GO: Heart Of England

The salt path / South west Coastal Path was Britains longest national trail at 630 miles long from Minehead in Somerset to Poole Harbour in Dorset.
It still forms part of the current longest trail - the newly created King Charles 3rd Coastal path of England.

Over the last 15 years or so I have hike parts of the Coastal path as part of circluar hikes and liners hikes with various groups including Go Heart of England with Paul; the now defuct Hike West Midlands and Warickshire with Jon, the scouts and explorer scouts that I once lead and various hikes by myself. Most have been on the Southern Coast of the route.
Last Year I decided I would fill in the gaps....thats still most of the 630 miles! starting at the northern Atlantic coast side as this I have bearly touched. After a two week holiday and a further 4 day long weekend I completed from MineHead to Port Issacc.

So heres this year's plan which you are all welcome to join.

Port Issacc to Helston over 13 days. the plan is a series of day hikes and camping at 3 sites along the way. Traveling to and from start / finish points using buses or depending on interest and attendance we may use cars parked at each end of a days hike.
I will list each days hike as separate events. I will be camping at the sites listed below. Please arrange your own bookings and note there are plenty of other sites / hotels / bnb's / caravan options near by.
I intend to eat out most evenings at pubs or resturants / fish n chips etc and have a few beers. Bus journey may be up to 2 hours with changes required due to the nature and location of the hikes.

I have booked the sites using Campsites.com but most are also on Pitchup.com or you may wish to book directly with the site. The sites don't want large groups so please book as if you were just taking your own break away.

Sunday 7th June 2026 I drive down to the Laurels Holiday Park
Padstow Road, Whitecross, Wadebridge, Cornwall, PL27 7JQ
We are there till Thursday 11th June 2026. 4 nights. Cost for a small tent £108.00
Thursday 11th June we transfer to the Blue Hills Touring Park.
Cross Coombe, Trevellas, St Agnes, Cornwall, TR5 0XP
3 nights here costing £75.00
Sunday 14th June see our final transfer to Stream Valley Holiday park.
Heamoor, Penzance, Cornwall, TR20 8UJ for 6 nights. Cost £210.00
Please note this site has electric hook ups but no phone or TV signal.
This site also charges £1 extra for the shower payable on contactless card.
The advantage of the site is it close to Penzance for both transport and eating out / all major supermarket are here. The site is central for hiking from the north coast past Lands End and on to the southern coast.

Please note there is no need to commit to the whole 2 weeks. so long as I know who you are, where you are staying and which days you wish to join that will be fine. Walks will start from a set point and end at a set point largly set by the bus arrival / departure times or if we use our own cars as and when. Is it is best to stay if possible on the same site or keep in contact.

This first day hike follows the South West Coast Path from Port Issacc to Padstowe.
We set out from the camp site (Laurels Holiday park) at 8.00 am
We catch a bus no.57 to Wadebridge bus station then no. 96 to Port Issacc at 9.15

The bus arrives at 10.07 so I aim to start walking at 10.15am by the life boat station Port Issacc harbour.
The path follows some truly beutifal unspoiled coastline, including the remote inlet of Pine Haven, and the historic promontory known as The Pumps. Spectctular views from here. A Strenouous first half to Polzeath crossing small valleys and winding round exposed headlands, followed by an easy walk to rock and a ferry crossing to Padstowe.

Todays hike is 11.7 miles (18.8km)
Bus fares are £3.00 per trip £9.00 for an all day ticket and £36.00 for a week's pass. These passes can be used on all cornish services.
the Boat ride is £3.00

We may spend some time in Padstowe as buses leave at 4pm, 5pm, 6.05pm,7.05pm and 8.25pm the journey back to camp is 22 mins.

Participants will need suitable clothing for hiking including good ankle support boots, plenty of water 2 litres min, packed lunch and money for fares.
We should have good daylight given the time of year. But wind and rain proofs along with sun hat and sun cream are essential.
Personal medication should be taken with you. Hayfever season will be in peak time alothough I am hoping the sea breeze will help keep pollen low.
This is intended to be a a holiday. Participant are expected to keep up and not lag behind. I walk at about 2mph (4kmh) and allow 30 mins to lunch and other small breaks. You must be phyically fit to walk. You will be reasonible for your own health and well being.

This walk may be cancelled or changed if the forcast for very poor weather or other issues beyond my control shoulld arise.

Online Boardgame Evening

Weekly opportunity to play boardgames and cardgames online with other group members and members of the public. There are no hosts, you pre-contact each other. Please read both 'GENERAL INFORMATION' and 'EVENT SPECIFIC INFORMATION' below, thank you!

GENERAL INFORMATION

We began meeting virtually during social distancing, each Monday 6pm-10pm, and we have kept the facility available alongside our person to person boardgame events.. We play using "Boardgamearena.com". RSVP here, get yourself a free account, and then add yourself to our online group. Play with other members who are available.

Once established, you can optionally upgrade yourself to a premium account for a nominal fee per month, which gives you access to even more games and features.

Join text communications within our group page at 6pm, with the option of opening or joining a voice call within Facebook Messenger which remains open until everyone is finished, and is useful for rules explanations.

Some people have account names which differ to their meetup.com profiles, so please ensure you are identifiable to other members by also providing you real and meetup names.

1. Get yourself a free account with boardgamearena.com 24+ hours in advance in order that your chat facilities are activated
2. Go to "Community" and choose to join "Birmingham Central Boardgaming" (scan down to bottom right) or use link https://boardgamearena.com/group?id=3866947
3. Get familiar with the website, click on your profile icon to see notifications, update preferences etc. Also familiarize with any games you'd like to play, via "Games". Also ensure you have access to FBM.
4. Logon in advance of 6pm on the night, and contact others attending, who will be marked as being online on our group page. Please note that we are unable to monitor meetup.com during events
5. Enjoy!

EVENT SPECIFIC INFORMATION

Participation is based on a fixed number of members meeting at an agreed time to play a pre-agreed game or games. If time allows, players may spontaneously play other games afterwards of course.

1. When placing an RSVP, please also state clearly in the comments section what game (or choice of games) you might like to play.
2. Also state number of players, and start time (if later than 6pm).
3. If flexible, or willing to host/teach, say so, more people may respond. But if you RSVP without follow-up or suggesting what to play, you may be ignored unfortunately.
4. Ensure you swap online usernames or whatever enables you to find each other easily at the event start time. If anyone needs rules explained first, allow 30 mins before starting the game, and let everyone know.
5. Once there are enough/maximum players, please indicate so that others know they will need to join/create another game table.
6. Our regular event hosts may join your games (and even help with rules) by prearrangement or offer if available. But we will only attend games where we have indicated among the comments.