Tintagel to Boscastle

Distance: 7.5km; Ascent: 520m; with Lynsey & Isabel

See route in new window

We've been down in Cornwall since Saturday evening and after taking Isabel to the beach yesterday we decided to make the most of the continuing good weather and head out for a walk today.  The section of coast path between Tintagel and Boscastle was appealing to us as we could easily use the bus to make it a pleasant linear walk.

We arrived in Boscastle at around 10:30am, got ourselves ready and boarded the bus to Tintagel.  We set off walking from Tintagel in glorious sunshine at 11:15am and wandered down to Tintagel Haven where the main entrance to the castle is, along with a tearoom.  From here we began our first ascent of the day, with good views back to Tintagel Head.

Tintagel Head

We continued on the coast path for a couple of kilometres, avoiding a couple of optional detours to headlands, to reach the cliffs above Bossiney Haven, on whose beach we had planned to have lunch.  However, although there were excellent views north along the coast, it wasn't particularly obvious how we were actually going to get down to the beach given we couldn't even see the beach!

View NE from above Bossiney Haven

We continued following the coast path around the cliffs above the haven and soon we reached a path junction in a small valley.  The coast path was straight on, but we turned left to drop down to the beach, the last part by some steps through the rocks.  The tide had been on its way out for the last couple of hours, but if we had been much earlier we wouldn't have actually been able to access the beach!  We spent just short of an hour on the pleasant little beach having our lunch and taking in the surroundings, including the natural arch.  Apart from a couple of swimmers, we had the beach to ourselves, presumably because you actually have to walk a reasonable way to get there.

Bossiney Haven beach

After lunch we re-ascended back to the path junction past large numbers of sloes.  By now the weather had started to turn and it was beginning to feel significantly cooler under the overcast skies.  Soon we reached Rocky Valley where the river had eroded the rocks to form interesting patterns.

Sloes above Bossiney Haven

Rocky Valley

The mist now descended and we spent the rest of the walk to Boscastle with limited views of the nearby cliffs.  After skirting Willapark to the east we began our descent into Boscastle harbour where the tide was clearly out.

The mist descends

Boscastle at low tide

We reached Boscastle at around 3pm and headed into the National Trust tearoom for a cream tea.  It had been a good walk with Isabel in the carrier with some excellent views before the mist descended.

Mmm, cream tea :)