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Cornwall: Tintagel Coast with optional Bodmin Moor extension- tour description
Our tour starts with 2 nights at the historic and picturesque port of Padstow - now famed for its fish and seafood restaurants. There is a full day to explore the long series of sandy beaches and rocky headlands which extend westwards from Padstow towards Newquay. This part of Cornwall is popular with surfers, who enjoy the challenge presented by the breakers rolling in off the Atlantic. There is a handy local bus service which enables you to break off the walk at almost any point and return to Padstow. On the third day, while your baggage goes round the long way by road, you take the little passenger ferry across the Camel estuary (tidal river) to Rock, then follow the increasingly precipitous coastline to the tiny fishing village of Port Isaac, which has been used in films and TV series to epitomize the 'olde' Cornwall.
The next day's hike takes you on along the coast to Tintagel, famed for its association with the legendary King Arthur. Tintagel Castle (now owned by English Heritage, open to visitors daily) is on an island linked with the mainland only by a lofty footbridge. From Tintagel you continue to Boscastle, one of the scarce natural harbours on this wild coast. With 2 nights at Boscastle you can choose between a wide range of excellent hikes both along the coast towards Crackington Haven and up the sheltered valleys of St Nectan's Glen and the River Valency. The latter valley leads inland to the isolated church of St Juliot's, which was restored by the novelist Thomas Hardy when he was working as a young architect. Hardy later set his romantic novel A pair of blue eyes in and around Boscastle - and married the blue eyes.
For those continuing across Bodmin Moor (T8), Day 7 starts with a road transfer (included in the tour price) to Rough Tor, from where you cross the moor’s highest summit (Brown Willy, 420 m/1377 feet above sea level) and drop in at the original Jamaica Inn before overnighting at the remote village of Altarnun. The final day takes you via the granite pinnacles of Kilmar Tor, the delicately balanced Cheesewring rock formation and the prehistoric Hurlers stone circles to Darite, where your overnight is usually at a comfortable farmhouse just below the edge of the moor.
The coastal walking in North Cornwall is undeniably strenuous, with numerous long steep ascents and descents, so you need to be fit before the start of the tour. It can help to build in a rest day, for instance at Port Isaac. However it is possible to shorten most of the coastal days by using local buses for part of the way - we provide timetables and tell you where to find the bus stops. The walking across Bodmin Moor (Days 7 and 8 of T8) is less strenuous but can present routefinding challenges over the sometimes pathless ground. Basic compass skill may be needed. We provide directions for alternative low-level walking routes in case of fog on the moor.
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Cornwall: Tintagel Coast with Bodmin Moor extension - tour details 2014
A Discerning Traveller self-led hiking holiday
Duration. 6 nights or 8 nights. Tour codes: T6 or T6E (E = with ES/private bathroom); T8.
Start of tour: Padstow. End of tour: Boscastle (T6) or Darite (T8).
Dates. T6: April to mid-October. T8: May to September.
Grade. Moderate to demanding. The gradients on the coastal path are steep and strenuous. However days can readily be shortened by using buses or taxis. The 2 day Bodmin Moor extension is not as steep or strenuous as the coast, but the route-finding can be challenging.
Train stations. Start of tour Bodmin Parkway, then hourly bus direct to Padstow; end of tour T6 Bodmin Parkway (bus from Boscastle, change buses en route at Wadebridge; on Sundays taxi may be needed); end of tour T8 Liskeard. Taxi from Darite to Liskeard station is included in the T8 tour price.
Train service. Direct from London Paddington train station via Reading Station to Bodmin Parkway, back from Bodmin Parkway or Liskeard. Journey time from Paddington 4.5 to 5 hours; from Reading Station 30 minutes less. Also frequent trains from Bristol Temple Meads station and Exeter St David’s to/from Bodmin Parkway and back from Liskeard.
Airports. The nearest airport is Newquay (20 minutes drive by taxi to Padstow; 1 hour by bus) with flights from London Gatwick (Air South West). Also direct flights by Lufthansa from Düsseldorf to Newquay on Saturdays only. From London Heathrow airport there is a frequent bus shuttle to Reading Station, where Paddington to Cornwall trains stop to pick up passengers. From Gatwick airport, which has its own rail station, there is an hourly shuttle train service to Reading; journey time 1 hour. Also convenient for this tour are the airports at Bristol and Exeter, from which cities there are frequent direct trains to Cornwall stations.
Overnight stops. T6: nights 1 and 2 Padstow; 3 Port Isaac; 4 Tintagel; 5 & 6 Boscastle; T8: nights 1 to 6 as T6, then night 7 Altarnun, night 8 Darite. Accommodation. Specially selected guest houses or 'B&Bs'. En suite or private facilities can be guaranteed throughout the T6 tour on payment of a supplement, but may not always be available at Altarnun on the T8 tour. Please ask us about this.
Meals included. Breakfast each morning; other meals can be obtained locally without pre-booking.
Extra nights. These can be included at any point on our tours at the time of booking the holiday. Devotees of the legendary dark ages King Arthur may consider an extra night at Tintagel, where the evocative ruins of Arthur's castle, now in the care of English Heritage and open to the public, stand on a precipitous rocky island linked by a bridge with the mainland.
Factsheet. This is a more detailed information sheet, one for each tour, which should be obtained from The Discerning Traveller before booking. The Factsheet code for our Padstow & Tintagel tour is FST. See Enquiry form.
Reading. For many readers the Cornwall writer par excellence was Daphne du Maurier. Her non-fiction work Daphne du Maurier's Cornwall is available in paperback. Her Jamaica Inn is set on Bodmin Moor and much of the action takes place around Altarnun. Thomas Hardy's early autobiographical novel A pair of blue eyes is set near Boscastle.
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Cornwall: Tintagel Coast with Bodmin Moor extension - tour prices 2014
- T6 (6 nights tour, ES or private facilities most nights): £515.
SRS*: £90. STS**: £100.
- T6E (6 nights tour, ES or private facilities every night):
£555. SRS*: £100. STS**: £120.
- T8 (8 nights tour, ES or private facilities most nights): £605.
SRS*: £110. STS**: not available for solo travellers.
- Extra nights £45 per person per night.
- SRS* = single room supplement (applicable when 3 or 5 persons book
together).
- STS** = single traveller supplement (applicable when booking is for
one person only)
- Note 1. Maximum of 1 single room per booking.
- Note 2. Extra night prices may be higher for single rooms.
- Basic prices quoted are per person on basis of two people in double or twin-bedded rooms. Included in the price are bed and breakfast each night, with baggage transfers, maps and route directions. 'ES' (en suite) facilities means that there is a private bathroom with shower or tub and toilet within the main door of your room. 'Private facilities' means that the private bathroom may be outside the main door of your room. When the booking is made for a party of 3 or 5 customers, a single room supplement is payable.
We also offer walking tours in other parts of Cornwall: Lands End & St Ives, Polperro & Fowey
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Our postal address is The Discerning Traveller,
38 Canal Street, OXFORD OX2 6BQ, United Kingdom.
Telephone and fax 0(044) 1865 515618. info@discerningtraveller.co.uk
www.discerningtraveller.co.uk
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