Coverack

Supposedly, today would be the worst of the weather for us down here in Cornwall with light rain forecast. But we're not going to let a little rain stop us so we set off to discover a pretty iconic harbour called Coverack! I had previously visited this quirky Cornish village last year in June, although sadly, two weeks later there was a flash flood in July 2017 (source - BBC), which did shock me and I was curious to come back and visit. Particularly with a view like this across the cove:

The view of the sea wall from Coverack harbour

Parking?

There's a small open car park as you come down the hill to views of the sea, which, with most of the car parks in this part of Cornwall, have an "honesty box" where you pay £2-£3. Here's a view of the village from the bottom of the car park:

The view of Coverack Harbour from the car park

Coastal Walk

We ventured North to join the South West Coastal Path (looking for the acorn symbol), passing a few very nice looking holiday cottages overlooking the sea and the harbour. The walk was fairly straight forward although you just need to be sure to follow the trodden path in most places and you will be fine (again, following the acorn symbol on signposts on the footpath).

Heading north on the South West Coast Path away from Coverack

Dean Quarries

We could have turned left at a junction just before Dean Quarries but we continued straight on, mainly to add some extra distance on to our walk but turns out there's a little bit of history with this quarry. It began quarrying "gabbro" (magnesium and iron rich rock, more commonly known as "black granite" for kitchen work surfaces) (source on Gabbro - Wikipedia) in 1890 and was in service until 2008. There has been much controversy since it reopened in 2015 under new owners to extract more rock and from a larger area (Source - Cornwall Against Dean Super Quarry & Dean Quarry FAQ). You can understand local residents, and indeed, walkers and conservationists, not wanting to have this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) damaged and altered by quarrying.

Dean Quarries

Roskilly's

Nonetheless, there were no planned explosions for when we were walking, so we were able to carry on the path, cutting in through the really long grass to find a the hidden footpath going inland, where we joined a village called Rosenithon.

Once you walk past Dean Quarries, you'll see this cove...

...Look left about half way down the cove and you will see a footpath heading off in to Rosenithon

We headed left on joining the road and just before the next road junction, we 'ducked' down a footpath that was part of what looked like a nature reserve with large ponds full of quacking, potentially hungry ducks!

Some hangry (hungry and angry) ducks!

We wandered around here for a bit and then saw a magical sign that everyone loves to see on a walk - Roskillys Ice Cream! Be prepared for excited, screaming children if you do stop off here (who can blame them?) but if you like your ice cream, it doesn't get much fresher than here. Thick, Cornish ice cream, you can't beat it!

Roskilly's Dairy Farm - worth getting that mid-walk ice cream or family fun with the kids!

With sufficiently topped up energy supplies, we carried on our walk and found a sign that said "footpath to Coverack", which took a diagonal path across fields and around farms. It's not a particularly difficult way back if you're even half competent with OS maps (look for the green dotted lines on the maps for public footpaths, there's only one) and when you start walking down the hill to re-join the original coastal path, it's a pretty awesome view of Coverack harbour.

The Elusive Pasty

We did pop in to the village as we were in pursuit of the famous Cornish pasties, effectively a baked pastry base with any filling you want to put in (usually steak or cheese). However, it seemed to be elusive. But wait, what's this? A small, thatched cottage (called Elizabeth's) with a menu that showed high promise of fulfilling our pasty dream… do they take card? "No, sorry, cash only, but you can get cash out from a pub down the road".

In search of our cash point in the village of Coverack

Alas, we made our way to Paris (the pub, restaurant and B & B, we aren't that fast), got our cash after a £1.85 withdrawal fee (note to self - always have cash with you in these little villages), walked back through the rain as it had just started and by the time we got back to the thatched cottage, she had sold out! (Joking aside, she does make a great pasty and I had one of her Bacon rolls on a previous visit, tasty!)

Elizabeth's thatched cottage for some homemade goodies. Make sure you get there early!

"Damnation", we thought to ourselves (maybe slightly stronger words were used). On the way back to our accommodation, our eyes and hopes opened up once more as we saw signs for Anne's Pasties, amazing! We followed the trail of signs she left for us to her haven, which seemed to go on forever as we were in pursuit of our pasties but the eureka moment arrived as we saw the bakery! At last we could get our hands on the elusive pasty! "Opening Times - 10:30 - 14:30"… it was 4pm… "Damnation", we thought to ourselves (stronger words were definitely used). The hunt continues!

Catch you tomorrow!

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