My West Country rovings rarely take me to Malpas in Southern Cornwall, but when they do I tend to come over all lyrical. “Malpas hangs over the river like a village in a dream,” I have written in the past. “Malpas is a place invented by water-colourists…” That sort of thing.

I stand by these flights of fancy partly because, until recently, I had never approached the place by road, but only by boat. And there is something about gaining access to a place by boat – something poetic and other-worldly.

But recently I found myself travelling towards marvellous Malpas by car. And, being a bright late winter’s day, I had time to enjoy this jolly little jape around the cape which is formed by the Tresillian and Truro Rivers. The stroll takes you across the hill to other-worldly St Clement and back in time for a refreshing pint at the Heron Inn.

Malpas is a village well accustomed to the docking of boats - there’s been a ferry here for 1000 years - and the name in old Norman French actually means ‘treacherous crossing’. 

The treacherous crossing, indeed, where legend has it that Tristan and Iseult (or Isolde if you prefer) managed to trick that royal husband of hers. The story goes that she had returned to the cuckolded king and was being taken to his manor at Blancheland (thought to be Goodern in nearby Kea) where she'd be expected to make a vow that she'd always remained faithful to him. Iseult was somewhere between a rock and a hard place, but being a fast-thinker and she arranged for Tristan to be at the crossing place disguised as a leper.

In Beroul's romantic tale he offers to carry the good lady across the river and in doing so stumbles and falls. They both wind up on the floor and later, when Iseult is asked, she can truthfully say that she has never lain with any man other than her husband - and, of course, the leper at the river.

The hike’s first path is easy to find being just across the road from the landing stage in the middle of Malpas. For the first 100 yards or so as it climbs away from the river, you might wonder if you're trespassing in someone's private garden. But fear not, it is a public right of way...

I imagine that men have been using this track to get to the ferry crossing since time immemorial, so worn is the groove between the narrow hedges that ascend Bar Meadows. 

Near the top of the hill it widens out and you can proceed north along a fine broad track until you reach the road. Along the way take a peek over the left hand hedge to catch a glimpse of what must be the very best view of Truro that you'll get anywhere. 

As soon as you reach the tarmac road, turn right down a track marked as a public right of way. This descends to join a field which you cross to reach the far hedge, where another ancient path disappears down another well-worn groove towards the east. Excellent for badgers and people under the height of four or five feet, this brambly tunnel will deliver you looking like something dragged out of a hedge backwards, but otherwise safe and sound, to the hamlet of St Clement.

It's all worth it, believe me, because St Clement is a tiny corner of heaven thinly disguised as a West Country hideaway.

To quote Liz Luck’s book, South Cornish Harbours, the place is: “Astonishingly unspoilt, and its position idyllic. Nestling outside the churchyard there is an almost unbearably pretty little square of cottages, along with a slate-faced lych gate which in the past has served as a parish vestry room, village school, Sunday school and pigsty.”

The hamlet's little church and graveyard is charming beyond belief. There’s enough historic interest about the place to fill a book and in the increasing darkness we managed to read several interesting inscriptions, but missed the one recommended to me a long time ago by Truro jeweller and local walks expert, Paul Vage.

“My favourite,” said Paul, “is the one referring to the old lady who was obviously a servant of some local squire. It describes how she requested that she be paid less and less for her services as old age overtook her.”

Logical - yet somehow a little on the self-martyring side for my taste in superannuation. I was reflecting upon this when Paul caused me to completely rewrite the end of this article...

It was Paul who introduced me to what could be described as the “secret way back” to Malpas. 

“Which way did you return?” he asked. “Over the hill or around by the river?”

“Over the hill of course,” I replied, describing the route that ascends, opposite to the church’s main entrance, over a field to the top of a knoll where there are fine river views, before descending through a field into a steep valley and proceeding through a wood to eventually return to Malpas.

That is the route the OS map shows. The only route. The Ordnance Survey Explorer 105 shows no riverside path, but Paul assured me that there is one - called Dennis Lane - that curves along the water’s edge all the way from St Clement.

Apparently it is a permissive path which was created in 1986 by working parties from the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers - and a very jolly traipse it is too.

You’ll find it just to the right of the little parking bay by the river at St Clement, but the entrance is a little tricky to spot - and it can by very muddy. If you prefer the OS route then the hill does offer tremendous views. 

So pretty is this corner of Cornwall that you might prefer to take a much longer stroll right around the entire cape from the village of Tresillian to Truro or vice-versa, returning by bus. All easily do-able thanks to the extend riverside path that goes right up to the A390 main road at Tresillian.

Fact File

Basic Hike: circular route from Malpas to St Clement and back.

Recommended Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer 105.

Distance and Going: about 3.2. miles - can be muddy in places.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Herein lies the Heron

The Heron Inn at Malpas is a wonderful place where I have enjoyed lunch or dinner and certainly a pint several times down the years.  

Plum for Kea Plums

Just across the Truro River from Malpas there’s a place called Old Kea which gives its name to a famous local plum. If you are in the area during the next few weeks you might be treated to displays of plum blossom in and around coombes like Cowlands Creek where you can even buy Kea plum jam from honesty boxes at various cottages. 

Skin-full at Skinner’s

Also on the banks of the Truro River, just upstream from Malpas, you fill find Skinner’s Brewery which makes an excellent variety of local ales. There’s a bar and a  retail outlet at the brewery, if you want to take some samples home.