The part of Section 37 in the SWCPA handbook
9.5 km along the coast and 4.3 km inland
For the last two days we didn’t walk any further along the path, but revisited the Lost Gardens of Heligan and visited the gardens at Caerhays Castle. Since we were staying on Caerhays Estate, we were able to visit the garden for free, but, although it is only open between Mid February and June, it has a magnificent collection of Camellias and Magnolias.
So today we drove to St Mawes and took the passenger ferry to Falmouth to rejoin the Coastal Path. The first part is through the town, behind the docks and the Pendennis shipyard, which looked busy with various ships being repaired, including an Isle of Wight red-funnel ferry.
There is then a path, which follows the road around Pendennis headland. Like many headlands there have been artillery batteries here for hundreds of years, to guard the entrance to the harbour. The path then follows to road and bits of promenade through an obviously desirable part of Falmouth, lined with Hotels and apartments. We continued to Gyllyngvase beach where we found a very good bakery that also served coffee on tables on the baech.
From here there was a classic coastal path, sea views on the left, cliffs, views West and east, and in this case not very “severe” on to Maenporth beach where we found shelter for lunch. A February day when warm in the sun but freezing in the wind – though the sun persuaded us to enjoy a Kelly’s Ice Cream.
Then a fairly gentle road uphill. And a series of snickets back to Falmouth and thence the ferry back to St Mawes and the drive on tiny Cornish roads back to Lime Kiln at Portholland.
