Day 4 - Port Isaac to Padstow - 29 May 17

Day 4 in our adventures, really should be leg 4 but hey!

This one took a lot of planning and lots of alterations. The original intention was to walk this on Sunday 28th May but with heavy storms around and all weather apps indicating that the Monday was the driest day we changed the date.

So at 7am we left Yeovil and the weather was awful, it rarely stopped raining often with heavy fog.

As we got into Rock, I asked Linda if she still wanted to carry on with this walk, but she quite rightly stated we have driven for 2.5hrs we should do what we intended to do.

Luckily the weather lifted, it was never sunny but it only slightly rained a couple of times, and the fog on a whole lifted.

So as usual the hardest part about the walk (apart from the physical aspect) was arranging transport to the starting point.

Luckily I knew a couple of friends, Liz and Andy, that were on Holiday in Polzeath, kindly agreed to transport us to Port Isaac from our parking and finishing point at Rock.

The one issue Linda and I have with this walking business is that, as in all these walks are a full days walk, you need to get started and keep moving, so you rarely get a chance to explore the towns and villages that we pass through. So we came to an agreement that it lets us find places that we will want to come back to for day trips out.

Port Isaac

The one thing we didn't realise about Port Isaac is that it is the location that Dr Martin is filmed from.

Below are a few photos you may recall. 

Dr Martins Surgery - House

The walk to his Surgery

Adjacent cottages often featured

So we began our walk, now a few of you know that I have been suffering with a reoccurring Heal/Achilles Tendon problem. After it flared up last week I was dubious to take on this walk, but on previous walks, yes it hurts, but the walking never causes further damage, so I decided to give it a go.

Well the 1st 2 miles of this walk was quite severe in the climbing and descending of steep cliffs, I find that walking on the flat and going downhill is fine, but any incline it hurts. 

Linda kindly explained that on the inclines I was walking like i had had an accident within my pants....(thanks Linda).

I struggled on but the first 2 miles took forever and Linda began to threat over how long it was taking us and whether we would complete the walk within 12 hours!

Struggling up one of the many hills

Fortunately the walk got easier and we (I) sped up.

Now I have a policy that all life is precious, and kept indicating to Linda when a creature was in the path but "Linda The Crusher Membury" destroyed one poor particularly colourful Snail, "Steve The Snail Whisperer Membury" tried my best efforts to revive the snail but it was all in vain.

Photos have been removed due to the upsetting imagery.

Various coastal images below:

Port Quinn

The Mouls (not the Isle of Lundy that Linda insisted it was)

Doyden Castle (a bit disappointing tbh, it was really just a small tower). 

 One thing I must add, that whether it was because it was half term and a lot of families were on this route or not, I found that with one exception everyone we met was friendly and at a minimum pleasantries were exchanged.

Polzeath in the distance

 Now from the photo above you can see Polzeath, which looked quite close, knowing that we intended to have a catch up with Liz and Andy and knowing that for us that included a pint my spirits were high and energy reinvigorated.
That soon diminished as it looked a lot closer than it actually was, with the constant coves to circulate I began to think that we would get there far too late.

Polzeath Surfers

One funny item of conversation was the lack of recollection from Linda and I at recalling the name of the pub that Liz had mentioned that they would be in.
I thought it was the "Blue Oyster" Linda could only recall it had Oyster in it, but thought I was wrong.

Linda plucked up the nerve to ask a local who explained it is the "Oyster Catcher" and gave us direction. Liz did tell us it was on the seafront, but she didn't tell us it was about 1/4 of a mile from the seafront and up the steepest of hills.
Eventually hot, sweaty and probably smelly we got to the pub. And I enjoyed a nice pint of Tribute Ale and Linda Korev Cornish Lager.

Liz and Andy

Sweaty Steve and Linda

I must say Liz can pick a good pub.
It was nice to catch up with Liz and Andy and I would of been quite happy to ignore the final push and stay there, find a B&B and get drunk, but Linda wanted to finish the mission.
So knowing we had about 3 miles of our hike to go, we set off.
This part was virtually flat and very popular with a constant flow of people walking about.
Which was fine but made it hard to find that quiet moment when the inhaled beer needed to be released.
Again no photos provided due to decency.
Eventually after nearly 6 hours of walking we arrived back at the car at Rock.
Now a few of you may of spotted this walk was titled "Port Isaac to Padstow", but the official route of the SW Coastal path is to use the Ferry to get to Padstow and we did not see the point of this as we would just be returning immediately on the ferry.
We walked to the ferry point and will begin the Padstow to Trevone at the Ferry Point on the other side.

I seem to be aching more from this walk than doing the 3 days concurring, last month.
Linda of course denies any such issues, typical distance runner.

Until the next edition...