Crossing the Camel

A Cornish Back-Blip

I shot this from the former railway bridge over the Camel Estuary, just outside Padstow. The railway line has been converted into a highly popular cycle trail, with bikes of all types available for hire at Padstow, Wadebridge and Bodmin. While the Bodmin to Wadebridge stretch is hilly, the five miles between Wadebridge and Padstow, is flat, and overlooks the Camel Estuary. The river finally joins the bigger waters at Padstow, a bustling estuary town with a small beach and a huge selection of ice cream shops, pastie vendors, and Rick Stein restuarants! I popped into Rick's patisserie and bought a croissant-to-go for CleanSteve, just because I could, and then a dribbly ice cream for myself at some other stall. Oh, and I browsed a kitchen shop and a craft fair because there was no earthly reason not to! On the whole, though, I found Padstow in August far too crowded, and could not wait to get on.

I'd come on foot from Polzeath, having walked along the clifftop path to Daymer Bay, then on behind the dunes to Rock, where I took the small ferry to Padstow's lower beach (the estuary is tidal, so the boat lands in different places at different times of day). The walk to to Rock is
was about three miles, and then there was another quarter-mile to Padstow; then a hike to the start of the Camel trail for cyclists, but once on the trail, the estuary views were inspiring, uplifting and I never wanted them to end.

I was only of only a handful of walkers (couldn't be bothered to hire a bike for just five miles) that I encountered, but I saw plenty of families, friends and couples out on their bikes, and a wheelchair bike with the wheelchair attached to the handlebars. When I got to Wadebridge I resisted the temptation to buy tea towels or fudge (along with soap, they seem to be the universal British tourist fare, presumably because they have a long shelf life) and bought some Spanish hard nougat (Turron) instead, in LIDL!

I discovered that Wadebridge has a really good bus network, with busese serving the whole county, just about, and parts of Devon. This prompted thoughts of returning some other time, as I love to stay in places where I can get around on public transport.

The bus dropped me back in Polzeath at about four o'clock, and CleanSteve was surprised to see me back so early. The whole trip hadn't taken long, but was by no means a route march. It seemed the perfect way to have spent my last full day in North Cornwall.