This was another ’round the estuary’ walk to complete a circuit round the River Fowey, which I was making due to having previously used a ferry while walking the SWCP. I had intended to do two days in Cornwall, but the tides were against me.
I decided to save fuel and parked at Lostwithiel, the first bridging point over the River Fowey. Lostwithiel, is a small ancient market town and a place I had never visited before. The weather was forecasted to be dull and overcast. I decided to head towards Fowey first, making my way along quiet country lanes, tracks and footpaths. I left Lostwithiel at 7:30 when I had enough light to start walking. The sky was very gloomy and there was a fine drizzle as I headed south near to the railway track. After passing underneath a railway viaduct at Milltown I emerged onto a small road. The rest of the walk onto Fowey would be along lanes and roads. Unfortunately, most of the roads were sunken, which meant they had large steep and high embankments (up to 12ft), with trees atop and very narrow. This meant that the odd car that I met had me pressed to the side of the embankment, although thankfully the car inched past me at low speed. Of course walking along such roads gave me zero views. The drizzle persisted for most of the morning and I was glad when I entered Fowey.
My first port of call in Fowey, was The Cornish Bakery, where I bought 4 large Cornish pasties. One for my breakfast, the other 3 for my family’s dinner that night. I munched on my pasty as I caught the foot passenger ferry across to Polruan. The weather was beginning to brighten up now as I climbed the steep slopes and steps in search of a footpath, The Hall Walk, which would take me towards Pont. I was heading above Pont Pill, one of the many creeks and inlets that connect to the River Fowey. I met another walker who had mistakenly caught the Boddinick car ferry instead of the foot passenger as he walked the SWCP. I was now on tarmac all the way back to Lostwithiel.
As the road climbed up one of the many small hills, I got a grand view of the topography of this part of Cornwall. A landscape of small flat-topped hummocky hills about 100m high and dissected by steep valleys, hiding the presence of tidal inlets or flooded river valleys (Ria’s). I headed through Lanteglos Highway, Lower Penpoll, where I resisted temptation to purchase Cyder from a local farm, Saint Veep and Lerryn. As I neared Lostwithiel, close to Treditchick I noticed a brightly painted kissing gate. There was a printed card on which a disgruntled local farmer had vented his spleen on “spineless do gooders (ramblers)”, also referring to them as “parasites”. Oh well it takes all sorts!
Not the best days walk.
Distance today = 16 miles
Total distance = 3,232 miles
Walking the Coast of Great Britain 