Portscathoe

8 June 2019

This walk was planned with military detail. It involved 3 ferry crossings, one bus journey and 7 miles of walking, all intended to dovetail seamlessly together. The weather was blustery but fine, sunshine on the coast and dark clouds scudding over inland Cornwall. It was quite a walk to the St Mawes ferry, tidal conditions mean it has varying departure points so inevitably it was at the furthest point for us. Still, it got the legs moving. St Mawes is very pretty, had we more time we’d have lingered but the bus to Gerrans waits for no walkers. The driver didn’t seem to know where best to drop us so we chose a point on the main road and then followed the bus down the hill (doh!) to Portscatho which was actually our start point. Next time I’ll know – and there will be a next time. We picked up our lunch in a general store in Portscatho and regretted that we couldn’t stop for lunch in the swish restaurant on the water’s edge. Maybe at the end of the Portloe/Portscatho walk – if I remember. We walked into the wind but mostly we were sheltered by the headlands until the lighthouse at the very end above Carrick Roads. There was a lot of wildlife to see (Tom had his binoculars), skylarks and seabirds but one strangely coloured bird that we have failed to identify. Today’s bonus i-spy was a seal lolling around on the rocks far below us. We found a seat with a view for our break but it was an exposed spot, so, quick lunch. As we reached the battery and made our turn up the estuary the sky threatened and sure enough a nasty shower gave us a drenching. The signpost indicated a short walk to Place for the ferry but either we missed the path or were on the wrong one, it was definitely much further than indicated. Ironically we could see the ferry station but had to navigate round a private estate where they were about to hold a wedding reception. By the time we got to the ferry station the squall had long gone and we waited in the warm summer sun, steam rising off our wet backs. The ferry did come at the appointed time but the Percuil river was choppy so we were lucky it was still running. Very lucky actually as we were on the end of a peninsular with no public transport before Gerrans from where we’d just walked, 7 miles away!! I don’t think we’d factored that into the plans so phew! A hot cup of tea was required at St Mawes. I can’t believe I rejected the ice cream offer but time and place etc. Another little squall hit on the crossing back to Falmouth but the sun then came out for us to enjoy on our shorter walk, low tide, back to the hotel. Oh yes, the ferry docked just by an ice cream shop;)