Penleath Point and Fowey Harbour - geograph

Pont Pill ( kw, Pyll Por' Reun, meaning ''creek of seal cove''), joins the River Fowey at Penleath Point just below the memorial to

Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (; 21 November 186312 May 1944) was a British writer who published using the pseudonym Q. Although a prolific novelist, he is remembered mainly for the monumental publication '' The Oxford Book of English Verse ...

at the north-east corner of Fowey harbour. Pont Pill is a tidal river and is only navigable at

high water Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tabl ...

. Unspoiled by development, Pont Pill is popular with

bird watchers Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

, walkers, sailors and sport fishermen. The best way to see Pont Pill is by small boat at high water when it is possible to reach the bridge a mile-and-a-half upriver at Pont (Old kw, Pont Pyll, meaning ''bridge of the creek'') the end of the navigable water. Walkers can see Pont Pill from hills that surround the river by following a section of the

South West Coast Path The South West Coast Path is England's longest waymarked long-distance footpath and a National Trail. It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. Because it rises ...

between Bodinnick and Fowey.

Literary associations

Pont Pill is thought by many local people to be part of the inspiration for Mole, Ratty, Toad and Badger's adventures in '' The Wind in the Willows'' because author

Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame ( ; 8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) was a British writer born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is most famous for '' The Wind in the Willows'' (1908), a classic of children's literature, as well as '' The Reluctant Dragon''. Both books ...

holidayed in nearby Lerryn. Grahame's time spent near the river may have inspired the bedtime stories he told to his son, and later developed into the famous children's book. Leo Walmsley wrote several novels while living in a hut by the creek. It is the setting for his autobiographical novel ''Love in the Sun''.

References

Rivers of Cornwall {{England-river-stub