Pentewan, Beach, Harbour, Village and Sea

A sunshine day, too good to waste indoors, so we decided on a shortish walk along part of the Pentewan Trail which, as the name suggests, leads to Pentewan Village and the landlocked harbour. The photo above is how the harbour looks today. To get on the Pentewan Trail there's a pull-in, for a few cars on the St. Austell to Mevagissey road. 

We parked our car, crossed the small bridge, as above, and followed the St. Austell River often known locally as the White River.

We passed a colourful sign post.

A bridge is for walkers wanting to visit Mevagissey or Heligan Gardens. Pentewan is straight on.

We continued to follow the river.

We soon reached a left turn to take us to Pentewan. The path is shaded by trees.

Luckily all was quiet. Have to be little careful though as bicycles are allowed on the path.

We reached Pentewan Village and the sun

was still shining.

All was quiet.

Where had everyone gone?

It looked as if everyone was at The Ship Inn pub!

The pub is around 250 years old.

We thought it would be rude to pass by without having a beer - a Cornish beer, of course! So we  sat in the pub garden with a Korev lager.

Many years ago, as mentioned below, a small train delivered china clay to the harbour for export.

Next is how a section the harbour looks today - generally very peaceful. The original harbour was built by Christopher Hawkins in 1826.

And this how the harbour would have looked in the late 1800's with tall ships on view.

Today, this is where the boats would have been. It is now full of sand

There's also a longish beach backed by the Pentewan Holiday Park. 

Bits and pieces linger from when the harbour was in working order.

A lookout looking down from the cliffs.

We lingered for quite a while on the beach, before making our way back to our car.

All in all a pleasant easy walk. Thanks very much for visiting my blog. Good wishes ~Mike.

WALKING THE PENTEWAN VALLEY TRAIL

We had a walk, or perhaps it was more like a stroll, along part of the Pentewan Valley Trail. This stretches from St. Austell to the sea at Pentewan.

It was damp under foot but very pleasant otherwise. We walked alongside the small St. Austell River which is also known, by some, as the Vinnick River or the White River.

Part of the walk veered through an attractive wood, with fallen leaves underfoot.

It had been raining a heck of a lot, so much water lingered either side of the path.

The trees and reflections made some confusing views.

The trail ended for us at Pentewan harbour. The photo below shows the sluice gate built in 1872. This  controlled the water used to flush out the harbour basin. 

A few more small trees and quite a lot of water.

And then we reached the land locked harbour at Pentewan.

From here we retraced our steps alongside the river.

I guess we walked about three miles. So nothing too strenuous. It's always uplifting though to get out in the fresh air and amongst trees and nature.

Footnote: The Pentewan Trail was once the route of a railway which travelled from St. Austell to Pentewan Harbour transporting china clay. I mentioned this at the end of my blog post AFTERNOON TEA & OTHER MEANDERINGS

Thanks for visiting my blog ~ Mike.