Introduction


When we started walking the coast of England we had no intention that this would become a major lifetime project. Having to make a last-minute arrangement for our summer holiday in 1987, we said "Let's go to the nearest piece of coast and see how far we can walk along it." It turned out well and we started adding further stretches of coast, initially once every two years, but soon annually, or even twice a year.

We had always enjoyed the coast - there is something refreshingly "edgy" about having the sea always at our side, and one of us was into marine molluscs. We also enjoyed long-distance walking and had long been involved in general natural history recording. This project enabled us to combine all three interests.

You soon discover when embarking on a project like this that you need a few rules, which evolve from the first experiences. Our main rule was that we should walk as close to the coast as possible, which meant beach-walking whenever we could (unlike the official coast paths that largely remain above shore, recognising that at high tides the beach may be inaccessible). The route should also be capable of being a continuous walk, so that when we came to an unfordable river we walked inland along its banks to the first place at which we could cross, whether a bridge or a ferry.

We only carried light packs, so that at the end of each day's walk we had the problem of getting back to our car where we started. Initially we walked back, but soon realised we would be walking the coast twice this way! We used public transport whenever this was available - buses or trains, sometimes adjusting our start and finish points to make this easier. Failing this - and it was often not possible - we would phone for a taxi (an increasingly costly option over the years). Having our car with us gave us more freedom as to where we could stay at night - and after a day walking and only light food we were usually ready for being spoiled by a good meal and a comfortable bed! Even so, we stayed on the coast itself whenever there was a decent option.

Each walk was made for enjoyment, it was not a route-march to see how quickly we could get it finished. We therefore took it gently at times when passing through pleasant scenery or where there were many plants or creatures to record.

In terms of biological recording, we systematically noted every bird, butterfly, creature or sea-shell that we came across, sometimes spending time searching for the shells. We could not record every plant in the same way - there are too many common ones - so we were more selective, noting all coastal plants and any others that were not run-of-the-mill.

In our daily posts, edited from our original diaries, we include a star-rating from no star to **** according to our subjective estimate as to how special that day was from the point of view of natural history. This score (and our daily records) will, however, have been affected by the weather - it is difficult to appreciate the environment fully, for instance, in torrential rain, and there are many more butterflies and other insects to be seen in warm sunshine!

A summary of all our natural history records on the walk can be found using this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1LLGD55lKRHYXd1SGU1QndrcUU/edit?usp=sharing





Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Cornwall: Newquay to Mawgan Porth 20/6/1999


 

Yellow horned-poppy
 
Corn marigold
 
Thrift
At Newquay we went straight to the head of the beach, where it was approaching high tide.  We found a triathlon about to start, competitors in wetsuits for the first phase of swimming out to sea, round two buoys and back.  There was a stiff north-westerly creating large breakers.  We stayed to watch most of the competitors reach the beach, dash for their bicycles and start the next phase.  We could not walk from one beach to another because of the tide, but descended separately to Great Western and Tolcarne beaches, where there was plenty of surf action, surfers coming from all directions to enjoy the high waves.  At Tolcarne a fulmar nesting on the cliff surveyed the scene serenely.  A large crowd of oystercatchers was resting on the next beach, an inaccessible cove. 
      The walk over the top was over manicured grass lawns.  After visiting the small cove of Lusty Glaze, we descended again to Porth Beach, a long straight-sided inlet.  On the north side one section of the crumbly cliff supported yellow horned-poppy.  At the end of the headland a footbridge took us over a narrow sea-channel with foaming breakers to Porth Island, largely covered by thrift.  Beyond, the path passed arable land on the leeward side, occasionally with cornfield weeds like corn marigold and corn spurrey.  We caught sight of a peregrine falcon.  The two miles of beach at Watergate Bay were inaccessible at the southern end because of cliffs, which sloped down to a stream valley half way along the beach.  There were huge leaves of butterbur beside this stream.  After a look at the beach we returned to the centre, and cream tea at Watergate Bay Hotel.  Getting back to the clifftop involved an unpleasant narrow enclosed track round the hotel grounds and through vestigial dune (mostly golf course) with only musk thistle and yellow-wort as relief.  When we reached the north end of the bay we saw there were unofficial paths up from the beach, which could have saved walking back down the beach and the path round the hotel. 
      A little further, cliff subsidence had forced the path a couple of metres inland and still at one point it came right by the edge.  After several more steep-sided coves we arrived at Mawgan Porth, another flat beach fine for surfing but not for shell-collecting.  Dunes here were denuded of all except marram, although a clump of Portland spurge and a little sea rocket survived by the concrete track above the beach.  We again found the uncommon burying beetle Silpha laevigata.  We had coffee at the Merrymoor Inn while waiting for the bus back to Newquay.
Start of triathlon
 
Lusty Glaze
 
Porth Island

 

 
Tolcarne Beach, high tide
 
 
Coast east of Newquay
The beaches of Newquay were famous even before the days of surfing:
 
William Wordsworth (from “Evening on the Beach”)
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free;
The holy time is quiet as a nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven is on the sea;
Listen! The mighty Being is awake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder – everlastingly.
 
Henry Longfellow (from “Milton”)
I pace the sounding sea-beach and behold
How the voluminous billows roll and run,
Upheaving and subsiding, while the sun
Shines through their sheeted emerald far unrolled
And the ninth wave, slow gathering fold by fold
All its loose-flowing garments into one,
Plunges upon the shore, and floods the dun
Pale reach of sands, and changes them to gold.
 
Watergate Beach
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