Kingsand to Plymouth

Kingsand to Plymouth - Wednesday 9th April 2014

Path Facts - Length: 5.9 miles, Ascent: 1557 feet

Very easy day, short and flat. Went for a pre-breakfast stroll round Kingsand. Nice place. Sunny & quiet. Bit of a change from the start of this leg.
 

Set off at a leisurely nearly 10am. The stretch from Kingsand to Plymouth goes through Mount Edgcumbe Estate which is a typical parkland estate complete with lakes, rhododendron bushes and the like. Views across to Plymouth started to appear.

Stopped at the orangery for tea after a gruelling probably 1 hour stroll on the flat through the park. Then off to the ferry and the last piece of Cornish soil. Not much celebration at having walked the entire Cornish coast path. A bit sad to leave Cornwall actually but Devon & Dorstet will have their attractions (and dives) I am sure.

Ferry crossing! Excitement! Boarded approx 11.30am.

Plymouth was a bit of a culture shock but I wasn't averse to it. For a big city the attractions of parks and sea front plus old town harbour area (Barbican) were not at all bad.

There's a bit of a meandering path along the edge of Plymouth before we turned off to find the B&B, drop our packs (about 1pm) and explore.

Lunch stop down by the sea front.

Wandered out to a Pizza Express near the B&B in the evening. Didn't fancy the pub!


Info

Accommodation - Ashgrove House

Location ****

Room ***

Facilities ***

Noise ***

Food **

Ambience **

Price *** £65 for the room


Food – Pizza Express

Quality ****

Price ***

Looe to Kingsand

Looe to Kingsand - Tuesday 8th April 2014

Path Facts - Length: 17.3 miles, Ascent: 2200 feet

One of the most, if not the most EPIC walking days today. To even out today and tomorrow's walks I had initially envisaged cutting off Rame Head today then backtracking over it tomorrow. I especially thought that announcing a 17 mile walk to Andy would have brought on a dozen psychosomatic conditions instantaneously. But no, "LET'S DO IT!", or words that effect, he said.

So after a below average breakfast just to round off my underwhelming experience of Looe we stocked up with emergency extra rations from the Co-op and got walking by 9.15 am.

Rame Head can be seen as the most distant point in the photo below. We would be going beyond this today.

Passed through some chavvy chalets then past some seriously posh chalets with boats outside. The weather was cool but bright and dry.

Quick tea stop at Downderry. Need extra tea today for endurance! There was a stuffed owl that hooted periodically in the tea shop.

There were a few diversions on this strip due to land slips. Then stopped at Portwrinkle for lunch.
 

The cafe was closed which was initially disheartening as there wasn't another stop in view for miles. Then we discovered the Whitsand Bay Hotel which didn't look promising at first but was great food (reasonably priced) service and ambience inside. Also a great window seat with views out to sea.

Next point of interest was passing through the military base/shooting range at Tregantle.  The fort has been there since 1865.

There were more path/navigation problems as we negotiated a sprawling area of chalets on the approach to Rame Head.

This was at about the point of the escape route if we were going to cut across to Kingsand by the inland route and leave Rame Head until tomorrow. As we both felt ok at this point we kept on going.

Although not yet the end of Cornwall, Rame Head feels like a bit of a landmark. From this point onwards to view in front is pretty much all Devon.

Here is the view back towards Looe and today's walk (not yet finished).

 
From here on we were in the realm of Plymouth Sound and the Navy in evidence.

The last few miles were definately accompained by increasing fatigue. We arrived at Kingsand about 5.45pm which was better than expected time given the distance. The weather was sunny towards the end of the day. Luckily the B&B and this evening's great pub were within a few yards of each other and the path.

Kingsand was about as far removed from Looe as could be envisaged. Really nice B&B, great pub with good food and loads of character in the village without it being too busy or overrun with shops & cafes.

