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We may not have mountains here in the South West but we do have then next best thing – the South West Coast Path. And the most spectacular stretch starts at Hartland Point in North Devon and takes in North Cornwall’s rugged Atlantic coast down to Padstow. Obviously, it helps if you have two cars. There are buses, but most of the access points for this part of the coast are not on normal transport routes and large towns are few and far between. Solo coast path walking here can be a bit off-putting as it means retracing your route, and choosing a shorter distance as you still have to come all the way back. I don’t find this all that bad to be honest. The contours are entirely different on the return and I make a conscious effort not to look back on the forward journey so that I can enjoy fresh views in retrospect.
Today, I was tackling one of the hardest stretches from Crackington Haven to Boscastle and back again – thirteen miles all told, but a gruelling thirteen miles of steep ups and downs, including Cornwall’s highest sea cliff (twice), the unimaginatively titled, 700ft High Cliff.
Coast path walking of this kind can be much more physically demanding than mountain walking. There are frequently far more ups and downs and these tend to be steep in the extreme. The stretch from Hartland Point to Bude, for instance, is generally regarded as the most strenuous in the country and my route today is also pretty severe. I was expecting a very hard day. One thing I hadn’t banked on was the heat. Cornwall is famous for its winds coming off the Atlantic. Today is was hot, humid, and completely still. Not ideal walking weather.
The first climb out of Crackington Haven is actually not part of the coast path as it is a headland called Cambeak which juts out into the Atlantic. I climbed this instead of skirting around and was surprised to see a narrow arête going out into the sea and connecting with another hill at the other end topped by a small cairn. The cairn had me intrigued and I braved the arête (huge drop offs into the Atlantic below) to investigate. The interesting bit came when I looked back from the cairn to see that my route across was completely undercut by erosion and waiting to fall into the sea. If I’d see that from the other side I might have thought twice about braving the arête. A nice piece of engraved slate decorates the cairn, declaring ‘Jak Allan was here with her friend Mary, 15th January, 1988’. I guess it has survived undisturbed for so long because not many people are crazy enough to venture out there?
This part of the coast is quite spectacular, but the haze and sea mist prevented any distance views. The path goes across the top of an area called ‘The Strangles’ which has many interesting rock formations, including a sea arch. This leads to the climb up onto High Cliff. On the outward journey the ascent is quite gradual and not too demanding. In the other direction it’s a killer, as I was to discover on the return journey.
I was surprised to see goats sunbathing on the cliffs between here and Rusey Cliff. I had never heard of there being any wild goats here, but the mystery was solved when I saw them wandering back to their field on my return leg. There were also several young Highland Cattle in a nearby field, enjoying the warm Cornish sunshine and, I suspect, not missing all that Highland snow one little bit.
It was on past Gull Rock and over Beeny Cliff to the narrow cove of Pentargon where a stream tumbles down the cliffs creating a decent waterfall. And then it’s up and over Penhally Hill to the rugged cliffs of Penally Point which form the sheltered northern arm of Boscastle Harbour.
I had a quick look around the ‘new’ Boscastle, completely revamped after the floods of 2004 which included the building of a nifty new footbridge across the river. It is interesting to note that my starting point, Crackington Haven, also suffered from those very same floods but never rated a mention other than in the local press. After a diversion to the Willapark Coastguard Lookout Point on the opposite cliffs and a Cornish ice cream from a local Boscastle shop, it was time to tackle the six and a half mile return leg.
The heat was getting to me and I got thigh cramps on the first climb. I struggled going back but it still only took me three hours over all those endless ups and downs, which was exactly the same time as my outward journey. I even went back out onto Cambeak again before heading down into Crackington Haven for a well-earned pint at the Coombe Barton Inn. I didn’t quite down it in one go, but it wasn’t far off. More coast path walking next week (weather permitting). A cooling breeze would be nice.
- No surfing today
- Start Point – Crackington Haven
- Looking back over a calm Atlantic
- Optional climb to Cambeak
- If I fall here, I’m definitely going to get wet!
- Perhaps Crib Goch’s not so bad after all?
- Back a bit, I can’t quite get you all in!
- Penally Hill
- Looking south over Penally Point
- Boscastle Harbour
- Entrance to Boscastle Harbour
- Boscastle village
- Looking back from Willapark
- Penally Point & Meachard Rock
- Pentargon
- Who are you calling a Grockel?
- Gull Rock & Buckator cliffs
- The Strangles
- Okay, you look cute right now, but when you grow up you’re going to look like the Devil!
- The mighty Cambeak
- Cambeak Cairn
- Jak Allan’s plaque on Cambeak