Peter Schrammel - Mountains

29. 5. 2023

Peter Schrammel

Weather

cloudless

Interest

****: Beautiful section of the Cornwall Coast Path

Route

Crumplehorn, 3m - Polperro, 3m - 110m - Lansallos Beach, 15m - Pencarrow Head, 48m - 110m - Polruan, 0m - Fowey, 0m - Readymoney Cove, 0m - Polridmouth Cove, 1m - Gribbin Head, 75m - Polkerris, 1m - Par, 5m

Elevation gain

+923m/-921m

Distance

24km

Timing

5 1/3h (1/4 + 3/4 + 1/2 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 3/4 + 1/3 + 1/2 + 1/6 + 2/3 + 2/3)

Stamina

E: The elevation gain accumulates.

Difficulty

0: thousands of stairs

Danger

4-5: many sections near cliffs 3, several sections around Neadland Point 4-5, short section above Peel Cove 4

Visitor frequency

c: busier closer to the villages

Comments

Polruan ferry £2.80

Report

My second hike along the Cornish cost path started in Polperro. To get there, I took the first bus from Plymouth via the beautiful town of Looe to Crumplehorn where I arrived at 9.30am. I walked down the narrow streets through the awakening pictoresque fishing village, as tourists started to pour in from the gigantic car park above Crumplehorn. It was low tide and the boats were sitting in the mud in the harbour. The white houses are perched on top of each other on both sides of the narrow canyon – no need to go to Santorini. The path starts from the view point above a pointed rock that dominates the entrance to the harbour. The sea was lightly agitated with waves breaking against the rocky coastline. The coast path section to Lansallos Beach would be the most beaufiful one that I walked. It follows the ups and downs of the cliffs quite narrowly, in some sections it is really exposed – no mistakes permitted. In some parts the path was quite overgrown – my calves soon turned red from all the nettles, raspberry branches and other plants causing rashes and grazes. It was not easy to walk because I mostly didn‘t see where I treaded and there were hundreds of stairs. In some places wild ponies were grazing. The beaches were surprisingly busy – there were swimmers and sunbathers in most of the sometimes even difficult to reach coves with turquoise water. After Pancarrow Head one could take the path down to the large beach of Lantic Bay. Since I had a beach stop planned for later, I took the path that goes around above the cliffs of Lantic Bay. The red-white striped daymark on Gribbin Head was approaching as I got closer to Polruan, the village on the eastern bank of the mouth of river Fowey. It was 12.30pm when I walked down the steep, narrow main street to the harbour, where I was waiting for the next ferry to get me across the river to the town of Fowey. Children in wetsuits were having fun jumping from the pier into the water. Whereas Polruan is more a fishing village like Polperro, the waterfront of Fowey has a more swanky appearance. I did a little detour into the centre of Fowey, searching for icecream without success. So, I made my way to Readymoney Cove where I might meet some colleagues who were also around in the region. At the beach I got some icecream and watched children having their fun without wetsuits in the water. I tried to warm up in the sun, but the breeze cooled me rather down. Finally, I jumped into the water nonetheless and it was actually warmer than expected. My colleague Paul has arrived in the meanwhile and we chatted until 3pm. Then I had to continue to catch the 5.20pm train from Par. The path first climbs up a ladder directly from the beach and further through the woods to a fort with nice views over the mouth of river Fowey. My next goal was the tower Gribbin Head. I accelerated my pace. After having passed several coves with many ups and downs and I reached the ascent to the tower, which was much shorter than it looked from the opposite hill. The view opened now towards St Austell Bay. The path continues on grass and leads around the vertical cliffs of Peel Cove. Par Sands, an enormous beach, was clearly visible, but only approached slowly as I made my way towards Polkerris, which I reached after a step downhill through the forest. The beach of Polkerris was incredibly busy. I didn‘t stop and continued climbing up the opposite, hopefully last hill before descending to Par Sands. I found a way through a holiday caravan village into what looked like the centre of Par and further up to the railway station, where I arrived just after 5pm.