03/01/26 - Men-an-tol and Gurnard's Head

1st Good Beer Guide Tick of 2026

There was a time today when we thought this would be the "2026 walk of the year". There was an equal length of time when we were questioning our own lifestyle choices.

Identifying post walk refreshment opportunities along a particularly remote section of the Cornish Atlantic coast, we decide to start at the Gurnard's Head Hotel. A striking, mustard yellow hotel with the name emblazoned in the roof tiling. Recognised by CAMRA for good beer and other associations for good food, Mrs M quickly identifies the only sandwich they do is £17.50. Without chips. Crab sarnies are now the national Cost of Living measure.  

Mappiman's Shadow, Mrs M and Coops

Down to the sea for a spectacular stretch of the SWCP. Wild but exhilarating walking south to Rosemergy. Abandoned mines and warning signs showing unwary ramblers falling head-first down shafts. Who doesn't like a bit of edge to their morning constitutional?

Braving the elements

Engine House at Rosemergy

 Onwards to the Bronze Age Stones...

Men-an-Tol, near Madron in west Cornwall, is a small prehistoric stone monument consisting of a circular granite slab pierced by a round hole and flanked by two upright stones, set starkly on open moorland; it probably dates to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age (around 2500–1500 BCE) and may once have formed part of a larger stone circle or ritual alignment. Its folklore is unusually strong and persistent: for centuries people believed that crawling through the holed stone—often nine times and sometimes at dawn—could cure ailments such as back pain, rheumatism and childhood illnesses, promote fertility, and protect against witchcraft or curses, giving the site a lasting reputation as a place of healing, protection and symbolic rebirth.

Coops, the Labradoodle, should be forever protected against back pain.

The Holy Stone

Of course he leaped through, there was a biscuit on the other side.

It's then the misery kicks in. I have misinterpreted the guide books hand drawn maps and where I think there is accessible common land, we are met with walls of gorse and no available paths. We double track to eventually get tied up in ancient field systems. We have to look very hard for field exits - they are there, but Cornish stiles would not be out of place on the TV programme "Wipe Out".  Through in aggressive/inquisitive horses and a pub that refuses to reveal itself until the final moments and you can lose the morale of the troops.

Two things tells me we will have a problem in the Gurnard's Head Hotel. The car parking has over-spilled to the grass verges and there are people using the outside picnic areas when the temperature is barely above freezing.

Regardless, we press on in and are met with a full house. Who would have thought people had money left after the festivities? We do manage to grab high stools at the bar and I hope for a drink to satisfy the Good Beer Guide Ticking committee. After failing to be acknowledged by the three harassed staff, let alone served, we decide to use other facilities available and cut our loses.

Zennor is just down the road and they have the Tinners Arms.

Home of Tinners Ale

Again, this is packed but we do manage to get a seat. Two things of note - the house beer, Tinners Ale - is brewed by Sharps. It looks, tastes and smells like Doom Bar. It is served in a Doom Bar Glass. It is of course, Doom Bar.

And the Crab Sandwich here is £18.50. 

Still without chips.

Dubious 2026 ticking commences with an unexpected Doom Bar

Walk Details

Distance - 8.5 Miles

Walk Inspiration - Enjoy Walking in West Cornwall, Walk 32

Geocaches - 2

02/06/25 - St Ives Circular

At Last, the Pilchard Press is Ticked (Properly)

We're back into St Ives on the sort of train journey that would force Michael Portillo to don his most garish of trousers. It's not often travellers are demanding to sit on one particular side of the train, as they aim to maximise the views over Carbis Bay and Portminster Beach.

St Ives is the end of the line and even in bleak midwinter, it's hard to navigate the thronged streets. My favourite argument between a man and his wife, which resulted in the most disgruntled shouting "I'm not having that, I'm going to the f*cking pub". And in she went.

Plenty of choice in St Ives. Not sure any of them are "destination", mind. An Adventure Lab Cache takes us to five different pubs and I can add the Kettle N Wink and Lifeboat to the Union, Castle and Sloop Inn previously visited. Today's observations - Kettle N Wink - no one wants or needs heavy metal music at that volume.  Lifeboat..... too many tourists. And only a man from Worcestershire can say that. But Coops the Labradoodle did enjoy the "dog station", with as many free biscuits as he could snaffle.

Back in Black the most tuneful of today's tunes at the Kettle

Family and dog friendly at the Lifeboat

The walk is a simple circuit of the western headland. The holidaying masses are left behind as we climb ever upward on lanes to field tracks over Burthallen Cliffs. The footpaths disappear and have little bearing on the OS Map but eventually we part walk, part crawl through thistles and hedges to get onto the South West Coast Path proper.

Should have just aimed for the sea - instead, we went off piste

All smiles, when we can see St Ives on the SWCP

Coops the Labradoodles favourite part - Portmeor Beach

We'd deliberately timed our return for 4pm, to coincide with the opening hours (on a day they are open) of the Pilchard Press. This is my third attempt at a visit. With hindsight, I can see why it closed during covid. I am unsure whether anyone would have fancied sitting in a low ceilinged windowless room. We were also here a couple of days ago, on one of their non-opening days.

Its located down an unappealing alley, where you can determine how much vegetable oil a Thai restaurant consumes. There on the stroke of 4pm, we're not the first to enter. In fact, its not unlike a game of musical chairs - as the menfolk head to the bar and the women and children jostle for the best seating.

