Dave crossing the Camel
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Day 4 - Polzeath - Porthcothan
Author : Jason
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Back on track
The day started nice and gently as we left Polzeath and headed out towards the River Camel estuary on a flat tarmacked footpath. Just as well really, as my legs were stiff as boards! Thankfully, after a few miles they started to ease up a bit – a combination of the good walking terrain and the liberal application of Deepheat I'd applied before we'd left the B&B. Soon we were making a reasonable pace.
Today would be the first time we'd need to use a ferry on the SWCP. This particular crossing would take us from Rock - home of the excellent Sharp's Brewery – to Padstow – home of all things Rick Stein. Ferries are an integral part of the SWCP, and there use forms part of the official route. They are by no means “cheating”, and are essential to avoid massive detours inland to natural crossing points or bridges. This one would be our first of the walk, and as it turned out, the only one on the entire North Coast. The South Coast section incidentally has loads of them.
After entering the estuary we descended onto the beach and joined the numerous joggers and dog walkers taking their daily exercise. Soon the ferry point came into view, and we could see that the ferry was already docked on the eastern bank of the river. A brief jog ensured we got to it before it departed. After giving the ferryman his silver penny – or in this case £3 – we were off. It was a pleasant short crossing and we were soon stood on the beach on the western bank just north of Padstow.
Today would be the first time we'd need to use a ferry on the SWCP. This particular crossing would take us from Rock - home of the excellent Sharp's Brewery – to Padstow – home of all things Rick Stein. Ferries are an integral part of the SWCP, and there use forms part of the official route. They are by no means “cheating”, and are essential to avoid massive detours inland to natural crossing points or bridges. This one would be our first of the walk, and as it turned out, the only one on the entire North Coast. The South Coast section incidentally has loads of them.
After entering the estuary we descended onto the beach and joined the numerous joggers and dog walkers taking their daily exercise. Soon the ferry point came into view, and we could see that the ferry was already docked on the eastern bank of the river. A brief jog ensured we got to it before it departed. After giving the ferryman his silver penny – or in this case £3 – we were off. It was a pleasant short crossing and we were soon stood on the beach on the western bank just north of Padstow.
The Daymark at Stepper Point
We rejoined the coast path and headed north back up the estuary. Soon we reach the end and stood below the daymark (basically a stone lighthouse without a light, used by seafarers as a daytime navigation reference) at Stepper Point. We then turned westward along the clifftop. Just before reaching Trevone we came across an interesting natural feature: a blow hole. Blow holes are created when a section of the roof of a sea cave collapses, leaving a hole on the top of the cliff down to the sea. This particular one was huge, and we could hear the sea thundering in below, accompanied by wisps of sea spray emerging from the hole. It looked and sounded like the entrance to a dragon's lair.
Escaping the dragon we headed onward to Harlyn bay, where we stopped for a spot of lunch on the slipway at the end of the beach. Then onwards to Trevose Head, passing the impressive wooden lifeboat station at Mother Ivey's Bay. This was yet another holiday destination from my childhood in the 1970s. I remember that we stayed at a cliff top caravan park, which at the time had a private toll road leading to it. The toll was manned by two old ladies who would dutifully collect 2p from each passing car. The ladies were dubbed "the old witches" by my family, much to my youthful amusement.
The day was getting on, and we still had a fair way to go, but my legs and feet were holding out remarkably well. I was determined not to blow out on Today's section, having failed to complete the two previous two days. It was therefore a case of gritting my teeth and getting my head down. Thankfully, the going was reasonable flat and easy going, and we soon rounded the final headland of the day into Porthcothan. After a quick break for an ice-cream at a beach-side hut we headed off to find our B&B.
Escaping the dragon we headed onward to Harlyn bay, where we stopped for a spot of lunch on the slipway at the end of the beach. Then onwards to Trevose Head, passing the impressive wooden lifeboat station at Mother Ivey's Bay. This was yet another holiday destination from my childhood in the 1970s. I remember that we stayed at a cliff top caravan park, which at the time had a private toll road leading to it. The toll was manned by two old ladies who would dutifully collect 2p from each passing car. The ladies were dubbed "the old witches" by my family, much to my youthful amusement.
The day was getting on, and we still had a fair way to go, but my legs and feet were holding out remarkably well. I was determined not to blow out on Today's section, having failed to complete the two previous two days. It was therefore a case of gritting my teeth and getting my head down. Thankfully, the going was reasonable flat and easy going, and we soon rounded the final headland of the day into Porthcothan. After a quick break for an ice-cream at a beach-side hut we headed off to find our B&B.
Mother Ivey's Bay - Old Witches not pictured.
The B&B turned out to be very pleasant, and we had the luxury of separate rooms. In fact, we effectively had our own annex, comprising of two bedrooms and a bathroom, completely separated from the rest of the house. Dave got the en-suite room, which turned out to be a mixed blessing.
After a scrub-up we headed up the hill to the pub. After a nice meal we decided to tuck into the Rattler. This is a mass produced cider that's very popular in the West Country. It's available in most pubs, and is remarkable drinkable. That despite the tacky snake-head pumps it is dispensed from. It went down very nicely that evening – too nicely in fact! I'd be visiting the “en-suite” a few times when we returned to the B&B.
The pub also had one of those newfangled Internet enabled jukeboxes. The idea of these is that they don't contain CD's or records, but instead download requested tracks on-demand from the Internet. The concept being that “every track ever recorded” is in theory available to request. Unfortunately, this pub had the slowest internet connection known to man, thus requesting each track was a painful exercise. We were lucky to get a selection in during the time it took to play the previous track we'd selected.
We started of with a few fairly mainstream choices, then as the Rattler flowed the selections became a bit more “interesting”. “Jilted John – By Jilted John” made an appearance, as did “Ernie, fastest milk cart in the west by Benny Hill”. Then Dave was let loose, and the pub were treated to a selection of decidedly un-radio-friendly tracks from the likes of Slipknot and Limp Bizkit.
After a scrub-up we headed up the hill to the pub. After a nice meal we decided to tuck into the Rattler. This is a mass produced cider that's very popular in the West Country. It's available in most pubs, and is remarkable drinkable. That despite the tacky snake-head pumps it is dispensed from. It went down very nicely that evening – too nicely in fact! I'd be visiting the “en-suite” a few times when we returned to the B&B.
The pub also had one of those newfangled Internet enabled jukeboxes. The idea of these is that they don't contain CD's or records, but instead download requested tracks on-demand from the Internet. The concept being that “every track ever recorded” is in theory available to request. Unfortunately, this pub had the slowest internet connection known to man, thus requesting each track was a painful exercise. We were lucky to get a selection in during the time it took to play the previous track we'd selected.
We started of with a few fairly mainstream choices, then as the Rattler flowed the selections became a bit more “interesting”. “Jilted John – By Jilted John” made an appearance, as did “Ernie, fastest milk cart in the west by Benny Hill”. Then Dave was let loose, and the pub were treated to a selection of decidedly un-radio-friendly tracks from the likes of Slipknot and Limp Bizkit.
