The Southwest Coast Path, Cornwall, England, 2015 by Linden B. (Lindy) Sisk

Day Five - Bude to Crackington Haven

Please remember that each picture is a link to a larger version!

In Bude, we were offered breakfast at 7:30, which we used to get an early start on the day's hike. A full English - or Cornish - breakfast is show in the first photo, and offers plenty of sustenance for the start of the day. After breakfast, we started off to find the trail, which wasn't easy.

We asked three different people for directions to the path, the last of which told us to look for directional signs to "Jack and Emily's Wedding." We did, and that worked. We headed south on the path.

After a few miles of fairly easy walking through pastures, we came upon Widemouth Bay, which has long and excellent beachs. There was, in fact, a surfing contest in progress, even though the water temperature is only around 54 degrees F. We stopped at a nice cafe for excellent coffee, then stopped again to chat with one of the organizers of the surfing contest.

A climb up to the south of Widemouth Bay brought us to nearly 500 feet above the water. We proceeded along the cliffs, passing through one beautiful pasture after another. We found the ideal lunch spot, perhaps the prettiest place I have ever eaten lunch, with views up to the north of green fields and blue water.

After lunch, we proceed on south toward Crackington Haven, and encountered some steep descents and ascents. One of my knees had begun to bother me a little from all off the steps we encountered in the steep up and down sections, so we decided to take a shortcut through the little village of Saint Gennys, and wound up in Crackington Haven for drinks at about 3:30 PM. The day had been 11.6 miles, with about 4400 vertical feet. The distances are not problematic, as all of us are in used to them, but the big elevation gain and loss is causing us some wear and tear.

We had an excellent dinner in the hotel restaurant, and headed up to bed. Tomorrow's stretch, from here to Tintagel, is the longest and perhaps the toughest of the trip, with the most vertical gain and loss in addition to the length.

Full English breakfast

View of the Bude Harbour entrance

Ducks in Bude Harbour

Surfers in Bude

Cottages along the harbour

Bude from above the harbour

Widemouth Bay see from the north

Surfing contest in Widemouth Bay

Widemouth Bay from the cliffs to the south

The green pastures of England

Prime lunch spot

Steep descent

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