Walking the Coast Path - Lands End to St Ives

It's the New Year, and with things a little quiet around here, I've set myself a challenge - to walk the Cornish Coast. It turns out that it's also on my friend's bucket list too, so with a partner in crime (Jo), we leave a car at each end and head off along the coast.

Here, is a diary of the first section of challenge, Lands End to St Ives. We hope you enjoy the notes, and if you're also treading the coastal path, I hope you find some of this useful. You can also keep up to date with photos and videos on our Facebook page - @Demelza Cottage Smallholding and Holiday Let.

Lands End to Cape Cornwall

We parked at the Lands End Visitor Centre, and as Cornwall residents, we picked up a free parking pass which was quite handy. Jo left her beautiful camper at Cape Cornwall so we could drive back later, and with a National Trust membership, we could park there for free too.

Lands End was mostly closed, but there were several tradespeople fixing up damage after Storm Goretti. It had hit the region pretty hard, with many roofs missing tiles and large trees down. After a quick photo at our starting point, we headed off on our adventure. This is a stunning stretch of coastline, very rugged and with far-reaching views to our destination, Cape Cornwall.

It didn't take long to reach Sennen and the path took us down to the harbour via some steep steps. Here, there was a lot of damage to buildings from the storm, one property had lost nearly its whole roof. We had lunch on the stunning beach at Sennen, and then headed uphill via some steps by the beach car park. This part was quite steep, and we ended up getting a bit lost, heading up to the road behind a small development of homes, where we should have veered off a level further down. In the absence of a map (Jo had left it in her car), we followed the road until it picked up another path which took us across a stream and a bog with stepping stones to help us navigate the path.

At a farmhouse we asked for directions back to the path and picked it up about two miles from Cape Cornwall. The detour cost us a few extra miles, so by the time we were close to Cape Cornwall the light was fading. We did the last stretch with a torch for some extra visibility and arrived at the car park, just as it started to rain. We were looking forward to a cup of tea before heading back to pick up my car. Instead, Jo announced that she had left her keys in the car!! After considering who in our address book lived nearby, we were fortunate to come across the last person in the car park (other than us). The poor chap was confronted by two weary middle-aged ladies, and he took pity on us giving us a lift back to Lands End. I hope he got home safely, as his car was pretty much running on empty and the number of fuel stations were few and far between. Our thanks go to Jacob, a bit of a hipster, who was our knight in shining armour. This felt like quite a challenging day, I think because we walked a few extra miles than expected. We were quite tired, but in need of a pub visit after the day's adventure. About 7 miles and took us 4.5 hours with lunch. 

    

Cape Cornwall to Pendeen Lighthouse

With all keys accounted for and the map packed, we felt a little more organised for the next leg of our journey, although I did forget my hiking stick. We headed up to Cape Cornwall with a brief stop to admire the view. All along this stretch of coastline are the remnants of Cornwall's mining heritage, with evidence of Cornwall's mining heyday - chimneys, engine houses, and industrial buildings can be discovered at Levant, Botallack and Geevor. There had been a lot of rain, after another storm, Chandra, so we saw waterfalls in full flow. It also meant some areas had flooded and we had to wade through several areas of the path - all part of the adventure, but it did slow us down a little. It was a windy day, but fortunately dry, and the waves were awesome. Great, rolling waves, that crashed onto the rugged coastline, billowing spray up the cliffs as a stark reminder of the power of the Atlantic and the numerous ships that have met their peril in this area. 

The walk was only 4 miles, but there were a few climbs and descents on this stretch. It took us about 3 hours, with a short stop for lunch, and we got back to the carpark just as it started to rain. Free parking at Pendeen lighthouse, but only a few spaces.

Pendeen Lighthouse to Porthmeor Cove

We parked for free at Pendeen Lighthouse and then took the path following the back of the lighthouse.  This path then veered uphill with fantastic views towards our destination. This stretch of coastline is characterised by its granite landscape, imposing cliffs of granite, tall outcrops, and boulders along the route. After record levels of rain in Cornwall, the path, especially around Morvah was very wet and boggy, and the way was made up of large cobbles, so the terrain was hard-going on the feet and ankles. I was very grateful for my decent walking boots and hiking stick. There were some pretty steep climbs too, scrambling up and down rocks, picking our way through the path. The views, though, were amazing. Rough, rugged, remote, and somewhat spiritual, not dissimilar to Bodmin Moor. We saw seals at Portheras Cove and soon after stopped for lunch with a stunning aspect. Looking out to the sea, there was a large outcrop of granite which looked like a sleeping giant, face turned up to the sky. It was the type of place where legends are made, and where ships can quite easily find themselves in trouble. From Porthmear Cove, after a brief stop to watch guillemots diving for their afternoon tea, we headed inland to our vehicle, which we parked just off B3306 near a cattle grid.