull Rock continued to dominate the horizon. We then made the steep climb up to the cliff-top, seeing our first Painted Ladies of the day, and soon had an impressive view back.


The route now continued at a comfortable cliff top level and we continued to see more Painted Ladies. At the end of this section we passed above a series of quarries, one of which had left behind an impressive column of rock. But why? 


We passed behind the two Penhallic Points (Lower and Higher), noticing the white sails of some boats out to sea, the first we have seen on this trip. Approaching Tintagel, we saw the imposing spire of the isolated church of St Materiana. Pevsner calls it the best small Norman church in Cornwall.


Soon after that we had our first view of the great rocky island, linked to the mainland by a narrow footbridge. 


We made a visit and learned that the great castle of Richard Earl of Cornwall from 1233 was in fact in two parts, one on the mainland and the larger on the island. The association with King Arthur is even older and goes back to Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the English kings of 1133. 


We saw a seal in Tintagel Haven …


 … and several Scarlet Tiger moths flying around on the hillside.


There was also a great view of the next headland, Barras Nose, notable for being the first piece of coast to be owned by the National Trust. From this angle you can begin to see why it might be called Barras Nose.


After we finished our exploration of Tintagel, we resumed the Coast Path, passing behind Barras Nose and following the cliff round to the next headland Willapark, with the Two Sisters rocks just off it (the smaller sister is hidden behind the larger one). Beyond this a pleasant bay opened up with Firebeacon Hill and a large rock (Long Island!) at its end. The coast here was quite indented and we wondered what it would be like.


Soon we descended a little, but still passed high above the exquisite Bosinney Cove.


After a short climb we followed a broad grassy path towards Rocky Valley. This turned out to a well-named and absolutely beautiful winding river valley flowing into the sea. as it wound its way inland the valley opened and became picturesque rather than dramatic.


After a long steep climb up from the valley bottom, we continued at a high level. Soon a view towards a second headland called Willapool opened up. The white lookout station was clearly visible on top of the headland. I liked the large rock on the right, which seemed to me to suggest a dog or bear sitting upright. It appears that no-one else has spotted this.


A wide grassy path descended to another inlet and after a steep climb we passed inland of the second Willapool and its lookout station. I loved the pony to the right and imagined that the lookout had ridden to work. A notice explained that ponies were being grazed on the headland, so perhaps that was the explanation.


I had thought the Boscastle lay just beyond this headland but the path continued relentlessly onwards towards a sort of inlet. What could it be?


As we turned the corner, we discovered the good news: it was the mouth of the long, narrow harbour.


As the harbour ended a river began. It was as though we had suddenly been transported to the Cotswolds. Boscastle of course suffered terrible flash flooding in 2004 as the result of heavy rain. Happily, physically at least, it is now restored.

Conditions: Warm and sunny - a beautiful day to on the coast. Others clearly thought so too and this was the most crowded section of the coast path we have yet walked on.

Grading: Moderate.

Map: Explorer 111 (Bude, Boscastle and Tintagel).

Distance: 6.8 miles. Distance now covered 489.1 miles.

Rating: Five stars. One of the best and most varied sections.