27/04/26 - Stepper Point to the Harbour Inn, Padstow

Our Favourite Walk?

We've done this one before and I'll be surprised if we don't do it again in the future. The inland sections on most Coastal Circular walks involve cattle fields, mud and stiles. Not this one. The way to the coast is on broad tracks. Where there is a stile, its one of those Cornish quaint stand up slates jobs that are easy to vault. 

Walking around the headland also provides 3 times more coast than land.

Looking at Trevone, on easy agricultural paths

There could be endless pictures of the sea, as we move around Porthmisson, Gunver Head, Butter Hole and eventually to the tower and lookout station at Stepper Point. Where the Camel meets the seas is so spectacular they named an old beer after in. The once ubiquitous Doom Bar.

Stepper Point Tower

The Happy Couple, where the Camel meets the Sea

The only thing that changed from the previous walk is a stop at the tea shop at the Coastguard's Station and where to lunch Padstow. All things Rick Stein must be avoided. Can you believe that his chipper now charges £25 for takeaway. I mean, its not as if there are transportation costs involved are there? And for this, you have to battle seagulls, find a bench and have no other facilities.

The pub wins - a google suggests that the Golden Lion offer the best fish.

A little sign says the kitchen is closed today. Today only.

We'd not noticed the Harbour Inn before - tucked away down a little alley on the way back to Corporate Rick. If the fish and chips are as excellent as the beer range, then we will be in luck. Unusual Cornish Ales, at least one not seen before.

The Harbour Inn

It's all low ceilings and nautical nick-nacks. 

Session ready

And the Fish and Chips? £4 cheaper, served on a plate and delightfully light batter, according to Mrs M.

Walk Details

Distance - 7.5 Miles

Geocaches - 4

Walk Inspiration - 40 Walks in Cornwall

25/04/26 - Mawgan Porth to Watergate Bay

The £16 Breakfast

Dog sitting at Mawgan Porth for the third time. We know what we are doing. With walks this good, repetition is bound to happen.

A simple there and back walk over a spectacular section of the South West Coast Path. Dramatic cliffs, secret coves, glorious beaches. Completed during our first visit and again in our second, where I chose not to blog, as there was nothing different to report.

If we hadn't stopped for breakfast (we don't have enough cold cross buns to get through the toaster-less weekend ), then there would be nothing new to say this time.

Mawgan Porth Beach

Inaccessible Beacon Cove

Watergate bay - for breakfast

A full English Breakfast at the Beach Hut. We're paying for the views but £16, where tea, toast and a service charge are all extra. In case you say "so what?", Mrs M asked for an egg on her vegan monstrosity. £3. One Egg.

And they forgot her beans.

Cold Bacon, improved by curly sausage

It was a better start to the day than a review from my Facebook page suggested;

Oh dear oh dear.

Massive tomato, one equally massive mushroom and an artisan sausage. A single piece of thin bacon and green stuff on the eggs. There is no place for anything green on a breakfast. No black pudding.

Beans in a pot ensures proper separation however which is a plus point.

3/10

These things are taken seriously by my Facebook followers.

Fuel for the return back... Ruby and Wolf, with Mrs M

Walk Details

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 0

24/04/26 - The Old Albion, Crantock

A Tribute

It was Facebook memories that altered us to the anniversary. Exactly 12 years ago, we were completing a walk from Crantock. A fine photo outside the Old Albion - playing up to my football and national loyalties - used occasionally as a profile picture on one of my route websites.

Armed with a National Trust Membership card, it seemed fitting to repeat the walk and the photo, The £9 saved on car parking can be put towards post walk refreshment.

Dogs demanded a play on Crantock Beach before the walking started

Over West Pentire Head to Polly Joke

A sandwich stop at Holywell, before a different inland route to same ultimate destination.

In a world of change, it's nice that some things are timeless. The Old Albion - like me - showing it's age a little with bits dropping off it but still the same. Tribute, thatched roof, low ceilings, outside patio.

See you in 2038.

2014 Edition of Mappiman

2026 - Gained a lantern lost a L D and B

Walk Details

Distance - 7 Miles

Geocaches - 3

Walk Inspiration - Jarrold Cornwall

04/01/26 - St Erth and the River Hayle

A Dog's Birthday 

The week's dog-sitting comes to end. It is Coops 6th Birthday. Quite by accident, we take him on his favourite walk. It's easy to tell, zoomies, waggy tail and multiple jumps down the bank and into the fast flowing Hayle river.

Later, in the pubs of Hayle

Makes a change from the sea

It's all going swimmingly. Until it isn't. We've walked about 2 miles on a fine riverside track. Suddenly, we are met with a newly erected padlocked green fence. On the other side, is the footpath closed sign.

OK, I can cope with riverbank erosion but come on Cornwall Council. If you're going to the expense to erect a fence deterrent - which has been in place for over a year - why not put a sign at the start of the footpath warning emmets not to proceed?

The End of the Line - Annoying

A double-back required to the nearest bridge and rerouting on good paths through woodland and fields until we pick up the lanes we were meant to return on.

A Cornish Walk without sea views. It is possible

The week at Hayle comes to and end. One new Good Beer Guide Tick, a couple of excursions into St Ives. Plenty of swimming (for the dog). £6 pints. £12.95 Whiskies. £18.50 crab sandwiches. It has been a blast. We can only imagine how busy it gets in summer.

PS - New Year's Resolution - stop moaning about the cost of things.

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Walk Inspiration - Walking West Cornwall - Walk 38

Geocaches - 0

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".  Throw 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 tell 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

02/01/26 - 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

29/12/25 - Godrevy Point, Cornwall

Seal of Approval

Down in Hayle, Cornwall for a week with our new charge, Coops. An affectionate Labradoodle that likes swimming and is well behaved in pubs and cafes. We are going to get on famously.

Spot the Dog

Welcome to a week of coastal views, where the photos will not do justice to reality. This first walk of the week is an absolute belter. An Adventure Lab Cache takes us sequentially to some key sites of the coast around Godrevy Point. This includes a beach, where Coops recall and swimming abilities are tested and past with flying colours and a island hosted lighthouse. Built in 1859 after the SS Nile ran aground on the rocks, with the loss of 40 lives.

To the lighthouse

The other key feature here is the seal colony at Mutton Cove. With the tide retreating, we are treated them frolicking on the beach. If you have never seen a seal try and chase a seagull on land, you have not lived.

Down on Mutton Cove

This is as good as Cornish coastal walking can get. Once the height is gained onto the Knavocks it is not lost as we make our way to Hell's Mouth. Here, you will find a wonderful year round open cafe.

Inaccessible (from land) Hell's Mouth.

Last table in the cafe grabbed and a decision to be made. The walk route has a little more coast around Hudderdown before taking the direct route back via the lane. 

We agree it is better to simply retrace our steps, maintaining the sea views at all times. Occasional in-land deviations are taken, just for variety.

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - 8

Walk Inspiration - AA Walks