Part Two of my “Most Arduous” stage. I had a great stay at the Bush Inn – I was the only guest! So after the pub goers & staff went home it was utterly quiet. An early 8am breakfast had me set up for a reasonable departure time of 8:45am, my earliest yet!

Just over 1/2 mile back to the coastal path and almost immediately down into Valley #6. As you see in the picture below the path on the far side scurries up to the saddle, then hangs a hard left and one then is faced with crossing a narrow landbridge with drops on both sides….

This reminds me of a new word I learned watching “Rick Stein’s Cornwall” (a food/travel show by a famous British restaurateur, reruns on daily): Mordros, it’s Cornish for “the sound of the sea”. Well, the Mordros was booming below me….

This is Deirdre and Gareth, fellow walkers with whom I had a lovely chat. They’re doing 1/2 the Path (down to Lands End) by sleeping in their camper van and busing to & fro as needed.

Valley #7 appeared at 2 miles in at Stanbury Mouth – the far side was a doozy of a climb! Far above is a mass array of satellite dishes and radio receivers for a UK Government satellite ground station and eavesdropping centre(!).

At 3.5 miles I encountered #8: the wide valley of Duckpool with a pretty river sparkling in sun. The approach was a bit unnerving as one can’t see the trail below you. You think it has to, at some point, come to a switchback but no, it just keeps going closer and closer to the cliff’s edge, hanging a sharp left just before land peters out completely. That’s taking “coastal path” to the extreme!

I just had time to catch my breath after #8 before #9 appeared then down again.

Finally, at only 4.9 miles I met valley #10. So long and gentle a descent I thought I was being pranked. Could this be it? I found a bench by a wee bridge in an utterly bucolic setting so I stopped for lunch.

2.5 more miles along the grassy cliff tops with endless caramel colored beaches below until I reached the beaches of Bude.

It was a gorgeous day with a very warm sun and very strong breeze and lots of people out in force enjoying it. I joined the long queue for ice cream then sat and dabbled my feet in the humongous saltwater pool for a while.

It took another mile of walking into Bude itself, and up the main street to my BnB. A total of 8.5 miles today so a 2 day total of 18 miles – glad I broke it into 2 days!