By: Mike

 

Sunday 29th October

We aren’t going to make Fowey.  But we could do Mevagissey.  It’s only 3 ½ miles on from Gorran Haven.  There seems to be a bus back to GH, so we drive to the NT car park again and easily cover the distance over good path to Portmellon, where we have a bevy in the Rising Sun.  It is deserted and they aren’t doing food, so we press on in the rain now.  Mevagissey is quite a substantial place with a big harbour lots of pubs and a very acceptable harbour-side restaurant called the Sharksfin.  We settle in and tuck in.  I have a massive Sunday roast laden with every possible veg including a separate cauliflower cheese which is a meal in itself.  Chris has mussels.  The timetable says our bus is at 16.15 so we mooch around the harbour  and visit a little private museum.  It’s a real Aladdin’s cave.  My stand out memory is that they landed 90 tons of pilchards a day at the height of the now-vanished pilchard fishery.

But, oh dear, when we get to the bus stop, Chris’ eagle eyes spot the fatal words ‘Monday to Friday’ on the timetable.  It is now really chucking down, and there is a spring tide and storm surge forecast.  Not long after, the sea comes right over the harbour and floods the town – and a lot of other places in Cornwall.

We are in luck.  A2B come up trumps and Stephen appears in 15 minutes to take us back to Gorran Haven. 

There is no easy direct route to Portscatho.  Yesterday, in daylight, I managed to keep on main roads by circling up to Tregony.  This time, it is dark because of the hour change and we decide to trust satnav. Chris drives and it’s a nightmare of narrow lanes with high hedges and torrential rain. 

In the evening we watched TV and had biscuits and cheese for supper. 

We have achieved about 30 miles.  Never again in late October!



                                                Mevagissey end of the road - for now

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