Sunday 10 May 2026

Day 19 of walking

Perranporth to Portreath
Distance: 18.86km
Total distance: 380.20km
Climbing: 686m
Total climbing: 12,257m

Today was the second time we have had a vehicle transfer. Last night we stayed at The St George’s Hotel Perranporth and today we walked from Perranporth to Portreath. The hotel then sent a car to Portreath and drove us back to Perranporth. Tomorrow morning they will drive us from Perranporth to Portreath and we will start walking from there. This was a better arrangement as we could agree on a pick-up time after breakfast this morning and no phone calls were required. We shared the car again with the same young German couple as last time and it was about a half hours drive. The car was a Tesla and I think this is the first time I have been in a Tesla. It was left hand drive which I thought would have been a bit unusual as the UK is right hand drive like us.

The day started with some cliff climbing and walking and then we began to see evidence of Cornwall’s coastal mining heritage. The first were mine shafts protected with conical metal grate tops to prevent people falling down them, and piles of not very attractive mine waste. Then at Blue Hills tin mine a stone chimney, a hint of what was ahead. But first the quaint Trevaunance Cove (St Agnes). It is a tiny rocky cove with a little sandy beach at low tide, popular with surfers and has a shop, toilets, surf school etc, and a handful of dinghies pulled up on the slipway.

After climbing St Agnes Head we came to the mining areas of Wheal Coates and Towan Porth. There has been surface mining for tin here since the middle ages but the buildings standing today date from 1876 and later. They are mainly engine houses for the mine shafts, stamps and dressing floors. The ore was mined deep underground with shafts going far out under the sea. The ore was crushed with stamps and then roasted to draw off impurities like arsenic. This venture was not a great financial success and closed down in 1914. As well as tin small quantities of zinc, copper and arsenic were mined. The remaining engine house and chimneys are grand and imposing and show something of the scale of the activity here.

A roller coaster path then to a succession of coves and beaches, tiny Chapel Porth, middle sized Porthtowan, and the largest of them, our destination Portreath. Some steep descents and climbs and walking alongside the fence to a military area for about 5 kilometres. Some keen mountain bikers out as well today but the path would be extremely demanding for them. Generally cycling is banned on the Coast Path except in designated areas. A lot of the terrain with boulders, steps and very steep climbs are not suitable for most cyclists.Portreath is a small community and very untouristy. It has a nice pub, The Portreath Arms, post office, grocer, bakery, deli, toilets and a bus service. Today is Sunday and we had planned to arrive In Portreath for a late lunch of Sunday roast. However at the bar they informed us the kitchen is now closed on Sundays. They did point us in the direction of the deli and recommended it. We arrived there at 2.20, their closing time was 2.30, but they welcomed us in and said the kitchen would stay open for us. We each had a delicious Combi Bowl of ½ jacket potato with beans and cheese and salad bowl of mixed leaves, coleslaw, cajun hummus, crunchy rainbow veg (?), honey mustard cabbage, kale and queso pasta.

Another great day, sunny but with a strong cool wind, the highlight being the tin mining heritage area. The path was busy today, a sunny Sunday, the beach cafes and pubs packed, families enjoying the beaches, surfers enjoying the breaks and the tin mines always attracting visitors.Tomorrow is supposed to be a 30 kilometre day which is a bit much for us. 20 kilometres is comfortable but when it goes above that we tend not to enjoy it so much. The following day is a rest day in St Ives so we are going to do some creative thinking about how to shuffle the next three days around a bit.