By: Mike

 



Wednesday 21 July

 

This is our last day of walking.  Port Gaverne to Rock (over the estuary from Padstow).  It is 12 ½ miles.  I persuade Chris that most of the walking will be easy and she agrees to give it a go.  Debbie says the temperature reached 30 degrees yesterday, and it will be hotter today.  We park up in Rock and Debbie takes us to Port Isaac.  It’s much easier to access and saves us a short walk.  Every little is going to count today. To start with, it’s the usual up and down, and Chris looks sceptical.  It is extremely hot.  Looking down, the sea is a mill pond and crystal clear.  We could be at Loutro. 

The first little place to reach is Port Quin.  There is nothing there except a water tap, which we use.  There is a surfing base with a passive aggressive sign saying they are not a tourist information point and if you want a coffee, go back to Port Isaac.

 We trundle on, up the hill I take a photo of a Victorian house, allegedly built as a retirement home by a former governor of Wandsworth Prison.  One for the record.  I write letters every week to prisoners, including one in Wandsworth.  I was a regular visitor to the prison with Liberty Choir in the far-off days before the pandemic.


 It is past lunch time, and we have nothing in our back packs, because, foolishly I assumed we would get to Polzeath by lunch time.  However, we take a sneaky short cut away from Pentire Point, and we are on the beach at Pentireglaze Haven.  There is a chuck wagon on the beach, selling lovely hot food.  We find a slightly shady corner and tuck in.  Then, a swim.  The water is definitely not Loutro.  It’s pure N. Atlantic, but beautifully refreshing.  We’re rejuvenated for the flat miles along the estuary to Rock. We have done it.  56 miles and 15,000 feet!


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