Day 11: Slate Quarries before Tintagel to Crackington Haven (16 miles)

At 5:50am the dawn chorus starts, this time dominated by wrens and a few robins. I start getting up shortly after. It’s been a blustery night and I didn’t pitch the tent that well as I rushed and compromised and it showed with a fair amount of flapping through the night to keep me awake. I’ll get there. As I write while finishing my overnight oats I think I can hear a peregrine falcon calling and oystercatchers are just calling on the rocks down below.

I am eager to get moving now so will pause for now and set off at 7:30am. I’m pleased to get to Tintagel noting workmen are doing pretty extensive remedial work on the bridge. But disregarding the activity Fulmars are nesting on the cliffs and I hear a peregrine calling somewhere on Tintagel cliff.

I feel the first drops of rain and my heart sinks - surely not. But 5 minutes later I decided to get my waterproofs on and eat the second part of my breakfast - a sausage roll. The rain becomes heavy at 8:15am but to my delight I think I see a guillemot. It dives down but while scanning for it and getting my monocular out I notice a group of probably 50 further out towards the end of the island. Brilliant.

By 10am I am at Rocky Valley with the rain still heavy and 10 minutes later spy a convenient bench for another snack. My legs really don’t want to get moving and I clearly need to get my calorie intake up. I only had a pasty last night and didn't feel like anything else, I’ll have to watch this as I seem to be struggling to get enough calories in me. But the rain eases off and I take a risk and get out of my waterproofs. Some malt loaf and some brownie go down nicely. Hopefully I won’t need the same level of determination to keep going now!

I’m hoping to get to Boscastle around 11am - it’s strenuous from there on in so I will have to see whether I will be able to get to Crackington Haven. As I leave I spot a Whitethroat and hear chiff chaffs calling.

In the end I get to Boscastle for 11:45am - the scenery has been lovely and I’ve felt much happier for a break from the rain. I stop at the National Trust cafe and am shocked watching the video of the floods back in 2004 which did so much damage to the village in such a short amount of time. Coffee and cake is very welcome and have encouraging chats with a couple of different people.

I meet a number of people on route who want to stop and chat fascinated by what I am doing but it’s 3 men on a bench above Boscastle who apparently had seen me at Port Isaac who stopped and wanted to make donations.

I stop at a dramatic led grassy ledge for a late lunch looking over to Ruskey Cliff, and enjoy watching a buzzard gliding by, before spotting a seal a long way down in the sea. The drizzle has come down and I can’t see the cliffs - High Cliff is the highest in Cornwall but I won’t be seeing much today. I stopped for lunch at 15:10 and started again at 15:25.

Ironically, I arrive at what I think of as Maria’s bench at 15:40 - Martin and I had had lunch here back in 2022 on Maria’s birthday and had wished her many happy returns in spirit from here …. No chance of signal round here! Although High cliff was supposedly in 1 mile (🤞) I actually got there at 16:20 with 2.5 miles to go till Crackington.

I am delighted to see goats with beautiful horns below high cliff and recall that Martin and I saw them on Cambeak in 2022. They remind me of our own Dennis the menace, a Pygmy goats with attitude, who is now 15 and has similarly gorgeous horns - unfortunately he’s in the habit of using them and you seriously don’t want to get butted by them!

I get to Lower Strangles where there are more goats and it’s now 16:43 and 1.75 miles to Crackington. I start to debate where to camp - it looks like I’ll certainly get to Crackington should I push on further. But in classic SWCP style it’s not that easy - there are still several valleys to navigate and it’s approaching 6pm. I see a couple of possibilities but rule them out and start to get agitated - but dropping down to the haven I spot a bench with a level area in front of it just above the dramatic state folding on the beach to the south of the main beach. Although the ground is rocky after some fiddling I get the tent up. And luxury I can use the bench to cook pasta and sit and enjoy the drizzle-impacted sunset. It’s remarkably mild until approaching 7pm, when it starts to get dark, and a bat flits past. I retreat to the tent to write up my notes and settle in for the night. Despite the rain and the drizzle, it’s been a good day. Now I hope for a more peaceful night’s sleep so let’s hope the wind doesn’t get up!