We have an app on our phones called Map my Walk. We have the limited free version which basically measures the distance walked, the time, the route taken and the elevation gain. There is a subscription version which does a lot more including workouts from your trainer, sharing with friends, the weather (temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction), analysis of your walking etc. It will measure the number of steps taken, stride length, cadence, foot strike angle etc. There are also versions called Map my Run and Map my Ride.

We want the app to accurately measure the distance we have walked each day. The distances in our Macs Adventure notes and the various guide books are woefully inconsistent. They also only give distance on the Coast Path not adding in the often considerable distance to your hotel, path diversions and us getting lost. We used the app on our four 20km walks in Wellington before we left home to check its accuracy and it is pretty good.

As we are about to start walking we activate the app and a female voice says:

Start workout.

At each kilometre she says for example:

Time, five hours forty three minutes twenty one seconds

Total distance, 18 point zero kilometres

Average pace, fifteen minutes seventeen seconds

Split pace, thirteen minutes nineteen seconds

Then silence until you have walked another kilometre.

In Wellington we found this annoying. We thought she was nagging us and called her Naggy Maggie and turned the sound off. But here we love to hear her and now she is Maggie our friend and walking companion. It is really motivating to hear each kilometre ticked off. Barbara keeps her phone in a pocket of her day pack and we can hear Maggie without having to look at the phone screen. Barbara is getting very good at predicting just when Maggie is going to pipe up.

Maggie’s voice is obviously AI generated and is a little bit mechanical I imagine her as an Asian lady with an American accent.

It is interesting to see how your pace varies during the day. In the morning on a good surface we don’t go faster than about 12 minutes per kilometre. In the afternoon on a long steep climb or descent with lots of steps or a slippery surface this can go out to 27 minutes a kilometre. It also makes a difference if you have a tail or head wind.

If we stop for coffee, lunch or to talk with someone for more than a few minutes then we have to remember to pause workout or else the pace becomes meaningless. And then we have to remember to restart workout to set her off again.

On three occasions just as we have arrived at hotel reception to check, in Maggie has piped up with Time, five hours etc. The person on reception has looked a bit startled until we turn Maggie off and explain who that strange voice is.

Wednesday 20 May 2026

Rest day number four Lizard

This was a restful day. A slow, late breakfast where we had a long talk with a lady from Switzerland who is touring around Cornwall/Devon in her car with her wee dog. She is doing day walks on the coast and next goes to St Ives then Padstow. She came over from Europe on the “chunnel”, the channel Tunnel. It takes 35 minutes from Coquelles in France to Folkstone in England and a train runs every 15 minutes, 365 days a year. You do not directly drive your car through the tunnel you drive onto a specialised train and sit in your car for the length of the crossing. We told her we were in Switzerland in 1978, before she was born, and we went on the train from Jungfrau  through the Eiger Mountain to Europe’s highest railway station. She said she lives very close to the Jungfraubahn (the railway).

After doing our “rest day laundry” we retraced our steps from yesterday afternoon to the Coast Path and walked the last little section to Lizard Point, the southern most point in mainland Britain. This is very low key compared to Land’s End. Some information boards, UK’s most southern cafe, a couple of small souvenir shops, the old lifeguard station and a slipway down to the sea, and that’s about it. Some distance away the Lizard Lighthouse, a car park and toilets. The Lizard Village is about a 15 minute walk inland from the point.

We had lunch in the very nice Coast Coffee Bar and Bistro in the heart of Lizard. CFC (Coast fried Chicken) crumbed chicken, salad and fries. Cod burger with fries. It was hard to find anywhere that did not just do seafood dishes which seems to be the thing in Lizard.

There is no grocery store in Lizard, you have to go to Helston 18 kilometres away, for us a day’s walk each way. By chance we went into a hidden away Farm Kitchen and Cafe and they stocked enough food for us to get fruit, yoghurt, baguette , biscuits etc for tomorrow.

