For most however, it was the perceived distance to travel to get there. Although under an hour in a car, a trip to the north coast of Cornwall is seen as a mammoth trip for a walk!!

As I found out afterwards, the SWCP book grades the section of coast we walked as severe, which is the hardest grading that they give. What is more, they also state that it is perhaps the hardest short section of coastal walking on the whole of the South West Coastal Path. That, again, I didn't discover until afterwards.

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Pat, our leader, mentioned at the start that there were a few ups and downs on the route and very much so in the early stages, and so it proved to be. I've included a gradient profile at the end of the walk which illustrates very well just how much of a switchback the route was.

Since there had been lots of rain in the days leading up to the walk then we anticipated mud and plenty of water in the valley streams we'd be crossing. That certainly turned out to be the case.

After a minor hiccup, we finally left Port Isaac at just before 11 AM and made our way down by the side of the road leading to Port Gaverne, about 300 m of easy downhill walking to start with.

Since we were at sea level at Port Gaverne, really the only way was up!!

Leaving Port Gaverne, we picked up the coastal path which led us up to a largish hotel and across the road where a signpost informed up that we had just six miles to go to reach Trebarwith Strand, but what a six miles it would prove to be!!

From the map it was clear that there would be a number of valley crossings, each with a own steep descent and ascent.

Leaving Port Gaverne, we walked steadily along generally east and climbed steadily most of the time for the first mile or so with lovely views both ahead and back.

We passed headlands and coves such as Cartways Cove, Tresungers Point and even had a little descent at Rams Hole.

The first of the many switchbacks came soon after as we dropped down to cross a stream and marshy area at St Illickswell Gug. I couldn't help but wonder how these names came to be. At least at St Illickswell Gug there were duckboards to make our crossing over the stream easy; that was not always the case though as we soon found out.

The coastal path was indeed muddy and narrow in places and we found ourselves slipping and sliding at times. After the descent to St Illickswell Gug, there was a steeper section upwards and the climb continued steadily.

After about 2 miles of walking we reached the high Bounds cliff, at 420 ft this was the highest point of the walk. Although it had been a steady climb, it was no harder than many other sections of coast path, so why the severe grading in the book.

We soon found out!!

The section of coastline from Bounds Cliff along to Jacket's Point is characterised by deep valleys, much bigger than the one at St Illickswell Gug.

There are four valleys, in quick succession, each getting progressively steeper and longer, or so it felt. Each valley had a stream running down through it and as we found out, the first three valleys didn't have the benefit of footbridges.

The first descent from Bounds Cliff was a steep 250 ft drop down to cross the first valley stream at Barrat's Zawn. Just below the stream, which we waded across, the path descended further and then turned sharply uphill for a very slippery and very steep climb up out of the valley.

After all the recent rain, the path was particularly difficult and in my opinion was very difficult. It should be stepped or diverted as soon as possible before someone gets injured. I notice the same comment was made in the SWCP book in 2000.

I imagine the path is much worse now than it was then but it appears that no action has been taken by Cornwall County Council who are responsible for this section of the path.

I asked a representative of the SWCP Association about the situation. The Association are aware of the problems there and have and are continuing to lobby Cornwall County Council to have the section of path improved and or diverted.

After a particularly difficult 200 ft climb, we reached the top and skirted around some very badly eroded cliffs, known as Barrat's Zawn cliffs.

The erosion is quite severe and I wondered just how much more cliff face would come tumbling down this winter.

Beyond the cliffs another valley lay below us. This stream valley looked impressive stretching way inland. It isn't named on any maps I have but is situated just to the north of Delabole Point. Down we went and at the bottom another hazard.

The valley stream was in flood after all the rains and there was no footbridge. it was either a case of give up or wet feet.

Wet feet won and we all made it across without any slip ups.

We were well into the swing of climbs out of valleys now and this one was a lot easier than Barrat's Zawn.

The coast path had swung north east by now and at the top of the valley we had a short section of almost level walking and of course lovely views of the coastline, both ahead towards Gull Rock and back to Port Isaac and south.

