Port Gavern to Padstow, 19 km, 691 metres of climbing

‘My FitBit died. Now all my steps are pointless until it charges’

Today was our easiest day so far. Partly because we are now strong and right into the rhythm of walking but also because the terrain was much gentler with easier undulations. Right at the start there was a rollercoaster of a path, closely following the ups and downs and ins and outs of the energy-sapping coast. But we avoided it by taking an official alternative route which went inland over meadows, still crossing a lot of valleys but just not as vicious.

Our first stop this morning was after only 1 km at the very picturesque Port Isaac, a village of cobbled alleyways and white washed houses clustered around a little harbour at the head of a sheltered bay. As I said yesterday it is the setting for the popular tv programme Doc Martin. The programme started in 2004 and is in about its 9^th series. Hordes of tourists now visit to see the sets and watch filming. Hoteliers, restaurateurs and shop keepers are making a nice profit and trendy boutiques and smart art galleries have muscled in, but the locals living there have become a bit disgruntled with constant blocked roads and traffic stoppages, film crew basically taking over the town and doing whatever they want. It was all quiet when we passed through at 9 am.

From Port Isaac to Port Quin we went inland over fields of freshly cut hay. This was a nice change from being constantly on the coast with an endless blue horizon off to our right. Port Quin is yet another beautiful little fishing village and was once a busy pilchard port but there are no remains of that industry now. Just after Port Quin we came to the tiny folly of Doyden Castle, perched on a promontory with commanding views up and down the coast. We climbed up to have a closer look and discovered a woman there sitting outside with a cup of coffee. It is now a National Trust holiday let!

The path continued around cliffs and dramatic headlands (called The Rumps) until at Pentire Point you turn a corner and suddenly in front of you is the holiday town of Polzeath and acres and acres of sand filling the Camel Estuary. Polzeath is your typical holiday town with swimming, surfing, buckets and spades, sun burn, ice cream, and surprisingly busy for a mid-week afternoon.

At Pentire Point there was also a plaque commemorating the moving war poem For the Fallen, written somewhere near there by Lawrence Binyon in 1914 at the start of WWI. We all know the fourth stanza:

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

The coast has now changed from dramatic, rugged, steep, dark cliffs to a tamer, sandier, more estuarine landscape. More domesticated with housing and tourist developments. The last part of our walk today was several kilometres over sand dunes. The Camel Estuary is huge and instead of walking about a hundred kilometres around it, there is a 10 minute ferry service (£2) from Rock across to Padstow.

Padstow (pop 3,000) is a working fishing port, popular tourist town and ‘foodie’ destination. After 8 days of walking we have a ‘rest’ day here tomorrow. Think we will go for a bike ride.

Note: ‘Who Pays the Ferryman ‘was a hit TV series 40 years ago when we first came to England.