Later in the afternoon I went out to find the St Wynwallow’s Church, another one of those wonderful old village parish churches I love to poke my nose into. This one had a few interesting things to offer. As is usual it is surrounded by a cemetery of ancient gravestones. Like a growing number of places the grass is just left to grow. The church has the grass mown three times a year and at present is supporting “no Mow in May”. This is a conservation campaign to encourage gardeners to put away their mowers and let the grass grow wild, allowing early spring flowers like daisies, dandelions and clover to bloom creating a vital nectar and pollen source and shelter for early season pollinators like bees and butterflies. Next month the campaign is “Let it bloom in June”.

St Wynwallows had a nice warm inviting feeling to it helped by the light coloured stone, dark timber, bright red carpet and two very fine stained glass windows. Capping it all off were brightly coloured tapestry kneelers on the pews for all the congregation. Each one was an individual design, some simple designs, others more complex, some commemorating events or loved ones. No apparent overall theme to it, a lot of dedicated people just doing their own creative thing.

On the floor in the church is a large bell, among the oldest pre-reformation bells in Cornwall and over 600 years old. It formed part of a chime of three bells used up until 1937. The two others are still in use as part of a peel of six bells that have been used since 1938. One of the original bells still in use is stamped with the Royal Arms as used from 1189 to 1340. The bells still ring out at least three times a month and they are looking for new bell ringers –  not campanologists, they study the art and science of bell ringing.

So we are rested up and ready to hit the path again. Seven days walking until our next rest day in Looe.

Progress Report No. 2

We have now reached Lizard and have walked 524.75 kilometres and climbed 17,007m. This is the equivalent of walking from our apartment in Wellington to Te Rapa on the northern outskirts of Hamilton and climbing Mt Everest nearly twice.

The Lizard is another milestone as it is the southern most point in mainland Britain. From Land’s End we have been going east but now we will also be going slightly north.

There is now a background weariness even when we have a good night’s sleep and a good rest. But we are still enthusiastic about keeping going.

Tuesday 19 May 2026

Day 26 of walking
Porthleven to The Lizard
Distance: 23.85kms
Total distance: 524.75kms
Climbing: 735m
Total climb: 17,007m

Today was a very windy day and by the time we reached The Lizard we were feeling quite battered. At times the wind gusts were up to 60km/hr. Leaving Porthleven there were large swells coming in and smashing against the quay. Going out past the clock tower we had to run the gauntlet of waves crashing over the wall onto the road. This part of the coast is prone to huge seas and there are fantastic videos on line of waves crashing over the clock tower.

A short distance up the coast is Loe Bar. This is a shingle bar that separates a fresh water lake, known as the Loe, from the sea. It is Cornwall’s largest freshwater lake and was formed about 800 years ago when the River Cober was dammed by the shingle bar. We could walk across the bar today but in 2018 we had to walk a diversion as the path was closed. Large earthmoving machinery were digging a trench across the bar to lower the level of the lake. The diversion was 8km around the edge of the lake. A very nice walk in woodland but you don’t want to add 8km to an already demanding day.

Next point of interest was the church of St Winwaloe, also known as The Church of the Storms. St Winwaloe was an abbot who came from Brittany, France in the sixth century and founded the first sacred place on this site. There has been a church here since the 14^th century or earlier although storms have caused havoc and there have been many restorations by the community over the years. The church huddles behind the dunes at Gunwalloe and we huddled behind the church to shelter from the wind while we had our coffee break.

Just beyond Poldhu Cove is a monument to Guglielmo Marconi and his team who transmitted the very first message ever to cross the Atlantic by wireless. In 1901 a morse signal was sent from here and received in Newfoundland Canada. The signal consisted of a repetition of the Morse letter ‘s’ ie dot, dot, dot. The wireless station operated here from 1900 until 1933.

