- Distance:3 or 3.5 miles
- Walk grade:Moderate
- Start from:Trewarmett
- Recommended footwear:walking boots/shoes or trainers in dry weather
Highlights
- Explore the beach at Trebarwith Strand
- Cliff views over Trebarwith Strand
- Old slate quarries colonised by wildflowers
Directions
- From Park Farm turn left and walk up to the crossroads and take the lane left down to Treknow.
- At the bottom of the road turn left (almost doubling back) and walk down the hill a little way until a public footpath departs from the right.
- Take the footpath across the meadows until you emerge in the Council car park. The deeply cut holloway from the Treknow to Trebarwith Strand provided access to the harbour and a route for the pack animals to bring lime-rich sand from the beach to neutralise the acidic soil.
- Follow the main road from here down to the beach. At the beach you may want to:
- Have a swim or a rest
- Do a short geology walk across the beach
- Stop for refreshments in the Port Willy (up on the cliffs to the left of the beach) or the cafe next to the beach.
- Port William round to the left is strewn with rocks except at the lowest point of the tide. It's popular with local surfers but not recommended for novices due to the rocks and strong currents.
- Trebarwith Strand is in the centre and is the lifeguard-patrolled area. It's sandy on the left and to the right side there are more rocks including some good rock pools.
- Lill Cove around to the right. There is a gully between rocks that make it possible to get through to Trebarwith when access is cut off by the sea (though at high tide this route isn't available). There is also a footpath up from Lill Cove joining the coast path that is accessible at all times of the tide.
- Vean Hole further to the right is a continuation of Lill Cove once the tide is a little way out but is technically a separate beach
- Hole Beach to the far right. There is some good snorkelling along the right-hand edge of Hole Beach and due to the large numbers of Sea Bass it's a good spot for beachcasting. Apart from at the lowest couple of hours of the tide, Hole Beach is cut off by the sea.
- After you've explored the beach, take the public footpath which is just after the cafe and shop on the left (if you are facing inland from the beach).
- Follow the coast path which climbs fairly steeply out of the valley onto high cliffs.
- Walk past the slate quarries to Hole Beach. Look out for Peregrine Falcons which often fly around the cliffs, particularly in Spring and Autumn.
- As you approach Hole Beach, walk past a grassy track on your right leading inland (you can go this way but it is usually very muddy) and take the public footpath inland opposite a precarious track which leads down the cliffs to Hole Beach. These tracks and footpaths to Treknow were used by the quarrymen.
- The footpath comes out on the lane between Treknow and Tregatta which was part of the medieval route which led to the castle at Tintagel. Turn right and walk a short distance along the lane.
- After some houses there is a footpath to the left. Here you have two choices:
- At this point you can cut the walk short by half a mile if you follow the road down into Treknow and take the left turn which is the road you set out on (follow it all the way up into Trewarmett and turn right).
- To continue on the circular walk going back over Trewarmett Downs, take the footpath to the left.
- The footpath comes to a main road next to a cemetary. Cross the road carefully and take the footpath on the other side.
- The footpath crosses a small lane (Tregeath Lane). Turn right up this lane and follow it up to a T junction.
- Turn right at the T junction and follow the road down into Trewarmett which comes out next to the post box opposite Park Farm.
Treknow (which in Cornish means 'the valley place') is perhaps one of the oldest 'industrial' settlements in the area dating back to Medieval times, based mainly on slate quarrying with some early metal mining. The physical structure of Treknow - its bowl-like formation, in parts literally carved out of the rock - could be the result of early slate excavations. It was in direct response to the needs of industrial workers in the expanding quarrying industry of the early 19th century that the rows of cottages were constructed. The use of slate for roofs, chimneys, walls and paving, which contributes so greatly to their character, is further testimony to the dominant role of the local industry.
Several small beaches make up Trebarwith, which at low tide join to form a mile long ribbon of golden sand:
There are 9 slate quarries along the coast path between Tintagel Church and Trebarwith Strand. Slate quarrying began here in the early 14th Century and the last of these, Long Grass Quarry, closed in 1937. The Lanterdan and West quarries above Vean Hole and Hole Beach were once some of the biggest in North Cornwall.
Cutting the stone and loading it onto boats was harsh work and could be lethal. A local man - Alan Menhenick - recalled in the 1920s "we worked with the tides, around the clock. I've been at the quarry at four in the morning. When the tide was in, we blasted; when the tide was out, we went down and collected the slate". In 1889 three men vanished into the sea when the face that they were boring sheared off the cliff.
In Lanterdan quarry there is a tall, distinctive, pinnacle of rock left behind as the slate in the pinnacle was not of a sufficiently good quality. Shorter pinnacles were left in West Quarry for the same reason. The slate was exported from Tintagel Haven and later from boats moored along Penhallic Point.
The quarry workings never reached the shoreline as there is a fault along the base of the quarry known as the Trambley Cove Formation made of volcanic lava which was no good to the quarrymen. Lanterdan Quarry is now owned by the National Trust and is a site of geological interest for its brachiopod (spirifid) fossils and also a rare mineral called monazite.
