Log No 266. Fri 7th Mar 2014 - Land's End to Penzance, 17 miles (4059 miles walked)

The first 2 buses out to Land's End were 06.30 & 08.20 and it was a 50 minute trip. I decided I would take the first bus which meant getting up at 05.00.

There was just one other passenger and myself on the bus, with only me going all the way to Land's End.

There was no change in the weather, grey and damp, but the bus driver said that if the mist lifts it should be a good day. He also said the walk to Penzance was a good one and he gave me a donation.


With no guarantee of good weather I had full waterproofs on when I left at 07.20.

The path followed the edge of the cliffs and the views were just as, if not more, spectacular as the north section.

I was heading southeast and at Gwennap Head turned east, with this going to be the general direction now for 800 or so miles then all this poor weather from the west should be behind me.

After rounding the corner I came to Porthgwarra, a small group of houses in a dramatic bay.

You can't tell from the photo, and I didn't realise until I got down there, but the cliff with the 2 caves is actually a narrow headland with a couple of houses behind it. The caves are open right the way through providing spectacular entrances to the beach.

The weather was lifting and with the blue skies coming my way I de-clothed to t-shirt and shorts.

Continuing round a bit further I came to Minack Theatre in Porthcurno, this is an open-air theatre built in the side of the cliff and was the work of one woman, Rowena Cade.

The descent to the beach was via steep steps in the cliff, it had taken just over 2 hours to get here.

A half hour along the cliffs then it was down to Penberth which has a big winch at the top of the slip.

Back on top of the cliffs I had a longer than usual break just enjoying the moment, some of the fields behind me were all yellow, crops of daffodils.

Another half hour and I came down into St Loy's Cove, the path coming through a small woodland with a couple of houses either side of the stream. There was quite a splash of colour with a variety of daffodils and shrubs with pink & red flowers.

The path came onto the shore for a short while at the front of one of the houses before going back into the trees.

A butterfly added more colour to the day.

It was back on the clifftop then through a small nature reserve before becoming a rocky path again down into Lamorna Cove and back up the other side.

The cliffs gave way to slopes and dropped down into the village of Mousehole.

From Mousehole it was on the road into Newlyn and round into Penzance, getting back to the camper at 15.00.

Surprisingly, until I got to the car park at Lamorna Cove, I had only met 2 walkers and neither had a dog!

The bus driver had been right with the weather and how good the walk was, it really did seem to have a bit of everything.

A good 17 miles.