Yet another tiny fishing hamlet at Mullion Cove and a long stretch of very easy flat walking that took us inland away from the cliffs before Kynance Cove. The beach here is always in the list of top 10 beaches in Cornwall and probably England and the UK. It has several small white sand beaches among jagged rocky headlands, caves and stacks. Even on a windy day like today with huge seas on the coast, these beaches were calm. On a sunny day the water is a brilliant turquoise blue but sadly not on the overcast day today. The rocks are made of red and green serpentine stone. This cove is hugely popular in summer even though it is a steep 15 minute walk down from the car park. If you do a Google search of Kynance Cove you will see it at its best.

Between Kynance Cove and Lizard Point we turned off the Coast Path and walked into Lizard village where we are staying for the next two nights at The Caerthillian, a lovely blue and white painted house in the heart of the village. Lizard is not pretty, quaint or historical. It has a Bohemian feel to it with brightly painted houses and home-made sculptures on front lawns. Tomorrow we have a rest day here and will take the short walk down to Lizard Point and the lighthouse.

There aren’t many eating options in Lizard and we have flown half way round the world and walked 500 kilometres around the coast to eat Mexican at Chimichangas Tex Mex Street Food. We had loaded nachos with veggie bean chilli, nacho cheese, cheese, pico de gallo, jalapeno and sour cream. Also loaded burrito bowls with pulled pork and pineapple, rice, guacamole, pico de gallo, sweetcorn, nacho cheese, sour cream and homemade nachos. And it was damn good. Presa bueno.

Monday 18 May 2026

Day 25 of walking
Penzance to Porthleven
Distance: 18.81km
Total distance: 500.90km
Climbing: 584m
Total climb: 16,272m

Today we took a bus. From our hotel in Penzance, 4.5km to Marazion. Our purpose was to make the walk today an hour shorter. 12mm of rain was forecast from 3pm so we wanted to ensure we got to our destination Porthleven before then. The walk from Penzance to Marazion is dead flat on the top of a paved sea wall. The beach on your right and the Great Western Railway, Penzance to Piccadilly London, railway line on your left. It also goes through some commercial and industrial estates so not the most interesting of walks. We didn’t actually save an hour because we had to wait 15 minutes for the bus and then it took 15 minutes to get to Marazion, so a half hour saved but we did start fresh from Marazion.

We rationalised this by thinking in the last 24 days we have walked 482.1kms. The South West Coast Path Association have the distance as 439.9kms, so we have walked an additional 42.2kms. Spread over 24 days this is an extra 1.8km per day. This is due to diversions because of path closures, getting to and from our accommodation from the path, and us getting lost. We reckon we can give away some of our additional 42.2km walked by sometimes getting the bus.

When we went down to breakfast there was light drizzly rain in Penzance and it was pretty bleak. By the time we checked out the rain had stopped, but on the bus to Marazion it started again and it continued for about the first kilometre of walking. From then the weather improved all day with just the occasional spots of rain and we got to Porthleven dry at 2.30pm before the forecast rain. It has now been raining lightly since about 4pm.

We discovered a new hazard today. Sometimes the path is very narrow and on the right side is a cliff or hedge. On the left side is a 5 strand barbed wire fence with each strand having barbs at 100mm centres. Today in places it was often windy and sudden strong gusts would push you off balance. I had been saying to myself a mantra: don’t grab the fence, don’t grab the fence, don’t grab the fence. But then if the wind does make you trip, stumble or fall maybe a gashed hand is better than a sprained ankle or twisted knee. The hand may have to be sacrificed for the greater good of being able to continue to walk. Then there are the single wire fences that separate you from the cows in a paddock. Every now and then there is a little tag on the fence that says Beware Electric Fence.

