Do it your way

Award-winning photographer David Chapman continues his odyssey around Cornwall with a trip to the Camel Valley

- David Chapman

The Camel Estuary Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) covers the stretch of the Camel between (but not including) Padstow and Wadebridge. On the south side of the river it includes the creeks of Little Petherick and Pinkson.

The best point of access is along the Camel Trail from Wadebridge or Padstow. It is also possible to park and walk from Little Petherick. On the north side of the estuary, there isn’t much access though for bird watchers there is the Burniere Hide, owned by the Cornwall Bird Watching and Preservation Society, accessed from Trewornan Bridge near Wadebridge.

The Camel Trail is a wonderful facility for locals and tourists alike. Using a disused railway line the route from Wadebridge to Padstow covers the largest part of this AONB on a flat, well-surfaced cycle trail of about five and a half miles. In my experience, it’s best to visit early in the morning or out of season to avoid the crowds.

A couple of years ago I decided to try a different approach to looking around this AONB, a friend and I took out kayaks for the day, launching them from Rock we headed up-river on a rising tide, crossing to the south side of the estuary to look at Pinkson Creek before heading back on a falling tide.

September is a lovely month for exploring the river. The weather is still fairly warm, the number of visitors has decreased slightly and for naturalists, the number of birds is quite high. In fact, it was a birdlife that kept us enthralled from the beginning of our trip.