CHAPTER XIV CRANTOCK, NEWQUAY, MAWGAN AFTER passing the extensive sands of Perran Bay the coast once more becomes rugged and broken. This is a very quiet and lonely part of the Cornish seaboard, but the popularity of Newquay is bringing it within the knowledge of an increasing number of visitors. The railway now touches the coast here at two points, Newquay and Perranporth, between which limits those who wish to explore the country-side must rely on other methods of transit. The shore is not only broken into rough headlands, but has a number of off-lying islets. Thus there are the Gull Rocks, off Penhale Point ; the Chick, off Kelsey Head ; and the Goose, off East Pentire. The sands in this district have wrought more havoc than the sea ; and if tradition may be trusted there was once a far more dense popu- lation. Barrows and traces of encampment are fairly common, but the sand is supposed to hold more secrets yet ; and if it surrendered the old lost church of St. Piran, why should it not some day unseal still other mysteries ? There is indeed an atmosphere of mystery and of myth brooding over this region, with its gaunt, turf-clad head- lands, its drifting sand-towans, its tracks and 271