Macs Adventure let us down today. We were booked into The Artist Loft in Porthleven. We knew this was Airbnb type self-contained accommodation and there would be no one to check us in and we would need to collect the key from a key safe. The address was in Fore St above Stargazy Gift Shop and Nosebag Café. We went up and down Fore St looking for these shops but couldn’t find them. Eventually we saw a high level sign for The Artist Loft but it was above Just Lily Gift Shop and the Twisted Currant Tearooms. The previous shop and café were long gone. Our instructions were to go to the rear of the building, up some stairs and there would be a wooden cupboard opposite the front door. Inside the cupboard would be a lock box and our access code to it was XXXX. We thought this was a bit odd as lock boxes usually have a numerical code. Inside the wooden cupboard was not one, but five lock boxes and each had a name: Tregonning, Saltcellar, Harbour View, Penrose and Loe Bar. We were now totally confused. Luckily a very obliging young man, Robin, turned up. He was a sort of property manager for the building and thought the information Macs had given us was non-sensical. He was able to phone the travel company who managed the letting of the accommodation. They had a record of our booking, room name and numerical code to get the key from the lock box. So that all turned out well thanks to Robin. Strangely our bags were in the room so the luggage transfer company knew what room we were in and how to get the key.

It was a fairly easy walk today starting by walking along the edge of Mount’s Bay dominated by the iconic sight of St Michael’s Mount. Due to the rain it was not at its magnificent best today. We spent a wonderful day out there in 2018 so did not have a visit included this time. Mount’s Bay was left behind and after low cliff walking Praa Sands (pronounced “pray” locally) was crossed partly on the beach and partly on a sealed road above the dunes. We walked through an area of old mine workings with several engine houses and chimneys. The Wheel Prosper Tin Mine and the Trewavas Copper Mine. The last section was the hardest of the day with climbing and descending on a rugged path and a strong wind.

We are in Porthleven, another lovely Cornish village by the sea. It has a harbour built by prisoners from the Napoleonic wars as manpower. It was once a busy pilchard fishing port but today its prosperity depends on tourism.

The Artist Loft does not serve breakfast so for the only time on this trip we have to fend for ourselves in the morning. None of the cafes and tearooms open early enough for us so we purchased some supplies at the local grocer and will eat in our room. Tonight we went out to the traditional old Harbour Inn for a meal. For those who want to know: steak, beef shin and tribute (beer) pie, gratin potato, buttered carrots, beans and broccoli, red wine gravy.

Sunday 17 May 2026

Day 24 of walking
Porthcurno to Penzance
Distance: 20.71km
Total distance: 482.09km
Climbing: 642m
Total climbing: 15,688m

Now that we have rounded Land’s End the climate and flora have changed. We are now walking in an easterly direction and not exposed to the weather coming across the Atlantic Ocean. It could be described as sub-tropical. There are still exposed rocky headlands to cross, small sandy coves below and areas of huge boulders but mostly we were walking through vegetation so lush it sometimes formed a tunnel, woodland of stunted oaks, and the wild flowers are back after having gone awol for at least a week.The first place of interest was the tiny fishing village of Penberth which is entirely free of tourists and it seems we are an intrusion on the fishermen living and working there. There is a now disused 19^th century capstan which was used to haul boats up onto the beach.

After climbing another headland it was a descent to the forested valley of St Loy. This would be the greenest, lushest valley we have seen so far. The path goes right to the beach and there is about 100 metres of walking over large stones. Off shore was a Coast Guard boat that seemed to come and check out a fishing boat. The fishing boat was back and forward across the bay with a flock of sea birds in tow. Next was the lighthouse of Tater-Du. This is a fairly new structure built in 1965 and has never been manned, it was automated from the start, and so there are no adjacent keepers accommodation or support buildings. Tater-Du is Cornish for ”black loaf”, after the rocks below.

After the lighthouse is the privately owned hamlet of Lamorna. There is a café serving ice creams, coffees, teas, cakes, pasties, toasties and soup. It is a popular place as a lot of day walkers come over the headlands from the nearby Mousehole. We each bought an apple pie with Cornish clotted cream, to go. At the top of the next headland we sat on the grass in the shelter of a boulder and that was our lunch. Earlier we had stopped for our “coffee from a flask” at a memorial to a tragedy in 1981 when the cargo ship Union Star and the lifeboat Solomon Browne were wrecked on the cliff below in hurricane force winds. All the crew on both ships perished, a total of 16 men. North Devon and Cornwall have always been dangerous waters for seamen. In the area around Land’s End alone there are 149 recorded wrecks.

