I have just returned from a month in the UK, hiking a section of the West Coast Trail of Cornwall. Our group of 8 included myself, Janet (our great planner extraordinaire), Mary and Randy , Shelly and Sue H., and Diane and Gwen. We began on September 4th, flying into Heathrow airport and joining together in a van to ride to our first rented house in East Preston.
Our home for the next few days
On a rocky beach
A walk along the path to a nice pub for lunch
We rode the train to Arundel castle
Where Randy and I had to try on the armour
Good English food...
sausage roll and a cup of tea.
Janet drove some of us to Brighton. Some took the bus.
Some explored the upside down house
The pier was fun.
A bit of English humour at the Loo.
And Randy humour.
We toured the Royal Pavilion.
The next day we are on the move again,
hiring transport to take us to Westward Ho!
to begin our hike
Shelly tested out the full English breakfast..
well we did have 12 miles to hike.
A wee Walk??? of 77 miles of
up and down for the section that we chosen
From Westward Ho! to Padstow.
First Day
Up and down 12 times in the rain and wind.
We are enthusiastic and mostly smiling.
And mud glorious mud...
Dropping in to just one tiny village.
We sat on the muddy trail to eat our lunch.
At the end of the day we spotted our destination,
beautiful Clovelly....walking down the steep cobblestones
it was like entering another time.
I think that working hard to walk there
gave me a different perspective .
Its definitely a wild and rugged coast
full of ancient history
The Red Lion, Our hotel for 2 nights.
It is a 16th century building
with beautifully remodeled rooms.
Janet and I stayed in the room on the right.
We dried our gear on the heated towel rack.
The next day we explored the village, shops and church.
The locals use sleds to move good up and down the cobble stones.
In the past the donkeys were used.
Beautiful sunset from our little deck
We thought the water cold and stormy,
but everywhere we went we saw the
hardy British people swimming in the sea.
I also has my first taste of a Cornish pasty here.
It turned out to be my favorite of the 3 that i had.
The next day on to Heartland Quay,
a tiny isolated one building pub/hotel
on a windy, wild point
Diane and I seem to always be smiling.
This really was my favorite part...with the wild wind and
occasional rain trying to blow us off the cliffs.
Raw and one with the environment.
And all those steps, a recurring theme.
To quote Gwen...more f....steps.
Those little dots below are other hikers
waiting for us to go down.
Heartland Quay....a pub with nice rooms above
Really isolated on this wild coast.
The pub had packed us a lunch
Cheese and Chutney sandwich
wrapped up in brown paper.
Not so much plastic in the UK.
Next stop...Bude. Randy Diane and I took a cab to
go ahead. We all missed one leg of the trail
the next day due to gale force winds and rain.
We explored the village and had time in our cozy rooms.
Next stop...Tintagel, A place where I visited in 1959
and was able to recreate the photo
sitting on the wall of the old post office.
Another English lunch was in order
before walking to where we were staying for 3 nights.
My first glimpse of the old post office in Tintagel.
Beautiful pld stone walls everywhere.
Camelot Castle hotel was our next home for a few days
...perched on the cliff next to
King Arthurs castle and Merlins caves
From the hotel you can look down at Merlins caves
and across to King Arthurs castle ruins.
My mom, my brothers and me sitting on the same wall
in front of the Tintagel post office in 1959
Diane and I hikes backwards from Tintagel to Boscastle.
Diane had a unique way of avoiding the mud on the trail
There are actually surfers down there.
Many more steps, many more ups and downs,
but all beautiful. Rocky valley full of waterfalls
was my favorite on this stretch.
We met the others coming the opposite way as
we climbed over a wall stile.
It really was that steep going down
to these little fishing villages
and then up again. I personally liked the steps
better than the switchbacks we have in the US
I got into a rhythm of side stepping
and using my poles to protect my knees.
We had to buy scarves to keep the wind
from blowing our hair in our faces.
A Cornish Ice cream in Boscastle
is our reward after hiking 6 miles,
and a ride back to Tintagel on the bus.
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The Camelot castle hotel has very compact retro bathrooms.
