WALKING GROUPS:
U3A Carrick has run weekly walking groups since 1990, when a group was formed by Stan Grey. Two members joined Stan on the first walk, gradually growing to fifteen. The formula which Stan initiated is still more or less followed today although recently there have been more than fifty walkers on occasions who have enjoyed getting to know and appreciate Cornwall's wonderful bridle ways, coastal and inland footpaths.
When our numbers reached fifty, it was decided to form two further walking groups: a shorter one for those who were finding the stiles and steep parts a bit much and a longer one for the fit and active! All these groups meet on Fridays, but be aware that Peter Goldsmith's invitation listed below is based upon plans to walk on Tuesdays.
Check our walking calendars and routes, as published on the back page of the monthly newsletter, one month in advance; anyone is welcome to join us on an ad hoc basis. Check out your leader's contact information, including mobile number, where listed and make yourself known! Post Codes are included generally to indicate a nearby location and are provided solely to enter into a sat-nav, in order to get you close to the start! Check the description and perhaps the local Ordnance Suvey sheet to determine the exact location.
Current U3A Carrick walking groups are as follows:
Sorry, dogs are not allowed on any of our regular walks!
Ramblers - Leader - Gill Warden (01872) 864603 - Meet: 10.15 for 10.30am Start
Walks are usually 3.5 - 5 miles long and last around 2 - 2.5 hours and are mostly circular but are sometimes linear routes. Afterwards, disperse or join together for a convivial meal, as preferred! Each person is responsible for his/her safety and is advised to wear suitable footwear. In the event of bad weather, please check with the leader if the walk is still on.
Ramblers' Programme for May - July 2013:
17th May Margaret Murray (01872) 863060. NGR 754 376 PONSONOOTH, KENNEL VALE Park roadside on Park Road, Ponsonooth. Toilets: N. 1.5 bananas 3.5 miles.
24th May W.Morris & H.Saunders (01872) 378862 NGR 789 295 MAENPORTH, PENJERRICK,TENWARNE. Park on Maenporth beach car park. Toilets: Y. 2.5 bananas. 4.5 miles
31st May Eric & Sandra Irons (01872) 277335 NGR 099 636 LANHYDROCK DRIVE & RIVER FOWEY. Leave Carminow Cross, Bodmin by A38 for Liskeard. At next roundabout exit Rt. for Lanhydrock then left for Respryn. Park in NT car park at bottom of hill. Toilets: en route. 1 banana . 3.5 miles.
7th June Gill Warden (01872) 864603 NGR 704 126 LIZARD, HOUSEL BAY, BASS POINT. Take the A3803 from Helston to The Lizard. Park in the centre of village, in free car park. Toilets: Yes. 2 bananas 3.5 miles.
14th June. Eric & Sandra (01872) 277335 NGR 074 528 CARLYON BAY, BISCOVEY & PAR HARBOUR. From Truro take A390 to Par Moor roundabout. Turn sharp Right into concealed public car park adj.to railway line. Toilets X. 2 bananas. 4.5 miles.
21th June Rosalind & Martin (01872) 865767. NGR 380 357 PENDEEN WATCH, MORVAH & PORTHERAS COVE. Take road out of Pendeen, signposted to the lighthouse. Toilets:N. 3 bananas. 4 miles.
28th June Gillian & Barbara (01326) 318514 NGR 539 303 BASORE POINT, PERRANUTHNOE, CUDDEN POINT, TRESEAN. Park in lay-by, westbound on A394, just before Marazion roundabout. Toilets: Perranuthnoe, 3 bananas, Almost 5 miles.
5th July: Gill Warden (01872) 864603 NGR 779 389. PERRANWELL, CARNON VALLEY, GREENWICH COMMON, BARGUS. From Truro – Falmouth A 394 turn R. at Perran-ar-worthal, Right again at crossroads at top of hill, park in church car park, Perranwell. Toilets: Y 2 bananas. 4.5m.
