Rob Setter's South West Coast Path Ramblings: Blog 30: St Mawes to Portloe, Mevagissey to Portloe. Tales of boats, and more boats, Purple and Pink. Home.

Hello all

I'm writing this blog from the comfort of my house back in Crockernwell. I am home for the wedding of Eve and Harry. Eve is my niece and the wedding is the perfect excuse to have a break from walking for a couple of days and enjoy a family occasion.

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The short ferry ride from St Mawes to Place was a delightful interlude and gave me the opportunity to take some photos of the many and varied boats in the estuary. It's a nervous business holding the phone out over the side of the boat whilst doing this. I asked the boatman if he had ever known anybody drop their phone over the side.

"More than you would imagine", he said, "the strange thing is that some of them think that there is something that I can do about it, like I can get their phones back somehow".

These are the photos that I took and clearly I held firmly onto my mobile.

A place called "Place"

Once I'd arrived at Place, it was a delightful walk around St Anthony's Head and on up the coast toward Portloe. I had intended to have a break for coffee in Porthcatho. A few years ago Jennie and I stayed there with Helen and Nick. There is a lovely coffee and snack kiosk which looks out onto the harbour. The story of the kiosk, that I remember, is that it used to be a public toilet which was due to be closed down because the upkeep of it didn't warrant keeping it open. Somebody bought it from the council and turned it into a cafe and had a toilet built at the rear which is open to the public and maintained by the cafe. So all in all it is a win, win situation.

As I rounded the headland and Porthcatho came into view, I could see that there was something going on. There were people everywhere and I soon worked out that there was going to be some gig racing.
I managed to get a coffee and a cheese and ham filled croissant, and got a prime seat overlooking some gigs as the crews prepared them for racing.

I couldn't stay to see the start of the first race, so I walked on, but not until I bought a piece of coffee and walnut cake from some children who were raising money to support the gig teams. I have to say that it didn't taste very much of coffee and was the sweetest thing that I have eaten for a long time.

The race started and I took a grainy picture of the crews. Although they were a long way out from the shore it was easy to hear the excited shouts from the teams as they struggled to win.

What became clear is that the teams take it all very seriously and also have fun in doing so.

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The flowers were out in strength on this stretch of the coastline and the sunny weather showed them at their best. First I came across some campions which were marvelous. A few foxgloves popped their heads up in the display.

Then a little further along the path, the foxgloves took centre stage in the most impressive display that I have ever seen.

I was absolutely bowled over by these foxgloves, so much so, that the next two people that came around the corner had to hear about how marvelous they were from me.

Two people came around the corner. I gestured towards the flowers and said something like - "I have never seen better foxgloves than this".

It was instantly clear to me that these two people could barely speak any English. This left me pointing and saying words like - "amazing", "very unusual to see so many", "lots", "lovely flowers, lots", - "anyway, have a nice walk".

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I met John and Jen (my neighbours) at Portloe and they drove me back to St Mawes to get my van. We stopped at St Mawes for a beer in the sunshine. A delightful day!

(Earlier we found a cafe along the path and I took a photo of their sign. I love an apostrophe and so did the cafe owners.)

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In the evening I left the van parked in a hosing estate up the hill from Mevagissey and walked down to the harbour to find somewhere to eat. The Fountain Inn was my choice and I'm glad it was. It was very crowded and I couldn't find a table for one, so I asked a couple of men if they would mind if I shared their table so that I could eat. They were very welcoming and we soon hit it off. One of them looked like I did - bearded and weather beaten.

Richard was walking the path too, but he had started in Poole and is walking to Minehead.

Richard's son was with him to help with some of the transport and to walk some stretches while he and his family are on holiday in the Mevagissey area.

Richard explained to me that his wife had recently died of motor-neurone disease. They used to walk a lot together. He is raising money for a motor-neurone charity.

Richard is a lovely man from Leeds and I am sorry that he is walking the opposite way from me because we got on well and would have enjoyed walking together.

Because the three of us got on so well and were joined in conversation by a couple on the next table, the evening stretched into one that was longer than I had planned. It was a very enjoyable time and we laughed a lot about our experiences. As a result of enjoying myself I ended up drinking four pints. (by far the most that I have drunk so far on this trip).

And..................Without a hangover, I was up and walking at 6.15 am.

I have to admit that the combination of some pretty miserable weather and the thought that I would be driving home as soon as I finished the walk, left me rushing on and not taking in very much of my surroundings. I suddenly realised that I was doing this so I slowed down a bit and took a few photos.