Soon we were descending again, this time to another stream valley, again not named on the OS maps but just to the south of a spot marked on the map as Dannonchapel.

We made the steep descent into the valley and we could see the brook at the bottom rushing on down to the sea.

When we reached the valley floor we could see the stream but no footbridge.

Naturally enough, the stream, flowing down from the mine workings much further up the valley, was in serious flood, as you can see in the photograph.

No option, more wet feet and borrowing of walking sticks to steady ourselves in the fast flowing water and were soon across.

This stream seems to mark the start of National Trust owned managed section of coastline. I can only assume they don't own the stream or surely they would have placed a footbridge over it.

The National Trust have called this area of coastline they own Dannonchapel after the hamlet of that name, if indeed it is a hamlet!

Another climb out of the valley, which was a little more difficult than the previous valley but again easier than the Barrat's Zawn which was so far a clear winner in the difficulty stakes!!

Two hundred metres of relatively level walking followed and we enjoyed the great views and then came the deepest valley of the lot so far, Jacket's Point stream valley.

The contour lines on the map were very close together and the National Trust had made it a stepped descent because of the steepness.

The steps were there seemingly built for people with long legs and those with short legs struggled to leap down from step to step....

I didn't count how many steps but there were quite a few. At the bottom across the in flood stream we had a footbridge, a sure sign of NT owned land.

Pat, our esteemed leader, indicated that lunch would be taken at the top, when we reached it.

The climb out was difficult, as by now the wind was whistling down the valley and was strong enough to really buffet us.

With the cliff edge only a short distance to our left, I was just a little concerned as were others, about taking off inadvertently.

Although the path was in much better repair than Barrat's Zawn, it was as strenuous and certainly a testing climb up to the top. We all made it, fairly well strung out though and at the top we nestled under a dry stone wall to take lunch and recover.

Since I had visited this point before and had walked north, I knew that we had an easy section of coastal path ahead of us. The worst of the switchback was most certainly over.

After lunch we made good progress, just easy cliff path walking along almost level ground for getting on for a mile along a section of coastpath called Tregardock Cliff. There were lovely views and easy walking With the wind behind us, it was all so very different to the pre lunch section.

This is one of the beauties of walking the SWCP, the terrain is so majestic and incredibly varied.

We approached Tregardock Beach which at low tide provides a secluded sandy beach, no sand this time though as it was approaching high tide.

Coastal erosion, or was it a combination of erosion and mining activity, had left a section of land surrounded by lower ground very much resembling a small mountain. It is indeed so named on the map, "The Mountain".

We dropped down to cross a stream, inland of "The Mountain" and then a short climb up brought us out to a gate leading to flat grazing ground, just north of Tregonnick Point.

We couldn't see any animals grazing here, as the notice indicated they might be, but the going became very easy again as we made out way along by Treligga Common and then Treligga Cliff for a mile of more of very easy walking. We began to forget the deep stream valleys of the morning section of walk.

We were soon reminded of it though as approaching Gull Rock out to sea, we had a major descent ahead down into Backways Cove Stream Valley, where there had been plenty of mining in the past.

Backways Cove looked quite superb with the high tide rollers crashing onto the rocks below us.

At the bottom we swung inland a little and crossed over two streams, the first via an old slate bridge and the second via a wooden footbridge.

The cattle certainly knew the best place to graze and there were many of them contentedly chewing away, glancing at us with disdain as we made our way by them.

Although both sides of the stream valley were very steep the path had been zig zagged and the uphill section was much easier than it otherwise might have been.

Relatively speaking, the climb up wasn't difficult and we certainly had the wind ( and rain at that time ) at our back.

Dennis Point lay off to our left and we made our way along the track only to be faced with a very very steep descent down into Trebarwith Strand, a local beauty spot with a lovely beach at low water and very popular with visitors.

Because of the steepness of the valley side, the path was both zig zagged and stepped, steps made for giants of course but inevitably so because of the steepness of the terrain.

I lost count of how many steps we descended, my knees reminded me of every one and I went down very carefully, sideways!!

