Well we've now walked the SWCP all the way from Padstow to Falmouth, that's 169 miles. Impressive or what?Today we had to leave home at 8am so that we could drive to Newquay in time to get the 9.05am bus to Porthcothan. We parked for free on a road next to the car park which was right next to the bus station and then I was allowed to go for a little walk around Newquay as we had about 15 mins before the bus came. It was very quiet in Newquay at 9am on a Sunday morning. There were three other people waiting for the bus and one of them said I had a really pretty face. I was a bit naughty when the bus came - I barked at it. But that was the only naughty thing I've done on my walk today. Ann says I've been an exceptionally well behaved little collie. The bus was a little green Western Greyhound one so I was free, it cost Ann £3.80.
It was really interesting on the bus. It was the Newquay to Padstow bus and it went to Porthcothan via the airport and lots of very pretty villages that we hadn't been to before. We got off the bus at 9.55am and it was really cold. There was frost on the grass and Ann said she wished she'd brought her gloves. When we were driving to Newquay the ice warning message had popped up in the car. However, by 11.30am it was so hot Ann wished she'd worn her shorts and a vest top!
The minute we got off the bus I was allowed off my lead and we had quite an easy walk along the cliff tops to Mawgan Porth. For the first hour we didn't see anyone but then when we got nearer to Mawgan Porth there were loads of people out and about. The tide was out so we had a lovely walk across the beach there. We got to Mawgan Porth at about 11.30am and the signpost said that Watergate Bay was two and a half miles away so Ann said we'd stop there for lunch. She'd brought a ham roll for lunch but as it was so hot she thought it would be nice if we had a proper stop at a pub/restaurant called the Phoenix which she'd spotted from the bus.
We got to the Phoenix at 12.25pm and Ann tied me to a picnic table while she went to order lunch. The blackboard advertised a beef roast dinner, with yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese, roasties & other veg for £8.50 and Ann thought yum, yum. So did I, because normally when we go out for Sunday lunch I get little bits of beef. However, the bimbo behind the bar said lunch didn't start until 12.30pm and she wouldn't let us put a order in and sit and wait. We were really cross. It was lovely and sunny and we would have sat and waited for an hour if need be. Ann bought a diet coke for £1.30 which was mainly ice and by the time she'd got settled at the table and given me a drink there was a huge queue of surfers ordering lunch. And actually we didn't really like it there anyway. Ann felt very old as the place was extremely busy with young, gorgeous, surfers and I didn't like it 'cos nobody paid me any attention. We were sitting on a biggish decking area upstairs and wished we stayed downstairs where we'd met a very nice man selling paintings. Ann had originally tied me up to a picnic table downstairs when we arrived but the downstairs bar wasn't open so she'd asked the man if I was allowed to walk through it to get upstairs. He told us the bar was very dog friendly so we went upstairs. However he also said we could stay where we were and he'd look after me while Ann went upstairs to the bar. We wished we'd done that as he liked me and I think he liked Ann even more?!
Watergate Bay is about 3 miles from Newquay so after a 15min rest we set off again. We had to walk above very high cliffs to Porth. There were loads of people on the beach at Watergate Bay with surf boards but the waves weren't very big. It was a lovely walk to Porth and when we got there Ann let me have a wallow in the stream that ran down through the beach. She was still thinking of having a roast dinner and the bar on the beach there, advertised Sunday lunches and there were seats available outside, but then she decided she wasn't that hungry after all. So we continued walking to Newquay.
When we got to Newquay it was very busy and I had to go on my lead because we were walking through the town. There were masses of people about. We had a look at the menus of a couple of pubs that had beer gardens but decided to give lunch a miss and so got back to the car at 2pm.
I'm not sure if we're going to do any more walks this year. Apparently if we do any more of the SWCP this year we are going to have to stay in B&B's because getting to the start point of our walks, and then walking the walk, have to be done in daylight hours. Logistically, that's not very possible because winter buses don't run very regularly and we've now got a long way to drive to do more sections of the SWCP. ....But I know that Ann has still got a lot of holiday to take from work so I'm hoping we can go away together and spend a few days walking. I'd love that!
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