32. Leg 8  - SW Coastal Path 32: Lamorna to Penzance

29 August 2019

Having packed up the tent we headed to Penzance where we parked and had a cuppa before taking the bus to Lamorna. This was a shorter walk as we had the long drive home and included a nostalgic visit to Mousehole.

1. The route

2. Julian doing a recky of the slipway for future boat trips!

3. Lamorna, described as sub-tropical!

4. Lamorna from Kemyel Cliff

5. Zawn Organ

6. Mousehole. Mousehole is a traditional fishing village described by Dylan Thomas as the prettiest village in England. Mousehole is actually thought to be Llareggub in his play Under Milk Wood. Many artists come here striving to capture the natural beauty of the area in their work and there are some galleries worth exploring. Often battered by winter storms, the villagers of Mousehole were once unable to put out their fishing boats due to the terrific gales. The villagers were close to starving when one man called Tom Bawcock braved the storm and brought back a massive haul of seven different types of fish. His heroic acts are celebrated every 23rd December when all of Mousehole gather to eat ‘Starry Gazy Pie’ (a fish pie with assorted fish heads poking out through the crust).

The house where 'The Mousehole Cat' was written with 'the cat' in the window!

7. Newlyn - the third largest fishing harbour in Britain and has the house with the smallest window in the UK!

8. Wherrytown Beach - a spot of swimming and a view to The Lizard, our next trip!

 9. End of holiday Cream Tea!

 31. Leg 8   - SW Coastal Path 31: Lamorna to Land's End

28 August 2019

Our first walk on the South Coast! A moderate walk with some steeper sections including the steps leading up to the Minack Theatre. We parked at Land's End and took the bus to Lamorna. A walk of about a mile took us down to the cove and the start of the walk.

1. The route

2. The hamlet of Lamorna: still popular with craftsmen, potters and writers, including John le Carré and Derek Tangye, it was a favoured spot of some Post-Impressionist artists who came to stay here in the early part of the twentieth century. These included Lamorna Birch, Laura Knight, Alfred Munnings and Augustus John.

3. The celtic cross, engraved DWW 1873, just outside Lamorna marks the spot where on 13th March 1873 David Wordsworth Watson died at Lamorna Cove. He fell to his death from the cliffs, known locally as Carn Mellyn, where the cross now stands. The local population were so moved by the tragedy that they erected the simple cross as a memorial to him.

4. View to Tater Du lighthouse.

5. Rosemodress Cliff

6. Tater Du lighthouse

7. Tregiffian

8. The blackberries on the south coast were notable bigger and sweeter than on the west!

9. Boscawan near Loy and Boscawan Point.

10. View west from Boscawen

11. Giant pebbles at St.Loy's Cove

12. The footbridge at Loy.

13. Trevedran Cliff

14. Coffin Rock at Merthen Point

15. Porthguarnon Cove

16. Penberth Cove where we saw a seal basking in the sun. Penberth Cove still has a small fishing fleet.

17. Cribba Head

18. Porthcurno with a view to the Minack Theatre (into the sun so you'll have to take my word for it!).

19. Porthcurno with a view to Logan Rock. The Logan Rock is an eighty ton granite boulder on the edge of the cliffs south of Treen. It used to easily rock back and forth if pressure was applied in the correct place, however a group of sailors under Lieutenant Goldsmith dislodged it in 1824 and it fell crashing to the sea below. After much outcry from the locals, the sailors were ordered to replace it at their own cost, which took nearly seven months. The bills for the work and drawings of the procedure can be seen in the Logan Rock Inn in Treen.

20. Porth Chapel

21. Carn Scathe

22. Porthgwarra

23. Hella Point

24. Lookout Station at Gwennap Head. National Coastguard Institution - Gwennap Head: a cliff castle once stood here and now it is the site of a National Coastwatch Station, undoubtedly due to the fact that this headland provides an extensive view of the rocky coast and busy shipping route. There are also navigation markers on the headland to warn ships of the rock pinnacle known as The Runnel Stone (or Rundle Stone) which is situated about a mile south of Gwennap Head and has been responsible for several wrecks. This area is popular with bird watchers and the granite cliffs make it ideal for climbers.

25. View to Land's End and Sennen

26. Carn Les Boel

37. Looking back to Carn Barra

38. Shadows

39. Carn Les Boel

40. Nanjizal

41. Carn Greeb

42. Nanjizal Beach also know as Mill Bay

43. Heather on Trevilley Cliff

44. Pordenack Point

45. Zawn Trevilley

46. View to Longships and Armed Knight Rocks at Land's End.

 30. Leg 8 - SW Coastal Path 30: Botallack to Land's End

27 August 2019  

After a very long stretch from St.Ives to Botallack the day before, this walk was significantly shorter and easier. We (Sally) managed a dip in the sea before completing the short distance to Land's End and a bus back to the campsite.

1. The route.

2. The ruined engine houses of Botallack, once used for extracting copper and tin, perch on the cliffs and the tunnels even extend under the sea.

3. Kendijack Castle and and Arsenic Works: this historic headland is the site of an Iron Age fortification and a Bronze Age cairn circle, as well as being another important mining site.

4. View to Cape Cornwall and The Brisons.

5. The path heads up the valley towards Kendijack Farm before returning to the coastline.

6. Cape Cornwall and the tiny Priest’s Cove: the cape is owned by the National Trust and was once thought to be the most westerly point in England. It is the only cape in England and is the point at which the Atlantic currents split and flow south up the English Channel or north into the Bristol Channel and Irish Sea.