All beers are LocALE and on sillage. The one you are likely to have heard of is Dartmoor Legend, but even a prolific pub enthusiast like myself is in the realms of Viz's RAT Beer names.... Treens Krowser, a best bitter, barmaids name was Angela.

A Proper Pilchard Tick

If we were brave enough to visit the Three Ferrets, we could declare St Ives done. The best by a county mile is the Sloop. Especially if you can get inside and like London Prices.

With trains every half an hour, all that remains is to get the timings right on the quayside return.

Easy to get a hosing at high tide.

Go For It!

 

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in Cornwall

Geocaches - 3

01/01/26 - The Bucket of Blood, Phillack

Walked Through the Rain, Walked through the Mud

Happy New Year! And the first walk of '26 is a joy from beginning to end.

A walk influenced by a NSFW song by Nick Cave. It tells the story of a gangster called Stagger Lee, whose woman throws him out in the ice and the snow. He sets off on a ramble through the rain and the mud, till he came to a place called the Bucket of Blood.

On arrival, Stag commits many unsavoury acts, culminating in killing everyone. We will settle for a pint and hopefully, a cob.

Starting in Hayle, we move through its industrial heritage on the quaysides, before getting distracted with golden sands and enviable coffee locations. Queuing for our flat white and Americano with youth who don't look like they have been to bed last night. Their reactions dulled by Hootenanny excess to the point they cannot protect their cooked breakfast. I'm having a better '26 than them, laughing as a seagull makes off with a sausage from one of their Full Englishes, them all howling at the skies.

Through the Harbour

The Pot of Gold exactly at the Bucket of Blood

Online resources provide two different opening times for the pub. WhatPub say midday. Google says 2pm. The pubs own Facebook page says nothing. Fortunately, the pub manager is on top of his emails. 1pm fitting my needs perfectly. I've got to be back by 3pm so that the Baggies can ruin my excellent mood.

Arriving at 12:50, we have to wait for the most beautiful sound in the world. We share the joyous "scraping of the bolt" moment with a fellow dog walker.

But not before photos

Well, I never

This is the only current pub in the land with this name. With the history of the building stretching back to the early C13th, there is much conjecture as to how it was christened. The ghoulish will love murdered smugglers dumped in the well, with an unsuspecting landlord hauling up his bucket of gore. Scientists will prefer iron ore deposits polluting the drinking water. Regardless, ghost stories abound and are respected.

Don't mess with the dark arts

As if fitting, stories are shared from last night's excesses. Only in a small Cornish village could you have had six antipodean women getting a conga going around the bar after drinking the place dry of Guinness. I only hope they remembered to duck. The ceilings are no higher than 5.5 feet. I know this, as both my ears are touching rafters as I order a fine pint of Hicks and enquire about the snack situation.

You were told to not mess with that Ouija Board

It's almost a perfect afternoon, but alas, no cobs. Forced to move on for sustenance, it's a glorious walk back to Hayle along the river.

And with a wonderful case of "The Trail Will Provide" - a takeaway pasty shop.  

Simply glorious

Inner cities get youth at chicken shops.

Mrs M declares Philps to be the best pasties in the land, with the crumbliest, flakiest pastry and tastiest fillings.

2026 is off to a banger. Happy New Year!

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Geocaches - 1

Walk Inspiration - Enjoy Walking in West Cornwall, Walk 40

30/12/25 - Hayle to St Ives, Home by Train

Sloop and a Castle, No Pilchard

What a delightful day! Google tells us that our friends are just 0.6 miles from Hayle, in Lelant. This is very much only as the crow flies. They are yet to build a bridge across the estuary. 

Some road walking along the Causeway but another couple of miles on the South West Coastal Path is complete.

The Causeway

Friends Reunited at Lelant Church

Then it's an easy but time-consuming 3.5 miles or so. When you have the opportunity, you really must walk on broad golden sands. The gods demand it. And so do the dogs.

Dunes

Canine Playground

It's always wonderful arriving into a town at the end of the walk. All those possibilities for refreshments. We are both creatures of habit and cliche.

The two pubs were the same as my last visit in the heights of December 2020 lockdowns. When the Sloop Inn interpreted the Boris laws by implementing a velvet rope. Manchester People - Banned.  Worcestershire People - Sit outside. Welsh - come on in!

A fine pub - tiny inside, with tables around a circular bar. With three dogs, two large, we decided to sit outside. Watching the passers-by, ruminating on £6 (admittedly delicious) pints of Tribute. London prices to make those second homers feel at home. Double the council tax, say I.

Mappiman, warming up on NYE eve

The castle is a little less hectic. Demoted from the GBG in the years since The Great Derangement. The Betty Stogs was in poor condition, so justified. But something bad happened to Skinners in 2022, so maybe this is how it tastes now.

Regardless - it's our kind of place.

Incidentally, the only Good Beer Guide Pub in town is the Pilchard Press. One day, I will stay up late enough to enter the premises. 4pm opener on the days that it is open. Almost like they don't want customers.

You try taking a pub photo in St Ives without photobombing

Rail times checked and a last look back over heaven before the 4 mile journey. Which requires a change at St Erth and feeling of being cheated.

Our £10 for two single tickets remained locked in my Google Wallet.

Looking down on heaven

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 4

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in Cornwall