Atlantic South West Coast Path - Portreath to St Ives

Atlantic South West Coast Path - Portreath to St Ives (Distance 32km)

Rain, mud, blisters. Watched the end of the cricket at a pub.

The next day in St Ives fined up.

No, that’s not the Med. That’s the impossibly quaint St Ives on the Cornish Riviera. A lovely but busy little town with some vibrant eateries and bars.

The seagulls here are rascals and not just the young chicks. I had a whole ice cream cone snatched from my hand.

Time for a few overdue feet repairs!

Self-guided Tour Organised Through: Macs Adventures: Great accommodations and track notes.

Atlantic South West Coast Path - Perranporth to Portreath

Atlantic South West Coast Path: Day - Perranporth to Portreath (Distance 18.9km)

A much shorter hike today but with a lot of up and down on uneven stairs. The cumulative kilometres are taking a toll and I think I’ll need to use tomorrow to perform some foot/blister repairs.

Early on the path was lined by high hedgerows. When the wind blew there was the odd bustle in the hedgerows, but no cause for alarm. I’m sure there was a perfectly logical explanation.

The coast was a bit wilder on this stretch with cliff tops covered in purple box heather. Also, some small yellow flower whose name I was told but cannot remember. Purple/Yellow - nature knows how to match spectacularly.

Much of this leg passed by old tin mines, some of them dating back to trade with the Phoenicians and ancient Greeks. There are more slags here than in Minder. Interesting but not pretty.

I managed a belated shot of an F22 Raptor overhead. Must be a Raptor - twin engines. A lot of fenced off MOD land here.

Between that, the old mine shafts obscured by heath and the cliffs there is no good reason to leave the path.

Self-guided Tour Organised Through: Macs Adventures: Great accommodations and track notes.

Atlantic South West Coast Path - Trevarrion to Perranporth

Atlantic South West Coast Path - Trevarrion to Perranporth (Distance 31.1km)

Again a bit longer than expected this time, because the tide was in, with a bonus bash through sand dunes for the last 3km.

The shore opens up into a series of beautiful wide bays, great beaches and surfing spots beyond Newquay. Thereafter, the narrow rocky coves return.

I wasn’t immune to the siren call of the many restaurants and bars perched on cliff tops. Next time perhaps.

Self-guided Tour Organised Through: Macs Adventures: Great accommodations and track notes.

Atlantic South West Coast Path- Padstow to Trevarrion

Atlantic South West Coast Path: Day - Padstow to Trevarrion (Distance 36.5km)

A bit longer than expected with a bonus hill up to Trevarrion from Mawgan Porth right at the end.

Stunning coastline with plenty of history. More capes than a DC comic and hundreds of coves with hidden caves used over centuries for smuggling.

Along the way a home that will be recognisable to fans of Grand Designs, 3 times over budget, 18 months late, and after 2 pregnancies …a triumph of elegance, bifold doors, hubris, poor planning and, well, rooting.

Self-guided Tour Organised Through: Macs Adventures: Great accommodations and track notes.

Reflecting on Nazi Gold Hunters in Bad Aussee, Austria

Going to miss the mountain views, the baby llamas at the place I stayed, the bracing lake swims every morning, and the hospitality of this area.

Austrian friends thought it hilarious to send this bad Aussie to Bad Aussee.

The second of the lakes pictured is Toplitz See. A while back the Austrian banks worked out that a lot of counterfeit British sterling was being cashed in the area. Divers later retrieved £700m in counterfeit hidden in strong boxes hidden by the Nazis at the end of the war. This was part of Operation Bernard which was intended to destabilise the British economy. There is also a belief that Nazi gold lies in the depths and about a handful of people who were trying to locate it have been found shot in the area.

More dangerous than the Boys from Brazil, however, is the lake itself. About half way down it is highly saline which results in a layer of large well preserved logs accumulated there. Whatever gold is in those depths is unlikely to ever be retrieved.

My stay coincided by chance with an annual wildflower festival. More or less the whole town, and 3x that in visitors, were in national costume and there was a lot of music, singing and beer drinking. Also, a competition to make the best display using the pretty white and yellow narzissen wildflower which was in bloom.

One of the visitors was the Chancellor Karl Nehammer (the gentleman with the short grey hair) with a very serious security detail, most of which was undercover in lederhosen. 

Where I slept: Oase Berta: A 10 minute walk from the main town. Magnificent views of mountains and fields. And they have llamas.

Where I ate: Ausseer Stube: Very traditional.