Mousehole (pronounced “mowzell”) is exactly the romantic notion of what a Cornish fishing village should look like. The name possibly comes from the Cornish mouz hel, or Maiden’s Brook, or maybe because the entrance to the harbour is so narrow that getting through it is like trying to sail through a mouse hole. Whatever, it is perfectly picturesque with a high quay wall, sheltered harbour full of small boats, surrounding stone cottages, narrow winding streets, old inns and tiny shops. It was a former pilchard fishing village but now has an overwhelming influx of tourists.

Just along the road is the real working fishing village of Newlyn which refuses to turn itself into a nostalgia trip for the benefit of tourists. It is gritty and grimey and is the largest fishing port in England. When we were in Lisbon two years ago we learnt a lot about the earthquake of 1755 that destroyed most of the city. The earthquake caused a tsunami to strike the Cornish coast, 970km from the epicentre. In Newlyn the sea rose 3 metres in 10 minutes and ebbed at the same rate. More trivia: Newlyn was the last port of call in England (for water and supplies) for the Mayflower before setting off for America.

Tonight we are in Penzance at The Longboat Inn, another nice old pub and hotel. Walking into Penzance there was a shower of rain and as we didn’t want to go out again tonight, we went into an Aldi superstore and each bought a super processed factory meal. They each have over 60 ingredients, most of which you have never heard of, and a best by date in about 2 years. Barbara’s was a Raku Smoky Chicken Salad and mine was a Raku Chicken Shawarma Salad. You can see the ingredients list in the photo.

Last time we were in Penzance we had an extra day and went out to St Michael’s Mount in Mount Bay. This is a great place to visit. At high tide you go out or back in a little ferry, at low tide you can walk across a stone causeway. This time however we move on tomorrow, so no time to go out there again.

PS we haven’t seen any pirates in Penzance yet. Penzance must hate Gilbert and Sullivan.

Saturday 16 May 2026

Day 23 of walking

Sennen Cove to Porthcurno
Distance: 12.56km
Total distance: 461.38km
Climbing: 470m
Total climbing: 15,046m

A slow day today. Deliberately slow. We only had 12km to walk and our destination was “Strictly no check-in before 3.30pm”. So we had a late breakfast, and the service was slow, so we didn’t get away until after 9.30. This was good as there was a shower of rain at 8.30 and a group leaving then were all covered up in their jackets, leggings, ponchos, gloves and pack covers. When we left the rain had cleared. We meandered along and stopped a lot.

After a climb out of Sennen Cove passing a Coast Watch building, you arrive at Land’s End, the most westerly point of mainland England. This is a big milestone on the South West Coast Path. The actual point is on a typically rugged headland and marked by a flag and The “First and Last” House. This was built in the 1800s for Gracie Thomas who ran a small tea and souvenir shop. This is probably the most photographed house in Cornwall. A little further on is the also much photographed Land’s End signpost, with distance markers for New York and John O’Groats (in Scotland). For £10.99 we could have had Wellington, or anywhere else for that matter, slid into the sign.

The beauty of the coastline and the windswept heath is then destroyed for many by the horror that is the West Country Shopping Village. This is a large amusement park with arcades, kids’ rides, “experiences”, souvenir shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, a good visitor centre, toilets, coach and car park etc. This can get incredibly busy but it was still early when we skedaddled through, so not too many people about. Once you get past the Geeb Animal Farm, an 18^th century farm with pigs, goats, chicken, sheep, alpacas (not sure they were here in the 18^th century), the crowds disappear and it is just the walkers and the wild coast.

The cliffs are now full of caves and arches, granite headlands and massive rock outcrops with the occasional small cove with beautiful sea colours. Inland it is moor with low scrubby heather. This is an exposed area with almost no shelter in stormy weather. After passing the Coast Watch station at Gwennap Head we dropped down into the tiny hamlet of Portgwarra. There are only a handful of houses, a telephone box, a post box, toilets and a lovely little seasonal café. I think everyone walking the Coast Path takes a rest here for a coffee, cold drink, cake, ice cream or something. This was to be our main meal of the day so we had a very large traditional steak pastie each. Portgwarra also has a tiny beach and was once a busy fishing village. There is a tunnel in a rock outcrop through which boats were hauled to higher ground.

