frank'sYORKSHIRE WALKS
My Walking Diary
These Diary pages are just a few notes and pictures of the routes I walk. I hope that they give you some ideas for walks of your own and if you need more details of a particular route you can use the route request form to contact me
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13
to 20 June 2003 | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday |
Tuesday
17 June 2003
Wednesday
18 June 2003
|
We
had a good clear drive of seven hours from home to the cottage
at Flanders Farm near Crackington Haven and arrived at about
4.30pm. The farmer's wife was very nice and showed us round
the cottage. After we had unpacked and had some home made
soup and crusty bread, we followed the footpath down two steep
fields to the valley bottom and then walked along a path through
the woods to the sea at Crackington Haven about three quarters
of a mile from the cottage. The cottage window looks directly
down the valley to the sea. We could watch the waves breaking
as we ate our meals! There was a good pub at the sea front
where we had a drink and noticed some good appetising meals
being served. 
This
morning the weather was hot and sunny and we planned to get
a taxi to Bude and walk back on the coastal path. There is
no mobile phone signal at the cottage so I went out to drive
to the top of the hill to ring the taxi firm. I met the farmer's
wife in the yard and she insisted in taking us to Bude herself.
She took us to the tourist information office in Bude on the
sea front next to the canal. The scenery along the coastal
path was spectacular with high rocky headlands, clear blue
sky aqnd sea, and the white surf crashing on the rocks. The
coast path of course went up and down the many headlands.
The route from Bude to Crackington Haven is about 10 miles,
but when I checked it on my mapping program it turned out
that we had climbed a total of around 2000 feet in the day.
We passed a lovely beach at Widemouth Bay and had a snack
at the beach café. It was a very strenuous day and we were
very glad to reach the pub at Crackington Haven after over
six hours from Bude. The wild flowers were amazing today all
the way along the coast path - almost every variety that I
know and as many more that I couldn't name. No photos today
because we forgot to take a camera with us, but I took some
on Sunday as we drove up the coast road to Widemouth Bay and
then on to Bude.
This
morning the weather had changed to mist and showers but it was
forecast to improve so we decided to walk to Boscastle on the
coast path. At first it rained quite hard but after about an hour
it cleared and continued to improve for the rest of the day. The
scenery was even better than the section from Bude but there were
even more headlands. The route was only six miles but it took
us five hours and when I checked the route we had climed a total
of 2300 feet up the many headlands. The highest one is almost
800 feet high and the path goes down to sea level at either side.
About a mile before we reached Boscastle we saw a young Peregrin
Falcon on the cliff edge below us. It was fully fledged but still
had a fawnish speckled breast, although its dark face patches
were quite evident. There were just as many wild flowers again
and so many that I just couldn't put a name to. Boscastle was
very pretty and we managed to catch a bus back to Crackington
Haven in time to get changed and go for a meal at the pub. 
The
weather was peculiar today. Thick mist and drizzle on the headlands
and the high coast road, and broken cloud out to sea with sunny
patches on the coast. We drove to Tintagel and walked up to the
castle - what an amazing place, especially with the mist drifting
round the headland and the sun on the sea. A seal even put in
a appearance in the inlet next to the castle. From Tintagel we
drove to Port Isaac - a really pretty place. We walked down to
the harbour and had a look at the fish market where we had some
fantastic crayfish tails, so fresh and full of flavour. After
a visit to another tea shop we drove to Rock, a little village
opposite Padstow and we took the ferry across the bay to Padstow.
We got some pasties for tomorrow before getting the ferry back.
Then we drove to Boscastle for a good fishy evening meal before
going back to the cottage. The weather had picked up now ready
for the fine day forecast for our journey home tomorrow.
What
a brilliant week! We just have to come to Cornwall again.