Coastlining 28: Tintagel – Crackington Haven

Date: Tuesday 23rd September 2014    Height climbed: 4045 ft   Distance walked: 11 miles    Total distance: 276 miles     

Tintagel Head: the haven, Merlin’s Cave, the castle remains and the Island

I returned to Tintagel at about 10:30am this morning to find it bright and misty, which sounds like an oxymoron but in early autumn on the Cornish coast this is what it’s all about. The shadows were sharp, rocks, corners and caves black and deep; the remains of the castle on the headland known as the Island were picked out by the morning sun from the south-east. From the bottom of Tintagel Haven, where the tide was out exposing the caves and cove below the land-bridge to the castle, I headed on up to Barras Nose, the next cliff-head east of Tintagel Head, to get a view of the coastline ahead.

A Collective Noun for Ravens

picture credit: Warren Photographic (click for link)

The rain stopped. The cloud came down and sat over the land like a guilty conscience. We parked at the beach and ate our picnic off the dashboard whilst consulting the road atlas as to our next move.

“I want to go somewhere we can see something,” was Cee’s primary request.

I looked up. Strictly speaking we did have a sea view. Beyond the windscreen it was as though someone had drawn down an opaque grey blind cutting off the cove and sky not much beyond the breakerline.

I looked down at the map. “How do you feel about a little meander across the countryside? There’s somewhere we could go that I think you might like.”

It’s not a long way as the corvid flies from Maenporth to Gunwalloe Church Cove.