hikrchick

Well I haven't been here on Fodors since November and I see everything is different!

Hikrguy and I have booked our plane tickets for our trip to walk parts of the South West Coast Path in Cornwall in June. We got an excellent deal in December on BA from EWR and so we booked it immediately and now it feels like we're really on the way!

We're departing EWR Friday June 15 (we arrive LHR Saturday a.m. June 16) and depart LHR Wednesday June 27 (and arrive home the same day). Our plan is to take the train from LHR right to Cornwall (probably to Penzance) and then come up to London on Tuesday June 26 and spend a couple hours on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning walking around before leaving for LHR at noon for a 4:45 p.m. flight home. So we would have 9 full days of walking in Cornwall, not including Saturday which would be a travel day down, and Tuesday, which would be a travel day up.

We got a great guide book for the SWC Path from Bude to Plymouth, with detailed maps for the footpath, and I started going through it, but then life got in the way for the past few weeks, and we have not had a chance to book accommodations and so I'm here looking for some guidance.

Our feeling still is that we would like to concentrate on the area between Port Isaac and Penzance, and that we would like to stay in 2 or 3 places in that region. For sure we would stay in Penzance. Our original thought in my first thread last autumn was that we would stay in St. Ives also -- but now I am not sure, because it seems so very close, and we could visit there on a day trip from Penzance. But maybe it makes sense to stay there and walk on that side of the peninsula, because it would be easier to reach Port Isaac and Tintagel from St. Ives (at least that's how it feels looking at the map...) and not worry about getting back to Penzance. I'm just not sure. We are trying to figure out if we can do the walking with public bus routes and not have to rent a car in Penzance.

I would love some suggestions of another place to be a base for several days. All of a sudden it's March and I realized I need to make plans.

thank you for any and all advice.

menachem

I think Bude - Padstow would be easier to manage. You could take a taxi from Bodmin (train stop) to Bude. If you book along the coastal path, you'd be able to do a linear walk. I did Bude - Crackington Haven - Boscastle - Tintagel - Port Isaac - Padstow

For your purposes though, taking a train to Newquay might be an option, but there are also flights there.

hikrchick

Thank you very much, menachem!

janisj

>>Our plan is to take the train from LHR right to Cornwall (probably to Penzance)<<

That will make for a HORRIBLY long travel day. There is no train from LHR so you either have to take the bus to Reading or a train in to Paddington. And then catch a train from ether of those. Formalities at LHR, the connection to Reading or Paddington, plus the 6 hour train ride down to Penzance means you will be up the best part of 2 days. And jet lagged. I'd consider staying the first night in London (at Paddington would be convenient for the train the next day)

thursdaysd

Or take the night train to Cornwall.https://www.seat61.com/Cornwall-sleeper.htm

janisj

I had thought about the night train - but (just me) I think I'd rather sleep in a 'stationary' bed after such a grueling travel day. But it is certainly an option.

hikrchick

Thank you Janisj and thursdaysd for the suggestions. But I can't see hanging out in (expensive) London for an entire day, instead of getting on a train and catching a couple hours of sleep. We know it's a super-long train ride, and it's supposed to go through lovely countryside. We are expecting that Saturday will be a slow day, walking around Penzance and getting something to eat before sleeping in a hotel bed. We have extra-legroom seats on the plane and both of us can sleep on airplanes. We have to be in London on the last night of the trip, to be able to get to LHR on time, and unfortunately it isn't in our budget for two nights in London hotels. We will just have to deal with it.

annhig

hi hikrchick,

is this the thread you were talking about in your PM to me? It would be a long day to get the train from LHR to Penzance - [and you know you'd have to get the train to Paddington to do this don't you?] - and it could be quite expensive as you may not be able to book a specific train which makes it cheaper. I just booked a first class single [with a senior rail card] from Redruth to Paddington towards the end of August for £35, but I suspect that tickets in June will be more than that, even in 2nd class. So i should have a look at the trains and their cost before you do anything else. Whatever you decide to do, do not fall asleep during the stretch between Exeter and just after Plymouth - that is definitely the best bit.

