We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with a week away in Cornwall. It was rather wonderful – the highlights being a great place to stay, amazing weather and great walking.
We based ourself in Port Isaac at Seacroft with its spectacular views of the sea and cliffs out towards Tintagel. It was super comfortable, well equipped and easy to access. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and after making ourselves comfortable, we headed into the village to a dog friendly pizza restaurant called the Angry Anchovy for our dinner. We both had very tasty pizzas and I also treated myself to a sweet calzone for dessert – I was on holidays after all! It was so good.
On Sunday we did the first of our coastal walks starting at Harlyn Bay and walking around the coast to Constantine Bay. We took some paths back inland which made for a lovely circular walk. Olaf was very pleased with the beaches on the walk and also very tired when we finished which is always a good result.
On Monday – Anniversary Day – and also St. Patrick’s day of course, we opened some lovely cards before heading to Rock to get a ferry (to clarify we did not go to Rock Ferry!). I had to wave a black flag to signal to the ferry which was across the estuary at Padstow that we wanted to be collected – I felt a little ridiculous but this is how it works! From Padstow we started another coastal walk taking in some beautiful views including a look out point. We finished off in Padstow with what turned out to be the best ice cream of the trip – funky banana flavoured from Harbour Ice – before getting the ferry back to Rock where we’d left the car. On the way back to Port Isaac we stopped at a farm shop for a little look around and a couple of purchases. We had our anniversary dinner that night at the Golden Lion in Port Isaac which was our anniversary present from Mum and Dad. Thank you – it was very tasty!
Tuesday was the longest (and hardest!) walk of the week at just over 13 miles… We took a taxi from Port Isaac to Tintagel and walked back along the south west coast path. There were enough ups and downs that we could have got oursleves up Scafell with the elevation we gained and then some. When we were almost back to our base in Port Isaac we found a sunny spot to sit at the pub in Port Gaverne and both thought we could have sat there all afternoon if it wasn’t for wanting to take off our walking boots and shower! I did manage another ice cream in Port Isaac from the Deli Box on our way back to the cottage though!
On Wednesday we headed back to Tintagel this time for a circular walk to Boscastle involving the coastal path again. Boscastle is known for a very destructive flood that happened in 2004 following an unprecedented amount of rain in August. It is a very pretty village which attracts many tourists every year and after wandering around the harbour and visiting the village bakery, we started to appreciate the impact the flood would have had on the village. We took some time to explore Tintagel Castle including crossing the famous bridge and having a play on the beach by Merlin’s cave. On the way home we checked out another farm shop called Seaview Farm purchasing a couple of local treats to take back to the cottagel.
On Thursday we took the bus to Trebetherick and walked back to Port Isaac – again in beautiful weather along the south west coast path through Polzeath which is a very popular little spot. We had our lunch on the beautiful, isolated beach at Lundy Bay and Olaf had a little play with his dummy there too. When we got back to Port Issac the Ice Cream Parlour was open – hurray!
Friday wet weather was forecast so we headed to Wadebridge for an enclosed dog field session and a walk around town. It didn’t end up being that wet in the end which was a bonus. After our time in the town, we made a couple of stops including St. Kew Farmshop and a cider farm. The cider farm was a really cool place – its address is officially Bodmin and to get there we went down a little bumpy track. The shop was a little shed with a few barrels and jugs about and the farmer came to serve us offering the opportunity to create our own cider mix from his barrels. Once back in Port Isaac, we went to the Chapel Cafe for (what I thought was a mandatory) cream tea before a few games in the cottage in between the showers and the following rainbow.
Saturday it was time to say goodbye to Cornwall although we did break up our journey home with a very agreeable stop at Stokesay Castle near Craven Arms in Shropshire for a wander around and some lunch. I was sad to leave Cornwall and our holiday behind and do hope we don’t wait so long to visit again. Yes – I admit I did eat a lot of ice cream but we also walked upwards of 70 miles over the week so I think I got away with it!
Here are some of the pictures from our trip!
