Skip to content

Holidays

South West Coast Path: Pentireglaze Mines to Watergate Bay

This video series comes from my January trip with Dad to Cornwall to smash out yet another bit of the coast path. I didn't post the earlier ones here, mainly because I didn't yet have a functional blog, but they are available on the YouTube playlist.

Here's the latest one, where we walk from Watergate Bay to Porthcothan:

Why Here?

We picked this bit of the coast path to do based on Dad's research as to the more flat bits, as at the time, he was having issues with his foot and wanted to take it easy.

In terms of the overall trip, we covered from just East of Newquay at Watergate Bay all the way round to Pentireglaze Mines, which is Northeast of Polzeath. As with most of our trips, we hop around from day to day, covering different sections in different directions. For this stretch, we did the following in chronological order:

  • 29th January: Porthcothan to Harlyn Bay (video)
  • 30th January: Harlyn Bay to Padstow (video)
  • 31st January: Watergate Bay to Porthcothan (video)
  • 1st February: Rock to Pentireglaze Mines (video not yet available)

Instead of parking in Padstow and taking the ferry across to Rock, we started and ended the walk on either side of the ferry crossing. This makes sense, especially with one vehicle, as it saves getting the ferry back across or going the long way round at the end of the day, and is what we try to do whenever possible.

Accomodation and Shops

For the first night, we wild camped on the side of the road, nearish Newquay Airport. We arrived late and left early, and as per usual, left no trace.

On the second and third nights, we stayed at Tregella Place Caravan and Camping, which is one of the sites that has a licence to operate year-round. Whilst the site wasn't 'open' in the true sense of the word, for a tenner a night for a hot shower and actual bathroom on some hard standing, we couldn't really go wrong.

During the first day, there's a couple of Cafés on the way, but no shops and nothing properly built up. At Harlyn Bay, there's a good place to get some chips and either a hot or alcoholic drink. Camping wise, there's not too much closer to Padstow, and we found that Tregella Place was a reasonable distance from all points from Newquay to Padstow.

If doing further than Pentireglaze Mines though, it probably makes sense to camp to the East of the river Camel from that point on. Both Newquay and Padstow have good shops and a variety of places to eat. There's both Rick Stein's Deli and The Seafood Restaurant, which are pricey but very, very good.

There's a wonderful pasty to be had at the Malcom Barnecutt Bakery in Rock, and both The Fish Bar Newquay and the Towan Blystra in Newquay if you're looking for a good fish restaurant or a cheap and cheerful spoons. Finally, there's also The Pig - at Harlyn Bay, which we didn't try as it's very expensive, but have heard very good things about.

Parking and Public Transport

Parking on day one was in the Porthcothan Bay Car Park, which is free in the off-season, and otherwise quite pricey. Day two was at Harlyn Bay Car Park. Day 3 we parked at the Premier Inn in Newquay and took the bus to the start and back from the end. On the last day, we parked on the side of the road in Rock, but I believe this is restricted in peak season. There's a car park at the harbour at the bottom of the road during peak season, but why pay to park in the off-season when we can park for free?

Public transport was abysmal for two of the three days we used it, having to walk back from Harlyn Bay to Porthcothan on day 1, and having to get off the bus at the top of the road on day 2. Besides that it wasn't too bad, and cost £2 for a single each time.

If you have similar bus issues, you can contact the bus company, who will probably tell you what you need to know. Taxis aren't brilliant around this area, so book in advance and make sure a Taxi can get to you if you want to use one.

Other Things to Do

We didn't fancy walking every day of the trip, so we went to St. Ives to the Tate gallery there, and a wonder round. Bear in mind St. Ives is about an hours' drive each way, however.

You're also not too far from the Eden Project, but that can be quite expensive to get into.

EURO 2 - Days 3 & 4

In the morning of the Tuesday, we woke up to a broken hard drive :( which was not good at all. We were very chilly in the morning and so it was a welcome surprise when the sun came out. We spent the morning at the campsite and did some droning before we set off on a short journey to a place which was about an hour south of Cléuger.

We drove around for about an hour rejecting various campsites and aires before we arrived at an almost abandoned campsite (we were literally the only people there)! We then walked down to the beach which was less that 1km from the site and had a swim in the very cold sea.

After we were settled in at the site, we cooked up some 'Lentielles' and 'Coq au Vin' for dinner. We then got into bed for another reasonably cold evening.

On day 4 (a Tuesday), we woke up very cold and prepared for the journey to Jonzac (near where 'Bampi' lives). We stopped at Guérande City where we had galettes and bought some salt before we continued our journey for the long haul.

Finally, we arrived at Bampi's house where we had a very lovely spaghetti bolognese and a nice bed to sleep in for the night. That concludes days 3 and 4 of our #Euro2 road trip and I will be updating you for days 5 and 6 soon.

EURO 2 - Days 1 & 2

So on friday night (7th April), my dad, my brother and I embarked on a journey of a lifetime. (Just kidding).

We set off on friday at about 5pm, ready to get to the port of newhaven for 11. We had McDonalds and prepared for the 3 hours of sleep which we'd be lucky to get on the ferry. At around 4 in the morning, we got off the ferry and drove for about an hour to a small Aire in the middle of nowhere where we managed to get another couple of hours sleep.

Once the sun had risen and the day was upon us, we set off on a very boring 8 hour journey to a small village called Landénevaac. We got very bored of the travels throughout the day and vowed to travel for only a few hours the next day.

At Landénevaac, we couldn't find an open campsite so we decided to park in a little spot right by the sea. We had cassoulet for supper before getting a well earned night of rest. In the morning, we went for a walk along the seafront and came across a 'feather tree' which we thought was rather amusing.

We set off for a much shorter journey on the Sunday where we looked for a campsite and got some supplies from the local E.Leclerc. In the afternoon, we arrived at the campsite which was right by the sea and had a lovely view but was unfortunately a bit windy.

For dinner in the evening, we collected some lovely fresh oysters, of which there was a plentiful supply, and had some confit duck for our main meal. Then I edited the vlog before we went to bed and had a hot chocolate.

That was days (0), 1 & 2 of the trip. I hope you enjoyed reading it and will be reading the rest of the posts about our road trip.