port gaverne – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

Surf’s up in Polzeath Bay

We thought as it was the last day we thought we would make the most of the time left. We would body board in the morning and go for a walk in the after noon. There were 4 volunteers, T&C, Helen and I, the plan was to go down to Polzeath see what the waves were like then decide.

BBC weather predicted calm seas so we were not expecting much, but when we got there the waves seemed big enough for beginners so we went to one of the trailers to get some gear, we all needed boards (£3 per hour) and two of us wetsuits (£3 per hour) so £12 and hour for two hours entertainment seemed good value. We were soon suited and booted and ready to take on the Atlantic waves.

Getting in was the first hurdle, but we were at the end of the summer, so the sea was warmed, and we had wet suits on, so the thermal shock did not live up to our fears. In fact it was not cold at all, I would not describe it as cosy but not unpleasant. We worked our way out to where the waves were breaking and a couple of other boarders were hanging out and waited for our first wave. It turns out that there is a knack to catching a wave, for the best results, pick a big one and then try to catch it just as it breaks, that way you have a steep edge to get moving on. Next make sure the nose of the board stays above the water otherwise expect to become a submarine!

We were glad to get out of our wetsuits and into dry clothes, over time it does make you cold and it is very tiring fighting the waves and walking back out into the surf. I would definitely do it again perhaps even try a surf board. We headed back to the hut for some well earned lunch.

Some of us dragged ourselves off the sofas to go for a walk from a book called “Shortish walks in Cornwall”. We picked on a stretch of coast we had yet to see. We parked up as the book described in a small layby near Treligga, but not after visiting the village whilst looking for th layby from the book description.

The walk started by heading towards the sea in both directions, lower in altitude and in a northerly direction. There was an option to visit a mall beach down some wooden steps then some cut into the rocks, I was the only one to take up that option, I was after some snaps of the lovely beach with large rocks from the cliffs scattered around. There were also a couple of deep caves.

From the beach it was back up the steep steps up to the coastal path, which once we had found it followed the top of the cliff for a couple of miles, then the path descended into a valley, at which point there was a sign suggesting a permissive path heading in land, we came to regret not taking the easier route. At the bottom of the valley the path headed in land up the valley, we saw some interesting plants including lots of wild mint.

After a few hundred yards of slow ascent the path veered right and we then had a very long slog up a hill to get out of the valley if it had been any steeper it would had steps in it. At the top of the valley we walked through a dairy farm where the cows were all waiting to be milked. We walked through the farm and up their drive to the road then it was a short walk back to the layby. It had been quite a tough walk especially after a morning in the sea.

That evening we went down to the pub in Port Gaverne I had the Mussels starter which was tasty and well cooked but a bit short on mussels, followed by the grilled sole which was excellent. A couple of pints of Sharps Doombar washed it all down nicely.

Sea kayaking off Port Gaverne

It turns out that Port Gaverne should be pronounced Port Gay Verne, according to Ben our Kayaking guide, aparently if you pronounce it Port Gav Urn in front of a local fisherman you should expect a wet fish in the face. I digress! Wednesday morning we had arranged a Sea Kayaking trip. We had to be up early to start out at high tide, we went down to Polzeath beach our rendez-vous point at 08:15. They were not quite ready for us so we went for a welcome coffee for 10 minutes. Down on the beach there are quite a few surfing/coasteering/kayaking businesses selling their wares. The weather was grey and winding with the threat of rain, but out ovewr the sea it looked like the clouds were clearing. We finished our coffee and went back down onto the beach to be kitted out. Each of us got a wet-suit boots, buoyancy aid and a helmet. Then we all got in our cars and followed their van up the coast to Post Gaverne where the waves were not breaking on the beach to launch the Kayaks.

We parked up at the derelict Headland Hotel, and got into our wetsuits, which is not easy. I managed to out it half on twice before on the third attempt got it right. First time I got it back to front and the second it was the right way round but inside out, other people were having similar problems. As it was cold some of us put on raincoats under our buoyancy aids, to help protect us from the wind. Once we were all ready we headed down the steep hill past the pub and down to the boat store just over the road from the beach. We ported the kayaks down to the beach and Ben gave us a quick lesson in kayak and a safety briefing on what we should do when out on the ocean.

Next we got on with the main show actually getting on the water. The kayaks were pretty stable at no point did I feel that the boat was going to tip over. Each boat takes two people and I was paired up with Jim, who had done some kayaking before. First we did some basic maneuvers around the shallow end going round two buoys and turning on the spot to ensure that we all knew what we were doing, then we headed out a bit further. The more distance we put between us and the shelter of the cover, the bigger the waves got. Helen and C decided they did not fancy going out on to the ocean and round to Port Isaac so Helen’s dad swapped boats and went with T, which left three boats. When we got to the edge of the cave Ben announced that it was too rough to go round the coast so we would have to make do with paddling round the sheltered area of water. It was disappointing but you have to respect the sea and the people who have a better knowledge of it, we certainly experienced what to me looked like big waves, particularly when you are low down on the surface they were big enough to on occasions lose sight of other kayaks, but they were not breaking so it was mainly a case of bobbing up and down and keeping the kayak square to the direction of the wave. One couple also had had enough due to feeling a bit seasick and headed back to the beach while we bobbed about for the rest of the session.

