Valency River
PoE 8 North Lodge loop a 5 miles
PoE 8 North Lodge loop b 1 mile
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An inland section rolls over farmland and tarmac to join the Valency Valley downstrem of St. Juliot's church. Follow the river through an avenue of trees and a hamlet called Newmills. Minster Wood begins to unfold on the opposite side of the bank, hiding Minster Church high in its branches.
The valley opens into Boscastle, once a thriving port focussed on its busy Elizabethan harbour. Rebuilt after the 2004 flood, the village now thrives an tourism, Among the more unusual of its attractions is the Museum of Witchcraft, the world's largest collection of witchcraft artefacts. A blowhole - the Devil's Bellows - spasmodically spews brine into the harbour entrance during the hours before and after low tide.
Rising above the blow hole towards Penally Hill the route follows the coastal path over Beeny to Firebreak Point. Although the views are stunning here the traditional way of life is tough. Farmland reaches for the cliff edge over which livestock have been known to tumble.
A dark country lane completes the loop.