7. Carn Gluze: a Bronze Age burial chamber with two concentric inner walls. It faces west towards the setting sun.

8. Ballowall Barrow

9. Sally bridge Porth Nanven.

10. Porth Nanven: a rocky beach of geological and scientific interest due to the wave-cut platforms in the cliff and extraordinary large, round stones. It is sometimes called the ‘dinosaur egg’ beach and is now legally protected by the National Trust.

11. View back to Cape Cornwall from Gribba Point.

12. View to Longships off Land's End.

13. Boscregan. View to Land's End.

14. Julian Boscregan view to The Brisons

15. Gazick

16. Well, we've had Sally's Bottom ... now here's Nanjulian!

17. Maen Dower

18. Gurland Cliff

19. Whitesand Bay from Escalls Cliff and Julian on Whitesand Bay.

20. Julian having probably one of the worst pasties we've had on the whole walk at Sennen Harbour. Also the worst cappuccino!!

21. Sally swimming in Sennen Harbour.

22. Sennen Harbour

​23. Mayon Cliff and view to Longships

24. Land's End!

 25. We caught the bus back to the campsite and had a little kip! Then via St. Just for fish and chips which we ate at Priest's Cove, Cape Cornwall watching the sun set over Land's End!

 29. Leg 8  - SW Coastal Path 29: St. Ives to Botallack via Pendeen

26 August 2019

We were staying at Trevaylor campsite in Botallack. The bus went from just outside the campsite to St.Ives and was a very scenic and entertaining route. The route was described as 'Challenging - Severe. This is one of the toughest sections of the entire Path, due to the rocky and sometimes boggy ground, and so progress is slower than you may anticipate - but the views make up for it.' ... it wasn't wrong and we had an extra 3 miles to get back to the campsite!

1. The route

2. The bus route to St.Ives!

3. Arriving at St.Ives

4. A fairly gentle walk out of St Ives to Clodgy Point soon becomes a strenuous journey of roller coaster climbs as the Coast Path plunges down towering cliffs into beautiful coves and back up again. Despite the nature of the walk, the section from St.Ives to Zennor was one of the busiest we've experienced so far on the path!

Clodgy Point.

5. Pen Enys Point

6. Trevega Cliff

7. We had a plentiful supply of blackberries the whole way around on this trip. The honeysuckle was also prolific.

8. Carn Naun point

9. Julian at Towednack with Carn Naun Point behind.

10. Bridge over stream leading to River Cove at Towednack.

11. A lot of walkers on our route were just doing St.Ives to Zennor. We'd have another 10 miles to go after Zennor!

12. Julian checking the map at Treveal with a view to The Carrocks

14. We were advised by the guide notes to look out for seals at Mussel Point but none were to be seen!

15. Tregerthen and the giant fingers of granite at Wicca Pool.

16. Lunch stop at Zennor Head with a view to Gurnard's Head.

17. View to Pendour Cove.

This cove is also known as Mermaid’s Cove and legend has it that if you sit above the cove at twilight on a summer’s evening you may hear the singing of a man who fell in love with a mermaid and followed her out to sea.

The field systems in this area date from the Bronze Age and are still farmed sensitively so as to enhance wildlife and protect historic features.

18. Cow Carnelloe Cliff

19. View to Gurnard’s Head. There are remains of an ancient settlement and cliff castle here.

20. Around from Carnelloe Long Rock is Porthglaze Cove followed by Boswednack Cliff.

21. Porthmeor Cove with statutory bridge picture.

22. Carn Moyle

23. Haldrine Cove

24. Morvah Mines.

The remains of Morvah Consols lie on Trevowhan Cliff just to the north of the village of Morvah in the far west of Cornwall. Not as well known as its near neighbours at Pendeen there is little information on the mine apart from the fact that it was a tin mine known to have been at work in the mid-nineteenth century.

25. Trevowhan Cliff near Morvah

26. Bosigran Cliff. Bosigran Castle: the site of an Iron Age cliff fort. This rocky area is very popular with climbers.

27. Sally at Rosemergy at Morvah

28. Portheras Cove: there are often seals spotted around this secluded, sandy cove. Although incredibly beautiful and fairly unpopulated, it is inadvisable to swim from this beach, or to walk on it barefoot, due to the possibility that there may still be metal fragments left from the dynamited wreck the Alacrity which ran aground in 1963.

29. Pendeen Lighthouse opened in 1900 to aid ships along what is said to be one of the most dangerous stretches of coast in Britain.

30. Boscaswell Cliff - getting pretty weary by now and starting to hallucinate about a beer!

30. View to Enys rock and Pendeen lighthouse from Old Cliff

31. View to Levant mine , which doubles up as Tressiders Rolling Mill in Poldark. It is part of Cornwall and West Devon Mining World Heritage Site. It's the only Cornish beam engine anywhere in the world that is still in steam on its original site. A group of volunteers known as the 'Greasy Gang' restored it after 60 years out of use.

32. The abandoned buildings at Botallack provide the perfect stand in for the Poldark family mines of Wheal Leisure (in reality Wheal Owles) and Grambler (Wheal Crowns).The buildings give a fascinating insight into Cornish mining history. There were over 100 engine houses in the St Just district during the 19th century and earlier. But in 1895 the entire mine at Botallack closed due to rapidly falling copper and tin prices.

 33. We finally made it! The Queen's Head at Botallack.