13.5 miles walked today
1269.5 miles walked in total (10.491 average)
Another good day. Managed a day off yesterday (after only one day of walking!), as I woke up to hailstones and thought it might not be a good idea to stride out along clifftops with little or no shelter! (I received a text message from Alan last night - "I say old girl, do you intend to do any actual walking?" Cheeky sod!)
So, at quarter past nine, I was parked and ready to go. I didn't get very far - it's always so hard to get going - before I stopped and chatted to a local couple who walk a bit of the path every day, lucky things. The old boy pointed out the pools where the lobsters live and explained about the National Lobster Hatchery at Padstow - apparently the babies are brought up there before being shipped around the world and introduced back into the wild and, ultimately, the food chain. My new friends said I was in for a good day and should catch a bit of excitement as the piling rig was on its way out of Padstow round to Mother Ivey's Bay to build the new lifeboat station and I'd see it on its travels. Oh good, more engineering.
I've seen some wonderful beaches today and trekked across a few - Treyarnon Bay, Constantine Bay and Booby's Bay this morning. It was at Constantine that I could see disaster looming for one young family. Even to my non-dog owner untrained eye, a golden retriever leaping up and down and barking at a flying kite which is plummeting to the sand looks like trouble to me! Poor Harvey! As soon as the kite hit the deck, the dog leapt on it and tried to eat it, accompanied by the sounds of children crying, gnashing of teeth and cries of "Bad Harvey"! It did make me chuckle - I love naughty dogs!
The dunes and the back of all the beaches today have been covered in slate - not sure where it's travelled from, but there was a lot of it. Past Booby's Bay beach, it was back onto low rise cliffs and past a couple of "round holes" - caves where the roofs have collapsed and left spectacular views down to the water, before heading past the lighthouse at Trevose Head. Apparently, the lighthouse is open to the public, but my guidebook told me to avoid it at all costs if the fog horn was sounding! No chance of that today - it's been glorious - blue skies and very little cloud.
As I came round Mother Ivey's Bay, I saw a couple of engineers surveying on the cliffs - obviously something to do with the new lifeboat station - still no sighting of the piling rig. Mother Ivey apparently was an old harridan who used to claim all wreckage washed up on the beach for herself, a character I rather fancy would have been played by Peggy Mount or Irene Handl in one of the old Ealing comedies. Perhaps I'm just spending too much time on my own in the sun?!
I've seen bees, butterflies, gulls, crows, gorse, tamarisk and either a grey plover or sandpiper according to my bird book. Where's Bill Oddie when you need him?
Past Harlyn Bay and Trevone Bay, I had a bit of a climb up to the daymark at Stepper Point which was built to guide ships towards the Camel estuary inlet and Padstow and it was on this stretch that I came across a group of fourteen walkers, which included two children and a baby in a pushchair - I didn't envy the two guys who were having to carry the sleeping child up and down all the steep bits. Apparently, they'd forgotten the carrying papoose. Oops.
From Stepper Point, it was all downhill - just as I like it - a couple of miles past Hawker's Cove and Harbour Cove down into Padstow, which was heaving.
I had originally intended to take Saturdays off and just mooch around with the crowds, but, because of yesterday's aborted walk, I didn't really feel like I could take today off too. So it was a quick mooch around and a pint and a pasty in the Old Ship Inn near the harbour.
Padstow is a very workmanlike little town, which I quite like. It's not pretty in the way that Polperro or Looe are pretty, but it has its own charm. Rick Stein, the TV chef, lives here and has two restaurants, a bistro, a hotel, a patisserie, a delicatessen and a fish and chip shop. And, obviously, his books are on sale everywhere in the town. There's even a Padstow Seafood School here, which I'm sure he must have a hand in too.
Padstow was the most important trading centre on the north Cornish coast when most cargo travelled the world by ship - and was mainly used for transporting wine and fish, and slate and ore from local mines. Trade declined as bigger ships needed to be built and the Doom Bar - the sandbank at the mouth of the estuary - silted up, making navigation difficult. The building of the railway in 1899 sounded the death knell to the port's trade, although it ensured the swift movement of fish up to London and other markets.
The piling rig was still in the harbour and hadn't left yet for its journey around the coast - there was lots of activity though with cranes up and down and lots of people standing around in hi vis jackets. Bet those boys are heading for some serious overtime!
Really enjoyed it today, although I was quite tired at the end of the day and have rubbed a couple of blisters. Still, I'm sure when I get going properly, all the aches and pains will vanish, won't they?
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