Beam me up Scotty.
We explored the ruins and hikes down to Merlins caves.
Another bus ride, another ice cream.
They taste good even in the rain.
A king Arthurs museum
And of course, the round table
We also went inside the old post office
popping in and out of pubs
And caves
Randy was introduced to eggs with soldiers
The whole group in Camelot castle hotel, Tintagel
The next day was the one that I was really looking forward to.
We hikes from Tintagel to Trebarwith Strand.
This was where my family spent our vacations.
Gull Rock begins to get closer
Two sheep enjoy the view
The beach and the caves we explored as kids
The small village appears below.
And here we are in Trebarwith Strand,
also known as Port Williams
I recreate the photos of my childhood.
the stream flowing to the beach where
we tried to fish with limpets tied to string.
The rockpools and caves
where we paddled as kids
And as we hiked to the top of the hill to catch a bus,
I spotted the quarry cottage where we stayed.
It was undergoing renovation,
but what a treat to recognize.
On into Port Isaac, which is all about Doc Martin.
Janets sister-in-law Laurie joined us,
staying in our funky rental house...
The Chicago House, with quite a history in Port Isaac.
Talking to the locals was fun.
Many had been involved in the filming
of Doc Martin.
Shelly was trying to "spend a penny" which is now 20p.
We had to see if the doc was in.
We found squeeze belly alley
Chatted with locals
Port Isaac, as many of the old small villages we walked to,
has very narrow streets and limited access by car so we often
found ourselves having to pull our luggage up the hills
so that the carrier could pick it up.
From Port Isaac we hiked the final leg of our hike
from Port Isaac to Padstow, crossing the last tidal waters by ferry.
We spent a lovely couple of days at Padstow,
seeing the bay at low tide and high tide,
visiting the lobster museum and having a special last meal together.
We said goodbye to Mary and Randy going to Denmark,
Shelly and Sue H off to Bath and then London,
and Diane, Gwen and Janet and I headed down to st Ives.
Again, a narrow street where our cab could not go
but the owner of our rental was happy to help us get the bags in.
There were many art exhibits and
galleries and studios open in St Ives
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Our rental was another beautifully renovated row house.
Diane introduced us to a wonderful
museum/home/studio of sculteress Barbara Hepworth.
That is Janet inside the statue in San Diego 1973
Hepworths work was beautifully placed in the garden
Janet had seen a copy made by Hepworth
in San Diego and recognized it right away.
Students were there
The next day Janet and I took a walk up the
other side of the valley to try to find a monument.
We were lost for a while in the forest before finding the gate...
and the monument.
On the way back a ukulele group were playing
Janet and I shared the beautiful attic room.
It was soon time for us to separate once more..
.Diane and Gwen to London, Janet to fly up north
to visit and old friend, and myself,
off to take the train and then the ferry to
the Isle of Wight to see my friend Jennifer, whom
I had not seen since 1963
The ferry left from Southampton, the same port
that we sailed out of to emigrate in 1965
Jennifer is in the back at the far right at my 4th birthday
I'm on the other side of my mom
And us today.
We had so much in common,
including our love for the same California wine, and
Marmite sandwiches.
The sea view from Jennis beautiful guest room.
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Down the steps to walk beside the sea
before stopping for lunch at the pub.
A play island shaped like the Isle in the middle of a paddling pool.
The next day Jen and I walked the red squirrel trail to the donkey sanctuary.
We enjoyed trying to spot the 2 donkeys she sponsors
Dogs are very welcomed all over the UK, children also.
After coffee we returned to Jens cozy house...here on the left
A lovely late lunch was served...
yummy toad in the hole and veggies.
A piece of art from a local artist showing
Ventnor in the summer.
Thank you for a lovely visit Jenni,
full of shared memories and conversations.
For my last day, its off on the ferry, trains and cab
to meet up with Janet, Mary and Randy
at the Swan Hotel on the Thames river in Staines.
And a good cup of tea.
to see the statue of the late queen
and the site where the magna carta was signed.
our traditional last dinner in our harem pants.
Time to fly home. A magnificent trip.
