40 Tintagel - Port Isaac - Bude - Padstow - Cornwall

Beating the Bounds

40 Tintagel to Port Isaac

A dramatic shipwreck tale in the church, cliffs marked by slate quarries, green valleys and changeable weather, rough paths and a storybook Cornish fishing village.

The route, day 40

From Tintagel village to the church, then the coast path all day. 9.3 miles, 14.9 km, 740 metres ascent.
Vom Dorf Tintagel bis zur Kirche, dann immer an der Küste entlang. 14,9 km, 740 Höhenmeter.

Church of St Materiana

In contrast to the castle, there are no crowds or admission fees for the ancient church in Tintagel. Wind-battered, it hunkers down close to sea cliffs, around it a grassy burial ground with views out to sea and weathered, lichen-furred memorials. Materiana is thought to have been an early Welsh saint, but there are various versions of her name and origin. She is the patron of only one other church, at Minster near Tintagel, where her tomb existed until the Reformation.

Die uralte Kirche von Tintagel kann man im Gegensatz zur Burg ohne hohe Eintrittsgebühr und ohne Besucherhorden besichtigen. In windiger Lage an der Steilküste duckt sich das niedrige Gotteshaus vor Stürmen und ist von einem ausgedehnten Friedhof mit Meerblick und verwitterten, durch Flechtenbewuchs pelzig gewordenen Grabsteinen. Über den Namen und die Herkunft der Kirchenpatronin Materiana herrscht Unklarheit. Möglicherweise kam sie in frühchristlicher Zeit aus Wales. Ihr ist eine einzige weitere Kirche geweiht: im nahe gelegenen Minster, wo bis zur Reformation ihr Grab zu sehen war.

Shipwreck and Good Samaritans

In darkness and a snowstorm in December 1893, violent winds drove the Italian barque Iota onto Lye Rock in Bossiney Cove, west of Tintagel. The crew of eleven men and one boy tried to jump from the ship's mast to the rock. The Good Samaritans of Tintagel were three men from the village and a coastguard, who climbed onto Lye Rock in heavy seas and saved seven sailors. A cross with a lifebelt from the ship is a memorial to 14-year-old Domenico Catanese, who was drowned when a crew member tried to swim ashore with him through raging surf.
A window in Tintagel church depicts the parable of the Good Samaritan, who gave help to a man who had been robbed and beaten on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The Good Samaritans of Tintagel risked their lives for the Italian sailors.

Eine Havarie und vier barmherzige Samariter

Bei Dunkelheit und Schneesturm im Dezember 1893 trieben heftige Winde das italienische Schiff Iota auf den Lye Rock in der Bossiney Cove westlich von Tintagel. Die aus elf Männern und einem Jungen bestehende Besatzung versuchte, vom Mast des Schiffes auf den Fels zu springen. Die Samariter von Tintagel waren drei Männer aus dem Dorf und einer der Küstenwache. Trotz tosender Brandung kletterten sie auf den Lye Rock und retteten sieben Seeleute. Das Kreuz mit Rettungsring von der Iota auf dem Friedhof ist ein Denkmal für den 14-jährigen Domenico Catanese. Ein Besatzungsmitglied versuchte, mit ihm durch die Wellen an Land zu schwimmen, doch ertranken beide . Ein Fenster in der Kirche von Tintagel zeigt das Gleichnis des barmherzigen Samariters, der einem Mann half, der auf dem Weg von Jerusalem nach Jericho ausgeraubt und geschlagen worden war. Die Vier von Tintagel riskierten ihr Leben für die italienischen Seeleute.

West from Tintagel

Slate Quarries

There are two different explanations for this pinnacle that remained when quarrying work ended:
1. Poor-quality slate was left standing.
2. Winches and cables were attached to the pinnacle to move slate down to boats.

Shipping slate, shaping the cliffs

To aid quarry work and to transport slate by ship, the cliffs were shaped. At Backways Cove (above and close-up below) the rock face was squared off so that boats could be taken up close and slate lowered from the top using a crane overhanging the edge. An alternative method was to take slate down the valley that ends at this cove, then load it at low water into a boat, which rose as the rising tide flooded the cove.

Bagalow Quarry near the pinnacle

Backways Cove

Surfers at Port William/Trebarwith Beach

Small black specks in the sea - not seals but surfers

Definitely a spot for experienced surfers - no beach in the cove, no lifeguard

Spot the surfer: on the left, the black speck halfway up. A rocky shore ahead, no gently sloping sandy beach at this state of the tide.

Misty Green Valleys

Standing a little lower down on the slope immediately ahead, we talked to a semi-retired farmer, who was looking after sheep without a dog. He told us how the slate was taken from Delabole Quarry down the valleys to the coast and talked about farm life for his parents during the Second World War: Italian prisoners-of-war worked on the farm, quite happily, he believed, with no wish to escape, and how the deeply cut, curving valleys were used for practice flights by the Royal Air Force.
The above photo shows the forked valley south of Trebarwith beach. 90 minutes later another deep valley to the south of Tregardock beach (the following photo) gave us a steep descent and a strenuous climb up on the other side.