12th July: R & M Smith (01872) 865767 NGR 916 395 VERYAN AND NARE HEAD. Repeating this popular walk. Meet in centre of Veryan. Toilets: Y 2 bananas. 4 miles.
19th July: Guest Leader. Adrian Rodda - Contact GW as above. NGR 408 258. STONES & STORIES AROUND ST BURYAN. Something a little different. More details in July newsletter!
26th July: T & J Wright (01872) 279116 WHEAL ROSE, MAWLA, STENCOOSE. Meet at small car park near Wheal Rose Dairy, (North side of A30, Scorrier. Toilets: X 1.5 bananas. 4 miles.
Short Walks - Leader - Mike Tapp (01209) 820301- Meet: 10.30 for 10.40 am Start
First and Third Fridays of the month, calendar of walks is published on the inside back cover of the newsletter. Meet at 10.00 am for 10.40 am start. Walks are 2.5 – 3 miles long and aim to be fairly level and stile-free if possible.
3rd May:
Picture by Mike Gregson - At Weir Point, Restronguet
The group was led by Katherine Wheatley on a pleasant spring morning after which some members took advantage of lunch in the Lemon Arms at Mylor Bridge.
17th May:
Carharrack Village Trail. Meet at Mills Hall Fore Street Leaders NGR 735 418 Post Code Mike & Marion Tapp (01209) 820301 TR16 5QS 3 miles 1.5 Bananas
Picture by Mike Tapp, shows the Short Walking Group, having made the St Agnes Head Beacon
7th June:
St Agnes Beacon & Coast Path. Meet at Car Park by Coastguard hut on headland NGR 719 515 post code TR5 0NU 3 miles 2 Bananas
21st June:
Wheal Busy & Unity Woods. Meet at Wheal Busy car park NGR 738 446 post code TR4 8NY 3 miles 1.5 Bananas
5th July:
Tehidy Lake & Woods. Meet Tehidy south car park near Café & Toilets NGR 651 433 post code TR14 0TS 2.7 Miles 1 Banana
19th July:
Tregajorran to Carn Brea. Meet at Tregajorran Village road side NGR 673 408 Post code TR15 3YZ 3 miles 1 Banana
Day Walks - Leader - Sue Green (01872) 862803 - Meet: 09.30 am for 09.40 am Start
As the day walk group now has very few members, I propose having a list of e-mail addresses of those interested. Starting in March, I will inform members of the proposed walk the week before the first Friday of each month. If you intend to join the walk you can confirm to the walk leader by the evening before. Likewise, we can let you know if the walk has to be cancelled. If you wish to be on the Day Walks e-mail list, please contact me at trebean@talktalk.net or phone 01872 862803. I hope this will work to our mutual advantage.
On the first Friday of the month (may be more frequent in summer). Calendar of walks is published on inside back cover of the newsletter, together with the listing here on the web-site. Look out for starting times as they may vary according to venue. These longer walks are for those who like a challenge! Length of walks: 7 – 10 miles, with a picnic lunch en route. Good footwear required.
For our April walk, the group enjoyed a bracing walk in a cold NE wind along the coast from Levant to Botallack and then inland to Chun Quoit. Some of the group took the detour up to the Chun Castle settlement, before we all headed towards Morvah. As it was a clear ,sunny day the views from the top were spectacular . We were able to find a sheltered spot for lunch in the churchyard before setting off once more for the coast where, as always, the coastal scenery was impressive.
Arriving back at Levant by 15.30 some of the group were able to visit the Levant mine where the engine was in steam.
Keeping out of the April wind!
May Day Walk:
Nine members travelled on the scenic Looe to Liskeard branch line to the start of the walk. At Liskeard we were met by two friends who walked with us back to Looe. At the start we had some road walking to the hamlet of Lamellion and beyond before finding the cross country lanes and paths towards the pretty riverside village of Herodsfoot.
From here the lane followed the West Looe river valley through woodlands, the trees just showing their bright green leaves and fields full of celandines. We lunched ‘ in style’ making use of two fallen trees in a clearing by the stream.
