Day 35: St Dennis to Truro 15 miles

We are served a humongous breakfast at the Commercial Inn that I can’t even finish but it sets us up nicely for the day, and was incredibly cheap. I forget to take a photo of the pub, as it’s cold this early in the morning and we’re keen to get going. We buy some lunch from the local Spar and set off down the hill to Hendra. The village is bustling, but this is not a tourist area: it is a mining town.

In Hendra, we pick up one of the few footpaths east of Truro. This leads us on old mining paths to the current industrial area. Cornwall has the largest lithium deposits in Europe and Cornish Lithium are pioneering clean extraction of lithium for electric vehicle batteries. Imerys, the French company who took over English China Clays PLC in 1999, are also working here. We comment that this is a side of Cornwall that walkers rarely see; one of the beauties of these routes.

We’re back on an unclassified road now and heading up yet another hill to the hamlet of Stepaside and again uphill into the village of St Stephen. We now turn south west down a slope, crossing the A3058 to join a path on a track up to a school. The path starts well but begins to get a bit overgrown as we leave the school. As we carry on, the route finding gets more hazy and we eventually cross a stream on stepping stones leading to a holly shrouded stile.

We continue to walk around sweetcorn fields that the path should run through and eventually we lose the path altogether and there are dense brambles where there should be a wall crossing. A little further on, it is just about possible to climb the wall and we descend gingerly down the scratchy undergrowth on the other side. We then throw our packs and the map over an electric fence and limbo under it. My legs are scratched and sore, but Rich’s left knee looks seriously shredded. He says he can’t feel it: it must be the adrenaline. There is a possible stile in a corner of this field, but we head for a gate instead, again ducking under the electric fence and take a track to join the road. We decide to stop for a break and a snack on a patch of grass nearby. The route definitely takes us to rarely visited places.

After Tolgarrick, we follow an unclassified road to Grampound Road (demonstrably further than the 1/2 mile shown on the road sign), crossing the river Fal along the way. We then take a footpath to another unclassified road towards the village of Probus. In order to avoid a long walk along an A road, we take a further footpath around Probus towards and through the Lamellyn Estate. This adds an extra ascent and descent, but there are so many hills in Devon and Cornwall, who’s counting? We pass the home of Prue the pig, and then follow an excellent path towards the railway line. We are both tired and simultaneously identify a suitable lunch location. I eat my lunch, settle down and fall promptly into a deep sleep.

When we set off again, both of us find our shins feel tight from the bruises, stings and scratches, but this soon eases off. We cross under the railway then follow the road for a short stretch before the next path begins. A sign in the woods says ‘Private. Keep Out’. Rich comments drily that he wasn’t thinking of going there anyway. It appears to be an out of character fly-tipping area replete with mattresses and other paraphernalia.

Given the less than salubrious countryside, I am concerned about the path, but we soon find a clear way and head towards the railway line. Suddenly, an unexpected viaduct looms out of the woods, which explains how we will negotiate the track.

The path/track leads into the village of Tresilian, where we follow the A390 next to the Tresilian river. This is really a sea inlet, colloquially called a creek in Cornwall, and the tide is clearly well out, revealing impressive tidal mud flats.

We follow the A390 through Tresilian and eventually turn off down a road that we know will add an extra hill, but is much less busy. We follow this all the way into Truro and our rest day stop at 8, St Mary’s Street. Cathy is waiting at the foot and we soon head out for cocktails, wine and tapas. We are not walking tomorrow.

Total distance: 484 miles