13. Cornwall (Lizard): Helford Passage - Durgen - Ponsence Cove - 8 miles - OS Explorer 103

Helford Passage, the back pocket of Killigrew rogues who prove prison works.

More of a lazy amble then a ramble with its ferry and back-tracking, but with thick woods, lovely coves, open country, pretty hamlets and the glorious Helford River for company, an amble you’ll probably want to repeat over and over. Parking at Helford (paying).

When Henry VIII split with Rome and helped himself to Catholic assets, so did his friends, including the local Killigrews. It had profound and unpredictable consequences for society and individuals. I read an interesting book called Coal that argued it began the Industrial Revolution. (The Catholic Church owned the coal-rich lands and short-term leased them to farmers who could only afford to surface mine. With the Dissolution, Henry gave long-term leases to merchants who increased demand with a bit of marketing. To fulfil it they mined deeper and deeper. Air needed pumping in and water out. Necessity is the mother of invention someone said, and, not wanting to disprove it, along came the first steam engines. Good old bad old Henry who liked to get ahead.. on the block.)

Under Elizabeth, us Protestants against them dastardly Catholics also legitimised piracy to further feed royal coffers and led to advances in ship design. Suddenly we were rulers of the waves. Those Killigrews, now minor Cornish nobles since the dissolution, took full advantage, adding piracy and smuggling to their land grabs.

Helford Passage is where they landed their plunder. The area is so stunningly beautiful it’s hard to imagine it the hub of a minor Tudor Mafia, but it was.

Parking at Helford car park above the village, Jane and I stopped for tea and cake at the Holy Mackerel café at its corner. A converted chapel quirkily decorated inside and out (see leading picture), it’s a delight to the eye, but there was a strained atmosphere. There late October and the only customers, I think, on reflection, we may have walked in on a tiff between the couple who run it. So, don’t be put off. Tiffs' happen.

Head down through the village (car restricted and as pretty as a chocolate box) toward the ferry and enjoy the views to your right up and across the Helford River. At the quay, open up a large smiley face to call the ferry before finding a comfortable spot on the little beach to wait for it.

The ferry takes you over to the larger beach at Helford Passage, dominated by the Ferry Boat Inn—a lovely looking pub surrounded by holiday lets. We went left from here but the path/beach soon peters out (worth it though).

Returning to Helford passage, press on through fields and woods past Trebah Garden’s (apparently a sub-tropical wonder) private beach to Durgan, a lovely riverside hamlet. The National Trust serves tea and advice if you want to visit Glendurgan Gardens, which backs onto it. Wrong time of year for the gardens so we backtracked.

Back over the ferry to Helford, you can press on upriver a short way to Frenchman’s Creek (yes, the creek that inspired Daphne du Maurier). This link gives you all the information you need.

After that, backtrack to the car park and follow the coastal path sign, walking with the river to your left through woodland toward the mouth of the Helford. De-lovely, delightful and, depressingly, we had to turn for home just after pretty Ponsence Cove.

Popping in to the Shipwrights Inn for refreshments, ponder at the beauty that is the Killigrew legacy. Generation after generation of the family took government positions and large salaries whilst avoiding tax and committing the foulest crimes. These were ethically ugly people, yet they left us this.

It doesn’t seem right and, thankfully, there is a moral element. They may have robbed and murdered with impunity but at last one went too far (‘too far’ meaning owing Queen Elizabeth money) and ended up in jail. His son, not fancying repeating the ignominy or discomfort of Dad, decided to go straight (see, I told you: prison works) and opened a couple of Inns below Arwenack, their family home by the mouth of the Fal River. There, they profitably served thirsty sailors, houses round-about started to appear and it blossomed into Falmouth. God may or may not work in mysterious ways but progress certainly does.

*The stuff about the Killigrews came from an excellent book that I've forgotten the title of. When I find it I'll let you know the name.