It was only a short walk then to the unique cliff face Minack Theatre. This is an extraordinary open-air theatre constructed above a gully with a rocky granite outcrop, perched above the Atlantic Ocean. It is the creation of Rowena Cade, who by hand, with two of her gardeners, moved endless granite boulders and earth to make terraces. The first performance was in 1932 in a much smaller theatre than it is today. The theatre continued to expand and improve until Rowena’s death in 1983. The theatre operates from May to September with children and adult, matinee and evening sessions. It operates rain or shine, bring your own cushion. We were there eight years ago and watched a rehearsal of Hamlet, although no one was in costume and scenes were repeated until they were right. It was £12 (NZ$30) to visit – not a performance. As we had spent a couple of hours there previously, we decided not to go into the theatre again. I will include a few photos from 8 years ago to show you what it is like. From the Minack Theatre you go down a very steep cliff face to Porthcurno and a short walk into the village. Besides its theatre and beautiful beach Porthcurno is famous for its historical role as a major hub for global submarine telegraph cables. In 1870 the first under ocean telegraph cable was landed here connecting the UK to India. Between WWI and WWII it was the largest international cable station in the world with 14 cables and received and transmitted up to two million words a day. There was also a college for training apprentices. The college is now the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum. We arrived at the Sea View B & B at 3.20 and the land lady was not so strict and let us in. Of course we are up in the attic again with a climb of 28 steps. Porthcurno only has a seasonal beach café so you can’t get an evening meal without walking a few kms inland to the nearest pub, hence our pastie earlier in the day. It will be basic rations of bread and cheese tonight.

The Minack Theatre 2018

Friday 15 May 2026

Day 22 of walking
Pendeen to Sennon Cove
Distance: 14.66
Total distance: 448.82
Climbing: 513m
Total climb: 14,456m

What a difference a day makes. A shorter day, only 15km, sunny, no rain, a cool wind but not nearly as strong, an easy path and a most interesting day. Breakfast this morning was an all antipodean affair –  us two kiwis, an aussie couple and an aussie guy walking on his own. We met up with the aussies yesterday and they stay and eat at the same places we do. They finish in Penzance so we will see them for a few days yet.

The first part of the day was all about Cornwall’s coastal mining heritage. From the hotel we walked through the remains of the Geevor Tin Mine. The mine closed in 1990 and is now a museum and café and has tours that go underground. The museum has a lot of the mining machinery preserved and explains the processes in extracting tin, copper, zinc and arsenic, and shows the life of the miners. They say “hard rocks breed hard men” but the miners who worked underground had a life expectancy of only 40 years. We were too early and didn’t want to wait for the museum to open so missed out on an underground tour which I think would have been so cool. The mine shafts are narrow, only wide enough for one person, twist and turn, and are unlined – just the bare rock. Very claustrophobic. The Geevor mine buildings are not very attractive being post-industrial and largely 20^th century.

A short distance further on are the remains of machine rooms, chimneys and pump houses of the Levant and Crown Mines. These are much older stone-built romantic structures. At the Levant Mine the cliff top engine house and steam-powered beam engine have been restored to their former glory. It operated from 1840 to 1940 lifting copper and tin ore to the surface and is now occasionally steamed up for the public. The Levant Mine was the scene of a tragic accident in 1919 when the lift collapsed killing 31 miners. The Crown Mine is the most romantic with two machine houses perched right on a cliff edge very close to the sea. More engine houses and chimneys dot the cliff tops for about four kilometres.

