Author: CaravanRamblings

Things have been a bit hectic of late so I’m way behind on updating the blog. Thursday the 26th June we headed to the National Trust property, Trelissick House and garden. It’s a short and pleasant bicycle ride from Carnon Downs CAMC site and by proving we had arrived by bike, we acquired enhanced environmental credentials which resulted in a discount at the cafe.

Trelissick is set on its own peninsula, with panoramic views over the Fal estuary. We explored the meandering paths through the garden, leading to exotic plants and herbaceous borders bursting with colour. The house is open seasonally for one to learn the history of the families that once called this place home and to relax in the south facing rooms with refreshments from the Kitchen Cafe to take in the ever changing views of the Carrick Roads. 

After visiting Trelissick House and Garden, we cycled to Point, a lovely estuary village nearby with an interesting footpath.

Dinner was at the Old Quay Inn in Devoran – nice friendly local pub. This was our last night at Carnon Downs and we headed back to East Devon on Friday morning.

Tuesday morning we set off towards Truro and the Caravan and Motorhome clubsite at Carnon Downs. Carnon Downs is a huge site with spacious pitches in seperated areas with nice hedging and mature trees providing a tranquil setting. Mutiple sanitary blocks are dotted around the site which has a cafe bar and takeaway food options on most days.

We switched from a grass pitch to Pitch 50, a hardstanding with Electric hookup but we didn’t need to use the onsite electricity – the solar panels working effectively.

Our pitch at Carnon Downs.

We chose Carnon Downs because it’s close the many predominantly off-road cycle trails including the Coast-to-Coast trail. This morning we set off on our bikes, destination the coastal village Portreath on the north Cornish coastline.

This is the Devoran to Portreath Coast-to-Coast trail.

Our route took us South East to Penpol, Point and Devoran before we joined the Coast-to-coast trail. We weren’t really sure what to expect but the route was tough. Short sections are tarmacked and progress is good but most of the trail at best can be described as gravel roads and in places not much wider than a footpath. The origin of the trail isn’t entirely clear but much of it is on an old disused tramway.

Morning coffee was after we had passed under the Carnon viaduct which carries the Truro to Falmouth railway line (the Maritime line). The present nine-arch masonry viaduct replaced an earlier 19th-century structure designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel for the Cornwall Railway. The original viaduct was opened to traffic when the line was extended from Truro to Falmouth in 1863 and had a timber deck supported by timber trestles springing from eleven masonry piers.

After coffee at the Saint Piran cafe / bar / bike hire location, the trail heads into one of Cornwall’s most significant mining heritage regions. At the “Bon Appetit” cafe we turned left and followed the Mining trail through Wheal Maid valley and alongside two abandoned lagoons. This route by-passes the Poldice Valley which is another significant mining location and one we would pass through in our return journey.

Our goal was to cycle coast-to-coast but the abandoned mining works were a fascinating add-on and will make for several interesting bike excursions in the future!

After meandering through the mining trails we finally arrived some 4.5 hours later at the north Cornish coastal village of Portreath. Here we grabbed a late lunch at a cafe before repeating the trail in reverse!

Passing through the Poldice Valley, our return journey was much quicker taking some 2.5 hours which included another coffee stop!

A tough day on the saddle (over 7 hours!) and a total of 28 miles across a rugged landscape. Not a trip we want to do again anytime in a hurry!!

Monday morning and we headed into the village of Tintagel by bus and the first visit on our itinerary was Tintagel Old Post Office. Grade I listed and a stone house constructed in the 14th-century. The house and its surrounding cottage garden are in the ownership of the National Trust so that meant free entry for Moe and myself.

The internal rooms are furnished and Moe even has her own exhibition.

The “mezzanine” or “shelf” area is where the single women slept together and apart from the men. If you click on the image below, you can see where the saying “left on the shelf” originates.

From the Old Post Office it was onwards and upwards to Tintagel castle which, unfortuantely for us, is an Englsh Heritage site and so handed over our £40 entrance fee.

The original castle was built by Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall in the 13th century during the High Middle Ages. It later fell into disrepair and ruin. The castle has a long association with the legends related to King Arthur when Geoffrey of Monmouth described Tintagel as the place of Arthur’s conception in his mythological account of British History.

The castle was originally accessed via a land bridge directly, but this gradually became eroded and the castle was then essentially detached from the mainland (15th / 16th century). In 2019 Tintagel Castle Bridge opened to re-connect the mainland with the island.

Tintagel Castle is one of English Heritage’s top five attractions with around 200,000 visitors each year and up to 3,000 a day during the peak season.

Tomorrow, we head south to Carnon Downs.

With hot weather (perhaps even a heatwave) forecasted for the weekend and beyond we popped the bikes onto the back of our Campervan, Nellie and set off to Cornwall (Friday 20th June 2025). Our first stop was Trewethett Farm Caravan and Motorhome clubsite just a couple of miles from the villages of Tintagel and Boscastle.

The directions on the website clearly state the only accessible route for a car / caravan but despite this, my navigator Moe took the easy option and went with the satnav recommendations. Fortunately we weren’t towing our caravan because the tracks we ended on would not have worked at all. Still, with just the campervan we arrived on-site shortly after 1pm.

Pitch 96 is a grass with electric but our 25m cable isn’t going to reach so we can probably survive without the electric hookup. With sunny weather ahead our 200w solar panels will be good for the duration

The views from our pitch are amazing and the temperatures aren’t too dismal either.

After we had settled at the site we cycled into Tintagel for a quick orientation exercise. Too late to explore the castle we headed to local hostelry instead!

Almost the longest day of the year, sunset was nearly 10pm and the hot temperatures melted away to leave a fresh night.

Saturday morning and temperatures were now back to normal levels but humidity remained high. When the early morning sea-mist had evaporated, we headed onto the South West coastal path for a short hike to Boscastle. Access to the SW Coast path is directly from multiple places on the campsite. Left to Tintagel and right to Boscastle. Both just over 2 miles and featuring some impressive stepped climbs!

The picnic lunch was at Ladies Hole.

Boscastle is a pretty village with a natural harbour protected by two sea walls. Floods in 2004 caused widespread devastation to the village after 60mm of rain fell in two hours. Residents were trapped on roofs, in cars and alongside the river bank and the visitor centre was washed away. 2007 saw further flooding but not in the scale of 2004.

From Boscastle we caught the bus back to Tintagel and were dropped-off at an un-official bus stop at the campsite entrance.

Sunday we caught the bus to Port Isaac, which is a 50 minute journey away. For a Sunday, a two hourly service was impressive.

Port Isaac is a very pretty, small fishing village. Its origins are likely Celtic and the development of the village can be roughly divided into three phases. Through the Middle Ages and up to the coming of the railways, Port Isaac was a thriving port serving the area inland. During the Tudor period, the harbour was dredged, a good illustration of its importance. Once goods from locations further inland were better served by the North Cornwall Railway, the economy of the port relied on pilchard fishing, probably a centuries-old industry. However, the pilchard shoals began to decline, and after World War I tourism became the mainstay of the economy.

Frm 2004 to 2022 the village served as a backdrop to the ITV series “Doc Martin”. “Doc Martin tours are available for £12.75 per person and the surgery is presently a holiday cottage with a price tag of over £400 per night – exclusive of privacy judging by the number of visitors!

Joe was more impressed with this giant slate retaining wall…

We arrived back from Port Isaac to be faced with some horrendeous weather. The heatwave is well and truly over here in the South West.