Yesterday we went on one of my favourite walks, known locally as the Hall Walk. For me it's very magical, to think that
King Charles I trod the very same paths in the mid 1600s:
during the civil war on 17th of August 1644 King Charles narrowly escaped death when a shot killed a poor fisherman who was standing where the King had stood but a short while before.
The walk is at
Fowey, Cornwall and is about 10 miles from where I live. The photo above shows the banks of the river where the walk takes us.
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After parking the car we head straight to the road over looking the river ...
... and take in the views until we reach from what was once
Sir Arthur Quiller Crouch's house - by the side of this is the small passenger ferry that will take us across the River Fowey to the small village of
Polruan.
We didn't wait long for the ferry, they run quite frequently.
From the ferry there are good views. This old sailing boat was moored up.
Once at Polruan we pass the Lugger Inn on the small quay ...
... and then wind our way along the narrow street as we head for the hills along by the river.
We climb quite steadily but the views are magnificent once there is a break in the trees.
You never know what you might see on the wooded path. Goodness knows how this cockerel got there, but he didn't seem too bothered about us.
As we walk further along the path we leave the villages behind and the part of the river we are now walking is a small tributary of the River Fowey called Pont Pill.
The tide is out so the river here is very low as we walked.
After quite a climb we see Pont below us and this is where we will cross Pont Pill.
First though we make a detour to visit the lonely church at Lanteglos-by-Fowey. I'll write more about the church another day (see
The Saint Carried His Decapitated Head To Where This Cornish Church Was Built) but will just say for now that Daphne Du Maurier was married here in 1932. She renamed it 'Lanoc Church', and featured it in her first novel, The Loving Spirit.
We return to the walk and reach the tiny quayside hamlet of Pont. It's hard to imagine that this was once a thriving quay where sailing barges would unload coal, fertiliser and limestone.
It's now a lovely quiet spot and we had some lunch here - which we had brought with us - sitting by the wooden bridge.
There's a sign on the building from 1894 showing charges once made at this quay for discharging Grain, Timber, Manures, Coal and Sand. Today though we sit there completely undisturbed.
After our lunch, having crossed the Pont bridge, we head up the other side. The rocks can be quite slippery when wet but for us the sun was shining.
For a while a lot of the views are hidden by the trees.
We cross an old stone cattle grid ...
... and into a farmer's field where there is a 'right of way'.
Once out of the field and back on a path the views open up before us, showing the entrance to the River Fowey. On the hill to the right of the photo it's possible to just make out the
Gribbin Beacon on Gribbin Head. This is where much of Daphne Du Maurier's book Rebecca is based and also the house
Manderley. The Gribbin farmland is the location for the murderous avian attacks on The Birds.
Continuing the walk we can now see the small town of Fowey on the opposite of the river.
We leave the coastal path and head down a road to the
Boddinick Ferry to make our way across the Fowey River once again.
We pass The Old Ferry Inn and ...
... wait for the ferry. This time it also transports cars as well as walkers.
Slap bang next to the ferry terminal is Ferryside the house where Daphne Du Maurier once lived. By a fluke the gate was open so I snapped a quick photo of the property.
On the ferry there is a frontal view of Ferryside.
Once off the ferry we make our way through the streets of Fowey ...
... but the river is always within reach.
We pass the shops ...
... a pub, of course ...
and the local Fowey church.
From here we head back to our car, once more taking in the river views.
It's not a long walk. I think we did about 6.5 miles by taking taking in the Lanteglos church as well.
Photos: © Mike Perry
Other Similar Cornish Posts:
Menabilly Daphne Du Maurier's Manderley In Cornwall
Magical Walk With Daphne Du Maurier To The Gribbin
The Magic Of Fowey Cornwall