As you leave the heritage mining area the headland Cape Cornwall appears. It was once thought to be the most westerly point in mainland England but that distinction belongs to Land’s End. It is often referred to as the “connoisseur’s Land’s End. More on the character of Land’s End tomorrow. The Cape is cone shaped and at the highest point is a chimney left over from a mine. Shafts extended from here right out under the sea. A cape is defined as a headland where two oceans or channels meet: in this case the English Channel and St George’s Channel.

As you leave the cape, high on a cliff, is the Ballowall Barrow, a bronze age burial site. It is difficult to visualise the funerary monument because you are forbidden from climbing the stone walls and walking on it. The centre of the barrow was a mound surrounded by two concentric drystone walls. Within these were five small stone-lined chambers known as cysts, some with Bronze Age pottery. Two more pits forming a T shape may have been graves. We saw dozens of these burial sites in Ireland, just left undisturbed in the farm fields.

The last stretch to Sennen Cove was along the coast with curious large round stones, a scramble through rocky outcrops on headlands and finally some beach walking along Gwnver Beach. We arrived still feeling fresh and strong, unlike yesterday. Sennen Cove is a small beach-side community where fishing and tourism are the only source of employment. The winter weather is too wild for the boats to go out so from November onwards the quay is piled high with lobster pots and the fishermen spend their time maintaining their boats. Sennen Cove used to be the most important seine fishery (fishing just using one surrounding net) in Cornwall. In the 1900s as many as 12,000 fish could be caught in one catch.

We are staying in The Old Success Hotel. Originally a pair of granite cottages it became an ale house in 1671. The name was chosen to commemorate successful fishing catches, legal or otherwise. We ate in their restaurant tonight and for those still interested Barbara had Madras style curry: aromatic curry sauce, tomatoes, braised saffron basmati and wild rice, minted coconut yoghurt, roasted aubergine, courgette and chickpeas. I had Italian char-grilled chicken: grilled chicken breast, basil pesto, buffalo mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, olive tapenade, herb salad (a token gesture!) and skin-on fries. As we arrived at the hotel this afternoon for the first time we saw the luggage transfer van that magically collects our luggage in the morning and has it waiting for us at our destination. For the second time our room had a Nespresso coffee capsule machine, and the room had a fridge with two complementary cans of beer.

Thursday 14 May 2026

Day 21 of walking

St Ives to Pendeen
Distance: 23.55km
Total distance: 434.16km
Climbing: 1.045m
Total climb:14,063m

We were well pre-warned about today’s walk from St Ives to Pendeen. The American couple the other day who took 12 hours. The waitress at breakfast this morning. When asked how far we were walking and we said Pendeen, there was one of those long intakes of breath as she eyed us up and down closely. She wanted to know how long we thought it might take and had we seen the weather forecast and did we know there are  no villages or refreshments along the way etc. She had obviously seen people bite off more than they could chew. As we stepped out of the hotel we were bailed up by a cabbie touting for a fare. When we said no thanks we were walking he wanted to know where to. When we said Pendeen it was another long stare. He wanted to give us his card and if we wanted a ride from somewhere along the way, just give him a call. I think they both just wanted us to know what was ahead of us. I felt confident, Barbara not so much. We are as fit as we are ever going to be and were rested after a day and a half in St Ives.

This section is lonely and remote and is also tough going on rough and rocky terrain and in some places it is boggy. A lot of climbing but only in short, not very steep bursts. The most difficult thing about today was the weather. Leaving St Ives it was a strong cold wind coming in off the sea. This got stronger as the morning wore on and in some places we could barely stand up. With the wind came showers, some very heavy with large rain drops that felt more like hail. We were soon soaked right through and although our bodies stayed warm with the walking our faces and hands were frozen. Before leaving home we had thought of throwing in gloves but thought nah, we are going to an English summer! There were almost no places where the path was smooth or flat, it was endlessly up and down and climbing over or around boulders. When it wasn’t boulders it was bog. This section is renowned for being boggy although the worst bits had large stones you could step on jumping one to the next. The path has been 95% hard and dry this trip. Southern England had a wet winter, as everyone likes to tell us, but a dry spring so the Coast Path is in good condition. This section is always boggy no matter what the weather does.

