D137: CRANTOCK to TREYARNON BAY
Wednesday 11th September 2024
Today miles: 14.7 Total miles: 2250.0
I waited around until 8’o clock for the reception to open before returning the reading glasses and recovering my power pack. I also recovered my walking pole, which I’d accidentally left behind the night before. Having studied the tide times last night I’m aware that I’m walking outside of the safe crossing times. I settled on the fact that I’d have to walk another mile upstream before I can safely cross ‘The Gannet’. I initially set off but oddly instead of going right along the coast path, for some reason I thought I’d risk going left and check the tide conditions myself. It would only be an additional half mile if I was wrong. Strangely and despite what I had read the previous night the river was still well downstream and I crossed ‘The Gannet’ without any difficulties. I then made my way around Pentire, which is West of Newquay, picking up the official coast path before heading into Newquay town centre for breakfast and yes, it’s at Wetherspoons. For some unknown reason the original insoles in my walking boots keep gathering up in the heels and it’s really annoying. After eating, I popped into the nearby Poundland and picked up some new cheap insoles and deposited the old ones into a nearby bin. On leaving Newquay I noticed that a lot of the larger older buildings were boarded up and in a poor state. I’ve seen this a lot along the English coast and it’s fairly depressing.
There’s an easy, short climb out of Newquay and I arrived on the edge of Porth beach and watched several surfers and bodyboarders playing in the water. I decided to leave the road and cross Porth beach removing my socks/shoes in order to cross the shallow stream. The water was only around four inches deep but minutes later as I dried my feet I watched as a woman led her two tiny Chihuahua dogs through the water. It was cruelly funny and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. The following few miles after Porth, unlike the previous few days was reasonably flat and I reached Trenance well before lunchtime. I then stopped, made myself a coffee and ate the leftovers from my earlier Wetherspoons breakfast.
The three miles between Trenance and Porthcothan were straightforward and there isn’t anything particularly interesting along the route. There are several relatively small rocks/islands dotted along the shoreline to look at, many with strange names, including ‘Diggory’s Island’ and ‘The Cow and Calf’. As I got closer to Porthcothan the crowds increased significantly and these numbers were maintained all the way into Treyarnon Bay. It’s a really beautiful location and the Youth Hostel is probably one of the best I’ve seen. I’m actually staying in the campsite behind the hostel but enjoyed the use of there full facilities including the pub. I’ve also booked myself a cooked breakfast for 7am tomorrow morning.
Werewolfandflump UK Coast Path 