We beached the boats and carried them back up the beach which was now much longer as the tide had been going out while we were at sea. Ben came across a broken bottle probably lobbed from the road onto the beach he cleared up the glass. The we slogged our way back up the hill to the car park and were able to get out of our wet-suits and into some warm dry clothes, which was very welcome. Then we drove back the 500 yards or so back to the holiday hut, for a shower and some lunch.

Helen’s dad and I decided to go for a short circular walk from the hut, in land the fields then down into Port Gaverne. The path stared from the road at a farm near the hut, but it was not sign posted at all. I popped back to get the map to show us the way. We walked through the farm yard past the chained up dog, then into a field with a warning about the bull on the gate. We crossed the field following the map and when we got to the field edge we had to fight our way through gorse and brambles. A couple of men chopping down a tree clearly knew that there was a pat there but claimed that it was the postman’s path and that us Englishmen are all the same walking on their land. We continued on our way and into Post Gaverne.

The route back back was via the coastal path the weather had improved and the sun was shining, I striped down to just my T shirt it was so warm. After a couple of descents and ascents we found the pah inland back to the road that the hut was on. We met a couple who explained that they had walked from Boscastle but wanted to get to Port Isaac the quickest way because they had almost run out of water. We gave them all the water we had as we were only a few hundred yards from home. It turns out that the guy was doing the southern leg of a mission to walk the coast of Britain, he had already done Gravesend to and round Scotland, then Wales now he was doing the final stretch round from Bristol along the south coast back to Gravesend.

We ate at the local pub which was followed by a quiz we came second!

Trebarwith Strand

First day of the holiday and we took our time getting up and ready to go. We took two cars and headed to Trebarwith Strand. The road in was interesting very narrow with steep rocky sides at times luckily we only met one car on the way down. We parked at the long stay car park (£5.80 for 4 hours) in the belief that the short stay would be cheaper than any short stay. Turns out that the smaller short stay was charging £2.50 for the day!

Trebarwith Strand is an interesting place there is a wide beach which is pretty much covered over when the tide comes in. Access to the beach is over some smoothish rock on one side was a stream cutting a gorge into the to the rock, on the other was what looked like a cutting into the rock.

We took a stroll on the beach looking for life in the rock pools. C won the prize for the most interesting find a big fat star fish with only four points. There were some caves on the west end of the beach, one of them went at least 50 metres into the cliff.

We had lunch at The Port William pub at a table in the conservatory, over looking the bay. The St Austell Trelawney Bitter went down well with the cheese sandwich. We drove back to the hut to get sorted for a rib boat trip that T had organised, but when we phoned to check the weather was too rough, and the owner said he would take us out but that we would probably not enjoy it, so we cancelled. It is a shame because it was the last trip of the season. Still we have the sea kayaking to look forward to which has been postponed till Wednesday due to high winds.

The girls decided that they would go on a shopping trip, and T and I took the bikes down to Pooley Bridge and did a cycle ride to Bodmin and back on the Camel trail, which I must say is an excellent little trail for walking and cycling. We went at a fair pace on the way back which gave me a good work out.

Day one at Port Gaverne

Mr T was dropped off early at Wadebridge, as part of his marathon training he was going to run to Padstow, which is about 18 miles. The st of us got upfairly early and had a leisureley breakfast, toast for me. The plan was to drive to Rock and pick up T from the ferry from Padstow.

We parked up at the far end of Rock (£1.50 for two hours) and had a wander along the beach front. It was not long before Mr T texted me to say he was on the ferry. The tide was out and the ferry was having to do a big loop round to get to the quai, in fact T had got the last ferry before the drop off was changed to the alternative quai further out of of town towards the sea. T had taken 2:35 to do 17 miles.

Back at the hut I set up the GoPro to da a time lapse looking out to sea from the house while we had lunch, then we planned to do a local circular walk taking in Port Gaverne and Port Quin.

The walk took us from the hut via the steep road down into Port Gaverne, then up the hill out again. You can probably see a pattern emerging here, we are in Cornwall and there is no such ting as a flat walk.

At the top of the hill, you guessed it, we went down again, into Port Isaac where Dr Martin is filmed. We watch a bit of road rage as someone going down the hill got frustrated by the drivers coming up and not giving way. The walk continued on round the headland eventually getting to Port Quin after much up and down of steep stepped hills. In one cove we saw in the distance a baby seal calling for its mother, the calling seemed as if the seal was suffering but it seemed quite active and we all agreed it was most likely just calling for it’s mother who was in the want just in the bay.

At port Quin there was a very welcome coffee establishment in an old Citroen corrugated van. We stopped for a double cappuccino and a piece of cake before heading back to Port Gaverne this time in land, and more directly. It was surprising how quickly it took to get back compared to the up and down walk round the headland.

Once back at the hut we Cajun stew cooked by Helen’s dad.