LEJOG
Distance walked – 33.6km (21miles)
Total Distance – 178km (111.3miles)
This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco
This ain’t no fooling around
Talking Heads – Life during Wartime
Leaving Wadebridge
Today was our biggest day so far, both in length, at 33km and in total ascent, at 1600m. It was a day of two different walks, with the first 11 km, from Wadebridge back to the coast at Port Isaac, consisting of fields and country lanes across a rural landscape, while the second 22km portion, was back on the rollercoaster ups and downs of the coastal path.
We left Wadebridge initially through quiet suburbs and then on a busy B-road. As we had left a little later than normal at nearly 08:00 the road was busy with morning commuters and workmen racing along at 60 miles per hour. There was no verge and very little room to get off the road, as we spent a terrifying time trying to get to our exit onto a footpath. As the road narrowed further heading for a blind brow, we decided it was too dangerous and exited into an adjacent field.
We trespassed across several fields (well all possession is theft), climbing the fences awkwardly due to our packs before joining the footpath we were meant to be on. We headed across further ploughed fields. The recent rain has waterlogged the fields and we were very quickly sodden with heavy wet feet.
Dodgy bridge
The footpath maintenance was non-existent, the stiles and bridges all falling apart, and the signs missing. This is quite often the way as you walk across England. Once you are off the well used footpaths, the rights of way are in a terrible state of repair presumably because the local councils don’t have any money and the landowners have no desire to encourage people walking across their land. Signs seem to mysteriously end up in ditches and stiles seem to get knocked over. The network of footpaths and rights of way across the country are one of the wonderful things about England and it seems a pity that they are not being well looked after.
The next kilometre was over a river flood plain which unfortunately, true to its purpose, was flooded. A short boardwalk portion ended in knee deep water. With care we managed to pick a twisting path through only ankle-deep water before reaching the road on the other side and making our way into the little hamlet of Chapel Amble.
We are walking in trail-runners for the LEJOG, Brooks Cascadia 16 for me, and Altra Lone Peak 6 for Louisa. They get wet at the slightest hint of water but seem to drain and dry really quickly. Their lack of water resistance, however, is well and truly compensated by their comfort over the long daily distances. This is the first long walk that we haven’t had lots of trouble with blisters and foot problems (so far. . . )
Feisty bullocks
We spent a few moments admiring the cherry blossom, wisteria and beautifully manicured gardens of Chapel Amble that surround the village green where an ancient looking stone building houses the local pub. A short walk down a lane beside the church took us to a stile into a field. We climbed over, ready to head on, and instantly noticed the twenty or thirty bullocks in the far end of the field. They looked up as we arrived. We kept our eyes on them and started to make towards the gate on the other side of the field. Several of them started moving towards us and then all of them came. We held our ground and banged our walking poles. Louisa bravely continued walking towards them shouting. They kept coming, at a faster pace now, almost a stampede, so we beat a hasty retreat and jumped back over the stile, which was instantly surrounded by the snorting cattle.
We have had occasional bad cattle experiences in the past and are aware of many incidents where people have been seriously injured (albeit often when accompanied by dogs), so we are always quite careful. They may have been only being friendly but a couple of them seemed quite feisty so we thought retreat was the most valiant manoeuvre.
A quick look at the map and we re-routed on the road to find the next path which was a long boggy mud-fest along a stream. It was tough and tiring as we tried to stay upright in the slippery ankle deep mud, saved by our walking poles on several occasions. We eventually found our way back onto a lane and decided on a further re-route along the road for the rest of the way back to the coast.
Down into Port Isaac
A long hilly road walk later, and we descended to the harbour of Port Isaac where we could resume following the South West Coastal Path. Port Isaac is apparently famous as the TV series ‘Doc Martin’ was filmed here. I’m not really familiar with this show, having only seen about ten minutes of an episode where Martin Clunes somewhat implausibly diagnosed one of the villagers with Leptospirosis because he’d seen a rat in his cellar.
Port Isaac Harbour
There was no sign of Martin Clunes or of ramapant Leptospirosis, so following cake, (flapjack and brownie) and coffee at the excellent Fees cafe and deli, we regained the coastal path.
The rest of the day was hard work with numerous steep knee jarring descents followed by lung bursting ascents. The reward was some of the best coastal scenery we have seen yet with beautiful high cliff tops separated by plunging gorges and coves. The hillsides around the cliffs are covered in spring flowers. The bluebells seemed to have come out over the last few days and we walked across many areas awash with them.
The ups and downs slowly took their toll and we were becoming quite tired by the time we arrived in the King Arthur themed tourist trap of Tintagel. We had no time to seek Camelot as consulting our guidebook informed us that there was still a further 8 kilometres to Boscastle, our destination for today.
Down then up that path
We were rewarded by one of the unsung highlights of the day, Rocky Valley. This is a superlative narrow gorge with a stream with multiple waterfalls flowing through it. Anywhere else this would be a major attraction, but here it barely rated a signpost.
The imaginatively named Rocky Valley
We pushed on; this ain’t no party after all, and eventually descended into the village of Boscastle where we checked into the youth hostel and finished the day with fish and chips.
Boscastle (The youth hostel is the grey building on left)
Today’s Route
Accommodation – We stayed last night at Premier Inn in Wadebridge. It was a Premier Inn, there isn’t much else I can say. It was reasonably priced and the staff were all very friendly. It is a little bit out of town but their restaurant was pretty good.
10 Responses
Lucky you got out of the Doc Martin village with just cake – most people there seem to have some sort of weird illness or medical condition…
And without buying any of the Doc Martin merch in the tourist shops! We have to watch an episode now.
I think one of your theme songs needs to be You’ll never walk alone particularly with your bovine encounter. Walk on with hope in your heart💕
We hadn’t thought of that one!
Seems like another day of “good” adventure! How long are the shoes going to last?? You’re going to have to replace them once or twice, right?
Planning on replacing them once at the halfway mark. Loving the trail runners, as long as we can keep out of the wet.
Just did some of that section last Friday – crackington haven to tintagel to port Isaac ! Beautiful but very up and down and got caught in very heavy rain fri late afternoon !!
Enjoying hearing about your travels ! X
Hi Helen, so gorgeous there – loved it! But those ups and downs… We have more of the same today going north from Bude.
Glad you got away from the cows! Scary things sometimes, but great photo of them 🐮
These were pesky frisky ones – my least favourite type!