A very grey looking Jamaica Inn by Steve Fareham, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Jamaica Inn - Bolventor

A traveller’s rest has existed in this foreboding spot since 1412, the current inn dating back to 1750, where after it developed its reputation as a base for smugglers, highwaymen and general “rouges of the highroad”.

This theme was developed into the novel by Daphne du Maurier who happened across here after being lost on horseback in deep fog somewhere close to the route that brought you here.

Whilst disappointing by day due to it being a popular stop with visitors to its smuggling museum, at night with the lack of anything else around the inn, the place regains its solitary and sultry atmosphere.

Rest weary legs by smoky fires in hidden corners of the bars with a few other souls still seeking some respite from the elements and the moor.

The inn's name was said to be a reference to its considerable trade in rum, but whatever the origin, weary and desperate travellers using the high route between Launceston and Bodmin have sought sanctuary here for centuries, having failed, like you, to cross the full expanse of wild and treacherous moor before nightfall.

Sunsets and sunrises are fantastic up here, but you may not sleep completely undisturbed in between. A favourite of the Most Haunted TV series, apparitions said to have been seen here include a malicious highwayman, an anguished young mother and her baby, and the ghost of a young smuggler said to have been murdered and who sits on the wall in the courtyard looking angrily back at the inn.

For those surviving the night you can record your efforts so far by signing the Smugglers Way Logbook at reception.