The view looking down on Trabarwith Strand with its visitors and visitor attractions was quite lovely and there was a beautiful rainbow bridging the whole valley as the rain stopped and the sun came out again.

The water looked a beautiful blue with Gull Rock out to sea as the back drop.

The tide was right in and the waves were crashing on the rocks with tourists dicing with death in seeing how close they could get to the water level and the waves crashing in. When will they ever learn!!

We stopped at the head of the rocks at Trebarwith Strand for a well earned afternoon break to enjoy the sights before the final two miles back up out of the valley up to the high cliffs leading to Tintagel.

A few metres up the road from the rocky entrance to the beach is the footpath sign to Tintagel, indicating just over 2 miles to go. There is also an information plaque on the right hand side giving lots of information about the slate mining and other features of the stretch of coastline.

The coast to Tintagel is relatively flat and easy going, once you've climbed up the 250 ft cliffs to reach the top.

Just one last climb out of a valley, how many was that in all from Port Isaac, quite a few as a read through this description will reveal.

The start of the trek up from Trebarwith Strand is quite hard and with the rain the rocky path was slippery and difficult. I was a little surprised that, with the number of tourists who must walk it, the path hadn't been improved and made more tourist friendly.

We were at or near the top soon enough making our way by a rocky outcrop to our left and then the going was indeed easy for the rest of the walk.

As we made our way along the top of the cliff there was evidence of an amazing amount of slate quarrying in the area with the remains of several quarries which the information plaque had identified.

At one point quite close to Hole Beach, a tall pillar of slate remained with the rest of the area completely quarried away. It must have been 100 feet high or perhaps more, why on earth was it left there was the question??

The information plaque has answered that question. "The Pinnacle" was a section of inferior quality slate that simply wasn't worth quarrying so it was left in place.

What amazed me was that boats came in alongside these cliffs and large cranes would be used to deposit the mined slate directly into the holds of the boats. It must have been a hazardous mooring against the rocks in all but the calmest of conditions.

As we made our way along, the remains of a zig zag path could be seen just north of Hole Beach which led down to near where the boats came alongside.

We made our way along the coast path by some amazingly intricate dry slate stone walls, beautifully constructed, until we came to a sign not far beyond Hole Beach, indicating the coast path swinging off to the left following the line of the coast with another track heading across fields directly back to Tintagel.

Although continuing along the coast path was by far the more scenic approach to Tintagel, Pat quite rightly had decided that we had spent quite enough energy with all the climbs out of valleys so far and if we could avoid the climb ( last straw that broke the camels back ) then we would.

Accordingly, we headed north away from the coast path for the final mile and passed through several fields, some quite muddy, getting ever closer to Tintagel.

Soon we were over a final bridge, across a brook and making our way into the tourist resort of Tintagel itself with its gift shops, cafes and King Arthur's memoriabilia outlets which abound there.

We made our way by a well constructed building called King Arthur's Great Halls and then the strange shaped modern visitors centre on the opposite side of the road, before turning left into the car park, called the Sword in the Stone CP which proudly announced it was just £1 for all day parking there.

That must be the cheapest paying CP in any of the Cornwall seaside tourist resorts, it certainly compared favourably with Port Isaac council car park at £3.50 for stays longer than 4 hrs.

It was 4.30 PM when we arrived back into the car park at Tintagel, having left Port Isaac at 11 AM. We had covered about 9 miles in 5.5 hours, not exactly racing speed but consider all those valleys we had been into.

I found, using my mapping software, that we had ascended just under 2500 feet during the day and the height profile of the walk tells its own story.

Thanks to Pat M for all her efforts in recceing, gathering in the flock before the walk and making sure that the route was OK for us on the day, despite all the elements conspiring to make it difficult.

All we had left to do was to get everyone back to their own cars, which meant a 10 mile drive back from Tintagel through Delabole and via Port Gaverne to the car park at Port Isaac again. I arrived back home in Plymouth, 40 miles away incidentally, at just before 6.30 PM having set off from home at 8.45 AM, we certainly had a full day out and it was a walk to remember.

Was it severe??? Yes for sure it was and the SWCP book was completely accurate in its route description.