After an unexpected nouvelle cuisine dinner in the Wellington Hotel in Boscastle last night, we bid goodbye this morning to Francoise and Jean-Paul (who headed back to Eygalieres today -- volcanic ash permitting -- Francois: let me know if they arrived as planned).
Outside the wind was howling, and the sky was dark, threatening rain... would we hike? I think we would have done, if we hadn't already had a similar day from Hartland Quay, and maybe also if Russell and I hadn't hiked so hard the day before... but as it was, we decided to skip the optional valley walk, and to take the bus to Tintagel, where we'd look at the castle that is King Arthur's putative birthplace, then walk the last hour and a quarter or so along the coast to Trebarwith. So that's what we did.
TIntagel's visitor center is perhaps the most tasteful thing in the town -- a good presentation of what we know of the real history of Cornwall during the time King Arthur is supposed to have lived, coupled with the legends. The rest of the town is a bit of a tourist trap so we didn't linger.
We then walked down to the site of the castle, or rather some reconstructed ruins on a dramatic headland. Less than impressive... but more than made up for by the sight of massive seas pounding against the cliffs and sending fountains of spray 10-15 meters into the air.
The wind along the coast walk to Trebarwith was strong, but not stronger than on the Hartland Quay to Morwenstowe day. We had some soup in the atmospheric Port William pub at Trebarwith beach, before wandering inland to the Mill House Inn, where we are staying the night. Nice big rooms, but a little unprofessional in some ways (service, food, common areas). We played some games in the afternoon, and after dinner went up for an early bed... despite not hiking that much, we were nevertheless outside for about 3 hours in the wind, and I think that left us all tired.
