Portreath to Hayle

The plan

11.9\448m ascent\average grade 5%\3:53hours miles of moderate then easy walking, ending at Penellen. And maybe the possibility of my mother, brother, and sister-in-law’s company on the trail today and tomorrow?

Reality

11.85 miles. So about right. But oh my goodness we are slow! It’s supposed to take 4 hours, but we took more like 6 hours. That did include breaks for a drone flight and an icecream, but still, we are slow! That’s been true every day. We walk at best 2 miles an hour.

We hiked up out of Portreath, along the dog-poopiest path we’ve yet seen. Portreath would do well to set up some surveillance cameras to catch the perps. Having picked our way around the piles, we were rewarded by a beautiful view, including clouds foreshadowing likely change of weather tomorrow.

A couple of steep ups and downs at the start of the day–so much better than at the end! The rest of the day was quite benign and very enjoyable.

Here’s an example of the iconic Acorn signposts that waymark the South West Coast Path. Dave says they are actually icecreams, not acorns!

A lot of the path today was through clusters of a plant that I was trying to decide between Cow Parnsnip and Giant Hogweed. At a rare cellphone connection, I discovered it was Cow Parsnip, but that it’s still capable of causing sun-activated skin burns. Who knew?

We stopped in the intriguingly named Hells Mouth Cafe for tea, ice cream, coffee and cake. Dave decided to take my photo as proof that I’m actually on this walk at all.

Then onto our first view of this vast beach–4 miles long–leading toward Hayle.

A stunningly well-kept lighthouse…

Then down to the beach. I took my sandals off almost immediately. Took Dave a bit longer to abandon footwear…

But the beach went on and on and on, and eventually we were both paddling in the shallows…

Pause for hydration…

But the beach continues….look at the tiny lighthouse in the distance! 3 miles away at this point.

Finally we turned toward Hayle, along a mostly dry\low-tide inlet…

And checked into the Mad Hatter B&B. Surely the frilliest, pinkest place Dave has ever set foot inside?!?

We had tea in their tea party room, messed up the pink & frilly bedroom, and had a lovely dinner at the Cornish Arms down the road.

Tomorrow, only 5.5 miles to St Ives, followed by a rest day. AND POSSIBLY RAIN! Won’t that make a change!