31st August 2007
St Loy Crag

I suppose I should count myself as lucky. For the most part Cornwall's coast and cliffs are accessible. However today I gained a more unusual perspective.

I wanted to take Alex and Harry to a fairly remote crag called Tregiffian. Although you can walk in from both Lamorna and St Loy I noticed on the map a public footpath linked to a lane which dropped right down to the coast path. So off we went ensuring we kept to the paths and the edges of fields that we had to cross only to find a 'Private lane no public access' sign on the final lane! It's so infuriating that people should feel the need to do this. I suppose that it is a combination of the inappropriate actions of others in the past (littering, damaging crops, noise and little respect which I have seen myself) and the territorial nature of some people. I personally think it is more of the latter.

Some kindly people in a house nearby directed us to another possible way to the coast path but this proved inaccessible for a completely different reason. The lane/bridleway was incredibly overgrown to the point where at one section you could not get by a massive bramble. So it was back to the car and another route down through St Loy valley. Only to find another example of trying to restrict access. This time right below the acorn was a sign saying 'No walkers' private lane. I knocked on a door close by and was told that people had kept going the wrong way, so the sign had been put up. Possibly a better idea would have been to put a sign up saying 'This way to the path'. As a final attempt to make people welcome part of the coast path had an 8ft solid fence running parallel to it for 100 metres, whilst the owner was busy trying to tame the natural heather, gorse and fern scrub on the other side into a manicured series of paddocks.

I find it strange that someone would want to change the natural beauty provided by Cornwall’s wild cliffs. But everyone these days wants their parcel of the country and having got it they want to bend it to their will.

Anyway, St Loy crag itself is fantastic. Unfortunately due to the lack of an adequately sized belayer climbing for me was off the menu and my lads just wanted to launch themselves off the top of the 70ft cliff on an abseil (protected I might add). Alex mucked around on an E4 5c (Finesse) and cracked the opening sequence of moves which impressed me and then we hiked out, utterly exhausted from our meanderings.

May the blackberries down his lane always be bitter!