The plan
11.5 miles\714m ascent\average grade 8%\4:08 hours of moderate walking, ending with two nights at Seaview House. Tomorrow night, The Cherry Orchard at the Minack Theater!
Reality
Lovely stay at Cape Cornwall Golf Club last night. Spectacularly lovely room, and a resort that was very well run. Just as well, because they had a group of 32 people at dinner last night, staying overnight, and then at breakfast this morning, embarking on the Lands End to John O’Groats bike ride. We were entertained at breakfast watching them scurrying around finalizing their kit. (Alas, I failed to catch a single cyclist in this photo!)
Then we headed off into the misty morning, with a final look at the resort…
…the down down down…to what looked like nothing at all, though we could hear the waves below.
We passed a spectacular farm resplendent with presumably lavender and mustard?
Every day, with every photo, Dave suggests that he should be in the photo “for scale”. Yet I couldn’t persuade him to nip down to this beach so it was clear that each of those white “pebbles” was actually enormous. Oh well!
On the other hand, here he is, providing scale brilliantly.
Occasionally I get to be the ruler…
Then we descended to Sennen Cove, via the best no trespassing sign ever displayed.
On the way down to the beach, there were carpets of this beautiful succulent
Beautiful beach, one of several to come today.
We stopped for coffee & tea in Sennen before climbing up the next bluff for the first clear view of Land’s End, which obviously required a drone flight.
We walked the shortish distance to Dr Syntax Head (really!) which is apparently the true Western most point in England. (The name apparently comes from popular books from the early 1800s, and the character’s chin is about the same shape as the point of land.) Thought about ice cream but continue on.
I was ready for Land’s End to be a complete mess–the books are very rude about the commercialization. The only example I saw was tacky photo sales of the iconic sign showing distance to New York and John O’Groats. I think maybe walking in bypasses the worst of it all.
Then onward in ever brighter sunshine, past spectacular cliffs, natural arches, and stunning beaches.
And cattle…
The next cove had a beautiful sail boat anchored in it, and a tunnel down to the beach. All in such beautiful color water:
Continued on to Porthcurno, past the back of the Minack Theater, but couldn’t really get a good photo from outside the venue. We will be there tomorrow night so will take plenty then. In the meantime, the beach at Porthcurno may be the best yet. There were quite a few people in the water, and none were in wetsuits, so I wonder if the water is warmer now we’ve turned the corner?
Hauled ourselves up to Sea View House B&B…a bit more basic than last night’s lodgings, and a small room which isn’t ideal for a rest day. Luckily, my brother and his wife will be joining us tomorrow, so we’ll no doubt be busy.
This entry was posted in South West Coast Path Cornwall