Monday 4 May 2026 – I’m 77 today

Day 14 of walking
Tintagel to Port Isaac
Distance: 17.14km
Total distance: 278.38km
Climbing: 789m
Total climb: 9,555m

“Hey, hey it’s my birthday
Happy birthday to me
Having such a good time”

Apologies to Lennon McCartney, The White Album 1968

For those who know Bingo, when the number 77 comes up the call is 77 Sunset Strip. This is in reference to a very popular American TV crime series in the late 1950s/early 1960s called 77 Sunset Strip. Sometimes at Bingo they even start singing the theme tune which is very catchy and only has 4 words followed by two clicks and lots of Ahs, Doos, Dahs. You can listen to it on Youtube. Only people older than me in their 80s will will know anything about this.

I have had a great birthday. While ordering breakfast this morning Barbara  mentioned it was my birthday and when the waiter brought out my bacon and egg bloomer it had a lit candle in it. So nice, and it meant I could make a wish.  No, they didn’t sing happy birthday! This afternoon in Port Isaac we decided to buy our first “true” Cornish pasties. In the bakery I decided to also buy some cake and when the lady heard it was for my birthday it was “on the house”. Tomorrow we will find the quaintest tea house in Port Isaac and have a Cornish Cream Tea to celebrate my birthday

We back tracked a bit this morning to get back on the Coast Path and walked around the Camelot Castle Hotel, a huge Victorian structure on top of a headland. It has a focus on art and holds  art exhibitions in the hotel. On the lawn outside the hotel is an art installation of an Aston Martin car by Ted Stoughton, a blend of artistic imagination and engineering excellence. From the hotel you climb past the entrance to Tintagel Castle on Tintagel Head. Since we were here in 2018 an elegant high level bridge has been constructed linking the mainland with the Head. Previously there were steep steps down to near the water, a little bridge, and a steep climb back up. Now it is a level walk across, but only if you have a head for heights. An adult entry to the castle is £22 about NZ$55 each which we didn’t bother to do as there is very little of the castle remaining to see. It does have a cool sculpture, lots of interpretive material and fabulous views up and down the coast.

Just past the Castle is the lovely medieval (11th or 12th century) St Materiana’s Church. It has a high tower and is perched on a high dramatic cliff top. It was to be our reference point all day and even from the headland approaching Port Isaac it was visible about 17km away.

Another tough day of high cliffs cut by precipitously steep valleys. It was an empty, remote, arduous and dramatic coastline. At about the halfway point, squeezed into a steep valley was the hamlet of Trebarwith Strand, a tiny little settlement with a sandy little beach, The Port William Inn, a shop, cafe and most important of all, public toilets. Being a Bank Holiday Weekend Monday it was busy and there were a few hardy souls in swimming.

We passed through an area of once thriving slate quarries on the cliffs. This area was worked for slate for over 300 years. There were isolated pinnacles left in the quaries. One theory is that these were the fixing points for cables lowering the slate to ships below. The other theory is that they are inferior slate not worth the effort to extract.

Just before reaching Port Isaac we passed through Port Gaverne which has a very nice hotel (we stayed there in 2018), a slipway and a few cottages. It is only 1km further on to Port Isaac where we are staying for two nights. Our accommodation is The Old School Hotel a gorgeous 1875 building formerly a school with a restaurant, very nicely fitted out rooms and a view down to the the harbour. We are up in the roof space again. You have to exit the main building, climb some outside stairs, cross over a flat section of roof, re-enter the roof space where we are among some very interesting old timber trusses. It is a very generous room and currently holds the record for the biggest room we have slept in. The rooms all have school subject names. Ours is Mathematics, and next door is Music.

Tomorrow is a rest day here in Port Isaac, and we need it. The last week has seen the steepest sections of the entire Coast Path. We have now walked the equivalent of our Vivian St apartment to about 10kms short of Waiouru.