Not such an early start this morning, we thought a more leisurely day was in order. We drove to St Anthony in Meneage to do a circular walk via Helford, which is near Frenchmans Creek made famous by Daphne Du Maurier. Getting to the start was a mini adventure we had to do manoeuvre round a dust cart and turn back due to a closed road. The roads in Cornwall can be unforgiving with their walls on each side so it is best to give them plenty of space.
After parking up (£2) we headed off up the river bank until we could no more, then joined the very narrow road. It made a change to be in very lush habitat that you find around valleys with streams at the bottom. In Manaccan we stopped at a coffee shop recommended by a talkative, and friendlky lady we had met on the way. 2 cappucinos and a pain au chocolat £5.80 reasonable.
More woodland valley followed on the way to Helford where we assisted some lost walkers. At Helford the heavens opened and we had to take shelter under a tree for a while, which gave me the opportunity to get this blog entry up to date. From Helford we headed along the permissive path along the head land which is part of the Maenporth estate. It is wooded and we finally added coal tit and long-tailed tit to the holiday list. The path dropped don to sea level many times and we stopped at one beach and had our lunch, cheese sandwiches again.
A bit further on a beach was invaded by a landing part of children in sailing boats being towed by two power boats. Towards the end of the headland we ended up doing a bit a circuit where the path is not very well signposted. Luckily the walk had been fairly short and we were not tired, so the extra walking was not an issue. We eventually got back to the car where I took a panorama picture of the river which was not full of water.
On the way back we took a detour to have a look at Coverack. Once back to the hut we went to the pub for a pint but it was closed. I took another panorama from the opposite side of the valley.