Headlines
Coastal Walk: along the cliffs to Llansallos
Lunch: a pastie in Polperro
Afternoon Tea: we could have reached our cream tea limit
Stream of Consciousness
Coastal Walk: along the cliffs to Lansallos
The weather forecast is for fine today, rain tomorrow. So today is our day for a coastal walk. We head off in the direction we have never headed before...
Actually, Deb finds (in the cottage) a book of "short(ish)" walks in the area. There's a loop walk from here, along the coast, back via an inland lane or two. That's where we go today. Tomorrow we plan to avoid walking.
Historical note:
Why did we come to Polperro? Because it has associations... Almost forty years ago -- on our six month "honeymoon" trip -- Deb and I stayed in various places round Great Britain. One was Polperro. We stayed for two weeks, at about this time of year.
Polperro has very pleasant memories.
Deb decided that she would like to revisit Polperro, in this year of our 40th wedding anniversary. I had suggested it for our 35th, but who listens... So here we are :-)
Time to put reality to those old and very pleasant memories!
So here we are. And we set off on a walk towards Lansallos. Along the coastal trail. Which is now a part of the very long South West Coast Trail. On our previous visit we did not -- as far as I remember -- walk this way.
Down to the harbour. Towards the coast to the west. Up a track. "Steep" goes without saying. We walk along the coastal cliffs.
It's a beautiful walk! The coast goes in and out. Lots of cliffs, high enough to make me nervous... I get my usual leg strain, from leaning in -- nervously -- away from the down side :-)
There are coves. No sign of beaches. Not from where we are, anyway. We chat with a couple going the other way. They had parked at Lansallos Church. They say, there's no shop there, nothing but the church. But there are two nice Lansallos beaches. We exchange comments on the pleasant weather and the pleasant walking.
The weather is chilly but the sun is shining. A lot of the walk is sheltered from the wind, by the hills, rising further above us. Very pleasant for walking! Almost nice enough to stop and sit on the grass. Very dry, too. I've noticed that weather reports claim 90% humidity but at these temperatures, that's still dry.
We're walking 50m or so above sea level, 50m or so below the tops of the hills. The track is clear and easy though rough. Bluebells, primrose of various colours, gorse. (Deb tells me the names.) Some hawthorn, higher up the hill.
Lots of blackberry, nettle, other green stuff that we can't name. Sheep wander through here, we see wool stuck on blackberries. Sheep in green fields that we sometimes see above us, where the hills flatten a bit. Birds shouting and sometimes appearing.
And bumblebees! Big, fat things, buzzing slowly. Not slow enough for me to take a photo...
Some damp underfoot but the track is mostly dry and firm. We cross a couple of streams, flowing and largely overgrown.
Quite a bit of up and down. At one point Deb's guidebook claims 160 steps up. Deb confirms that count. There's another stream vallley -- down then up again -- which must have almost as many steps. Plus various shorter sets of steps. Hard work but the steps make walking easier.
We pass half a dozen couples walking the other way. One woman by herself. One man -- jogging. Hmmm... that's why we don't win our trail runs. We don't train on tracks like this!
There are several boats out to sea. A couple of boats are clearly taking tourists to view the coast. We hear a dog barking as one passes by, wonder if that dog will be included on the return journey. A fast motor boat, a couple of sail boats. What looks like a double canoe!
Our point to turn off this coastal trail is at a stile, past a stone monument. We guess that the monument -- Cleopatra's Needle but shorter -- is a marker. White paint mostly peeled off. It must have been a marker for ships at sea.
We walk a bit past our turnoff... But the bay ahead -- at Lansallos -- shows no sign of appearing. Back, to a seat facing the sea. We snack, on a muesli bar left over from a past rogaine. And another muesli bar left over from our goodies bag at our Spanish rogaine... The Spanish muesli bar expired last year. Still delicious. "Balisto". Remember that if we ever visit Spain again:-)
The way back is up a steady rise through a farm. With sheep and cows. Deb has just read Bill Bryson's latest book. He claims that cows kill several people each year in England... So I stand between Deb and the cows... who look at us and run the other way.
Up the hill to an old stone barn. Though a gate, along a lane: overgrown hedges or walls on either side, not often used by traffic, just a laneway for walkers.
End of the lane... and a few kilometres of walking along sealed roads, back to Polperro. Not so much up and down! Phew! But narrow: when the occasional car passes by we have to stand very close to the wall at the side of the road.
Along Raphael Road, obviously named after Robbie :-)
The road gets a bit wider. Then narrower -- and we walk down, back into Polperro. I forget to check... but... perhaps three hours walking, perhaps 8 or 9 kilometres. I'll check the GPS for the truth. When I get back to a PC in Perth.
I carry the GPS to track where we go -- and to search for geocaches. There is one in Polperro (yet to be found, by us). And another about a kilometre past where we turned back. A multi, as well, but I don't store multis in the GPS. They are too uncertain, for cachers in a hurry.
Lunch: a pastie in Polperro
I used to think of Polperro as one long street... We walk down a "new" street. Past a bakery -- so we stop for lunch. A Cornish pastie and tea / coffee. Delicious pastie! We decide that it compares favourably with Nana's, with Nana's having flakier and more buttery pastry but equally delicious.
The cakes in the bakery are very tempting but we resist.
We walk home. Stopping to buy some more supplies at the general store. Struggle up the last hill... And that's it. For now.
Afternoon Tea: we could have reached our cream tea limit
We relax at home for an hour or two. Could have slept for a bit. Head out just after four, for afternoon tea.
A lot of possibilities for afternoon tea -- are closed. The bakery -- is closing, only selling take-aways. We go a bit further, to the Bean & Scone.
It's tiny. Three or four tables inside, one outside. I think it's also planning to close. No worries, we get "half cream tea" -- one scone, each. The scones are nice, but dry...
All of our cream tea scones have been dry. Compared to Deb's. I wonder if it's because they've been sitting, waiting for us? Or if that's just the way they are intended to be? We have read that Cornish cream tea is on an almost-bread thing rather than a standard scone.
Anyway, it's nice :-) Though I may have reached the limit of my clotted cream yearnings! (Single cream: 18% fat. Clotted cream: 64% fat. According to Wikipedia.)
Deb has one cup of tea, I have three... As usual, Deb drinks while we walk, I drink less then catch up after the walk.
Back to our cottage. To settle down for the evening.
Drat! I've had the GPS batteries charging all day... but it didn't work. So we have just two changes of battery for the rest of the holiday. Unless I can buy another suitable charger.
We can track where we've been with the "running" gizmos. But they don't point to geocaches. The larger GPS can run in the car. So we can get close to a cache then carefully hoard the "portable" batteries. But that won't work while we're walking...
Oh well, we've not being doning much geocaching anyway!
Deb cooks dinner: poached eggs. I have mine on toast and cheese... and toast and cheese. It sort of works!
Washing up has been done. Deb is watching tv, I'm wrapping up today's journal. (Then I'll start to describe Garden Cottage.) It's half past seven. The sun is still well up... we're almost into the long twilight.
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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Agamedes Consulting
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"The greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing." — William Arthur Ward.
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