Portquin
View from Doyden Point
PoE 13 Portquin loop a 7 miles
PoE 13 Portquin loop b 2 miles
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Portquin is a hamlet on the coast a few miles south of Port Isaac.
It was once a thriving pilchard port and the fish cellars exist to this day, although now as human habitation. At some point in the 19th century all male residents were drowned at sea. Unable to support themselves, their widows left the village.
The eight reaches to Port Gaverene and Epphaven, and includes a vist to Port Isaac.
After a long and atmospheric coastal section, loop a takes the road to Port Gaverne and returns via farmland to Portquin.
Loop b rises on tarmac to a footpath leading to the coastal path at Epphaven. Arsenic was once mined from the land here. Air shafts from the old mining works are marked by thin slabs of slate arranged as a wired stone circle.
Doyden Castle was built in 1830 by a local businessman. Apparently he overdid the resultant gambling parties and lost his hideaway to debt.