66 Zennor to St Ives

 
Looking west towards Gurnard's Head

 One of the features of this section of the coast path is that there are no settlements at all on the coast, so you have to start from somewhere a bit inland. Today we are starting from the hamlet of Zennor, which does boast an excellent pub and a handsome church.

We walk less than a half mile to reach the coast and enjoy fine views to the west past Pendour and Veor coves towards Gurnard's Head.

Ahead lies Zennor Head, with fine rock formations behind the carpet of heather and broom.

The view west from the Head is quite inspiring. Pendeen Watch is just visible on the horizon, to the left of Gurnard's Head.

 Once you turn the Head, the view forward is of inaccessible sandy beaches. The terrain becomes increasingly rocky and laborious. There was however a sustained stream of people coming towards us, making this one of the busiest sections of path since Looe to Polperro, almost exactly a year ago.

 The next section is a bit easier walking as we pass inland of Carn Naun Point, Pen Enys Point and Hor Point.

As we descend towards the near sea level Clodgy Point there is a wonderful view of St Ives, with Porthmeor Beach prominent and The Island to the left. St Ives Bay can be made out in the background.

Once we reach St Ives, we start with a delightful lunch at the Porthmeor Beach Cafe and then visit the Tate. I am not really a fan of abstract art and I must confess that I found the collection rather a disappointment: it is hard to understand why some of these daubs are superior to others. The building is quite impressive though, with its dramatic peristyle entrance.

We walk around the Island and pass Porthgwidden Beach.

Then we head down to the harbour. Reaching the West Pier we are entertained by some young people unaccountably jumping into the sea.  There is a nice view across the harbour towards Smeaton's Pier.

Smeaton's Pier was built between 1667 and 1670, and was lengthened, and the new lighthouse added, in the 1890s. John Smeaton, the first man to call himself an engineer, was also the designer of the Eddystone Lighthouse which we encountered rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe.

We head inland a little to see the church of St Ia, consecrated in 1434. Its fine tower is a local landmark.

 Soon afterwards we reached the fine sandy Porthminster beach before finishing our walk at the railway station. 

There was a great view back over the harbour in the evening sunshine.

Conditions: warm and sunny.

Distance: 6 miles (distance now covered 397.2 miles).

Map: Explorer 102 (Land's End).

Grading: Severe.

Rating: four and a half stars.

65 Trevean Cliff to Zennor

Trevean Cliff

We resumed the Coast Path at Trevean Cliff and headed west across a wild and rocky hillside, soon encountering some wild ponies on the path

Bosigran Cliff was especially savage-looking. In the distant background Pendeen Watch remained visible.

A little further on, we were walking along a level cliff-top path when glancing down we saw half a dozen climbers on their way up a nicely angled cliff down at sea level.

Shortly after this we descended to the isolated and very pretty Porthmeor Cove. At the back of the beach a large single slab of stone has been used to bridge the small stream stream that flows into the sea here.

The next headland had another spectacular rock formation, vaguely suggestive of an enormous camel. I was disappointed not to find Camel Rock marked on the map.

Now we had reached the best-known feature of this section of coast, Gurnard's Head. The resemblance to the head of a gurnard is perhaps not completely obvious in this photo, which does however convey how stark and inhospitable it is.

Passing behind the head, we came to the wonderful sandy beach of Treen Cove, with what seemed to be ruined chapel on the hillside behind it. We were surprised to see a private house sitting just above the beach, an outpost of the hamlet of Treen just inland.

 On the other side, the view back towards Gurnard's Head was spectacular, and perhaps the resemblance was clearer too.

 Having cleared one more headland, we had a great view of Zennor Head, with the twin sandy beaches of Veor Cove and Pendour Cove before it.

It still took some while to reach Zennor as the path snaked inland and then right down towards sea level behind Pendour Cove, necessitating an arduous climb before reaching the path inland to Zennor. Here we had an excellent lunch in the very good Tinners Arms pub.

Conditions: warm and sunny

Distance: 5.4 miles (distance now covered 391.2 miles.

Map: Explorer 102 (Land's End).

Grading: Severe. Very rocky with lots of climbs and descents.

Rating: four stars.

64 Cape Cornwall to Trevean Cliff

We set out inland from Cape Cornwall up the right side of the Kenidjak valley. There was soon a wonderful view back towards Cape Cornwall.

The view up the valley reveals its industrial past. There was once a whole series of tin mines with water and steam power used to drive processes for cleaning and purifying the ore.

A second view down the valley from higher up the valley offers a further dramatic view towards Cape Cornwall.

We headed along the cliff top past the insignificant remains of Kenidjak Casle towards the even more industrialised area of Botallack. The engine houses at the bottom of the cliff are especially dramatic. The mine of course extended out under the sea.

 

The path continued across heathland to reach Levant Mine, now owned by the National Trust. A series of three chimneys made an impressive sight. I was, perhaps rather fancifully, put in mind of photos I have seen of the Greek temples in Agrigento, Sicily.

We descended through a large area of industrial archaeology, passing also the modern Geevor tin mine on the right, to come in sight of the lighthouse at Pendeen Watch.

