Tuesday 26 May 2026

Day 32 of walking
Mevagissey to Par
Distance: 18.77 km
Total distance: 639.54
Climbing: 742 m
Total climb: 21,215 m

The forecast was for another hot day today, 25° feels like ? There was a young European lady at breakfast and we met her on the path a couple of times. She said her forecast had the temperature going up to feeling like 31°. We were sceptical of this but we were already perspiring after an hour in what should have been the cool of the morning. Last night at the Mandalay our room was easily 30° + until about midnight.

The Mandalay isn’t getting a good rap. It was sold to us as bed and breakfast. Breakfast turned out to be a meagre continental: coffee, packet cereal, flavoured pottle of yoghurt, toast and one croissant each. We were having breakfast with some continental couples and one man asked if there was any cheese. No, there was no cheese available.

On our way out Barbara mentioned to Tina that our room was very hot. She said we were lucky to be enjoying such good weather, it’s not always like this you know, and she couldn’t do anything about the weather. Apparently our room was the best in the hotel and she always gave it to Coast Path walkers. Tina wasn’t having a good day or maybe she was tired of being in the hotel industry.

Mevagissey was looking fantastic as we walked out this morning. Once again the water was like glass. It is interesting to see these little harbours when the tide is in or out. Sometimes the boats are floating and bobbing about and other times they are sitting on their keels in the sand. We bought some bread and Hobnobs at a tiny grocer and then a banana and two mandarins at a green grocer. When I tried to pay by card the green grocer asked if we could pay by cash. It was only £0.99. He only likes to have a card used on big transactions, due to the fees taken out I suppose. Our lowest note was £5 so Barbara had to use two of her public conveniences slot machine 50 pence coins.

It was a walk of two different characters today. The first section quite remote with some quite serious climbs and some attractive cliffs and headlands. The second half was more urban with houses, some walking on roads, busy beaches, a golf course a railway line and a large clay works.

Our first stop was at Pentewan Sands. This is a lovely little village but it is squashed up at one end of the bay and totally dominated by the huge Pentewan Sands Holiday Park. Hundreds of chalets, camper vans and tents. We wondered why everyone hadn’t gone home after Bank Holiday Weekend but learnt it is now half term break for the schools so all the children are still on holiday. At Pentewan Sands we stopped at a nice little café and bakery called Little Bay. They did breakfasts and baps and ciabattas and had a cabinet full of their own delicious cakes. We resisted the cakes and they provided us a refreshing drink of Cornish lemonade and ice. The lemonade was perfect, not too fizzy and with a hint of ginger to it.

From Pentewan it was a huge steep climb to the top of Black Head and we were suffering a bit out in the hot sun. We stopped in some woodland in the shade to have our coffee and get our breath back. Some easy cliff walking then a couple of steep up and downs. We came across a family retreating up a grassy slope who advised us that the path at the bottom was narrow between bracken and gorse hedges and the path was completely blocked by about 30 cows that wouldn’t let them through. They were going back to find a different way to get out of this field. There was another lady further down the track also frightened to go ahead. We said we would go ahead and have a look. Our old cow hand Barbara just waded into the cows, yelling at them to move and waving her walking poles. Reluctant at first the cows did turn tail and retreat down the path jumping into the gorse when they had a chance. The lady followed us through and probably thinks all Kiwis are farmers and know all about this stuff.

We were pretty hot and bothered now so at the next beach, Porthpean Beach, went for a swim. There is something about a swim in these circumstances. Not only does it cool the body and wash all the sweat from our bodies, it seems to revitalise the legs and feet, and refreshes and clears the mind. We ate our lunch in the shade of the trees away from the beach. The beach was packed and had absolutely no shelter.

A short walk over a hill and we reached Charlestown, an unspoilt harbour village, one of the loveliest in Cornwall. It has a dock built when there was a thriving clay exporting industry here. There are often old tall ships in the dock but nothing special today. We stayed here 2 nights last time and know it quite well. From here we had taken a bus inland to the Eden Project. From Charlestown it was an easy walk to Par but not without walking along the edge of a golf course, a railway line and around a huge industrial complex, part of a china clay plant with its own dock.

Today was another of our transfer days. At the Par Inn we were to be picked up by a Taxi at 5 pm and driven inland to our hotel in St Austell. We were at the Inn by 4 so ordered two large ice cold lemonades, rang the taxi company and waited in the cool of the beer garden. The taxi arrived in about 15 minutes and drove us about another 15 minutes inland to Boscundle Manor.

The contrast between last night and tonight could not be more stark. This is an eighteenth century manor set in a large estate of gardens and woodland. Our host is extremely friendly and obliging and calls Barbara ‘Madam’ and me ‘Sir’. There is a restaurant with inside and outside seating, a sun terrace, a 45 metre indoor pool heated to 28°, and it is extremely comfortable and beautifully furnished and decorated, with a special interest in zebras! For dinner Barbara had Katsu Leek and Feta Cake: leek & feta polenta cake, maple sweet potato with Katsu curry sauce. I had Vegetable Tangine: chickpea, apricot and sultana, shredded halloumi, maple siracha carrots.

Barbara looked up the temperature when we got to the manor and sure enough it was 29°, feels like 31°. This is 13 degrees above the average for this time in May. Tomorrow more of the same is forecast and it is a 24 kilometre section. This will be too much for us and we have concocted a new plan. The taxi is to pick us up at 9am and transfer us back to Par. Instead we will pay the taxi company the extra and they will deliver us further on to Fowey. This will take about 10 kilometres out of the day and make it a more comfortable walk.

Maggie records our exact distance walked and we compare this to the South West Coast Path Association Official Guide. They say the distance to Par is 594.9 kilometres. We have walked 639.54 kilometres. So we are ahead 44.6 kilometres. We treat this like credit in the bank. We can spend this credit as and when we like. So tomorrow we can spend 10 kilometres and get a taxi. On no account are we allowed to go into overdraft!