An early start...
...04.30 we roll out of bed, it’s pitch black but that doesn’t matter with where we are going. It’s been a nice few days weather wise and it’s now Saturday morning with no work to be done. We jump in the van and head off to the coast, first stop tho was Lerryn where the boats were gently bobbing away on a high tide with a full moon glowing down on them and reflecting off the calm water...
Back in the van we headed off to take advantage of yet more free parking from the National Trust pass, this time we used the car park at Lantic Bay near Polruan. It was now just after 5.45 and the sky was still dark but had the benefit of the harvest moon with its orange glow lighting up the way for us.
We left the car park and followed the footpath through to the first field and turned left heading towards the headland above Lantic Bay. From here we looked west and enjoyed the stunning spectacle of the moon going down over the daymark on Gribben Head closely followed by Trenarren on the other side of St Austell Bay. With the moon disappearing we looked east and were greeted by some amazing orange and red sunrise colours lighting up the horizon and the sky above
Once daybreak started and the morning light arrived we started our walk along the coast path towards Lantivet Bay, about a mile along the coast. A nice pebbly beach that was empty, well it was probably 7.30am and we were the only daft ones out and about. Once playtime had finished on the beach we followed the path through the fields and into the woods near Lansallos mines. Sticking to the pathway we made our way out into the fields and back towards the road that would lead back to the car park.
Back at the van refreshments were taken on board and a new lease of energy was found. It was still early so we headed back to the lane and out into the cliff top fields to play ball, maybe not the wisest idea given the severity and steepness of the cliffs. We soon ended up back on the cliff path, this time heading west of Lantic Bay for the old fishing village of Polruan.
Once we had followed the cliff path all the way around the point and into Polruan we headed for the old castle down by the river mouth. Some stunning views up the river towards Bodinnick and out to sea past St Catherine’s Point we’re admired whilst we had a break and cooled down in the shade of the castle walls. We wandered through the narrow streets of the old village struggling to find our way out. There was no way we were walking straight back up the hill so common sense was put into play. We went with the logic that there must be a pathway from Polruan to Lanteglos Church that probably followed the river fowey where possible. Using that logic and our natural inbuilt compass we found the path, known locally as Halls Walk and off we went. The sun was getting higher and also warmer so we were glad of the bit of shade the tree lined paths were giving us.
The trees were over grown and the views across the river to fowey were quite over grown in places, luckily not all the views were obscured and occasionally views like the one above were available for us. Common sense and the inbuilt compass paid off as soon we were near the church, (home to some commonwealth war graves) and more importantly the car park. We had a long old climb back up the road and back to the bowl of fresh water awaiting our arrivals. 9.25 miles, 3hrs50, 1800 feet of climbing and around 2000 calories burnt off, all before 10am on a Saturday morning...
You can watch the walk on the Relive app here
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