Plymouth to Rame Head

We had no idea what to expect on this walk because it was a last minute "where do we go now?" choice. So no prior planning at all except figuring out the bus schedule, which is pretty important if you want to get back home easily. The train trip here was long and tiring and crowded. But we had a fascinating talk with a chap next to us, who could not fathom how shootings are (sadly) almost "normal" in the US. Not only are guns illegal in the UK, but you have to be 18 to own a certain kind of knife. Probably butter knives are OK.

The walk starts with the Cremyll ferry and an eight-minute cruise across the River Tamar over to the Rame Peninsula. A sign on the Rame side welcomes us to Cornwall and we're a bit confused; we've been in Cornwall most of this trip. But Plymouth, on one side of the River Tamar, is Devon, and the Rame Peninsula is in Cornwall. The South West Coast Path leads across on the ferry and then skirts the grounds of Mount Edgcumbe, a 16th-century manor and garden.

Now THAT is a hedgerow that totally belongs on "manor grounds".

We don't know anything about the village up ahead but it will turn out to be a hidden, magical, unspoiled corner of the country.

We stumble upon Kingsand & Cawsand and are magically ensconced in a quintessential English village. (Although many Cornish would balk at being labeled "English".) Even though there are quite a few tourist and summer homes, somehow the charm hasn't been lost and the lanes aren't teaming with gawkers. Like us, I guess. The villages deserve their own special post so this post will just finish up the walk.

The end of today's walk is Rames Head. When we first started walking the coast, coming from the inland state of Ohio with nary a sea within a day's travel as we were, I had to look up coastal words like "headland". (A narrow piece of land that projects from a coastline into the sea). And coombe (a valley or basin on the flank of a hill).

The remains of a 14th century chapel dedicated to st Michael watch over the waters of Plymouth Sound and the Tamar estuary.

Toward the end of the walk we run into a group of 12+ men, retired and living the life, who meet every Wednesday to walk, rain or shine or sleet or snow. We asked them for a lift down to Rame to get the bus and they rearranged their car situation so we could fit and tell us to take the Cawsand ferry back to Plymouth instead of the bus. Who knew there was another ferry? Here they are driving us down the narrow somebody-will-have-to-back-up-lane that leads down off the head.