Day 32. Mevagissey to Charlestown, 11 October 2025

 I left the car in Liskeard and then caught a train and bus to Mevagissey. The weather was rather better than when I left here a month ago.

  

After finding the way out of town (not that obvious) the path followed low cliffs, then a mildly annoying diversion inland and along a road to avoid a large caravan park behind Pentewen Sands. This unusual church and cottages overlook the bay and were built in the 1820s when Pentewen was a major port for the china clay industry.

 

 After Pentewen there is some fine open walking to reach another Black Head (in the distance in the photo)

 Where there is this memorial stone to the historian A L Rowse who lived nearby

Below Black Head there is this unnamed beach, accessed by a very steep path. It was a nice spot for lunch and I contemplated a swim, but no more than that. 

The walk ended at Charlestown with its Georgian harbour that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There were major works going on to repair the lock gates that had been damaged by storms so it was not looking its best, especially at low tide. I was staying in the Pier Hotel, the pale green building right of the crane.

After dinner I had a phone call from my friends Norman and Charmian about a trip to Shropshire that we had planned for later in the month. It turned out that they were spending a few days in Cornwall and were staying in the camp site in Pentewen that I had walked past earlier. We arranged to meet the following evening for dinner in Fowey. 

Distance today, 11 km.