Perranporth to Portreath

16 September 2009 - Perranporth to Portreath

Distance - 12.5 miles

Weather - Sunny

We stayed at - Cliff House, Cliff Terrace, Portreath, Cornwall, TR16 4LE Cost - £63.00

So far we had only witnessed evidence of Cornwall's fishing industry, but today we were to get some idea of what the county was like when it was a thriving mining area. Not surprising I suppose since were so close to Redruth. As soon as we left Perranporth and climbed up onto the clifftops we noticed the landscape had changed. Now scarred earth, capped mine shafts and spoil heaps dominated the environment. I found it all very interesting, although we didn't stop at Blue Hills Tin Streams where there is a museum.

The climbs up and down the cliff path were quite arduous in places today and once more I wished a zip wire had been installed, instead of the path down to sea level and back up again! At Trevaunance Cove we stopped at the hotel for some refreshment then, sometime later, after passing an old engine house, we came to Chapel Porth. Here some brave soul had carried rocks up onto the very steep and eroding slope and spelt out the name of the village. We had to divert onto the road at some points here, as the original footpath was too dangerous to use any more.

There was a lovely little building on the clifftops as we made our way down into Portreath, whilst out to sea there was another ubiquitous Gull Rock. After a shower, we left our gear at the B&B and had a drink down by the pretty little harbour, drinking in the last of the sunshine like two lizards on a garden wall.