By: Mike

 



Monday 19th July

 

Weather is still very hot.  26 degrees. Today it’s Boscastle to Tintagel.  Quite short only four and a half miles.  At this rate we probably won’t make it all the way to Padstow.  The plan today is to park the car in Tintagel using the magic app, then take the bus back to Boscastle.  No taxis! Once again, we slip out of the hotel early, but this time we have ordered a packed breakfast from the hotel.

 Tintagel is that bit further to drive, but we get there in good time for the bus, and we are back in Boscastle by soon after 09.00.  We get coffee at the baker’s, and find a shady spot to eat our breakfast.  Then it’s over the river and up the first cliff.  We go past an area called ‘The Stiches’ an interesting survival of mediaeval strip farming.

 At our midday stop, we realise we are going to be at Tintagel by lunch time, and decide that we might as well soldier on to Trebarwith.  It’s only a couple of miles, but it then makes the next leg to Port Gaverne doable.  But, of course, the car is at Tintagel, so it means a taxi, after all.  Chris gets on the phone and eventually tracks down the lovely Debbie, who is our lifeline for the next three days.  Reaching Tintagel, we take shelter from the heat inside the café and order drinks.  There are lots of people about.

We fail to read the SWCP guide book at Tintagel and end up in the queue for entry to the castle.  They tell us to double back and find the path 100 yards inland.  I know there are interesting historical and mythical associations, but frankly there is very little to see.

 


                                        On the terrace of our Bude Hotel after today's walk

The two miles to Trebarwith are long and hot.  There are interesting slate quarries in the cliffs, but we don’t have energy to spare to investigate.  At Trebarwith I eat a cream tea waiting for Debbie, who arrives exactly on time and whisks us to the car park in Tintagel.  Tired, hot, but glad to be on our way back to Bude.


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