Portloe to Mevagissey, 19 km, 866m climbing

‘The person who dances with you in the rain will most likely walk with you in the storm.’

We both had good, long sleeps last night in a room that was cool and quiet, so we set off feeling much more refreshed. The Lugger put on an excellent breakfast with freshly squeezed orange juice, Cornish yoghurt with berry compote and divine eggs benedict.

Straight out of Portloe the path was a bit nasty. Three stiff climbs before we had warmed up and got into the rhythm of the day. From there it was a fairly uneventful stretch along cliff tops on a lovely grass track to the twin hamlets of West and East Portholland both facing a sheltered beach.

Just past East Portholland we came across Caerhay’s Castle. This is in fact a castellated manor house dating from 1810. The design was by Georgian architect John Nash, most famous as the architect of Buckingham Palace, Marble Arch and much of Regency London. The castle is well known and visited for its 120 acres of gardens. Apparently it has the largest collection of magnolias in England.

Next up was the main challenge of the day, ascending Dodman Point from sea level to the cross 114 metres above at the top. This is the highest headland in southeast Cornwall but we had climbed headlands twice this height a couple of weeks ago. The cross was built in the 19^th century as a navigation aid. From the point, far to the west in the haze we could make out The Lizard. Four and a half days walk away.

From there it was a gentle descent to the peaceful village of Gorran Haven for lunch at the Mermaid Café. Gorran Haven had a classic telephone booth housing the local library! Then some ambling along clifftop to Bodrugan’s Leap. This a cliff edge named after Sir Henry Bodgrun who is said to have successfully leapt off the cliff to a waiting boat in the cove below in his efforts to evade his pursuer, Sir Richard Edgcumbe, during the War of the Roses in the 15^th century.

An easy downhill walk and we arrived at Mevagissey.

This is a busy, bustling, working harbour and one of the highlights of the south Cornish Coast. It is named after two saints, Meva and Issey. The town thrived with the rise of the pilchard industry. The fish provided both a source of nutrition and a source of power, a power station having been built in 1895 that ran on pilchard oil. As a result, Mevagissey claims to be the first village in England to have electric street lighting.

We arrived in good shape, much better than yesterday. We really like having accommodation on the path and not about a kilometre away. For the second night in a row we ate at a pub named The Ship Inn. I wonder if we can make it a trifecta in Charlestown tomorrow night. We also had our first Cornish ice cream tonight. We won’t bother again, NZ makes ice cream as well as anyone in the world.