It’s been a while since I did any of my Use of Ferries walks. These are basically walks to fill in the ‘gaps’ left when I did the South West Coastal Path over 6 years ago and used local ferries to cross rivers and estuaries. Over the years I have been busy ‘filling’ in these ‘gaps’ to achieve a full walking record around the coast of Great Britain. As it stands I have two remaining rivers to complete, the Helford River and Falmouth River. I hope to get both of these walks done before the ferries stop in late September/October, as I still utilise the ferries to link the two walking points around the estuaries to the first bridging point.
The largest estuary walk would be the walk around the huge Falmouth Estuary, the third deepest harbour in the world and composed of a myriad of tributary rivers, creeks, inlets and pools. It would take two days to walk around.
Today I would do the first days walk around the estuary, although for logistical reasons, I would have to return for the second walk another time. The logistical reason being the unavailability of affordable accommodation in the area, £130 per night is not affordable in my book. This also meant a long day out from Shropshire, as the mileage to this part of Cornwall was 280 miles – one way!
The plan was to complete a very broad sweep around the numerous rivers and creeks avoiding the small peninsulas and promontories which had very few footpaths or right of way around them. I decided to make Truro, the County town of Cornwall, my end point for this walk, so that’s the place I headed for on the overnight drive down. I parked at Truro railway station, where parking was only £2.70 all day on a Saturday/Sunday; compared to a Council Car Park at £8.20 any day!
Another consideration for today’s walk was the route. Cornwall’s roads are notorious for their lack of footpaths and verges to safely walk along, in fact some of the roads have almost vertical high banks either side, with no escape or refuge from any traffic. As you can imagine, there are many tourists around at this time of the year, so avoiding the traffic was a key priority.
I decided to get the 07:22 #U1 bus to Falmouth and then pick up the water ferry to St. Mawes and then a smaller ferry onto Place, a small jetty on the end of the Roseland Peninsular. Both ferries were very busy, particularly the smaller Place ferry, where the number was restricted to 12 passengers at a time. Because this ferry was only 5 minutes either way, the ferry made a couple of trips to get the other walkers across.
After all the travel and planning I finally set off at 09:15 on a beautiful sunny morning from Place. I climbed up a well-trodden path up the hill towards the small village of Bohortha, here I joined public road. I continued undisturbed along the empty road to Porth farm. To my right, just 200m away, was the South West Coastal Path and of course the sea. From Porth farm I continued along a green lane which was also a bridle way. I met no one until I descended into the small village of Portscatho, which I walked through some 6 years ago. I retraced my steps along the SWCP a short distance through the village, but as the coastal path continued along the coast I took a minor road with only the odd car. By the time I reached the village of Curgurrell I had to turn inland away from the coast.
I continued along a series of twisting lanes through the hamlets of Treluggan, Treworthal, Trenestrall, Trelonk and Trethella before descending to the village of Ruan Lanihorne. Although I did not walk through the village but instead took a lower road alongside the River Ruan. The Ruan joined up with the River Fal, which I crossed over at the Sett Bridge. The Fal at this point was just a small river and emptied into an upper tidal estuary surrounded by wooded hills. The area was very secluded and quiet, apart from the odd walker and car; the whole area was a delight to walk through. I left the road again and took a bridle path that led to the hamlet of Gare, from there it was back to the twisty turning roads, albeit without cars.
I passed through the small hamlets of Little Tregerrick, Tregerrick and Carharthen before I started to hear the traffic coming from the A390 at Tresillian, where I was heading next. The traffic on the A390 was very heavy, but it was reassuring to have a footpath to walk along before I turned off the main road. The next mile along a minor road into Truro was horrible, as an accident on the A39 near to Truro had cars being diverted down to this small road I was trying to walk along. It was actually chaotic with cars unable to get past each other and me being unable to pass them either! At times I was actually standing in the road waiting to pass cars! I was glad to descend into Truro itself and head back to the railway station. I did not explore the City of Truro, perhaps I may do that on my next trip.
Apart from the chaos of the final bit of road into Truro, the walk had been wonderful, few people and even fewer cars made it a truly enjoyable walk and place to be.
Distance today = 17 miles
Total distance = 6,257 miles
Walking the Coast of Great Britain 
Some great pictures on this section, Alan.
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