North Walk: A Walking Week - Port Isaac to Hayle - Day 4 - Perranporth to Portreath

Thursday March 19th : Left Perranporth on another sunny morning. Up on the cliffs there were many reminders of the areas Mining history. In fact the whole cliff walk to St Agnes was littered with old mine shafts capped with conical metal cages The main metals mined were Tin and Wolfram ( tungstate of Iron) - but at some points the cliffs were a pinky orange colour of iron and arsenic. It was a fantastic walk to St Agnes - sheer cliffs, stunning colours and marine blue water below.

I was surprised to suddenly come across a couple of Pub style Picnic Tables plonked right next to the clifftop and chained to the ground! The owner was obviously concerned about gangs of scouse seagulls swooping down and carrying them off, I thought. However - a little further on, I could see that I was walking alongside an Aerodrome, so it belonged them methinks.

Further on there was a steep walk down to Trevellas Porth and then an even steeper climb out of the cove towards Trevaunance Cove which is the beach and old harbour area of St Agnes a half mile inland. This is still a working fishng area - mostly lobsters and crabbing although it has a long history of pilchard fishing. On climbing out of Trevaunance Cove - the path is once again at high level heading towards St Agnes Head where there were fine views in all directions and with the sheer high cliffs - lots of swirling sea birds

A little further on, I came across the well known landmark of Towan Roath Mining shaft which has been restored by the National Trust and also appeared on the cover of Du Maurier's book "Vanishing Cornwall" The imposing structure is right on the path and made the cliffs even more dramatic as you looked back on it from further on.
There was a welcome Pitstop at the next cove - Chapel Porth, where the various old Mining buildings have been converted into visitors amenities.
It is a popular spot - particularly for surfers - good beach breaks apparently. Well I was after a snack break - and there was a lovely cafe offering their specialty Hedgehog Ice Cream Cone! - fortunately, it looked like a Hedgehog as opposed to tasting like one.
Another steep walk from here and once again the path is littered with old Mining workings. Also - some very colourful pink cliffs which made for some unusual photos. The next place of note reached was Porthowan where I indulged myself with caffeine top up. There was plenty of people about for a midweek out of season day - but I was soon on my way for the 4 mile walk to Portreath.
it was high cliffs all the way, with numerous old mine workings. I was undecided whether to stay at Portreath that night or carry on a bit further. It was still quite early - but would have meant a longish walk to find any accommodation, so in the end, I wandered around trying to find somewhere suitable to stay. In the end - the local Inn - The Bassett Arms proved to be both a good watering hole and comfortable overnight stay. Food wasn't bad either. Portreath used to be a very busy port in the 19th Century - and used to be called Bassetts Cove after the Bassett's who helped fund the building of the harbour which helped their mining businesses. Now, it seemed a rather strange place - apart from the main beach, there was also a second small area of sand beyond the harbour wall right next to a pub called the Waterfront which sounded alot better than it looked and really only fronted a small patch of sand and to all intents and purposes was in the middle of a housing estate. I think it was the locals dive. Portreath also had a Chinky Takeaway which was tempting - but in the end I decided to back British!