On Saturday afternoon a group of 10 students, 1 gappy and 4 staff all left the paddock having filled the minibus with enough food to last a week and started making our way down to Tintagel to spend Sunday exploring a small section of the south-west coastal path. 4 hours later amongst the mist and rain we hit our hostel in Tintagel, barely able to see the sea which was about 10 metres away. Our hostel for the nights was set on the coastal path right on the cliff edge in a beautifully picturesque setting just outside Tintagel.
Although the wind and rain were persistent, so were we and so we set about making a BBQ, even after having difficulty lighting it, the guys persevered and eventually we were stood in the rain watching the meat cook. Having come inside King Joyce donned his crown as we sat down to eat, very hungry and happy to prepare for the day of walking ahead.
Sunday morning there was a complete change of weather as we woke up after the storm of the night to find a beautiful bright blue day, with plenty of sun and a slight breeze coming off the sea. After packing up we set off to Boscastle (the location of the summer floods in 2004). At Boscastle we started our trek heading towards Port Isaac, along the coastal path, whilst the keen geographers, Ollie and Mr Joyce, pointed out all the special features scattered along the coast especially the stacks!! From Boscastle we took a gentle climb back up to the hostel at Tintagel, stopping on route in the actual village of Tintagel to admire King Arthur’s castle and to replenish ourselves. As we headed back past the hostel we saw it in the beautiful mid morning sunshine and were able to properly admire the views of the previous evening.
Continuing along the path we made our way toward the village of Trebarwith where we stopped for lunch out on the cliffs and watched as a mad group went out into the sea and whilst our own boys decided some rock climbing was in order!
Having left behind the beauty of Trebarwith suddenly the route became much steeper and the difficult part of the day began, having reached the top of our fist steep climb we were greeted by Mr Allen “Just 7 more of those to go”. Although there was some small consolation in being able to see across the bay to Port Isaac, knowing our final destination was at least in sight. As we trekked across these hills we were able to look down from the cliff to see the waves crashing with a beautiful surf as they hit the rocks.
After 8 hills and a final descent we arrived at the bottom of Port Isaac, with one much gentler hill left to take us up to the van selling Cornish ice cream, we finished and sat down to relax with ice creams and cold drinks whilst we waited for the minibus to return from Boscastle to take us home. Reluctantly we managed to leave behind the beautiful scenery of the coastal path and made our way back to Gloucester, with some amusement and games on the bus caused by the limiter making our journey home slightly more delayed and offering more attempts to remain in Cornwall!!
By Rebecca Wright and Alice Gorton