Then it was onwards to Kilminorth woods and Looe estuary, the jovial, chatty group enjoying the spring weather, the views and each others’ company.
Unfortunately, one of the group took a tumble when we were nearing the car park and sustained a ‘bloody nose’ and forehead. First aid kits appeared and we quickly cleaned up the blood and patched up the damage with plasters. Later, at a check up at A&E, the damage was repaired with ’glue’ and no serious injury was found. Hope you will be able to join us again next time.
Anyone wishing to have details of the day walks please contact Sue by phone (01872) 862803, or email.
Tuesday Walking Group:
The biggest problem I have with leading walks, is to commit myself to them 2 months in advance, the other problem is the weather. "We walk in all weathers" I hear you cry. I am proposing walks of minimum 7 miles. up to 9 miles. so good weather would be appropriate, as we would be finishing too late to fall soaking wet into the nearest pub.
You will receive an e-mail before noon the Sunday morning before the walk, confirming all necessary details; you can telephone the details to your friends without e-mail.
It would be appreciated if you replied, stating your intention to walk by 7:00pm on the Monday. If I don't receive any replies, the leader doesn't need to turn up! Walks will usually start at 10:00am, or 9:30am if close to Truro.
The routes would not be tried beforehand, so we might have some adventures.
This year's walks:
1st January:
Trevaunance Cove to Chapel Porth and back. Distance 6 miles. Another dry day but a bit windy, a good walk to start the new year!
15th January:
Predannack Wollas Route: Predannack – Mullion – Predannack head – Vellan head – Soap rock – Predannack. 7 miles, this is a walk that I did with Gerry and Ann last year, extended to Soap rock.
Only one walk this month, I suppose it must stop raining eventually...
No rain again today, cloudy but good views. Unfortunately very muddy so most of the walk was spent looking at where to put our feet. However no complaints, looked upon as a challenge. When we did stop to have a look around, we had some good views of Mounts Bay and Mullion Island.
12th February:
Cardinham Woods:
Easy walking through woods, dry weather and mostly dry underfoot.
We followed the set out trails, Lady Vale Walk then up Lidcutt Valley and back along the river to Lady Vale Bridge. It seems a chapel to our lady stood beside the river in the 12th century, at this point we were able to link into the Wheal Glyn Walk, we extended this walk to go by Cardinham Castle. After a slight unplanned detour we re-joined the Wheal Glyn walk where we suddenly came across the lead and silver mine in the middle of a pine forest. A truly pleasant walk 7.4 miles long, then we had a nice meal in the café.
A nice place to take the family and you can choose the length of walk you want. If you are a cyclist they are just finishing laying out some mountain bike trails. Parking is £3 all day, for more information visit:-
www.bodminlive.com/xsdbimgs/swe-cardinham-map-leaflet.pdf
19th February:
At last it’s stopped raining.
This walk was the first part of St. Michael’s way, when we walk the rest, we can start at Knill’s steeple.
This pilgrim route dating back to times (10,000 BC – 410AD ) leads to the Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela, in North West Spain. We didn’t have a boat so we stopped at Long Rock.
We started our walk at St Uni Church Lelant, then walked out to the railway and along the coast to Carbis bay. We continued past Carbis bay towards St. Ives until we reached the turning signed St.Michaels way. After walking across Carbis bay we walked up Steeple road to Knill’s Steeple.
In 1782 John Knill, a customs officer erected this mausoleum for his final resting place, because it isn’t on consecrated ground he was buried in Holborn. It’s an interesting steeple with room for one interment in the base, the steeple is three sided which must have caused a lot of problems for the stone masons.
For more information visit: - http://www.stives-cornwall.co.uk/st-ives-history-2.html
We had our banana break at the steeple, then made our way across to Lelant salting’s. Unfortunately the path had been allowed to fall into disrepair and was impassable, so we had to retrace or steps until we could get back to the church by a different route. These unscheduled detours are becoming a feature of my walks.
