After a fantastic rest day in Bude (big thanks to House of Chaplin and the Coffee Pot for letting us hang out during the day) we gathered up our packs and walked about 3km toward Widemouth Bay (apparently not pronounced "Wide Mouth"?!) where we camped for the evening in an attempt to cut off some miles of the next leg to Boscastle.
Day 13: With a pre 7am start we were on the trail and crushing through the kms while it was relatively flat.
About 6km into the walk it started to steepen and we made our way through 5 climbs and descents before arriving in Crackington Haven. We stopped in at a cafe to rest and had some of the best Cornish pasties we've had. According to Hannah - "great crust, perfect potato texture, and a delightful side salad."
Unfortunately, that pasty didn't get digested enough for Hannah, who struggled to keep it down on some of the climbs.
We met David Finch who is doing the trek in 30 days to support a charity loved by two of his cyclist friends that were killed while cycling a few years before. If you would like to view information about his journey you can do that here.
Helen had to leave us with about 30min to go as Penny was slowing up toward the finish. This was Penny's longest day so far, even with the headstart from Widemouth. We finally made it into Boscastle (super cute) and had a lovely dinner at The Rocket Store. Such a delicious meal and staff were super friendly. Penny also made friends with the people sat near us. We left the restaurant for a quick dip near the harbor and then made our way along the path to find a place to camp. We thought we found a good, sheltered spot but the wind changed and we were in for a windy, somewhat sleepless night. The sunset was fantastic though...so we had that going for us.
Day 14: We woke up, packed up and started walking toward Tintagel. We walked through the Rocky Valley on our way, it was a lovely change of scenery.
We arrived in Tintagel and did some work for most of the morning before heading over to Tintagel Castleto take in the sights. We used the rest of the day/evening for recovery and work.
However, a few hours after a cream tea Jess started to not feel well. She struggled over the next 8-12 hours with food poisoning.
Penny felt sympathetic and slept with Jess as she was recovering. Luckily we had booked a place to stay for while we were in Tintagel so that the sickness didn't occur while camping.
Day 15: We did not get up to much today. Jess needed more time to recover and Penny was still tired from all of the walking. We were all looking forward to getting back on the trail the next day though.
Day 16: We left the inn and headed toward the coast. As we started up on the path we could see Tintagel Castle and The Gallos Statue off to our right. We continued south toward Port Isaac and quickly came across numerous quarries.
Also along the way we would pass Cornish hedges made from slate laid in a zig zag pattern.
Further along the path we came across a running race from Rock to Boscastle. We thought what we were doing was hard! These people were running a marathon...you read that right...a marathon along the ups and downs of the coast path.
We arrived in Port Isaac and split up so that one of us could get dog food and dinner while the other grabbed a coffee. We rested for awhile near The Platt before packing up and heading out to find somewhere to camp for the evening. We had planned for this lovely spot found through Google satellite images, only to find that there was a herd of young male cows roaming through it. We continued on and came across what felt like the steepest set of stairs ever. Having resupplied on food and water our packs were at their heaviest and our legs were at their tiredest. We slowly made the climb to the top and that's when Hannah realized that she had forgotten her hiking poles where we had been resting an hour before. Mulling the decision to go back or just leave them, she called a nearby restaurant and asked if they could hold the poles for us and they came through for us! We would have to pick them up in a day or two. So we continued our slog and when we started to get closer to Port Quin than Port Isaac we had an uncomfortable feeling that we might not find anywhere. But as we turned a corner before some steep steps into a valley we came across a spectacular view and a...slightly, probably top sloped patch of grass. Exhausted, we set our things down, made dinner and put up the tent for the night. We enjoyed a lovely sunset after diner before zipping up the tent for the sleep.
Day 17: Semi-rested from a slanted night's sleep, we packed up and started moving toward Padstow. The first part of the day seemed like unnecessary ups and downs until we arrived into Port Quin.
We stopped and made a tea while Penny had her first nap of the day.
We continued along, making our way toward Polzeath. Penny seemed a bit tired today so we took extra breaks and kept the pace particularly slow.
We eventually made it to Polzeath where we stopped for a coffee and a salad near the beach. Penny slept through the entire ordeal. Looking back now, we realized that we had been feeding her the wrong version of her food and she was missing some things. We have since fixed this and she has much more energy!
