November weather has been, well, awful. Week after week of rainy days, even when they forecast a dry day, it would have heavy showers in it. Confidence on the reporting was low, as the weather companies only seemed to accurately report when it would rain all day. Photos online of cold frosty blue sky days in the Lakes and Scotland, had certainly not been replicated down here. As a result we have switched to walking in woodland and off the main part of Dartmoor for a bit, in fact the last time we walked on Dartmoor proper was 22nd October. This walk continued the recent theme, with rain forecast for parts of the day, so we stayed off Dartmoor and went to the north Cornwall coast, where the rain would be lighter and clear earlier. As it was we started in the dry, then it rained, then it stopped again. At least the majority of the walk was in the dry and the coastal sections were free from rain, which vindicated my decision to walk the inland loop first. The highlight of the walk is the dunes around Holywell, normally walking through dunes can be a slog as you feet sink into soft sand. However the path through The Kelseys was mostly firm and with good views, this made for some fine walking and some nice photos of the grassy dunes. The coastal path then leaves the dunes and rises to Kelsey Head, with the wind howling across this headland. Then just as you think the walk is nearing its end we reached Porth Joke and a small seal colony, getting a lovely view down to them on a secluded beach below. Porth Joke would be the quietest of the 3 beaches along this walk, being a fair distance from any car park, no bad thing for the seals. The other two beaches are Crantock and Holywell, with both places having a decent sized NT car parks, meaning they would be busier in the summer. Overall the walking here is very easy with not much in the way of rise and fall and great views along the coast, especially towards Newquay and Trevose Head. I’ve found out that driving to Newquay from Plymouth is about an hour so more walks near here are planned to help complete more of the coastal path.

Start – Crantock Beach

Route – South West Coastal Path – The Gannel estuary – Crantock – Treago Farm – Cubert Common – The Kelseys – Holywell – The Kelseys – Kelsey Head – Porth Joke – Pentire Point West – Crantock Beach

Distance – 7.5 miles    Start time – 11.30am   Time taken – 4hrs 20mins  Highest Point – No more than 50 metres on Cubert Common

Weather – Drizzly to start with, then cloudy and very windy