Info

Accommodation - Ashgrove House

Location *****

Room ****

Facilities ****

Noise *****

Food *****

Ambience *****

Price **** £65 for the room


Food – The Rising Sun

Quality ****

Price ***

Beer - yes, probably

Fowey to Looe

Fowey to Looe - Monday 7th April 2014

Path Facts - Length: 12.5 miles, Ascent: 2280 feet

Breakfast 8.30am upstairs at the B&B. Fantastic large windows overlooking the river. Weather: rain, fog, drizzle... Left 9.30 ish.

Woo-hoo! Another ferry (not sarcasm). Ferries are great. From Town Quay in Fowey to Polruan for £1.70. Quite a choppy sea but not to the extent of threatening the re-emergence of breakfast.

 Looking back at Fowey.

Polruan has some character by the riverside. It is 6.5 miles from here to Polperro, the most likely lunch stop today.

Pretty tough going over the next stretch. Rain, hills, slippery paths. The rain was light and intermittent for much of the time but came down heavily at one point.

Another impressive sight as Polperro began to emerge from the path ahead.

Polperro was ok. We had lunch at a local bakers but the food wasn't great. The pasty was luke warm and uninspiring. Also had a bread pudding the size of a brick which did also not live up to appearances. We were pretty much damp through all levels at this point.

From Polperro onwards, the weather was better and the path more level. The latter 5.5 miles seemed much easier. The sun evetually broke through about 3pm.

Arrived at Looe about 4pm.

 
A quick stop at the B&B to drop our wet kit off before a wander around.

 

Ended up at the Fisherman's Arms for a quick Tribute. This felt like a very locals type pub but not unfriendly. Perhaps one of the few pubs called the Fisherman's Arms that's actually frequented by fishermen.

Back to the B&B. This was fairly rough lodgings with the local builders frequenting the place, but fine to dry off and re-energise.

The eatery this evening was one of the worst on the whole path. I can only remember the Indian restaurant in Newquay being comparably bad. Not an overall good experience of Looe. I don't remember it being like this when I came as a child.

Info

Accommodation - Bridgeside Guest House

Location ****

Room **

Facilities **

Noise **

Food **

Ambience **

Price **** £56 for the room


Food – The Golden Guinea Restaurant

Quality ** Worst veg curry I've ever had with the possible exception of the one at Newquay. Seriously, my work canteen does a much better job than this. The only thing that stops a one star rating was the apple pie with ice cream

Price **

Beer - bottle Tribute **

Charlestown to Fowey

Charlestown to Fowey - Sunday 6th April 2014

Path Facts - Length: 10.3 miles, Ascent: 1411 feet

Due to the train line to the South West having been shut by storms some weeks before, I opted to drive to Plymouth the day before and take the train to St Austell. Got a chance to sample The Rashleigh Arms' world renowned chips last night.

Started off this morning at 9.15 am amongst wind and drizzle. This was fine at first but ended up lasting a large part of the day. It was 3 miles to Par. This section was described as one of the least picturesque so given that it was mostly obscured by drizzle, this may have been advantageous.

Stopped for tea and an opportunity to dry off slightly on the edge of a campsite near Par.

Stopped for an early lunch at Polkerris at the Rashleigh Inn (common name round these parts!). Nice pub. Good character. Also some respite from the rain hitting the windows.Again, dried off a bit before heading out up a steep slippery path out of Polkerris into woodland.

This was fairly hard work as it was steep and slippery. There were quite a few sections like that today.

On to Gribben Head and the stripey daymark which was visible from back at Black Head (before Charlestown). Very windy up here.

Fowey and Polruan were quite a welcome and impressive sight when they emerged out of the fog.

Got a bit lost trying to find the B&B. One of these locations where the marker on Google maps is nowhere near the actual location. Arrived approx 3pm. Great B&B. Views down to the river, guest lounge and the lady kindly dried out our things for us which was necessary!

Wandered out about 6pm. A steep walk from the B&B down to the riverside. After a quick wander round and a perusal of eateries we opted for the King of Prussia


Info

Accommodation - Trekelyn

Location ***
Room ****
Facilities ****
Noise ****
Food ****
Ambience ****
Price *** £75 for the room


Food – The King of Prussia

Quality **** walnut, apple & brie salad, loads of bread
Price ***
Beer - Proper Job ****