My hopes of a warm breakfast were dashed as the wind was still blowing hard even in the lea of an six foot Cornish wall.
Grumpily I packed up my tent, which was at least dry due to the wind, and set off along the path.
The coastline here was rough and wild to match the wind but I finally found a piece of path between two hedges and sat down and lit up my stove for breakfast or more accurately elevenses.
As I ate my porridge I was accosted by another equally wind blown walker who it turned out was staying in the same hotel as me in Hartland Quay. This wasn’t quite so much as a coincidence as there is only one hotel in Hartland Quay.
He was walking faster than me and I still had a cup of coffee to drink so I watched him fade into the distance.
Along the way to Hartland I crossed the border into Devon, almost instantly the footpath marking improved with more markers and signposts. Well done Devon.
The recent rain had made the small streams full so the waterfalls on the coast were beautiful in their fullness. I arrived at Hartland Quay as the sun was lowering in the sky and rocks and clifffs were easy on the eye.
I met my fellow walker, Alastair, in the bar and we had dinner together exchanging information and opinions on the coast path and walking in general.
Both of us took an early night in preparation for a walk to Clovelly in the morning.
I had planned to camp there but Alastair tipped me off to a small hotel he was staying at there. A phone call later and I would be staying in a warm room rather than a wind blown tent.