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Eight of us made the journey to the north coast of
Cornwall. We based ourselves at Trewiston Farm and arrived on Friday evening in time to get the tents up
before dark . It wasn't really raining that heavily so we
didn't get very wet.
Saturday morning dawned rather dull and grey but the
weather was not bad enough to stop us from paddling .
We launched from Daymer Bay at the entrance to the Camel
Estuary. Although very dull the weather and the sea were
calm. We paddled out and around Stepper Point.
From Stepper Point the coast is constantly entertaining
with reefs to negotiate and tall stacks. There are many
caves to be explored – and Ken went in every one of them! We
stopped for a stretch at Trevone Bay. Often there is surf
here but today it was flat calm. We paddled on round
Catclews point and as we crossed the bay it began to rain –
then it rained heavily. We were heading for the new Padstow
Lifeboat Station at Mother Ivey's Bay. The unlikely location
of this enormous £3.5 million building was thankfully
reached and it became the world's most expensive umbrella
which we sheltered under while we ate our lunch. The rain
eased off and we had a pleasant paddle back to Daymer Bay. A
BBQ had been planned for the evening but it was too damp so
instead we had a great evening at the Pityme Inn.
Sunday dawned brighter and we went to Port Quin which is
a sheltered landing . This 'port' was abandoned in the late
nineteenth century after the local quarry failed. There are
a few cottages, a National Trust car park and a nineteenth
century castle on Doyden Point.. Around Doyden point we
entered Port Quin Bay which is ringed by cliffs, We paddled
around the bay to a small beach at Com Head where we stopped
for a leg stretch. This is a perfect little beach at low
tide but disappears at high tide. Our next target was to go
around the Mouls which is a small rocky island off Rumps
Point. Puffins nest on the Mouls and we might have seen one?
We explored the large cave on the Western side of the
island.
Rumps Point is the site of Cornwall's finest Iron Age
cliff castle and we could see the thrift covered ramparts
and ditches constructed to keep out uninvited guests.
Ken always very keen on cave exploration decided to
explore what became known as 'Spitting Seal' cave. Ken
disappeared for quite some time into this cave but came out
very quickly looking quite shocked and shaken. He had
surprised a seal in the darkness and put
his hand down thinking it was a buoy and got a very aggressive
response from a surprised seal. Not as surprised as Ken,
mind you! There was a little
roughness as we rounded Pentire Point into Padstow bay. More
caves and rock hopping were enjoyed on the paddle to
Pentireglaze Haven where we landed through manageable surf
for lunch.
On the return journey we encountered tide races at
Pentire Point and again at Rumps Point. It was quite a slog
in the freshening breeze and choppy sea back across Port
Quin Bay and we were all glad to reach the shelter of Port
Quin.
Back to the campsite to take down the tents and drive
back to Dorset.
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