Tintagel to Port Isaac

We woke to another grey morning and it was wet for the first hour or so of walking. However, once again it dried up later and wind was the main feature of the day. We had a lovely breakfast and chatted with Julie at Bosayne Guest House before leaving; she confirmed that they have done quite a lot of work on the house - where we had breakfast used to be a tea room. We bought sandwiches for lunch at the Spar Shop in Tintagel and it was about 9am when we left the village, by way of the Castle, King Arthur's reputed birthplace (though believing it to be so requires a creative imagination; even if we assume that King Arthur existed, the dates just don't fit). However Tintagel has done well on Arthurian legend and in fact the name 'Tintagel' used only to apply to the land in the area of the castle ('The Island') and the church; the village's name was changed from Trevena to Tintagel in the 19th Century to cash in on the tourist industry.

We climbed up to Glebe Cliff, past the distinctive and attractive church and the youth hostel. We passed several disused slate quarries (indeed the youth hostel was once a quarry office) and at Lanterdan (above Lill Cove) there was a 'pillar', presumably a column of rock not wanted for its slate and so left standing in splendid isolation. Then we descended down the ancient donkey track to Trebarwith Strand.

The hotel at Trebarwith Strand is called the Port William and indeed the harbour seems to be called 'Port William' not Trebarwith Strand. Slate was exported from here until well into the 19th Century. It's now a pretty place; the couple we'd met at Bears & Boxes had been staying here and they were just leaving as we arrived.

Everyone goes on about the severity of the path beyond Trebarwith Strand (the path climbs up steeply from Trebarwith Strand and there are then seven descents into valleys and corresponding ascents) but we didn't find it as tough as we'd expected and whilst we often take longer than the official timings for legs of the path, we did this leg in 4.5 hours (including time for lunch) whilst the National Trail Guide says to allow 5 hours. The first descent was into the Backways Valley; here spray from the sea was being flung high up onto the path - it was like walking through a snowstorm.

After an easier (though windy) stretch we descended steeply to Jacket's Point (called 'Dannon Chapel' on signs on the ground) and ate our lunch sitting on the beach. Then we ascended, almost immediately descended and ascended, then almost immediately descended and ascended again...and again. On the ascent out of the fifth valley (marked as E on the map in the National Trail Guide) we passed the entrance to a tunnel once used by donkeys to carry slate to the beach on the other side of the cliff. The penultimate descent (the sixth overall, north of Lower Hendra, marked as F on the map in the National Trial Guide) was the only really difficult one; it was very steep and straight down the side of the valley.

We emerged onto the clifftop in a field where they were muck spraying; we were looking for somewhere to stop for a break, but the smell was a bit off-putting (and, as always seems to be the case when we're looking for somewhere to stop, there was also a shortage of benches). We eventually stopped on a rocky outcrop above Rams Hole, then followed the clifftop down to Port Gaverne, an attractive fishing village and former slate port.

Port Gaverne and Port Issac are very close together and our B&B, The Anchorage [in 2019 a holiday let not a B&B], was about half-way between the two. We arrived rather early (about 3.30pm) and our luggage had only just arrived. Colin Durston showed us to a room on a second floor; no sea view but a bath! Later on we went to explore Port Isaac; we had no mobile reception but found a phone box to leave a message at tomorrow's B&B with our estimated time of arrival (as requested). However we failed to find an open tea shop (OK, it was almost 5pm) and the options for eating this evening (a Monday) were a bit limited; most places seemed expensive for what they were. Port Isaac is pretty but a bit touristy and the car parking down at the harbour seems a real shame (especially since there is a good car park at the top of the hill). We went back to the B&B and rang the bell to request some fresh milk for tea; in doing so we met Maxine Durston and one of her 17-month old grand-daughters.