We still managed to walk 7 miles and have a picnic in the graveyard before driving home.
5th March:
St. Michaels Way - Part 2
Unfortunately 6 walkers from the previous walk couldn’t come, however 3 that hadn’t done the first part came, one of these was a new walker, who was very welcome.
We parked at Long Rock then transferred to Knill Steeple using 2 cars, thanks Gillian & Garth.
The walk started along some road to Trewartha, with the rest of the walk on farm land, which provided some interesting diversions. We were attacked by geese and even rescued a sheep that had got trapped between a Cornish wall and barbed wire fence. After some good views at Trencrom fort hill, a picnic at a lovely spot between Vellanoweth and Ludgvan.
We went to the parish church at Gulval which was locked, fortunately there was some benches in the grounds so the U3A Pilgrims rested awhile before returning to our cars at Long Rock.
This second walk was 8.5 miles and the weather dry but a bit misty which spoiled the views a bit.
19th March:
We were pleased to welcome three guest walkers, two were on holiday and one will be joining soon.
Our walk started at Penryn by the Glebe cemetery entrance we walked to Flushing then round to Mylor Churchtown and Mylor Bridge, at this point the route was supposed to go out into the countryside and loop back to the starting point. Unfortunately we had to make a diversion along a road (fortunately we had high vis coats), private no trespass signs stopped us taking the route invisaged.
The views around Carrick roads made up for walking through mud and puddles and we got back to the cars without getting wet. 7 miles
26th March:
Today we walked around the Towans at Hayle. Our walk started at the car park by the west end of Copperhouse pool, around the rebuilt North Quay and after a short detour on the beach with good views of the coast from Lelant past Carbis bay and round to St.Ives. We joined the coast path at Mexico Towans and followed it past Upton Towans, here we were entertained by a flock of Sand Martins swooping over a pond, Sky Larks larking about and what we thought was a Wheatear doing what Wheatears do, it seems it wasn’t . Must get a book on birds.
Just before Gwillian Towans we turned inland to find our way back to Copperhouse pool via Phillack. When we got to the river a bird that looked like a Reed Warbler was feeding in the reeds and Egrets feeding in the silt of the pool bottom. The tide was out. We were even joined by a thrush, Blackbird and Robin for our picnic by King George V Memorial Walk. We returned to our cars wondering if we had joined one of John’s bird watching group jaunts.
The weather was cold but dry underfoot and overhead. The walking kept us warm. Blue sky’s that clouded over towards the end of what proved to be a good walk, after all the rain we have had in recent days.
Unfortunately 2 of our regular walkers were unable to get to the start due to an accident at Perranaworthal. I later heard that they arrived 40 mins late and did the walk independently. 7 miles.
2nd April:
We welcomed another three new walkers today.
We started at the car park in Grenna lane and walked up the Carnon river, over Bissoe bridge and on to Hale Mills. Some good views of the mine workings around Crofthandy and the Tailings dams (Tailings also called mine dumps, they are what is left after the useful fraction of the ore has been removed). Then above Wheal Maid in the valley below, here we nearly had to take one of my legendary detours until Sue noticed that we were on the right path. It meant walking over someone’s lawn at Harmony cottage, it looked like they had grassed over the path. More reed Buntings by the water treatment plant at Bissoe, and back the way we had come to the cars.
The walk covered 6.75 miles. We started at 09.30 and were back to the cars at 12.15, so I was home in plenty of time to get ready and go to Mark’s talk at the science meeting.
9th April:
I couldn’t walk today so Sue and Bobby arranged it.
Eleven of the group walked on Tuesday 9th from Respryn to Restormal castle and back to Lanhydrock on a cloudy but dry morning. This included two old friends with their shiny boots who haven’t walked with us for a while and another walker sporting pristine new gaiters that we did not manage to find enough mud to christen properly. We were all led astray and spent an enjoyable half an hour at the Duchy Garden centre coffee shop en route!! Don’t tell Peter what we get up to when he’s not around. The morning was much enjoyed by all of us.