As we approached, I was thrilled to make two further sightings of the immigrant Clouded Yellow (we saw some yesterday as well). After a pleasant break for lunch on a bench near the lighthouse, we headed on along the north coast. We were delighted to spot a couple of seals just near the shoreline as we looked down towards the sea.

The view ahead towards Gurnard's Head was delightful.

The immediate target was the perfect Portheras Cove, the tip of whose sandy beach can just be seen on the right above.

It was a steep climb up from there but the next section was an easy stroll across heathland towards our endpoint. The indented coast continued to be dominated by Gurnard's Head. 

Soon after this we found the footpath up to where we had left the car.

Conditions: warm and sunny.

Distance: 6.5 miles (distance now covered 385.8 miles).

Map: Explorer 102 (Land's End).

Grading: Moderate.

Rating: four stars.

63 Sennen Cove to Cape Cornwall

After yesterday's most enjoyable interlude in Topsham, we resume the Coast Path at Sennen, looking along the fine expanse of golden sand.

We climb away from the back of the beach and soon have a view along the coast to today's destination - Cape Cornwall.

The end of Whitesand Bay, Aire Point, is notably rocky as we pass beneath it.

Round the corner we come on a new landscape of rocky, sloping cliffs covered in broom and two types of heather. I am thrilled to have three separate sightings of the elusive Clouded Yellow, a non-native butterfly which is however a fairly frequent migrant to southern England.

The next section is similar, but for this beach of round white stones.

Turning the headland of Maen Dower we get a surprise. There is a sudden mass of sandstone: Gribbin Point. 

Beyond this, the path zig zags down towards sea level and then arrives at Nanven. A car park means that there are suddenly more people about, sunning themselves on rocks. We are forced inland along the Cot Valley. Looking back, there is a fine view out to sea where the rocks known as The Brisons fill the V of the cliffs. 

After heading inland, we climb to the top of the cliff and head back toward the sea. A series of former mine shafts have an air of medieval fortifications.

After another half mile we are at last at Cape Cornwall, apparently the only cape in England. The apparent tower is in fact an old mine chimney. The Brisons are again offshore.

What then is a Cape? A bit of Googling produces definitions along the lines of a piece of land projecting into the sea, with the origin being the Latin word for a head. The Wikipedia entry for Cape Cornwall says that a  cape is the point of land where two bodies of water meet, which seems a bit more specific.

So what about Cape Cornwall? According to the Cornwall Calling website, the two bodies of water are the English Channel and St Georges Channel. However, St George's Channel is generally understood to run between Ireland and Wales, connecting the Celtic and Irish Seas. I am going to go for the English Channel and the Atlantic.

Interestingly, Wikipedia adds that until the first Ordnance Survey, 200 years ago, it was thought that Cape Cornwall was the most westerly point in Cornwall.

Conditions: warm and sunny.

Distance: 5 miles (distance now covered 379.3 miles.

Map: Explorer 102 (Land's End).

Grading: Moderate.

Rating: four stars.

62 Porthcurno to Sennen Cove

Minack Theatre

Continuing along the coast from Minack, where we were lucky enough to enjoy a little of a rehearsal for a forthcoming performance of Puccini's Tosca, we soon approached the pretty, sandy beach of Porth Chapel, with St Levan's Well above it.

We followed the path along the cliff-top to descend to the tiny hamlet of Porthgwarra. It was only as we were climbing up the other side that we realised that it too had a pretty, sandy beach, with interesting caves at the back. Fun for the kids!

We were now on a sort of high heathland plateau whose plainness was enlivened by two mysterious structures. The OS map identifies them as "landmarks", which does remind you of the original meaning of that word. 

Turning Gwennap Head with its Coast Watch station, we had our first view of the white buildings which identify Lands End. It was clear that two or three miles of rocky terrain lie in prospect.

The first main bay had such massive rock erosion that we briefly wondered whether it was the remains of some wartime engineering work - submarine pens perhaps.There was a disturbing amount of scum floating on the surface.

The next bay, Mill Bay or Nanjival, had more of the same and required a typical Coast Path descent and immediate ascent to negotiate. There was a strong smell of seaweed.

As we started the ascent a glance back revealed a fascinating fissure in the cliff face. 

This was followed by a rather precarious cliff-side section. After Carn Boel the terrain became a bit flatter and out to sea some marvelous rock formations could be seen. The rock arch is called Enys Dodman and the rocky outcrop beyond it is the dramatically named Armed Knight. The Longships with their lighthouse are further out. 

Reaching Lands End was even more of an anti-climax than i had expected. After an animal farm the white buildings seen from afar are revealed as the Lands End hotel (with sea views!) and next to it this horrific structure. 

It looks like a shopping mall I quipped. No, wrong, it is a shopping village. We gave it a wide birth and continued on towards Sennen. Here is the next section of coast, not so very different from what has gone before.

And here is the wonderful Whitesands Beach at Sennen Cove, the end of this expedition to the coast, which does mark a change.

Conditions: warm, initially sunny, but clouding over later.

Distance: 6.4 miles (distance now covered 374.3 miles.

Map: Explorer 102 (Land's End).

Grading: Moderate.

Rating: four stars.