Day 11. Trethurgy to Portreath.

Day 11. Trethurgy to Portreath. 71 km. 

I had been concerned that this was going to be a tricky day as the route was quite complicated. For once I wasn't wrong. We woke in our private mansion to a beautiful morning and headed down the main road to St Austell, home to Cornwall's biggest brewery, before the traffic started. We found out on Wednesday evening that the 2 and 3 cycle paths on the Sustrans map to St Austell are narrow sandy tracks with poor signage - not an ideal start. 

From St Austell we found the road to Mevagissey, but then ended up on a trail to Pentewan in a pretty forest. After doubling back, we were back on the 3 with a long climb up the hill above Mevagissey, where I had spent a few days on holiday as a teenager. The thought of the climb back up trumped any urge to visit again, so we turned right to the Lost Gardens of Heligan. 

The Heligan estate is a 200 acre property which was a thriving community with a massive garden and big almost self-sufficient farming operation. After WW1, the farm was essentially abandoned, became totally overgrown and became lost.  It was rediscovered in 1990 by a descendant of the original owners, and became Europe's largest garden restoration project. There are a large walled kitchen garden, flower garden, Italian garden, sundial garden, greenhouses, a forest of absolutely massive old rhododendrons as well as a working farmyard and "jungle". 

We had an interesting, but quite quick walk around before heading towards the King Harry Ferry across the Fal estuary. It was a pretty but hilly route through Polmassick and Veryan before a steep descent to Carne beach which was effectively a dead end. We pushed the bikes through a section of sand and rocks, and fortunately found the Route 3 signage on the other side. Not ideal. More hills and we reached the ferry.

After a steep climb up past the Trelissick Garden, the 3 put us onto a rocky path down into a ravine and then a awkward push up the other side. A young cyclist then advised us to avoid the 3 to Carnon Downs, but to take the B-road. We fortunately found a garden tap to refill our water bottles as this was the hottest day of the English summer. In the confusing section through Carnon Downs we met a Dutch couple on a tandem heading for St Austell in the wrong direction. Relieved to find that we're not the only folk to fight with maps.

We had a pleasant section of cycle path to the Bissoe bike park where a the presence of mountain bikes should have indicated what was ahead. After a short distance in the sand, we turned back and one of the cyclists (an older-than-us South African) told us to head up the appropriately-named "Horrible Hill". 

Having disagreed with Garmin for most of the day, she found us a good route through Scorrier and Mawla down to Portreath where it was so nice to find Gilly and Mitch who had driven down from London to join us for a long weekend. We explored Portreath together, a pretty little resort which was at one time the busiest harbour in Cornwall.