Port Isaac to Padstow - the day that just wouldn't end

August 12, 2025 - from the itinerary: The Coast Path follows some truly beautiful, unspoiled sections of coast, including the remote inlet of Pine Haven and the historic promontory known as The Rumps. Views from here are spectacular. A strenuous first half to Polzeath, crossing small valleys and winding round exposed headlands, is followed by an easy walk and ferry crossing into Padstow.

Once home to the composer Malcolm Arnold, Padstow is an idyllic, Cornish fishing town with beautiful surroundings and has been used as a backdrop for many films and television programmes, including the 70’s film The Eagle Has Landed, which was filmed in the sand dunes at Rock. Padstow is also home to a fine selection of cafes and restaurants such as Rick Stein’s famous seafood restaurant, making it the perfect place to end a day of walking the South West Coast Path

Distance was 13.88 miles in the heat.

There was a ferry crossing included in today's walk. Also some beach walking where tides were important. Thankfully the tide was low when I needed to cross the beach.

What to see:

• Views from Lobber Point back over Port Isaac and Tintagel church and castle beyond.

• Portquin: a natural harbour. This little village is also referred to as ‘the village that died’ due to the disappearance of all of the men of the village sometime in the 19th century. It is thought that they all drowned at sea whilst fishing, forcing the women to abandon their homes. Typical men....

• Doyden Castle: a 19th century folly built on Doyden Point, now a holiday home owned by the National Trust. This would be a fun place to stay.

• The old antimony mines at Gilson’s Cove. Antimony is a silvery-white, brittle metalloid, meaning it has properties of both metals and nonmetals. Historically, antimony compounds have been known since ancient times and used in medicine and cosmetics, often as a black powder called "kohl". Today, it's primarily used as a hardening agent in alloys, particularly for lead-acid batteries, and in flame retardants. 

• Having a snack on Lundy Beach: a beautiful sandy cove with rock pools and caves and a natural arch known as Lundy Hole.

• The spectacular views from Carnweather Point across Port Quin Bay to The Rumps and out to The Mouls.

• Standing at the Iron Age fort on Rumps Point and looking out to the offshore rocks known as Sevensouls and the Mouls. Excavations have revealed that the fort once had stone faced ramparts and circular houses at the headland, as well as pottery made from clay from the Lizard.

  

  

  

  

  

  

• Pentire Point: from here there are magnificent views of Padstow Bay to the south and west and fine examples of pillow lava leading to the Rumps behind you.

• The Doom Bar: shifting sands resulted in the formation of a sand bar at the mouth of the Camel Estuary, which makes entering the port very difficult. The Doom Bar has been responsible for hundreds of wrecks. Could it really be the result of a mermaid’s curse?.

Here is the Doom Bar and Camel Estuary. I don't think there was enough water to house any mermaid. There was also a bar called the Doom Bar....I don't know why it's called Camel Estuary. I did have to endure more beach walking...

• The views of and from the Bronze Age tumuli of Brea Hill.

This just looked like a big hill

• Watching the surfers at Hayle Bay.

There were no waves, but surfers were out on their boards

• Taking the ferry from Rock across the river Camel to Padstow.

Since it was low tide, the ferry was in a totally different place, necessitating more sand walking and running to catch it. I wish the ferry ride had been longer. If you look closely at the video below, you can see the walkway at low tide goes down about 30 feet and at high tide it is level with the port area.

Breakfast was, guess what, yogurt, scrambled eggs, a sausage and toast. I finally introduced myself to the Dutch couple - their names are Petronella (she goes by Ellie) and Jan. She is general manager of a Dutch city (the name was long and I didn't recognize it). He is a civil servant in city planning. They have a daughter and a son in their 20s who also like to hike.

It was a very sunny, hot day without any breeze and no shade. Not a great day for a difficult hike.

Here are some last looks at Port Isaac. The tide was in. When the tide is out all the boats are beached

The first part of the walk was along clifftop with lovely views of the blue water. As I stopped to admire the scenery I saw a log, that turned into a seal when it dove into the water. Unfortuately I wasn't able to get a shot of it. There were many small butterflies along here and bees.

There were a few downs and ups today. This one particularly caught my eye because it was named on my map. This bird was yelling at me as I walked down the stairs - according to google AI it is a red-billed chough.

My first view of Padstow - I couldn't get there fast enough, but there were still 5 miles to go

By this time I was really starting to be affected by the sun and heat. I was looking for somewhere in the shade, but there wasn't any shade, so ended up on a slate bench looking out onto the sea. Not ideal, but at least I could get my feet up.

Walking into town was an interesting site - not sure how this got to where it was

I was really affected by the sun by the time I got to the hotel. I decided to have an ice cream, but all I wanted was a liter of water. The ice cream was thrown out....

My hotel was the Olde Custom House. It was another rabbit warren and I had someone carry my suitcase upstairs for me this time. I don't understand why hotels have nice bathtubs, but then have the soap screwed into the wall about 4 feet above the tub - no way to get soap while taking a bath - ugh! Also, the view was awful.

Dinner was tomatoe soup, sardines with celeriac sauce (not really good) and small new potatoes. No photos because I was exhausted.

I did find some energy to go out after dinner and watch people fishing for crabs. They used something like a butterfly net with some bate in it, lowered down on a cord. A crab crawls in and they bring it up. Not sure I'd want crab from the area around all the boats....

 A few video moments from the day I thought would never end.