The plan
9.25 miles\364m ascent\average grade 5%\3:09 hours of moderate walking to Seaview (Cs) and The Grove (Ls). Then a rest day!
Reality
We had all kinds of flexibility today. Mawnan Smith, where both lodgings were, is in the center of a bulge of land. There were options for start point–being driven back to where we got off the ferry at Helford Passage, or south to any of a number of places to intercept the coast path a little later. And at the end, there was the choice to go straight into Falmouth or walk around the peninsula first.
The Cs started from the ferry, the Ls about 2 miles in at Mawnan. Amazingly, we met up without any drama at all, and carried on toward Falmouth.
Still plenty of messing about on boats going on as we walked alongside the Helford River at the start of the day…
The choices through this wooded area were a bit confusing, we checked the phone app Outdoor Map Navigator with the usually-accurate blue line showing the GPX track we should be on. In the case of this wood, all paths led to the same place.
At Maenporth, about 4 miles in, we stopped at an unusually upscale beach side eatery. We felt a little under-dressed and over-sweaty for the venue, but I’m glad we didn’t let that dissuade us. Lovely food, and not too expensive either.
I left my poles behind when we left, but luckily there was a slight climb up from the beach which immediately made me realize they were missing so I went back for them. I wondered how far back I’d be willing to go to retrieve items–if I’d noticed after a mile, would I still have gone back?
Next up was Swanpool Beach where we watched a parade of school kids in kayaks.
This feels like a very minimal requirement to be a lifeguard!!
Lovely Queen Mary gardens in Falmouth.
And an unusual walk-under of a building on the seafront.
Most of us walked around the peninsula rather than heading straight into Falmouth, but it wasn’t really worth it. The castle is completely out of sight when you’re that close to it, and much of the walking was right next to the loop road around it. The only enjoyable part was emerging along the docks where navy boats and ferries were undergoing maintenance.
The Ls were staying at quayside level in a place called The Grove. I knew we were 0.4 miles away, but hadn’t appreciated that a chunk of that was seriously uphill. Despite being a relatively short day, the uphill was seriously unwelcome. And when we arrived at the Seaview Inn slightly after check in time of 4pm, it was locked. We sat around, critiquing what felt like a somewhat rundown place from the outside, questioning why we’d had to walk so far for somewhere less than great.
Eventually we called the innkeeper who let us in. Not the best room for a rest day–bit small, and such a hike up and down to town, but a beautiful view across the bay, and the pub itself was nice. Oh, and it was on about the same level as the launderette we used the next day.
