Jeri’s Steps: 20,947
Miles walked: 8.03
Elevation: 816
Pints: 7
Churches: 2
Stiles: 3
Benches: 1

It rained all night. Our REI tent stood up to it though and remained dry and comfortable. But the dilemma was how to pack everything up and take the tent down in the pouring rain? Well the weather gods smiled on us again and a brief respite allowed us to get everything packed without getting soaked. By 9:15 we were walking down the hill, in the rain, with our full rain gear on. It actually did not seem too bad, but walking down a slight hill always has that effect on me. After about a mile or so we branched off to the left to take the fields to Trevail, a small village on a ridge. Today we decided to stay inland and make directly for Newquay and so avoided the full wrath of the longer route on the coast (and across a wet sandy beach) on the SWCP. The ‘Trev’ in Trevail means farmstead in Cornish. Trevail is also the family name of the lords of the manor of Cubert. The church was closed but the church porch was open and this gave us shelter from the rain for our first snack of the day. Judging by the empty bottle of Southern Comfort others have had similar needs for shelter. The paths then took us across Cubert Commons and to our first view of the sea. With the rain temporarily suspended, this was a wonderful open area of wildflowers and short turf. Soon we were in Crantock where we took refuge (and two pints each) in the Old Albion where we ate lunch. The church, St Carantoc, was quite unusual, with a lovely rood screen and a lot of Catholicism about it. The Norman font was particularly impressive. The geography of this north Cornwall coast means lots of inlets and soon we were descending another. This was over the river Gannel. Instead of a solid bridge there was a low tide wooden structure and luckily we arrived before the need to take the ferry, which turned out to be a very small boat. Soon we were in Newquay and heading to our guest house for a two night stay. We met up with Richard and Andrea for a couple of pints and a great chat about long distance walking. The first week is now complete.