We had left our small hotel in St Austell and made our way down to Portscatho the previous late afternoon. This is a lovely coastal village and we soon found a superb bed and breakfast back overlooking the sea with good views in both directions from our room directly overlooking the sea below. We spent some time trying to organise either a taxi or a bus to take us to our starting point at East Portholland, the intention being to walk west this time and to make it back to Portscatho under our own steam.

This was proving to be rather more difficult than we had anticipated. When the owner heard of our predicament he neatly solved the problem by offering his wife as a chauffeur to drive us round to our start point at PortHolland. The only minor problem, our chauffeur was 8 months pregnant and had to take her young daughter with her. The following morning after breakfast all four of us set off for PortHolland and it soon became clear that the driver was just a little unsure of directions. After a few wrong turnings we made it along some very narrow lanes. I vividly remember her dropping us off at our starting point and then selecting the wrong gear and almost driving over the sea wall onto the beach. Thoughts of an injured 8 months pregnant lady etc etc remained with us for a few days!!!

We offered our profuse thanks to her and to god for sparing her and started our journey westward. We scrambled along the cliff rocks and path around the promontory to reach the next metropolis West PortHolland. This was about as large as her sister village and I had to confess to Joy that before this walking holiday I didn't know that either of these places existed.

Leaving the PortHollands we took to the coastal path for a steep little climb up to the top. At the top we were faced with a walk between a forest of Japanese Knotweed about 8 feet high and all enveloping. This weed is becoming quite a scourge in certain areas of Cornwall and once established it is incredibly difficult to eradicate. We have some at the back of our house and I reminded myself to get rid of it as soon as we get back since if it can become this rampant then we don't want it to take over our garden as it has obviously taken over this section of cliff.

Having left the Knotweed behind us, the next mile or so walking was very spectacular as the path kept very close to the cliffs with steep drops to the sea below. We passed several points before a we turned right and there below us was a small fishing village called Portloe.

We descended down some steep steps and passed in front of shops and pubs in this quaint old fishing village. Portillo. We a steep ascent of the other side up to Jacka Point . The walk continued in its spectacular fashion with a couple of a steep ascents and descends at Menare Point and then Blouth Point down to Kiberick Cove. We had been walking National Trust land for most of the way from Portloe towards a high point some two miles along the coast from Portloe.

This point was called Nare Head and there was wide grassy banks at the top. There was a large rock a short distance off shore, called Gull Rock which seemd to be the home of many different species of seabird. We noticed that there seemed to be a dugout on the grassy slopes and there were two or three men who were obviously working. We spoke to them and they told us that this was a lookout shelter in the war, manned by the Observer Corps. They invited us to have a look down inside this hole in the ground, they were trying to recreate it as it would have been some 50 to 60 years ago.

After this interesting diversion, we continued and headed North over quite a strenuous section of coast path with some very steep ups and downs passing some very appealing little coves en route. There were execellent views of a wide sandy beach in the distance.

After a mile or so, we dropped down on to this splendid section of sand called Pendower Beach. Since it was low tide, we were able to drop down to the beach and walk along the beach for a few hundred yards. We then left the beach and had to turn inland to make our way around a hotel. We followed the coast path around the rear of the hotel and then we then proceeded to miss the coastal path since there was a choice of two paths to take. For future reference we should have headed right down to the path just above the beach.

Taking the inland route, we found ourselves in a field with the real path some 100 yards below us through some rather impenetrable undergrowth. We climbed over a hedge and I managed to fall through some very very prickly thick bramble some six feet drop on the other side. The brambles grazed my legs rather badly. The bleeding continued for about half an hour and our handkerchieves were very fully used. However, we did make it back to the coast path below us, after quite a struggle. and we continued our way towards Portscatho which had been visible ever since Nare Head.

Although the undulating path continued it was less steep than it had been in the region of Nare Head and we found the going considerably easier. Just before reaching Porthscatho we passed a surfing beach called Porthcurnick Beach. There were a number of surfers riding the waves on a good swell for the South Coast. We could see our accommodation standing just above the sea a few hundred yards in front of us. We returned to our room with its views for a well earned rest and to give me the opportunity of stopping the bleeding which was still continuing through the improvised bandages.

We took the opportunity of going into the village in the evening to sample the delights of the local pubs and to try a bar snack. The following day we would be tackling a circular walk around the Roseland Peninsula for the final section of our Fowey to Falmouth section of this magnificent South West Coastal path.