Portreath to Perranporth

Here we go again - and it's great to be back on the trail, I've missed it. At the end of the previous section I'd gone back home to a pre-booked massage followed that evening by a game of squash and the following day my knees finally started to protest. To the point where I was uncertain starting today if my left knee (which had surgery some time ago) would be up to it. Thankfully it was fine and no alarms but I suspect first signs of arthritis! Or maybe hypochondria.
A great day to walk today: cold and sunny, my ideal weather. It could have been just a little bit less windy though - it was hard to walk in a straight line. I went a bit overboard again with the photos, as you'll see on the Komoot summary here.
Starting out from Portreath on a crisp sunny morning, after a beautiful sunset last night. Almost as good as South West Portugal:

Straight up onto the hill tops, that got the system warmed up. Blowing a hooley up there to be frank and I was glad I'd brought my hat and gloves. Buffeted by the Northerly winds I was grateful for my poles as well, to give some stability. The cliffs on this section are as high as any I've seen so far and although superb they're also vertiginous and a stumble in the wrong direction wouldn't be good. After following the perimeter track of an old RAF airfield (Nancekuke Common) - now a remote radar station - the path was soon up to its tricks of up and down. I hope this gives some idea:

There are extensive mining remains all along this area of the North coast so it’s no surprise that Redruth, arguably the UK’s mining capital, is nearby as is the Camborne school of mines. The first signs of old mining remains soon appeared.

This is Wheal Tye where they mined tin and copper for centuries. The long inclined bit leading up to the chimney is in fact a flue, presumably to give in effect a longer chimney without risking it being blown down.

There's an explanatory board in the Komoot pictures.

It wasn't long then before coming to Porthtowan. Karen and I had stopped here once, on our abortive campervan excursion (we lasted one night before handing it back and de-camping (!) to the Mullion Hotel) and I'd completely forgotten until I saw it again. It wasn't much then and it hasn't changed a lot since but beach access makes it popular. Rather windswept today, as was everywhere

At least 7 mines are associated with Porthtowan, though all of course now closed. Wheal Towan was one of the most successful. In the 1820s it generated a fortune estimated at “a guinea a minute”. That’d be about £200K on an 8-hour day and presumably it operated longer hours than that. The mines’ so-called burrows can still be seen on the surface.

It’s also where the annual SAS Rip Curl Cornish and Open Longboard Championship is held, should you want to join in, or indeed just watch.

After a quick pit stop for tea and a brownie (well, have to keep the energy levels up 😀) it was back up onto the cliff tops again. Up and back down again to Chapel Porth (and overtaken by a silver walker) where there's even less than Porthtowan and you can see more mine workings in the distance

I'm not sure which Wheal this is but it sure has a good view. Believe it or not that's actually St Ives in the far distance, just over a couple of days walk away.

I'd hoped there would be more flowers this time and I wasn't disappointed. The garlic was still going strong but now the thrift is out as well, adding a bit of pink to the palette. Also lots of Cornish gentian which I hadn't heard of (as if that's a surprise).

The St Agnes Heritage Coast here has been a nationally designated area for wildlife protection since 1986. Like much of this area it has been an important source of metals since the bronze age, particularly for copper and tin, but mining pretty much stopped in the 1930s.

After rounding St Agnes head, and finally losing sight of St Ives, it was another descent, this time into Trevaunance Cove which is effectively the harbour for St Agnes.There have been at least 5 attempts to establish a proper harbour wall here but all have eventually succumbed to the Atlantic.  It's better seen leaving to the North

Again, a very narrow valley with few houses and a steep approach to the beach. A good cafe though - carrot and coriander soup since you ask. Of all the villages so far, Trevaunance seemed closest to its mining past and the pictures on the cafe wall show how the mine used to tower over the village. You can still see some of the ruins there. A pretty hazardous beach for any commercial activity you'd think but amazingly they used to build sizeable sailing ships directly on the beach.
The Blue Hills tin mine where they still practice alluvial tin mining is just around the corner from Trevaunance. There is a visitor centre there (closed today) and you can read more about it here.

This is as close as I got to St Agnes which is just inland - maybe another day. I can tell you though that the only Stippy Stappy (a steep row of cottages) in Cornwall is to be found here and it’s where George Smiley came from. Poldark author Winston Graham also lived just down the road (he wrote most of it while living in Perranporth).

From here it's a really long section along the cliff tops, around the edge of Perranporth airfield (see below) and through old mine workings that look like a huge dog's been digging there, with high, steep and unstable-looking cliffs

After that it's round Cligga Head to reveal the huge sandy beaches of Perranporth and a nearly-constructed apartment block, with balconies just right for an evening gin and tonic.

Just below the large rock is a millenium sundial, set to show local noon (later than GMT). I have a picture of Karen by the rock, from when we visited and first hatched the idea of buying a place here.

Perranporth  means ‘The Cove of St Pirran’ (the patron saint of Cornwall). It's one of my favourite towns because it has an airfield! Back when I had a licence Karen and I once flew down from White Waltham to visit my mother for a weekend. All very impressive until the weather closed in and Karen had to come back by train. Oops.

Huge beach of course - the sand dunes stretch nearly a mile inland and there’s a naturist beach at the north end, if it gets too hot.

Two miles east is Perran Round, an Iron Age fort that during the Middle Ages was used as a performance place for miracle plays to entertain pilgrims. It is one of the oldest theatre spaces in the UK

Among other claims to fame Perranporth hosts an annual Sea-song and Shanty Festival in late April (sadly I’d just missed it). 

Pete and Deb from the US have joined me for tomorrow and Wednesday which is great. Pete and I go back to school days (Debs reckons the humour hasn't improved since then) and I always enjoy their company. They're old hands at this walking lark, having completed the Coast to Coast (UK not US) last year and Deb is a great photographer so hopefully you'll get some even better pictures.

Tomorrow the aim is Newquay and the weather forecast is promising some rain in the afternoon. Gaiters, I think, may be called for.

Peter