Hayle to Portreath

Hot and sunny forecast and whaddya know - it is! Slapped on a load of sunscreen (especially on the vulnerable nose - it once got fried in Nivea when I fell asleep on Beachy Head; never been the same) and headed off for Hayle. I'd intended to get just past Godrevy Point but the weather was so good I just kept going, all the way to Portreath so I'm now a day ahead of schedule. If pictures of the coast bore you, look away now. Otherwise, check out the trip summary on Komoot here.

When I left it yesterday, the tide was out. Way different today, all this was sand before:

On first acquaintance Hayle feels like St Ives' poor relation. The approach on the path leads over a bleak expanse of estuary (the wildlife sanctuary) and along a busy exposed road. The first major building is Asda (yes, I'm probably a Waitrose snob) and there is a slightly neglected feel to the environs of the harbour. Peter de Savary failed to get a regeneration scheme started here, as have others. All this would be unfair to its history though. Not only was it very important in pre-history, being a major trading port for Neolithic tin, it was heavily used in the Industrial Revolution and its harbour was first developed in the 1740s by local merchant John Curnow, to service the mining industry.
A local foundry (Harvey's) was established, supplying beam engines world-wide and a world first steam powered rock boring machine. Engineering remains an important activity in the town.

A national explosives works was established in the nearby Towans, an isolated area of undulating sand dunes, employing up to 1,500 people until its closure in the 1920s. Today that's all long gone and visitors are encouraged to roam there. Bet they have a good fireworks night.

Hayle and its harbour today are part of the World Heritage historic mining landscape of Devon and Cornwall

 If the tide had been out, I could have walked the 4 miles along the beach towards Godrevy Point. Today I had to walk through the Towans. The views back to St Ives and the nature of the Towans themselves were spectacular.

All along this section I'd been following the progress of a helicopter operation just offshore. Jess & Soph will confirm I'm easily distracted by any aviation activity . Alarmingly enough even when driving, as I'm sure they remember.

It turned out to be the Trinity House vessel Galatea, ferrying supplies out to the Godrevy Point lighthouse. The operations continued for most of the day and attracted a crowd - and me:

Leaving Godrevy (the lighthouse is said to have inspired Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse) and rounding Navax Point the coastline is revealed (and some basking seals - see Komoot)
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It's fundamentally different from anything I'd walked before. Much less fissured than the earlier coastline, with large flat open areas behind. Whereas South Cornwall has many little inlets, each with their own village and fishing community these are absent here. They reappear further north.

It all makes for easier walking, essentially level for miles. Mindful of running low on energy at Zennor, I stopped at a cafe by Hell's Mouth (near Deadman Cove, not encouraging is it?). The view was so spectacular that if this is Hell's Mouth, Satan's going to get applications.

I find the key to walking is establishing a rhythmic pace. This varies according to the incline of course. On this stretch, as my mind wandered, I found Nellie the Elephant fitted the level walking. Slow it down a notch and it's the Peter O'Toole classic, Auntie Mary had a canary.... , then a bit slower and it's Gene Pitney's 24 hours from Tulsa and for steepish hills it's the Marseillaise. Really steep stuff it's just panting for breath (maybe the Volga boatman's song - must try it). Is it just me or do others have similar favourites?

The coastline is so scenic here on a day like this I got snap happy, so here are a couple of photos (more on Komoot):

Finally, after a couple of steep (marseillaise) ups and downs, into Portreath (=Sandy Cove), one of the few hedgehog friendly villages in the UK:

The harbour was mostly built, like so many of them, to support the development of nearby mining in the 1700s. By 1827 it was Cornwall's most important port and in 1840 100,000 tons of copper ore were shipped out.

The airfield to the North is now a radar station but in WW2 was the main fighter airfield in Cornwall

So that's it for this visit. Good progress, useful navigation lessons (!), great weather and a day ahead of schedule. Feeling much more confident now about completing the journey but not sure about the advice to see everything I've missed by "doing it again, in the other direction".

Peter