I can't help very much with local transport in Cornwall to get you round the coast, I'm afraid. There is an extensive bus network, but they don't always go at the times you'd like to the places you want to go to. But there are taxis aplenty, so if there 's no bus from PZ to Marazion [for St M's Mount] you could just get a cab there and walk back. [or, if desperate, get the shoppers' bus from Sainsbury's to the town centre].

here's the timetable for First buses:

https://www.firstgroup.com/cornwall/...=1&redirect=no

it does have a nifty route planner, which tells me that on weekdays, there's a U4 bus from PZ bus station [by the railway station] to Marazion at 9.35 arriving at 9.49 so presumably there are buses back too.

https://www.firstgroup.com/cornwall/...63954999999942

To walk the parts of the path you are interested in, I suspect that a combination of buses there, walk back and taxis will probably get you to most places and back again.

This might also help:

https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/transpor...nd-town-plans/

and this:

4-countymap.pdf

Happy planning!

Jennifer_Travels

I love the walking paths in the UK. I walked the Cotswold way a few years ago & am walking the Dales Way this summer. It's a wonderful way to vacation, I think.

Have you spent much time looking at the SW coast path website? It's a great resource & maybe a good place to start looking for accommodations. They also list walking companies which, even if you don't want to use them, are another good resource for planning & accommodations.

Have you thought about using a luggage transfer service?

hikrchick

Ann, thank you so much for this information, especially about the First buses. That's exactly what I was hoping for. I have another post, called "St. Michael's Mount - Logistical Help Please" that I started on 23 April; it's probably way down by now. I've got a couple specific questions that I am hoping you can take a look at.

Re: getting from PZ to Marazion, I think we are just going to walk. It does not seem very far, maybe 3 miles? And I think it would be a lovely walk with St. Michael's Mount in view. So we could walk there and then take the First bus back in to PZ.

And as for the long train -- yeah, we know it's going to be a really long day, and that we have to get to Paddington first and then basically turn around and go outwards again down to PZ. I looked on the GWRailway website and it doesn't seem too expensive, but the problem is that we have to figure out some time that we might be done at LHR and then in to Paddington to catch the train. The way back to Paddington from PZ is quite simple -- there's one at 9 a.m. that gets to Paddington at around 2 p.m., and I think it's like 28 pounds apiece.

hikrchick

Thanks Jennifer! I haven't spent a lot of time looking at the website, and I guess I should, especially for suggestions of sections to walk.
we're not doing a through-hike, but rather staying a couple nights in several places and using it as a base to walk on certain sections. We will be renting a car which I think will really help out.

annhig

Re: getting from PZ to Marazion, I think we are just going to walk. It does not seem very far, maybe 3 miles? And I think it would be a lovely walk with St. Michael's Mount in view. So we could walk there and then take the First bus back in to PZ. >>

if you're happy doing that, then it would be lovely to walk there - the first bit isn't great but as you get closer to Marazion, there is a lovely walk with the beach on one side, and a nature reserve on the other - there are supposed to be bitterns and other rare birds and you often see twitchers along there with their scopes:

https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and...arazion-marsh/

you also need to be aware of the tides - the causeway is covered by the sea when the tide is in, but there should be a boat to take you over there [or bring you back!]

As you say the problem with the train is knowing which train you should book to travel down to Cornwall but given you will have a lot of light in the evening, I might err on the side of caution. Looking at the timetable for a random date [6/6] if you bought super-offpeak tickets which are now @ £66 each, there are 4 trains between 11.27 and 13.47 that you could catch, but only on the 11.27 and the 13.27 do you not have to change trains. I reckon that might be a good bet.

https://www.thetrainline.com/book/re...0EbBeVjQ%3D%3D

And you can economise on the way back.

Keep the questions coming.