Day 08: 31 Mar 2014; Wadebridge to St Teath

Walk descriptor	LEJOG2014		Day	08
Date	Mon 31 Mar 2014		Start to end time	08h 17m
Start point	Wadebridge		End point	St Teath
Miles today	20.31		Cu miles	159.68
Ft today	2,228		Cu ft	27,767
Route miles left	1,311.37		Route ft left	166,241
Today’s weather	Bright at first, heavy rain for a couple of hours in the afetrnoon. L;ight esterly breeze. Midler than recently – about 11 C

Today’s location (the red cross in a circle shows where I am at the moment)		GPX based track of today’s walk (click here to access to access downloadable file)

Commentary

“Today’s walk definitely had a food-orientated theme. After a night in a good B&B in Wadebridge, I set off suitably dried out and ready for the second week’s walking. I followed some quiet country lanes and little-used footpaths along the north bank of the Camel estuary to get to Rock. Eventually I arrived late morning, only about ¼ of a mile, but a day’s walking, from Padstow, on the opposite side of the river. I’d adjusted my route to take in a visit to Rock because I’d never been, and wanted to see for myself what this “St Tropez on Camel” playground for the landed gentry was actually like.

It was certainly a pleasant diversion, though it seemed to lack the buzz of Padstow. There was an abundance of eye-wateringly expensive looking houses overlooking the river – I’d heard that building plots alone in that location can cost upwards of £3/4 million. I managed to get a cup of tea and a cake – all attractively topped with a sliced strawberry and dusted with icing sugar. The words “greasy” and “spoon” aren’t familiar in these parts.

As the tide was out, I took a friend’s advice and headed off over the sands to Polzeath. This was the best bit of the walk – huge open expanses of sea and sand, and not a lot else. And slightly exciting because I had checked the tides and knew that low tide was fast approaching so I didn’t have long to make the crossing.

From Polzeath, I headed back inland to overnight at St Teath. There were no paths here, so I was forced to walk on the road. Not particularly enjoyable, as it was quite busy, and it started to rain again soon after I set off. However, as I passed through St Endellion, halfway to St Teath, I came across a farm shop and excellent café, where I was able to stock up on bacon sandwiches and cake.

The other interesting thing about St Endellion is of course that it was here that Samantha Cameron went into labour and as a result the Prime Minister’s daughter was christened Florence Rose Endellion Cameron.

Dinner tonight in the White Hart in St Teath – they don’t normally serve food on a Monday night but the landlord took pity on me and served up an excellent home made Cornish pasty and chips. Perfect with a nice pint of Doombar.”

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Looking back towards Wadebridge this morning	Brighht yellow snails in the inter0-tidal zone near Rock

Not sure exactly what this celery-like plant is, but there is a lot of it growing In the path-sides down here and it seems to be some sort of salad bar for snails	A brief opportunity to chek appearance (!) and tp prove that I am still here!

A light mid afternoon snack at the farm-shop in St Endellion. A welcome respite from the rain (anf from the tedious walk along the road)	The view from my front door this evening. Camping does have its compensations!

The waves near Polzeath beach were astonishingly long and uniform – I reckon they must have been around a mile long, and they all broke in perfect unison