Repeat of a favourite coastal walk

The other day, well Monday of last week to be precise, a friend and I enjoyed a superb coastal walk. I had written about this same walk a couple of years ago although this time we stretched our legs slightly to make the ramble a little longer ...

I'm sure that all lovers of the British countryside know those special places they regard as their own, you know the sort of locations which feel like going to visit a special old friend when you go back to see them. For us that part of Cornwall's south coast between Lansallos and Polruan is one such place. As an added bonus the drive there is pretty well stress free and, at just under an hours travelling each way, a practical distance from home.

Apart perhaps from a few yards at the Polruan end our walk was wholly on National Trust land and there is a total air of timelessness about it. Lansallos itself consists of a church, campsite and a scattering of cottages and houses, really not much more than a hamlet. The Trust have their usual low key car park: two years ago I noted that the honesty box asked for 50p, this has now gone up to a whopping £2! Now £2 for all day parking near the coast is still pretty reasonable in my book so I'll forgive the NT its fourfold increase (I was a member, will be again probably, but have made a temporary economy which means paying these occasional car park charges on their land).

Here, at the start of our walk, we are just inland from the coast and the path to the sea is down a wooded valley for about three quarters of a mile, the briny not coming into view until the last moment. One reason that we selected this particular day, other than it was warm and sunny, is that it was potentially a good time to observe butterflies and coastal flowers, especially toward Lantic Bay. We weren't disappointed!! Having said that I had hoped to spot some 'Clouded Yellows' - it was not to be. Later a friend, more knowledgeable about butterflies than I, said he had read reports of clouded yellows moving up through the country but fewer being spotted on the coast for some reason. But we were compensated by plenty of other butterflies and also a humming bird hawk moth, the first this year!

I won't go into further detail regarding the scenery, there are plenty of images on the 'net of Lansallos Cove and Lantic Bay illustrating how special this area is. After we got home my friend challenged me to write down how many species of wild flower we had seen - I thought I was doing quite well with about two dozen, she though had amassed a total of over 40! Well she is a better botanist than I am! Many of the flowers are butterfly friendly: for instance lots of 'birds foot trefoil' and 'Small Blue' butterflies feeding on them.

In truth there are many other special walks I know but perhaps none of them surpass this one.

Correction: the 'Small Blue' butterflies may have been both small and blue but in fact the species we saw was the 'Common Blue'. Glad to get that sorted!

A magical walk on the Cornish coast

One of the many advantages of living in Cornwall is the ready access to some of the most special coastline imaginable. Where I live though, close to the Tamar and well inland, I have to travel further than most residents of this county to get to the seaboard but what a reward when one arrives! It's difficult to say one section of coast outshines all others but there is one quite excellent area that really does tick all the boxes.

On the south coast there is a stretch about, I think, seven miles long between Polruan to the west and the well known village of Polperro to the east which provides the most wonderful walking and scenery one could wish for. A good part of it is owned by the National Trust and it has retained an absolutely timeless appeal. So on that one warm sunny day we had recently we made the decision that it was the place we had to revisit.

Of course different people have differing expectations when going to the coast. So if the hope was to drive right down to the beach and have a lot of facilities provided then one would be very disappointed in this instance. No this was all about great scenery and quietness, it was as simple as that.

To get to the start point it was a case of heading west through Callington and Liskeard and on through Dobwalls where I was keen to see the progression of the by-pass, due to finish later this year. Shortly after Dobwalls we turned left at East Taphouse onto the Looe/Polperro road but before reaching either of those two places it was a right turn and along the narrow lane for a couple of miles or so to Llansallos.

As one comes into the hamlet there is a pleasant little car park run by the National Trust with picnic tables and with a very modest charge (no time limit) of 50p via an honesty box. Out of the car park it was past the church, one of the very few buildings visible from that part of the coastal path we were about to walk. We had been in the church on a previous visit, sadly it had been the subject of an arson attack a few years ago, by some youths I believe, but the damage wasn't too severe and the restoration is now complete. Starting just below this venerable building is what must be one of the most beautiful approaches to the coast anywhere I should think. It is a sunken path, wide enough for pack horses, with thick vegetation either side. For much of its three quarters of a mile length it is accompanied by a swiftly flowing stream which the path crosses in one or two places. This path doesn't make a bee line for the coast; because of the way it curves around one doesn't view the sea till almost the last moment which all adds to the magic of it.

This point is roughly halfway between Polperro and Polruan and it was in the direction of the latter that we headed. We had walked the section east to Polperro before but apart from the fact it has one or two really severe climbs it doesn't quite match the other part in the scenery stakes. Not that this eastern section isn't worth walking, it's just that the coast from Llansallos to Polruan is so sublime!

Immediately below us lay the little crescent shape of Llansallos Cove, a fairly steeply sloping beach of somewhat gritty sand. There was once a corn mill here which took advantage of the small waterfall where the stream dropped down off a small bluff at the back of the cove. On this occasion we didn't do the beach diversion but carried on westward on the coast path. A word of warning here, the first one or two stone stiles are really quite tricky, and if you don't concentrate it is easy to miss your footing as my companion can confirm!

Llansallos Cove is effectively the northern apex of Lantivet Bay and it was to its prominent western bastion, Pencarrow Head that we made our way. Immediately west of Pencarrow and one looks down on the smaller Lantic Bay with its gently sloping sandy beaches. To get to these one has to make a steep descent but my water loving friend hadn't brought her swimming costume. Oh dear! I imagine that with its gently shelving sand and, it seemed, not much seaweed Lantic Bay would be an excellent place for a swim. We continued our walk a little way west of the bay but decided not to trek right through to Polruan on this occasion: this walk was all about quality not quantity!

I have to say that these small bays and beaches really appeal to me, it's their intimacy I suppose. Yes the views across Whitsand Bay west of Rame Head and along Start Bay in Devon's South Hams are special but these bays are on the big size for me. I'm more of a "small is beautiful" sort of person. So this indented bit of coast we walked was just the ticket.

It was good to see a fair few butterflies on the wing - plenty of red admirals, speckled woods and gatekeepers and one or two blue butterflies. On the flower front a goodly number of centaury and white flax were seen. One could just about forgive the dire summer, the weather was so perfect! It certainly wasn't the longest walk we had done but I can't think of another that provides more enjoyment.

A final point to note is that the area has been well photographed - if one goes to 'Images' on Google and puts in Llansallos Cove or Lantic Bay for example there are plenty of pictures of this bit of coast to view but of course nothing can replace the atmosphere of being there.