A Walk With Stunning Views At Tintagel, Cornwall: King Arthur Country - 20 Photos

The 20 photos today were snapped while on a quite special circular walk at Tintagel, Cornwall. It's only about 3.5 miles but it takes in a cliff castle - often known as King Arthur's castle - stunning coastal views, an old church and the south-west coastal path. It's quite up and down - well actually it's down and then up again but it's worth the effort.

The starting point is the cliff top St. Materiana's church - photo below- where there is a convenient car park. It is believed that the church is 11th or 12th century though there have been various alterations since then. It's worth a visit

From the church it's a right turn along the coastal path. Within a short distance a flat topped island can be seen. This is the home of Tintagel Castle (King Arthur's castle) - 250 feet above sea level. 

Following the path brings glimpses of the castle - much of it in ruins. The photo below shows the height of the building and also the small bridge that separates the island and castle from the mainland.

Another view from on high.

Below can be seen one of the castle walls looking out to sea. Keep following the path, but it's time to start going downhill.

The path leads to steps - quite a lot of them - which takes walkers down to sea level and also to the entrance of Tintagel Castle - there is an entrance fee.

Walking down the steps emphasises the height of the cliffs. High, on the opposite side of the valley is the Camelot Castle Hotel.

At last down to sea level.

From here, on the small beach, there is Merlin's Cave - everything seems to be linked to King Arthur in Tintagel.

One version of the story is that is that King Arthur was conceived at the castle. His father, supposedly Uther Pendragon, the king of much of England, had a dalliance with Ygerna (or Igraine) the wife of Gorlois, the Duke of Cornwall. It's a long story but eventually the two were able to marry and Arthur's birth was legitimised. It is also claimed that King Arthur was born in the castle.

But there are many other stories. In Alfred Lord Tennyson's Idylls of the King, for example, he describes how the waves of the sea brought the infant Arthur ashore to Merlin. Thus the cave below is associated with Merlin and King Arthur.

But time to get walking again: cross the bridge over a stream by the small beach and start climbing - with a promise of lovely coastal views to follow.

But, first, a view looking back at the path just travelled ...

... and a view again of Merlin's Cave and also walls of King Arthur's Tintagel Castle.

Another scene looking back towards the castle.

Keep walking upward along the coast path, it's quite a steep climb to the Barras Nose headland but from here there are wonderful coastal scenes.

The day of our walk the weather wasn't that great ...

... but the coast still looks magnificent, almost mystical. 

We were tempted to walk further along the coastal path but followed the circular walk taking the path inland.

The final photo of the walk. From the gate keep on until Tintagel village is reached. Walk through the main road, turning right at the church sign, where the car was parked. It's a bit of an uphill road!

It's quite easy to include a tour of Tintagel Castle within the walk as it's only a small detour to the entrance - the cost is around £10 for adults unless English Heritage members. Note though that the castle will be closed for some essential maintenance during 2019, so check their website for details of when they are open.

I snapped the photo below of the castle on a previous visit - and on a very sunny day!

Let Off The Lead In Truro and The Victoria Gardens - While The Cathedral Watches On.

My wife had an appointment in Truro, Cornwall's cathedral city, so I had about one and a half hours to fill. I decided to wander round the city and then make my way to Victoria Gardens to see if there were any flower displays. I started out at the Cathedral - some lovely carvings at the front of the building - as above.

I often visit Truro but it struck me how the cathedral dominates everything - wherever you look - there's the cathedral looking down from on high.

Walk further and the cathedral is still there. It even seems to squeeze between the narrow lanes ...

... glance sideways and there's a spire - or three.

I made my way out of the shopping area and passed the Cornwall's Courts of Justice on my way to Victoria Gardens.

But looking back from the court what do we still see? Why, the cathedral, of course.

There is a gate by the court that leads to Victoria Gardens. There are so many lovely mature trees.

The garden was created to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee - so that would have been in June of 1897.

A much newer contribution to the gardens is the Invictus Vase of Hope - as above. And I found some flowers too.

The bandstand is a prominent feature. During the May to September period there are often free concerts - a relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

As I wandered I snapped a few photos of the flowers.

Love the subtle colours ...

... and also the matching colour by the small lake.

As time was getting on I meandered my way back to the main city. 

Not everything is old in Truro. There are a few modern stores, of well known retail names like Primark, Marks & Spencer and so on.

Then a phone call from my wife, would I meet her ... by the entrance to the cathedral ... of course, where else!

A Wonderful Display of Rocks, Cliffs, Pebbles and Sand at Northcott Mouth, Cornwall

Northcott Mouth, on Cornwall's north coast, is described as a rocky beach with expansive sand and rock pools as the tide drops. What fascinated me though were the wonderful rocks - the colours, the shapes and so on. 

We'd never been to Northcott Mouth previously and spent an age just looking at the cliffs, rock pools and rocks generally. It was lovely as we were the only people on the beach. The dullness of the day must have put people off walking. 

I'll let the photos tell there own story.

Miles of Beach at Widemouth Bay, Cornwall for Surfers and Holiday Makers

We were visiting the north coast of Cornwall and had arranged a weeks stay in a small cottage in the village of Poughill. We left home quite early and took the coast route so we could stop several times on the way. 

One of our stops was at Widemouth Bay, which is about three or four miles from the town of Bude. As can be seen by the photo above, the weather looked non too clever, but we managed a blustery walk along the cliffs.

After a while the weather took pity on us and the sky changed to blue.

The air gradually became warmer. It was then easier to see why this two mile long beach is so popular, in the summer months, with holiday makers, surfers and beachcombers.
  

Widemouth Bay is on the Atlantic coast and can get the full blast of the westerly winds - but this is good for surfing. The RNLI lifeguards have a station on the beach - just in case of any problems.

There are surfing schools on the beach for the inexperienced. 

We had hoped to return to Widemouth Bay, during our break, but found many other walks and interesting places, so never got round to making another visit.

The Lost Gardens of Heligan: 18 Photos of Farm Animals, Plants and Jungle

Towards the end of April we visited The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall. As I have said before, it's somewhere we visit throughout the year, whatever the season. 

One of the main features of this visit though wasn't only the gardens. It was the new born farm animals as well.

The mother pig is Actress a British Lop Gilt - which is an endangered species. There are less than 160 breeding sows remaining in population.

As well as piglets there were also lambs.

One of the lambs was particularly inquisitive and couldn't wait to get his picture taken.

The family in the barn wanted a more formal photo, which included the newly born lamb.

Not sure what these chicks had done wrong to warrant a prison sentence, but they seemed happy enough. I don't like to see animals and birds behind bars. 

But time to move on to the gardens.

Blossom on the archway of apple trees. 

A quick peek into the Potting Shed.

There is certainly an array of old tools - but I wasn't in a working mode, so left them behind.

The house at Heligan is private, but is an impressive building.

Flowers of forget-me-not in the Sundial garden ...

... but we decided to head for the jungle ...

... passing the bamboo ...

... and onto the wooden walkway.

Quite a selection of trees in the valley, some of the them are hundreds of years old.

There are gunnera and tree ferns galore.

Finally we left the jungle and made our way into the more formal gardens before heading home - after another quick look at the animals.

Other Lost Gardens of Heligan Posts:
Thirteen February Photos of the Lost Gardens of Heligan
Lost Gardens of Heligan in Winter