Skip to main content

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!










Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 22, 2025 at 9:12 AM

    Far out - you slept there? It’s a cliff edge. Braver than me

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Please do leave a comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 101: Keiss to John O’Groats - The Final Day (14.6 miles)

Being the last day, it felt important to wear my old beastly friend of the trek - the large rucksack. I was actually surprised how comfortable - and comforting it was! Maria and I set off with Martin at 9:30, letting some heavy rain go through first. We would have to watch ourselves on the cliffs as the forecast was for 45 miles per hour gusts from the west. Within minutes we could see Keiss castle before us but for Maria, I think seeing seals bobbing up in the water was more interesting, not least because Georgie was desperate to see them too. Martin turned back and we told him to let Georgie know. The path was overgrown with wet vegetation, and it wasn’t long before Maria reported that the inside of her boots were starting to get wet. It wouldn’t take too long before mine followed (by 10:20!): with rotting stitching it was the reason I had originally decided to swop over to my new boots all those days ago down in St Ives, Cornwall. Oystercatchers were clearly alarmed by our proximity...
6 comments
Read more

Choosing the Route

  Since I was first diagnosed with CLL, and started long distance walking, I've been fortunate enough to walk the North and South Downs Ways (2018), the Norfolk Coastal Path (2019), Coast to Coast (2021), the Menorcan Coastal Path and the Ridgeway (2023), the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, the Dales Highway and the Cotswold Way (2024). In amongst those, I walked the Pennine Way (2020) and the South West Coastal Path (2022) for charity.   In walking these routes, I realised that I love walking on my own, enjoy being immersed in the surroundings around me, able to go at my own pace, stop, observe, and simply be. I love the high moors and mountains but also our beautiful rugged coast - especially the north Cornwall coastline. I very much wanted to re-walk that part of the South West Coastal Path but extended to Penzance - a stretch with which I had been particularly taken.  I also wanted to re-walk the Pennine Way - eventually postponing this so as to incorporate it into t...
2 comments
Read more

I’ve done it!

 After 101 phenomenal days of walking and an unbelievable 1346.7 miles, I finally arrived at John O’Groats this afternoon. I am so pleased and so relieved. As you might imagine, the family and I are spending the evening celebrating, and I’ve been banned from writing my blog tonight! So a blog post will be coming out tomorrow with more detail on the eventful Day 101, but for now if you will forgive me, I shall kick off my boots, relax and enjoy a glass of prosecco!
9 comments
Read more