text: Goonhavern to Perranporth | Newquay U3A Blog
  7th Mar 2018 Cornish Girl	Leave a comment
  A group of us from Newquay U3A walking group caught the 10:35am number 87 bus from Newquay Bus Station and the remainder of our group got on at various stops on the route to Goonhavern. I didn't actually do a headcount, but there were eventually about a dozen of us.
  The planned walk was from Perranporth to Goonhavern but our leader thankfully decided to do the walk in reverse because of the steep hill heading out of Perranporth. That suited me well because I wanted to spend time in Perranporth after the walk.
  From the bus stop opposite the New Inn in Goonhavern we walked back to the B3075 and headed westward. A few yards along the main road we took the side road signposted Reen Cross which led into a narrow and slightly muddy country lane. At this time of year there were very few cars using this road, but those that did all slowed down to pass our crowd. Passing fields and farms on either side of the road, eventually we reached a crossroads which we crossed and followed the Reen Hill road towards Bolingey. At this point we were surrounded by cauliflower fields.
  With distant views of the sea at Perranporth we descended Reen hill until we reach a junction with the road into Perranporth, which we crossed into the road towards Bolingey Inn. No-one seemed to know how old this is a quaint old village pub was but just as we were admiring it, it started to rain so we all gathered in the bar. We took them by surprise but they soon produced tea, coffee and biscuits for us.
  Suitably refreshed we continued on our way to Perranporth, pausing to look at a very pretty cottage just down the road from the Bolingey Inn, which was under renovation. What a lovely place to live!
  It was still drizzling a bit but by the time we reached Perranporth the rain had stopped. At the roundabout our group split up. A few of us decided to continue our walk across the beach, whilst others made their way to Pickwick's fish and chip café.
  Walking onto the beach we could see how the recent storms had changed the shape of the sand dunes. Sadly, like in most seaside resorts, the new high water line along the river bank was full of thousands of little bits of plastic which residents have been trying to clear away, but I fear they are fighting a losing battle against each high tide. The view of my favourite rock was unchanged though. I have countless photos of this rock, from all angles. It is actually called Chapel Rock but I call it the "dog" rock because from some angles it looks like there is a dog sitting on top of the right hand side of it. I don't think there was a breath of wind on the beach, which is very unusual for Perranporth. What a difference from a few days ago when we had snow from the Beast from the East and winds from storm Emma.
  Having walked across the beach from the Watering Hole pub on the beach to the beach front car park, our walk leader made her way to Pickwick's to join the rest of the group while a couple of us chose to walk further on the beach. I went to buy a pasty at the butcher's and took it into the ornamental gardens set around the boat-shaped lake in town. A few ducks were hanging around in the hope that I would share my pasty with them, but as there were seagulls also hanging around I decided not to share it. We had agreed to catch the 2:55pm bus back to Newquay and I still had time to spare so, after finishing my pasty, I strolled around the lake taking photos of the lake and the spring flowers planted in old boats. Strangely enough I had done a U3A walk around this lake on 7th March 2017 and the spring flowers in the boats looked far better then, but bearing in mind the dreadful weather we have had during January and February this year, it is not surprising. Whatever the weather though, these gardens near the clock tower are usually well worth a visit when in Perranporth.