Walking and then Swimming to Mevagissey

Portloe and Mevagissey, 13.2 miles; 31.2 so far, Friday, June 14, 2024

We started what would be a very long day with a very early, but excellent breakfast at the Lugger Hotel. Here’s the team smiling like they didn’t know what they were in for.

We were soon underway, rising onto the cliff that hems in Portloe from the east.

The first three miles of today’s walk were pretty tough. Rather than rise all the way up onto the cliff, the trail presented us with a seemingly endless series of sharp ascents and twisting, rocky descents.

The sea was, as always, spectacular.

The headland on the far right is called Dodman’s Point; it was our first goal, lying a bit more than halfway along our walk. We didn’t know it, but it would become our reference point for most of the rest of the walk, visible from very fr to the north.

Near the end of the roller coaster, the twin villages of East and West Portland come into view.

We chatted with a nice fellow out walking his dog; he assured us that the path smoothed out from here on in, but “of course it still goes up and down.”

And sure enough, we soon found ourselves indulging in some rather pleasant walking.

As we emerged from the woods, Caerhays Castle came into view.

Not really a castle, as it turns out, but rather a castellated country house built for the Trevallion family by the famous Regency architect John Nash (Marble Arch; Regent Street; Buckingham Palace) from 1807-1810. The castle overlooks Porthluney Cove and its beach; a nice beach cafe gave us a chance for a cup of tea after our morning’s walk.

The path then led, pleasantly, through a series of fields and pastures.

Then came our cow trouble. A big herd was blocking the path. Patti took a high road, and one cow took a liking to her and trotted along behind…putting a little pop in Patti’s step. We decided the low road was better, although a large number of young steers kept an eye on us. Viv, Iggy, Nathaniel, Alex, grandma wants you to know that she led the way through the cows!

This is a view back at the country through which we had just passed.

We had a good bit of cliff walking before we reached Dolman’s Point: three big cliffs, each one bounded by wooded stream valleys. Which meant climbing the cliff and descending into the combes. The biggest of these was Greeb Point, visible below.

Patti was just happy to crest another cliff!

Not far below our friendly cows we passed above Hemick Beach.

The path above the beach leading to the right brings the walker to Dodman Point. It was 2:30, and there was some difference of opinion as to how far from Megavissey we actually were. We decided to follow the path straight up the field, cutting off the walk to Dodman Point and saving about a mile. After some field walking, we found ourselves on a small paved road passing just above the Coast Path and heading straight for the lovely village of Gorran Haven.

We entered Gorran Haven along the incredibly steep street called Foxhole Lane. At the bottom we had a choice of ice cream joints.

Clotted cream with fudge chunks was pretty good!

Just as we reached the highest point in Gorran Haven, the skies opened again. We were climbing through fields above Great Perhaver Beach, and at first the rain wasn’t a problem. But as we approached Pabyer Point, the wind suddenly began howling, the temperature dropped precipitously, and the horizontal rain turned to horizontal hail. Gary was actually blown down. We went as fast as we could around the point, hoping to get in the lee. And just as we did the wind and rain let up. Here’s Sue trying to hold her hat on!

We passed three lovely houses on Chapel Point.

From there we made our fairly easy way into Portmellon, a suburb of Mevagissey, across more fields and farm roads. With Portmellon Harbor behind us, we ascended steeply on narrow streets. At the crest, a lovely couple we had chatted with on the path saw us and stopped, reminding us to descend into Megavissey via a narrow park that plunges down the hill. It avoids at least some of a narrow, dangerous road.

Mevagissey is a lovely place. Yes, there are signs of mass tourism here and there, but it remains essentially a Cornish fishing village.

We were staying at The Wheelhouse on the harbor, which offers rooms next to a restaurant. The rooms were tiny, and our gear was soaked again, but we all managed to dry everything out. And all the rooms had beautiful views out onto the harbor and beyond that to the sea.

After the discussions of how long it would take us to get to Megavissey, we had placed a bet. David and Patti were pessimistic, Sue, Gary, and I optimistic. I had said 4:30, Gary 4:45…and Gary won by one minute. But David had lost–badly–and had to buy drinks. We repaired to the extremely atmospheric Fountain Inn, one of the oldest pubs on this part of the coast.

The low ceilings were something of a hazard, but the beer and wine and a bit of whisky were terrific.

We had an excellent dinner, with more sea bass and some great seafood chowder at a place called the Sharkfin, right on the harbor.

The night was interesting. We had all cranked up our radiators, trying to dry shoes, socks, packs, you name it. So in order to sleep, we had to have the windows pretty wide open. Which meant that we were awakened repeatedly by the many gulls that inhabit Megavissey harbor. No one would call the sea gull’s cry a serenade!