SWCP Day 12 - Boscastle to Port Isaac

Day 12 - Sunday 21 May 2017

Boscastle to Port Isaac (14 miles)

Well - after an absolutely knackering day yesterday one thing we did want at The Mill House was a good nights sleep. Fat chance of that after having to try to sleep through 6 encores of "Wild Rover" before the loosely termed "folk singer" finally buggered off stage just after 0030. To be fair to the management at the pub, we were warned about live music when we checked our booking but mistakenly thought that as the pub had guests staying that they might have knocked it on the head at 2230 - never mind. Our own fault - maybe we should have stayed in Boscastle after all and paid the £175 a night????

Anyway, enough churlish moaning - we were off to Doc Martin land today - aka Port Isaac. Our taxi driver Kenny picked us up promptly to take us back to Boscastle and whilst we were in transit we passed a hotel in Tintagel where we saw a man moving a suit of armour outside - looked like he was dancing with it - maybe he was? After being dropped off in Boscastle we readied ourselves and headed off on what was another tough day to be honest - less mileage than yesterday but much up and down to be negotiated. As we neared Tintagel the path became very busy as you would expect and the scenery was again stunning, particularly on the approach to the village.

At Tintagel we stopped at the Cafe - again extremely busy but we managed to find a table and enjoy a superb Cheese Scone for lunch. Leaving the crowds we soon arrived at Trebarwith Strand where we had stayed last night - again very busy so we didn't stop. Approaching Port Isaac the terrain became a lot more undulating and we were glad to see Port Gaverne & subsequently Port Isaac. What a great days walking this was - just superb.

We were staying at The Old School Hotel which doubles as Portwen School in the Doc Martin series. Whilst a tad pricey we had a comfortable room and also had a very good evening meal in company with a large party of 16 Austrian women - Scallops, Steak & Sticky Toffee Pudding. Slept extremely well after a tough day and little sleep last night.

The start of todays leg from Boscastle Harbour

The lower footbridge over the River Valency in Boscastle.
It was installed in December 2007 to replace the old one which was severely damaged in the floods of 2004.

It is difficult to imagine the floods of 2004 and how they must have affected the people of this beautiful village.

The northern side of the harbour - our route into the village yesterday can be seen to the left

Meachard & Profile Rock at the entrance to Boscastle Harbour

The National Coastwatch Station on Willapark. Overlooking Boscastle Harbour, the lookout was originally built in the early 1800's as a summer house by the local landowner Thomas Rickard Avery. Later it was leased to the board of trade as a lookout to help prevent smuggling, and later used as a coastguard lookout up until the 1970's. Recently, under National Trust ownership it has been maintained as a folly, until in 2002 it was leased by the National Trust to Boscastle National Coastwatch institution.