Padstow
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Famous for it's May Day 'Hobby Oss' celebrations when the whole town gives itself over to the festival which is believed, like the flora dance in Helston, to have it's origins in a fertility rite.
The town is still a working port although the ominously named 'Doom Bar' sand bar stops larger vessels entering the estuary, and has it's links with the sea reinforced today by Rick Stein's Seafood restaurant which stands near the centre of the village. The restaurant is so popular that tables often need to be booked months in advance.
The old town is a maze of crooked streets all leading to the quay where there has been a ferry to the village of Rock on the other side of the estuary at least since the 15th century.
Padstow used to be connected by railway to Bodmin via Wadebridge. Today the route of this railway has been turned into a very popular cycleway - The Camel Trail. Cycles of all size and description can be hired at Padstow and at the Wadebridge end of the trail. The Saint's way long distance footpath runs from Padstow to Fowey on the South Coast and is well signposted.
Prideaux Place an Elizabethan Mansion nearby is well worth a visit.
There is a large car park right on the edge of the harbour and from there the walk into the centre of the village is level.
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