Having rested for a while, we continued on toward Rock. This part of the path was lovely and flat, a much welcomed change from the beginning of the day. We arrived in Rock, waiting about 15min and then hoped on the ferry to Padstow. This was Penny's first time on a boat and she absolutely smashed it! All of the people near her doted on her and said how brave she was and how pretty she was...Penny hated it... Just kidding, she ate it up. Penny loves to be a spectacle.
Once in Padstow we reunited with our friends Helen and Craig and they scooped us up in their van Murph and took us to a campsite for the night. Penny, who had never met Craig, practically broke in half from wagging when she met him. They became fast friends. Craig was a legend and made us all dinner. We had a lovely evening and headed to bed early so that we could get out early for the next days walk.
Day 18: Uncie Craig gave Helen, Penny, and the Mummies a lift back into Padstow where we waited around for a cafe to open so we could have a coffee before heading out to Porthcothan. Penny gave us all the technical information about the route and we were off!
The path was absolutely stunning, venturing in and out of meadowed areas and away from rocky paths. We came across a group of young bulls that Penny tried to protect us from. The bulls seemed unbothered and almost more curious after that.
We kept plodding along until we arrived at Mother Ivy's Beach and had a quick dip to give Penny a rest. She doesn't seem to like the ocean and was upset with us when we encouraged her to get her belly wet.
Continuing on we passed Booby Bay and then made it to Constantine Beach where we stopped again for a pasty, coffee, and ice cream. From there we slowly started to make our ascent toward Porthcothan but could possibly see Murph along the horizon, it was almost as if it was a Murphage. As we got closer and closer we realized that it was Murph and that Craig had found a fantastic campsite along the path near a cliff edge. He even made us dinner that evening. Pooped from the day's effort, we ate and then headed off to sleep.
Day 19: We woke up to a very misty morning and could not even see the ocean from our campsite. Having packed up we were ready to make the move to Newquay.
A new member of the pack was joining us today and Penny was ecstatic to welcome Craig into the hiking crew!
We walked along the cliffs without being able to see very much because of the mist. So we plodded along until we got to Magwan Porth Beach where we had one of the best second breakfasts of the trip so far. Happily fed and watered we continued on past Watergate Bay with no views and made our way down to Porth Beach where to Penny's dismay, Helen and Craig left us to head back to Murph. After seeing them off onto a bus Penny allowed us to continue onto Newquay. Once there we cafe'd it up and then booked a campsite in Crantock. The owners of Treago Farm were so super nice and gave us a great deal for the evening. We plopped our tent down in a reasonably flat spot under a tree and wondered why Noone was camped in that particular spot.
We found out why the next morning when we spent awhile cleaning the pigeon poo off our flysheet...
Day 20: Poop cleaned, we packed up and headed back toward the coast through some dune paths of Holy Well. Today was foggy again and visibility was quite low. We could hear the ocean but couldn't see it. Having reached Perran Sands Beach, Jess thought it would be smart to walk 4k on flat beach rather than up and down along the dunes. Let's just say that Hannah gets the next choice between paths as Jess' route took hours to reach Perranporth. It was however quite mystical to walk along the beach in the fog.
After Perranporth we continued on toward St. Agnes. We booked a room in a lovely inn for the evening, looking forward to our rest day the next day.
Arriving in St. Agnes, the village was so cute and quaint. We eyed up a pizza shop while en route to the inn. Made an order to the pizza place and had pies and beer in the inn's garden that evening before retiring into a bed for the first time in awhile. Was a great finish to a good number of days of hiking in a row.
As of day 20 we are just under 1/3rd of the way through our walk! About 420 miles to go!
Want to help Penny's cause? Click here to donate to the Dog Trouble Foundation. Thanks!!
Leg Summary:
Bude to Boscastle: 27km, 1380m elevation gained.
Boscastle to Port Isaac: 22km, 1250m elevation gained.
Port Isaac to Padstow: 19km, 920m elevation gained.
Padstow to Porthcothan: 22km, 640m elevation gained.
Porthcothan to Newquay: 18km, 670m elevation gained.
Newquay to Perranporth/St. Agnes: 24km, 580m elevation gained.
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