Port Isaac to Porteath

your way from there directly uphill on your Walks on and around the around Pennywilgie Point left, climbing southwards to Lundy Bay. to the top of the hill and then following the path to The sandy beach at the road beyond to Port Olver Photo: Lucy Epphaven can only be Quin Cross at Porteath, Photo: Julie Horsley reached by means of the where you can catch the bus back to Port Isaac. coast Path, and at low tide in North Cornwall it is a delightful secluded Alternatively, you can cove with caves and rock continue along the Coast pools. Path for another 4½ miles to Polzeath (see the Photo: Tim Wayne Lundy Bay, too, is a Polzeath to Porteath walk) stunning place, with its and catch the bus back rocks and surf and tiny from there. waterfall, as well as the Wildlife: There is plenty of wildlife to see around North heathland on the steep Cornwall including, Turnstones, Red Admirals and hillside above and the Cormorants. trees lining the valley away to the west. On the far side Other Useful Information of the beach is Lundy Hole, Nearest Refreshments: There are a number of restaurants, a natural archway through pubs and tearooms in Port Isaac, as well as Carters Café & to a remarkably open cave, Photo: Andrew Bolton Bar at the Bee Centre in Porteath. said by locals to have been made by the devil when Nearest toilet: There are public toilets at the Cliff Top car he was pursuing St Minver, park in Port Isaac. Port Isaac to Porteath but known by geologists to have been formed by the Public Transport: The Western Greyhound 584 bus runs An invigorating walk around some rocky headlands, collapse of a sea cave (see regularly between Wadebridge and Rock, stopping at the with secluded coves along the way and spectacular the Polzeath to Porteath car park by Polzeath beach as well as Port Quin Cross in views across Port Quin Bay to the Mouls, where walk, and the Stepper Point Porteath (by the Bee Centre) and Port Isaac. (Central Garage puffins, gannets and kittiwakes nest. Also featuring walk). Sand from the beach westbound and the Pea Pod eastbound). a nineteenth century crenelated folly, an abandoned used to be hauled up the village and the remains of a once-thriving antimony For bus details phone Traveline on 0871 200 22 33 cliff-face here by horse- mine at Gilson’s Cove. powered pulleys. OS Explorer Map: 106 Newquay & Padstow Reaching Lundy Bay, Distance: 4½ miles (7¼KM) turn off the coast path Start & Finish: Cliff Top Car Park, Port Isaac and take the path heading Start Postcode / Grid Ref: PL29 3AB / SW 998 810 Difficulty Level: Moderate Terrain: The Coast Path rises and falls dramatically along this part of the coastline, and there is a lot of steep ascent and descent, much of which is up and down winding flights of steps. This leaflet was produced by the South West Coast Path Team working in partnership with John Bray Cornish Holidays who have helped to fund the improvements on this walk. This is one of the many walks that can be found at johnbray.co.uk www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk DIRECTIONS: The Coast Path cuts but it was used in the Port Isaac is the setting for across the back of Varley production of pewter, and the TV series ‘Doc Martin’, Head, but this is open as a black pigment for both it is popular as a tourist access land, which means make-up and painting. destination, and therefore that you may wander finding a place to park freely around the headland From the mineshafts your car can be difficult in beyond, if you want to follow the Coast Path past the main holiday periods. linger and admire the Pigeon Cove and up to There is more parking at coastal views. You are Trevan Point. the car park at the top of asked to keep dogs on the village. leads however, to protect On the rocky summit ground-nesting birds as of Trevan Point there are From the Cliff top car park, well as livestock, whose great views across Port near the centre of the grazing has an important Quin Bay. The island of The village, follow the South part to play in the Rumps, on the far side of West Coast Path westward conservation management the bay, is called the Mouls, around to the harbour. of the headland. The where there are breeding grassland, arable field colonies of a number of From the south side of margins and seed-bearing seabirds, including puffins, the harbour in Port Isaac, crops on the farmland gannets and kittiwakes. In turn right up Roscarrock here are being managed 1946, the 815-ton coaster Hill past Doc Martin’s for farmland birds, such Sphene was wrecked home and follow the as the corn bunting and when she struck the Mouls narrow lane past the the Cornish national bird, in heavy seas and sank Wesleyan Chapel to the the chough, as well as to in the bay ahead of you. end of the road. Turn right, protect wildflowers and Her cargo of coal went towards the cliffs, and go important archaeology. down with her, but the through the kissing gate on the hillside behind the centuries: once when hand-bend, to pick up the crew all safely abandoned and up the steps beyond. At Scarnor Point, just it, was built by a former the pilchards failed, and footpath over the stile on ship. Nowadays it is a Follow the South West before you go down the governor of Wandsworth once when all the men your right into the field popular site for divers and Coast Path around Lobber steps to Downgate Cove, Prison, as his retirement were lost at sea and the towards Doyden Castle. the Mouls is a favourite Point and with it drop there are two Bronze Age home a century later, women could not carry Head towards the fenced venue for boat trips and down into Pine Haven. burial mounds above you after he’d spotted the site on without them. A few shafts on the cliff top at sea safari’s from the River on the hillside. from a fishing boat and yards up the road to your Gilson’s Cove, beyond the Camel. Ignoring the path up recognised its panoramic left as you reach Port folly. the valley to your left, As you round Kellan Head, potential. Quin are the tumbledown Unlike the rest of the carry along the Coast there are tremendous remains of just a few of the Doyden Castle was coastline around here, Path as it climbs the steps views over the natural Doyden Castle is now abandoned cottages, built used in the filming of the which is predominately ahead of you. The path harbour at Port Quin, and owned by the National into the rock face. Before original TV series Poldark, slate, the headland at follows the fence up and the handful of cottages Trust as a holiday rental. the village was abandoned based on the novels by The Rumps is formed of down around the ragged nestling in the valley at its Please remember to there were as many as 94 Winston Graham, and was volcanic rock, and there is coastline for the next head. On the headland respect the privacy of people living here, in 23 portrayed as the house of the remains of a prehistoric mile or two, giving you a opposite is Doyden Castle, anyone staying here. different houses. At the the doctor Dwight Enys. promontory fort on its twin wonderful workout with a folly built by Samuel back of the beach, as you humps (see the Polzeath to breath-taking views! Symmons early in the Dropping down into carry on past the slipway, The fenced shafts are Porteath Walk). nineteenth century so that Port Quin, turn right on the there are the fish cellars the old antimony mines. At Varley Head follow he and his friends had road to pass the slipway. where the pilchards were Antimony is a lustrous grey At Trevan Point carry the Coast Path as it a private venue for their salted. metal which is too brittle on along the Coast Path, continues to rollercoaster drinking and gambling It is said that Port Quin to be used by itself, and so ignoring the path heading around Greengarden Cove habits. In striking contrast, was abandoned twice over Carry on up the hill and soft that objects made of inland, and drop down to and then Downgate Cove. the formal Doyden House, around the sharp right- it would wear out rapidly; Epphaven Cove, making .

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