16th April:
I couldn’t walk today so Bobby and Sue led the walk.
St Anthony’s Guns and Guiding Lights -
Four of us enjoyed the arrival of spring today with a ‘nature walk’ from Froe Creek along the Percuil river, out to St Anthony Head and back along the coastal path.
Primroses were flowering in profusion, along with violets, daisies and celandines and the first bluebells we have seen this year. We also watched buzzards and Kestrels and several seals in the cove near Towan beach.
After the walk we ate our picnic lunches in the warm spring sunshine on Towan beach. Long may it last!
23rd April:
Caerhays – Dodman Point – Gorran Haven
A diversion before we started, due to a cliff fall between Caerhays and Hemmick beach. Donna warned me of this so I was able to look it up on http://www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk/walkthepath/news/ a useful website if you are walking the coast.
We followed the diversion across to Hemmick beach, then onto Dodman point for a short rest and banana, another 2 miles to Gorran Haven for a picnic on the beach and back inland to the cars. A total of 8.3 miles altogether on a warm dry day, perfect conditions for a walk.
If you are planning a walk you might be interested to know about a new path, not on the map. This is a gravel path primarily for school children to go to school, anyone can use it. The path starts just outside Gorran Haven, NGR 004 418 and finishes on a road at NGR 998 418. The school children have all painted their faces on slices of log; these have then been attached to the fence posts, at the height the child was at the time.
30th April:
A wonderful day,with great views across Mounts Bay. Our walk started by Men-an-tol studio, on Bosullow Common. We walked up to Men-an-tol for our dose of vitamin D3. This is thought to date back to the Bronze age about 3,500 years ago. It seems there is only one other stone like it in the county, the Tolvan Stone near Gweek, might be worth a walk one day. We then continued to the Nine Maidens, we counted 11 and there looked like room for a couple more, you may remember we visited the Merry Maidens earlier in the year, lots more Stone Circles to find yet.
Next stop was Ding Dong Mine; the Church at Madron has a “Ding Dong Bell” that was rung to mark the end of the last shift in the mine. After a pause for a banana we carried on towards Boswarthen but our way was barred by locked gate, after a brief discussion we found another way to Madron Well Cross. The Cross was at the side of the road.
The walk continued along the B3312 to Lanyon Quoit, a funeral site dating back to the Neolithic period (3,500 – 2,500 BC), it crashed to the ground in 1815 original originally tall enough for a horse and rider to pass under it now 1 meter high. Worth a look if you are passing you can stop in a layby. Back to the cars. A total of 7.1, this walk could be 4.5 miles if the Madron Well Cross is not included. There is parking for about seven cars.
If you wish to be on my mailing list to receive details of future walks, e-mail me. Peter Goldsmith
As usual, please respond by 19.15 on Monday if you intend to walk!
South West Coast Path Association seeks Walkers!
The South West Coast Path Association is encouraging people to take part in "The Great South West Walk" to raise money for the path's upkeep as national and local government funding dries up. The association plans a relay of 56 sponsored walks, guided by experts, covering the entire 630 miles of the path around Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, plus the Exmoor coast in Somerset.
South Coast walks will start at Poole on 3 April, with North Coast ones starting at Minehead on 16th April. The two will meet at Land's End on 7th May for the Path's 40th birthday party. Walkers will be asked to raise £50 of sponsorship to unlock further funding from relevant organisations, to reach £250,000 for over 40 improvement projects along the entire route of the path, to be completed during 2013. Walkers will be able to specify which project their sponsorship supports.
For more information, or to sign up to take part, visit www.greatsouthwestwalk.co.uk contact the SWCPA on (01752) 869237. You can follow the event on Twitter: @LoveSWCoastPath.
For all activities, please check our Google Calendar via the link on the front page, to confirm dates, times and locations
Groups Coordinator - Jon Skelton (01872) 865316