Coastwalk , South West Coast Path

Crackington Haven → Tintagel

Distance: 11.6 miles
Ascent: 1034 metres
Duration: 5 hours 35 minutes

From all over the world
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It's Bank Holiday Monday so I expected to see more people out walking. What I didn't expect is that we didn't pass any other British walkers; today had a very international feel to it.
Ascending out of Crackington Haven, we overtook a German couple who had paused to take in the view.

Descending into another steep coombe, the man coming the way didn't seem to want to engage in conversation. "I am Italian," he said in the hesitant manner of someone who only knows one phrase in a foreign tongue. Through universal sign language I managed to ask about the route ahead, and whether it dropped contoured below the worst of the cliffs "Si," he replied, clearly pleased to have helped.

We reached Boscastle in time for lunch, enduring a rain shower confirming that popping into a tea room would be a good idea. It seemed somehow appropriate to be seeing the village in the rain, but it was still difficult to imagine the wall of water that tore down the valley in August 2004, rising to the roof of the building we were sheltering in.

The rain continued all the way to Tintagel, and seemed to have shepherded everyone else indoors. Then on reaching the island at last we came across one final group of tourists, this time from the USA, a coach load perhaps.

Tintagel in the rain isn't the best of the UK, but sometimes that's what this coast walk is about: seeing our island up close, famous and not so famous sections, in whatever face they choose to present on the day.