Of trees and Tre’s

Friday 4 May – Boscastle to Launceston

Farewell, coastal path! Farewell, Cornish Wind! After eight days on the South West Coast Path, it was time to head inland.

Our rest day in Bude was well-timed and we appreciated the hospitality of Dave and Jane – thanks guys! We had done 10% of our entire journey – 180km out of 1800km. We felt surprisingly fit and well – feet, and legs all in fine working order, and packs now a bit lighter having shed various unneeded items. So it was off on Stage 2.

Jane kindly dropped us back at Boscastle on a grey but still morning. The first part of the walk was along a gorgeous woodland path alongside a stream. It was just such a sharp contrast to the windswept coastline where trees just didn’t feature in the landscape (anything over two foot high was bent sharply in the direction of the prevailing wind!). To our side we passed occasional glades of bluebells. Near the top of the path we visited St Juliot, an ancient rural church, which now has a parish congregation of just four.

From then on we were walking along peaceful country lanes for the rest of the day. Many of them were almost closed in by an arch of trees with their new green leaves, and lined with typical Cornish stone walls, almost creating a tunnel effect at times. There was virtually no traffic and at times it felt like we were walking along our own wide private footpath, rather than a road.

And the Tre’s? It seemed as though every tiny village started with Tre  – not surprising since Tre is the Cornish for settlement. There was Treglash, Tremeer, Trenegloss, Tregeare, Tregadillet….to name but a few, and all too small to warrant any shops or pubs. Having thought we would find somewhere to get a bite to eat, something that was relatively simple on the coast, but not inland, we were glad we had some biscuits!

The hard road surface was certainly a fair bit quicker to walk on, but harder on our feet and legs. We were mightily relieved to arrive at Launceston after seven hours of solid walking– and thrilled when our host supplied us with hot drinks and cake on arrival. Just the ticket! After welcome showers, it was down to the pub for a scrumptious meal of bangers and mash (with home-made  lamb and mint sausage). Oh, and a pint of Tribute ale and a cider!

Distance: 28km