Padstow to Constantine Bay
Tuesday 16th June 2009
13.5 miles of walking including 11 miles on South West Coast Path
Click here for all our photos from this walk.
On this leg of the South West Coast Path we initially walked north to Stepper Point, then approximately west to Trevose Head, then south to Constantine Bay - so we ended up only about 4 miles away from our starting point; slightly frustating, but it was glorious walking through classic Cornish scenery, with pretty headlands, sandy beaches and amazingly clear blue/green water. It stayed fine all day; there were occasional clouds but it was mostly sunny.
We had a lovely breakfast at 50 Church Street, chatting to Janet Dawe and one half of the other couple who were staying (her husband arrived eventually, having got lost on his early morning walk). We left around 9.15am and walked down into Padstow. We bought lunch from The Chough Bakery and postcards (after some difficulty because a lot of the shops weren't open yet).
We left Padstow and walked along the Camel Estuary towards the 'proper coast' at Skipper Point. We passed the war memorial and St George's Cove; there were other people about but it was less of a motorway than the guidebook implies. We went slightly inland at the head of Harbour Cove, through a woody and marshy area (on boardwalks), then we crossed a track on which a number of people were making their way down to the beach. Then we walked on to Hawker's Cove, the former home of the Padstow Lifeboat; it was moved because of sand banks in the estuary.
We left the Camel Estuary at Stepper Point, apparently much altered by quarrying, but a pretty place. There were excellent views of the islands out to sea and of the boats leaving the estuary. It was good to be able to look back to the coast we'd walked along back in May, and we could now also see ahead to Trevose Head, but much to our surprise we could also still see back towards Padstow, over the headland. We soon came to a tower, built as a 'daymark' to guide ships into the estuary, and this became a landmark for the rest of the day.
The Merope Islands, separated from the mainland only by narrow channels of water, were most attractive and we had our first serious descent of this section of the path in this area. We also passed a group ot twitchers, so no doubt there were interesting birds about. We stopped for lunch near Roundhole Point (with its 'round hole' a collapsed sea cave), with excellent views back towards the Merope Islands etc. and forward to Trevone Bay and beyond. We descended to Trevone Bay (pretty but rather busy) then walked along the easy path towards Harlyn Bay. The approach was somewhat complicated; we knew we had to cross the stream by way of the road bridge, but we managed to lose our way slightly in the car park, trying to get to the road bridge.
The path goes onto the beach at Harlyn Bay and the guidebooks tell you that this is impassable at at high tide; however it was highish tide when were were there and it was absolutely fine (presumably the guidebooks are referring to exceptionally high spring tides). We bought ice-creams from a van on the beach and sat on a rock to eat them, surrounded by sunbathers, surfers and children playing. We walked a short distance along the beach and then climbed up steps back to the cliff edge; this is the official route, but other walkers stayed on the beach for longer and that too was fine. As so often appears to be the case, the second half of the beach was more attractive than the first, perhaps because it had fewer people on it. We passed 'The Cellars' (former fish cellars from when Harlyn Bay was the site of a pilchard seine) where an inscription declares 'Lucri dulcis odor' ('sweet is the smell of riches').
We rounded Cataclaws Point and came into view of Mother Ivey's Bay, the new lifeboat station...and a caravan park. The near end of Mother Ivey's Bay was quite busy (presumably it would have been even busier if the caravan park had been full) but it was very pretty. We passed Mother Ivey's Cottage and the house where Rick Stein lives, or used to live. Then we went slightly inland, over the approach road to the lifeboat station, and emerged back on the coast close to the Trevose Head lighthouse. There were fewer people about here and we stopped for a rest right by the lighthouse.
We walked through a disused quarry and past another round hole then down to Booby's Bay and Constantine Bay. The land is flatter here, which I find less attractive, but there were interesting rock formations on the beach and when we went down onto the beach at Constantine Bay it was pleasant enough, with what appeared to be a line of springs halfway up the beach.
We left the coast path and walked up through the village of Constantine Bay to Chyloweth, half a mile or so from the sea. Sally Vivian was at the kitchen sink so saw us coming and showed us to a pleasant room above the kitchen. We decided that we didn't fancy eating at the Golf Course Hotel, so we walked the mile or so to St Merryn (getting lost when we tried to follow footpaths, but the walk along the road was fine) for fish and chips, eaten in at Fryer Tuck's 'traditional fish and chip shop' (which we'd seen advertised in Padstow, only about 3 miles away by the direct route) and half a pint of Rattler cider at the Farmers Arms. We had a little meander around the village of Constantine Bay on the way back to Chyloweth - it is a genteel place, with lots of dormer bungalows and some quite upmarket houses.