South Walk: Gillan to Coverack

Gillan beach and Creek, nr Helford

Sunday July 12th: Woke up early in the strange surroundings of the caravan at Gillan - it was a beautiful morning after a horrendous night of rain - so before I tucked into breakfast I went for a wander. The estuary was looking very beautiful in the early morning light and I was looking forward to the walk to Coverack, which was only about 11 miles.

Boots were still squelchy wet but at least I had a dry pair of socks!

The path headed out towards Nare Point where there was a large manned coastal observation point. From there, it was a pleasant walk to the small seaside village of Porthallow which has now been recognised as the Official halfway point of the SW Coast path - and an attractive waymark has been erected in it's honour. Apart from that, it didn't have alot to offer. From here, there was a confusing choice of paths according to my guide book - depending on the tide level, so I played safe and stuck to the official path which headed out of the village on the road and took the inland route before dropping down steeply to Porthoustock cove which had some lovely old cottages but was somewhat spoilt by some massive industrial buildings on the beach. This whole stretch of coast has alot of quarry workings, which has meant alot of the path being diverted inland.

From Porthoustock, the path once again headed back inland towards Rosenithon. Apparently, the SW Coastpath Association are pressing for a more coastal route to be established in this area, but the occasional change of scenery is pleasant, especially on such a nice sunny day.

From Rosenthion, it headed back down to the long stony beach at Godrevy Cove and would remain a coastal path all the way to Coverack. The beach is in fact made up from alot of quarry stone waste.

The path proceeded to go straight through the old workings of Dean Quarry which didn't look as if it had been closed all that long. There were old buildings with hard hats and bits and bobs still inside - even if all the windows were smashed. There was quite a nice beach below the quarry, which had it's own Jetty.

Once that Industrial scar was passed, the path became more scenic and natural. It was mostly open low cliff walking from Lowland Point all the way to Coverack. Shortly, I reached an Information board about Lowland Point area being an important nature reserve and there was a lovely picture of 2 seals on the beach. So with seals uppermost in my mind, I found myself gazing at an odd shaped rock just off the coast. As I got nearer, I convinced myself it was a seal - and after zooming in with my camera lens, it was confirmed! The path was actually quite away from the waters edge, so I clambered across the rocks as near to the Seal as possible. It was quite amusing, because the rock was just poking out of the sea and he was perched quite precariously on top. As the sea rose, the seal would arch his body to keep himself from floating off, making him look as if he was actually surfing!

At first he was facing away from me, but I swear that he actually repositioned himself and was keeping a beady eye on me. After taking about 50 photos, I carried on and made sure that I told a few other walkers about it, as it could be easily missed. I said to one man " There's a seal on a rock a little bit further on" "What a real one" he replied!! "Of course it's a real one" ( you stupid man) - what I should have said is, " No it's a 100ft inflatable one, it's part of a new Cornish Disney Theme Park and watch out for the 6ft Remote controlled Dolphins that are leaping all over the place"

Anyway, it was the highlight of the day for me, although I've still yet to see Dolphins on this walk - and only 30 miles to go, so running out of time.

Before long, I reached the outskirts of Coverack and it was a lovely view across the bay to the small harbour at Dolor Point. Coverack is a popular resort with a lovely beach. It heavily promotes the Organic Ice Cream of Roskilly's which is made at a farm nearby in St Keverne. Of more interest, was the oddly named Paris Hotel pub which was offering a Sunday Roast Carvery, which proved impossible to resist, and I still had plenty of time to sample the Ice Cream which didn't seem anything to write a blog about in all honesty.

I had to get a bus back to Helston and then catch another to Truro, where yet again, I was able to enjoy luxury Ist class travel back to Tiverton on my pre booked £10 ticket!

One more weekend of walking left now - just 12 miles from Coverack to the Lizard in one direction and 14 miles from Porthleven to the Lizard in the other direction. My 50th birthday walk was nearing it's end!