Tintagel has been selling King Arthur for a long time. The twelfth-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth first placed Arthur's conception here, in his History of the Kings of Britain, and the legend grew from there, helped by a Victorian love of chivalry and a ruined castle on a dramatic headland. Archaeologists have since found that the site was an important trading post in the fifth and sixth centuries, when imported Mediterranean pottery and glass came in by sea, so something notable did happen here, but whether it involved a king named Arthur is another matter. Cornwall, characteristically, has chosen to believe.
The castle ruins, run by English Heritage, stand on a rocky island joined to the mainland by a narrow neck, and in 2019 a new footbridge, with a gap in the middle that gives the impression of a narrow slot between two cliffs, replaced the old stone steps. The site is dramatic: stone walls clinging to the edge of a cliff, a sea cave below known as Merlin's Cave, and the Atlantic crashing in. Up in the village, the Old Post Office, a fourteenth-century manor house with a slate roof that sags with age, is cared for by the National Trust, and the street is lined with shops selling swords, crystals and mead, in a cheerfully kitsch way.
Riding here means the A39, known as the Atlantic Highway, which runs along the north Cornish coast. It is more of a cruise than a thrill. The road is generally good, with long straights and gentle bends over open moorland, but it can be slow, with caravans, tractors and holiday traffic in summer. The better sport is on the lanes, which are narrow, hedged and winding, with blind corners and a good deal of mud and gravel, so approach with caution. The weather here is Atlantic: wind, mist and sudden rain can arrive at any time of year, but a clear evening on the cliffs is one of the glories of Cornwall.
Nearby, the slate quarry at Delabole has been worked for six hundred years and is among the largest in England, and next to it stands one of Britain's first onshore wind farms, from 1991. The coast is a protected landscape, with sea cliffs, wild flowers and seabirds such as fulmars, kittiwakes and choughs, which are Cornwall's emblem.
Tintagel village has pubs, tearooms and pasty shops, a few small hotels, and a car park near the castle. For fuel, Wadebridge, about seventeen kilometres to the south, is the best option, though there is a small garage at Camelford, near the main road, so plan your fill-up. A hot pasty eaten on the cliffs, preferably out of the wind, is the traditional pleasure.