This was day two of the walking holiday and another hot day to follow. The heel plaster was proving very effective. Joy put away her new walking shoes and reverted to trainers and we were ready to start by about 9.30 AM. The plan was to walk down to the sea, 1.5 miles from the hotel, to rejoin the coastal path at Charlestown and walk as far as Mevagissy some 11 miles further on. The first mile was from our digs in St Austell along the road down to Charlestown and it's old harbour.

This harbour was once a fully working harbour, privately owned. It is now restored to its earlier glory and is often to be found as the set for many old maritime films we see on the big and the small screen. It is well worth a visit in its own right, with its museum and the many old sights now restored. Having had a good look around we set off west.

Our guide book indicated that this section of the South West Way was strenuous and as we found out the guide book was quite right. It was a warm sunny day and there were lots of ups and down along this section of the coast. It really is a switchback section all the way down to Black Head some six miles almost due South.

We started with a couple of steep ups and downs passing by two beaches popular with the locals, DuPorth and Porthpean. Leaving the Porthpean town the switchback continued and we passed several points with names like Phoebe's Point, Silvermine Point, Gwendra Point and Gerrans Point. We had certainly taken some exercise by the time we reached the Black Head promontory now owned by the National Trust. Excellent panoramic views from this point from the Gribben to the East to the Dodman in the West.

Rounding the Black Head the coast path swings due west and the walking is still strenuous. The Vans is a wooded area and the cover of the trees was quite welcome with the hot sun. The path now is south west and gradually Pentewan and the wide long beach of Pentewan Beach swings into view. Memories flood back of launching our Mirror dinghy off this beach getting on for thirty years earlier when we camped near the Dodman. We stopped at Pentewan village for a welcome break before making our way through the huge camping and caravanning site just behind the beach and then walking along the beach.

Although walking on sand is never easy it was towards low tide and flat walking for a change. As we made our way along the beach the desire to swim and cool off entered my mind. We continued along and came to a secluded little beach, weedy hence secluded at Portgiskey. We stopped again and I was soon off into the cooling sea. Beautiful even if the sight of me in swimming trunks was less so!!

30 minutes later we scrambled off the beach back to the coastal path and continued our ups and downs past Penare Point and then due south again passing Poltreath and then up to a flat grassy public space immediately above Mevagissy harbour, a tourist orientated picturesque Cornish fishing village. The harbour looked really inviting and we made our way down a steep tarmac path down to the village for a well earned ice cream. After a walk around the harbour we made our way back to the local mini bus station to enjoy a sit down and a short wait for the local bus to arrive to carry us back to St Austell.

The first two days of our walking holiday had seen us progress from Fowey to Mevagissy and we though we'd be able to squeeze another day based at this central little hotel in St Austell since we planned to get down to East PortHolland somehow and then walk back to Mevagissy. As we soon found out there was no public transport down to PortHolland and we were forced to negotiate with local taxi drivers.

We had time to spare with our early start and so we drove down to Carlyon Bay beach for a cooling swim followed by a short drive around to Polkerris Cove where we sat and relaxed in the late afternoon sun enjoying the views. The pub was shut so I couldn't round the walk off as I would have liked to do. I made up for it later that evening though.