South Walk: Charlestown to Mevagissey

Sunday May 10th: Woke up to a beautiful morning in Charlestown - Michael had slept particularly well having invested in a pair of Ear Plugs as protection against my snoring! Outrageous!

Having arrived to a cloudy and grey Charlestown the previous afternoon, we decided to take advantage of the morning sun to get some photos of the tall ships in the harbour before breakfast. One of the ships had left the harbour and was moored in the Bay and it all made for some scenic pics.

Breakfast was top notch - having joked with the owner the day before, about the cafe which only served ONE scone for their Cream tea - she proceeded to offer us TWO fried Eggs with our Full English breakfast!
We got off smartish - it wasn't going to be a long walk to Mevagissey - but the guide book stressed how strenuous it was!
Firstly we had to go inland due to to cliff falls near Charlestown and then doubled back to the coast path through a new housing estate. It was suprising how much property there was around Charlestown, but the village itself is unspoilt. We walked through an area known as Duporth before reaching the deserted beach of Porthpean. The next landmark was going to be Blacks Head and ahead of us was a succession of ascents and descents through Silvermine Point and the woods at Ropehaven. The views were good in places, but the path was quite overgrown and there was no shortage of stinging nettles! By this point Mike was suffering quite badly from his Hay Fever, and proceeded to sniffle and sneeze all day long like a Mexican Pig farmer. I was sure that smearing some of my Tiger Balm around his nostrils would do the trick, but he was having none of it.

As we approached Blacks Head, I was astonished to see a Deer right on the path ahead of me. Of course, before I could say anything, Mike snuffled along and scared it off into the thick cliff undergrowth. Not sure that he saw it - or even believed that I had seen it!

The next strange animal that we met was Sid the Bear! Sid, complete with plastic raincoat was walking the whole of the SW Coast path in one go with Nifty Nev and raising money for a childrens charity in Birmingham. Nev, who must be knocking on 65-70 proved to be a veteran runner and long distance cyclist who had completed all sorts of marathon trips - but by Doctors orders was now walking with his companion bear, Sid. Following along by road was his wife in their Camper Van - he was quite a character.

We walked out to the headland at Black Head where there were impressive views in both directions. We could just make out Mevagissey in the distance and the long beach at Pentewan was just a mile or two away. Before that was some pleasant walking with plenty more ups and downs. We passed around the point at Drennick before passing through the small cove near Hallane and then onto the village of Pentewan which had the remains of an old working harbour, but was primarily known for it's long and beautiful sandy beach with adjacent holiday chalets. We stopped for a quick pitstop at The Ship Inn. Guess what, Mike got his sandwiches out again - until he spotted a sign stating the bl*****g obvious. The carvery looked tempting, and a Jazz band was setting up in the Beer Garden, but we weren't hanging about and the path left Pentewan on the road out of the village before joining the cliff path and a steep climb up to Penare Point. Before that we had a quick diversion to the remains of Portgiskey, a small cove adjoining Pentewan which once had a fishing community with cellars and a quay all now in ruins.

It wasn't far now to Mevagissey which was bustling with day trippers. Like Polperro, Mevagissey is one of Cornwall's Tourist hotspots but is also still very much a working port and one of Cornwall's main fishing centres. We had a wander around the backstreets, managed to find a pub showing a footie match albeit using some dodgy Esatern European satellite station, and then caught the bus back to St Austell and onto Charlestown. There was an amusing cameo on the bus journey. A couple who had been bickering at the bus stop in Mevagissey asked the driver if he went to Pentewan. "Yes, I do" he says. We all get on and off he goes. As we passed Pentewan and they remained glued to their seats, it did occur to me that perhaps I should query whether they had wanted to get off - but then I thought I would mind my own business. A couple of miles down the road, the amply proportioned and rather fierce looking lady suddenly explodes out of her seat and descends on the hapless driver with hubby trailing sheepishly in her wake. " YOU SAID YOU STOPPED AT PENTEWAN" she bawled. "Well, I do if someone rings the Bell!" was the reply. " I DON'T LIKE BEING LIED TO" shouted Mrs Angry " IF YOU SAY YOU STOP AT PENTEWAN, THEN YOU STOP AT PENTEWAN" "Here in Cornwall, we stops when peoples rings the bell my luvver" Incandescent with rage she and hubby wobbled off the bus in the middle of Nowheresville - it was all going to be Hubby's fault, I could see that, in fact if I was him, I would have jumped back on the bus and done a runner.

Back in Charlestown, there was still time to catch a bit of Chelsea v Arsenal at the Rashleigh Arms and for Mike to sneeze all over everyone before we headed back to Uffculme. A successful weekend - no knee dramas - and when we got back - the F1 highlights from Barcelona was just about to start!