The weather stopped

After a great night in camp I woke up to just the sound of the sea. We were in a very sheltered spot but had been able to hear the wind all night in the trees and that noise had now stopped. All was calm. I checked the ferry service and it was on green, which meant it was running. Things were looking positive and I felt a certain smugness from my decision the day before.

It took a little longer than normal to get packed up as there were now two of us and the amount of stuff we had seemed to have grown disproportionately. When it was just me and my bag I didn’t have many things so there wasn’t too much to pack away. It was a fairly simple system. Admittedly though, wearing the same pair of boxer shorts for two weeks doesn’t smell too pleasant.

For the walk I just had my day pack to use. Power bank, my umbrella, food, waterproof top and some money and I had everything I needed for the day. We eventually headed off for my first ferry that’d take me to St Mawes.

Did I say I love ferries

I got really lucky here. I think it’s good that I’m doing this trip in a less regimented way but probably a small amount of planning would be a good idea for things like river crossings. Sometimes I think knowing something doesn’t help because you can’t do anything about it anyway. Today was not an example of this.

I made my way to the boat landing and within 5 minutes I saw a ferry coming over from St Mawes. It had a few people on it and they had to be very careful when walking onto shore because the tide was so low and everything was really slippery due to the exposed rocks and jetty. After letting them leave I then got on the ferry myself. This was last ferry to St Mawes until later that day. I had no idea the service was affected by tides but the skipper said that in another few minutes there wouldn’t be enough water for that crossing. I definitely had cut that fine.

We talked about the weather the day before and the boat captain said that he’d been called the night before and his boss had told him the day was a write off. He told me that the weather had been strange recently with multiple storms with only a few days in between. He said, “very odd”.

I loved the quick trip over to St Mawes and was told the boat to Falmouth would be there in about 10 minutes. No issues with tides for that one. That trip took about 20 minutes and was a much bigger boat and lots more passengers. I tried to take it all in. The estuary here is huge, I definitely didn’t want to be walking around this one. You’d have to walk to Truro.

Wonderful walk – on top of the world

Once in Falmouth you don’t have to walk far before you start to head out of town. There’s  some walking next to a road and past a docks but I didn’t mind that today. In fact, looking at the size of some of the ships on dry docks I find mind blowing. How someone could conceive of something so massive and make it float is just beyond me. I certainly wish I was that clever.

The path skirts along the sea front at Gyllyngvase beach with the usual hotels fronting onto the sea and I was able to make some good time. After a couple of miles you come to a beach and then it’s out onto the cliff paths again.

I was really enjoying this part of the walk. The path was well defined but very natural. I liked being able to follow it without having to think too much about the route. Or even think too much about anything really except how much I was enjoying myself. Having a lighter pack was a welcome relief as well.

I came to a beach at Maenporth where I felt I could spend a whole day. It was quite big but really quiet and had a cafe. What more could you want. I would love to pluck up the courage and go for a swim in the sea but it worries me. Not the fear of the swimming but rather getting the cold water above waste height!

Strange being so light

I was really flying now. The paths were great, at one stage going into a forest, but mainly just on the edge of the land being able to look out to sea. Everything was pretty much perfect. I thought at this rate I’d be at Lizard Point by tea – well maybe not that soon.

I’d had a quick look at my map and noticed the Helford River in my way. I think because of the slow progress the day before I never imagined I’d get this far down so hadn’t really thought about it. I noticed it needed another ferry. I didn’t know how late they ran, both in the year or how late in the day, but decided to try to get there before 4pm and just hope for the best. There was no point working it out beyond that because I’d either be stuck or not stuck. Nothing I could do about that now.

You actually walk quite far up the river before you get to the ferry crossing. Maybe about 2 miles. I didn’t mind though as I was really enjoying the walk. The trail here is also really pleasant and some of the places, like the deserted beaches, are really nice.

I made the ferry

The ferry runs until 6:30pm. I had loads of time. I felt really lucky as I’d not planned at all, barely even knew there was a ferry, and here I was now on another one. Another quite small boat and another fun crossing. I don’t think I’d ever get bored of a ferry crossing. They’re just so much fun. The skipper looked less excited by it all.

Frustrating end

The walk after the ferry and back down the river to the coast is another gem. After a village it goes into woodlands for most of the time. You occasionally come across little beaches in the woods. One even had a little boat house. I did like it around here.

Very soon you’re at Gillan Harbour. At low tide you can get round this fairly quickly using some stepping stones. Unfortunately for me this was most definitely a high tide so I had to walk the long way around. This still wasn’t too bad as I was feeling good and the path was quite flat and easy. It even started raining and that didn’t dampen my spirits.

The problems began when even the extended, high tide walk became impassable. I had to make my way around some roads and across some very badly maintained paths to try to get back to the coastal path. Having walked a long way and found the coastal path I then took a wrong turning, and accidentally headed inland. That corrected, I then came to a notice explaining that due to a broken bridge the path was again to be diverted inland. I was getting grumpy now!

After the diversion I headed along the coastal path towards Porthallow which was now covered in mist. I think because of the diversion this part has become quite overgrown. I found it quite difficult to walk on as it was a narrow trench and I becoming quite unsteady on my feet. I didn’t enjoy this part but it was only for a mile or so. Maybe I was just tired. I did have wet feet.

I have to confess I was relieved to see Porthallow, which was a really nice quiet place, with my ride back to the campsite waiting for me.