Penzance to Porthleven, 23 km, 584 m climbing

‘Walk as if you are kissing the earth with your feet’

 We enjoyed our day on St Michael’s Mount but this morning we were itching to get going again. Our accommodation was at the eastern entrance to Penzance in an upmarket tree lined street full of very elegant three and four storey Victorian houses. Almost every house was now some form of accommodation. This morning we had to walk right through Penzance and out the other side to Marazion. 15 minutes in a bus yesterday, nearly two hours walking today. The walk was along Mounts Bay on a shared cycle/walk path on the water’s edge and separated from the town and traffic by a railway line. It was hot and frankly the worst part of the day.

From Penzance to Marazion, and long past, the view is dominated by St Michael’s Mount. Only when we turned the corner at Cudden Point after 16 km did it disappear from view.  This section was of low cliffs and small fields of market gardens. After Cudden Point the landscape became craggy headlands, long sandy beaches and inaccessible coves. The biggest of the beaches, and the one we walked the length of to avoid the sand dunes, is Praa Sands – pronounced ‘Pray’ by the locals.

The last 5 km of the day was through another area of tin and copper mining with picturesque cliff-top engine houses. Some of the ruins are right on the cliff edge and shafts were up to 140 metres deep and extended far out under the sea. From the mines to Portleven we often had to make detours on temporary paths as the cliffs are subsiding and the original coast path has been fenced off.

Tonight we are at The Harbour Inn which is right on the quay at Porthleven and from our window we look over the boats in the harbour. Porthleven Harbour was built using prisoners from the Napoleonic wars for manpower. It used to house a fishing fleet which harvested the huge shoals of pilchards and mackerel out in the bay. The few fishing boats that remain today work the local reefs for crab and lobster in the summer months. This part of the coast is subject to ferocious storms and waves have been known to crash right over the harbour wall to wreck the boats sheltering inside. Today the water is like a mirror.