This section was amazing, stark cliffs, rock pinnacles, tiny coves, exposed headlands, the roaring of the wind and crashing of a wild sea smashing into the cliffs. We couldn’t appreciate the scenery much because you had to concentrate 100% of the time on where to put your feet. There were no shelters to get out of the rain and I think we found the only two places where you could huddle down behind rock formations to get out of the wind. The first for a coffee break and the second for a quick lunch.

There were some highlights, a stone circle, wild ponies, ruins of mining buildings and at the end of the day The Pendeen Watch Lighthouse.

Early in the day we came across a stone circle, similar to the many we had seen in Ireland. Cornwall does have an ancient history. Mesolithic nomadic hunters and gatherers settled after the Ice Age. Neolithic man arrived about 3500BC and they had the skills to rear crops and raise flocks and the art of building ’quiots’ – stone chambers used for communal burials. In 2000BC the Beaker Folk arrived and many believe it was they who erected the stone circles and standing stones in southwest England. Despite the prevalence of ancient monuments and standing stones in the area the one we saw is a more recent addition. Fable has it that these stones were once 13 old farmers, and one beautiful 19 years old virgin from St Ives (it is said that she was extremely difficult to find!) They were all caught dancing an ancient harvest fertility rite Morris Dance, on Feast Sunday, by the local Magistrate, and were immediately turned into stone forever! They say this was about 1947.

On reaching the Pendeen Watch Lighthouse we turned inland and followed a quiet road for a kilometre or two into the little village of Pendeen. We are staying at yet another lovely little country pub, The North Inn. We are in a chalet out the back at ground level, ie for only the second time no stairs to climb. They serve the usual bar meals, steaks, burgers, 5 curries etc but also a range of their own pies: steak and mushroom, chicken ham and leek, fish (monkfish, salmon,smoked haddock), game (rabbit, pheasant, partridge, pigeon), leek mixed mushrooms and kale. We chose a pie each as they were the only dishes that came with that rare commodity, vegetables – potatoes, carrots and broccoli.

We felt pretty good at finishing the walk today. We had a plan B. If we were just feeling too cold and miserable after 10kms, we could take a path inland to Zennor which is on the bus route to Pendeen. We decided to carry on, partly I think to show those Americans what Kiwis are made of.

Wednesday 13 May 2026

Rest day number 3 St Ives

Pretty St Ives has attracted artists for years because of the clarity of its light. There are dozens of galleries and artists’ studios. The flagship gallery is the Tate St Ives under the same management as the Tate Modern in London. It exhibits work by modern artists with links to the St Ives area. They also manage the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden in St Ives. Barbara Hepworth worked in stone and bronze and many of her works are very large. The museum is in her studio which has been left as it was when she died in the 1970s. In 2018 we spent a lot of time at her museum and the Tate St Ives so did not go back there this time. Both are absolutely superb.

St Ives is very popular and even at this time of year and mid week it is crowded with visitors. We went out for a walk after breakfast but it was showery and very windy, gusting 62km/hr up on St Ives Head. It was also cold, about 10° feels like 1° in the wind. We checked out the route for leaving town tomorrow and retreated to our warm hotel room. By lunch time the showers were gone, the sun came out, the wind died and the narrow streets, cafes and bars filled with people.

Probably the most popular section of the South West Coast Path is from Padstow to St Ives. This takes about 6 days and has a lovely town at each end and in between a taste of pretty much all the SWCP has to offer but in a gentler version than the more strenuous stretches.  You get the rugged cliffs, steep valleys, tiny inaccessible beaches, cliff top walking, vast sandy beaches and dunes, little fishing villages, military areas, tin mining heritage, turquoise seas, seals, sea birds, cafes, bars, toilets and fellow walkers to make friends with.

After a lazy day today we are back to reality tomorrow. A 24km stretch, of rough rocky terrain, endless ups and downs, boggy fields, isolated with no villages or cafes along the way. We can’t wait to get into it.