LEJOG
Distance walked – 29.3km (18.3 miles)
Total Distance – 68.6km (42.9 Miles)
If you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air
Quaint little villages here and there
Groove Armada -At the River
What a difference a day makes. We cruised through today, walking the same distance as yesterday but over far easier terrain that still had us smiling at every turn. We were also joined by our first guest walker for the latter part of the day.
We left St Ives just after 06:30 with the morning sun glistening on myriad boats bobbing in the harbour. There was a clear blue sky without a cloud in sight.
St Ives is located on the Western side of a large bay and is famous for its mild winters and warm summers and for its striking light which has drawn artists for the past hundred years. Originally a fishing town, it has become primarily a seaside resort since the arrival of the railway in the 18070s. Artist began colonising St Ives from 1920 including many famous potters and the sculptor Barbara Hepworth.
The path follows the train line out of St Ives and around the harbour, passing Harbour Beach, Porthminster Beach, Carbis Bay, and Porth Kidney Sands. These are beautiful golden sand beaches with the long stretch of Carbis Bay a particular highlight. The path occasional took us on roads which gave us an opportunity to spy on the many amazing houses all with stunning sea-views across the bay.
St Ives slowly receded into the distance and at the 6km mark, following a section in the sand dunes we arrived at the Church of Lelant with its beautiful churchyard awash with bluebells.
The path from here deviated inland to pass around the wide Hayle River estuary. This involved a 3km walk through a residential area and then a busy B-road before arriving in the town of Hayle. Some people complain about these segments on long distance walks, but we don’t usually mind as we think that all great walks have their duller moments, and the boring bits provide contrast for the rest of the day. We spent the time discussing Star Wars facts, always interesting as Louisa has never seen The Empire Strikes Back and is convinced that Luke and Leia are an item (urgh. . )
We had some jobs to do in Hayle and so had to visit the Asda supermarket (a highlight of the walk) to stock up on lunch supplies and then the post office to send some belongings home. We had decided this morning that we were carrying too much weight and so had decided to send some things home and pare back our gear to the bare minimum. This was easier now as we have a better idea of the clothes we need for the weather and the few luxury items we have bought now seem redundant.
After we left the post office we sat and had a coffee by the river when we spied Adam walking down the pavement. We met Adam yesterday on the path. He is doing the South West Coast path in segments and has been spending the last week walking from Penzance to Newquay. We leap-frogged each other yesterday multiple times as he is a faster walker than us but takes more breaks. He entertained us with his stories of campsite shenanigans (he is camping this section) which included noisy birds and the fellow camper who opened and closed his campervan at least one hundred times and then walked on the gravel and not the grass when he went to the toilet. We laughed but secretly shuddered as we contemplated our camping that is due to start after day 30. We bade him farewell and he headed out on the path.
From Hayle we entered the sand dunes for 8kms with a delightful walk past picturesque holiday shacks and then the protected dunes of Mexico Towans, Upton Towans and Gwithian Towans, Towan is the cornish word for dune. No on is quite sure of the etymology of Mexico Towans apart from the fact that many cornish miners travelled to South America to work and upon their return may have lived in the area. The path was marked with fantastic upright stone markers which were useful as each junction had multiple paths and it would have been very easy to get lost in the dunes.
Which way to the beach?
We eventually reached the end of the dunes at the headland of Godrevy Point where a lighthouse sits offshore on Godrevy Island. From here we were going to follow the path along the high cliffs for the rest of the day along land owned by the National Trust and famed for its beauty.
Godrevy Point
We were due to meet our friend Darren at 14:00 so had to really put our foot down for the last few kilometres to make it to the carpark in time. As it was, we were probably not at the right carpark but after a few texts we managed to meet up and set off walking with our first guest walker. A great moment for our LEJOG.
Darren and us
The final 8km into Portreath was the best of the day with largely level cliff top walking past jaw dropping scenery at every turn. The only downside was the ferocious cross wind that threatened to blow us off the cliff top at every opportunity, each of us having to catch ourselves at from stumbling on a couple of occasions.
A final giant descent and ascent took us past the last cove, studded with waterfalls and containing Samphire Island before descending into our final destination of Portreath.
Portreath
It was great having Darren along for the second part of the day. He is fantastic company and it was great that he could join us for this part of the walk.
Portreath Harbour
We walked around the pretty harbour to find the Portreath Arms, our home for the night. Tomorrow is a shorter day at only 20km so we have decided to sleep in and treat ourselves to the full Cornish breakfast before heading off on the next leg of our LEJOG.
Today’s Route
Accommodation – Last night we stayed at The Sloop Inn in their stand alone accommodation in Capel Cottage. We had The Wheelhouse room which was excellent value at 100 pounds. It is in a separate building up the road from the pub so is very quiet and is nicely decorated. It is perfect for a one-night stay and was the best value place we could find in St Ives. It is booked through Airbnb.
