Much of the peninsula is maintained by the National Trust
including Lizard Point, the southernmost point in Great Britain. We were happy to be doing this hike with another hiking family, the Holmans – Phil, Val and Aine – who are friends of ours from Metherell. Aine is a schoolmate of Rebecca’s, Val is a walking partner of Christine’s, and Phil is a friend of mine. Gwendolyn did not join us on this trip. Instead, she spent the day with her friend Niamh and Niamh’s family so that she could attend her schoolmate Rebecca’s birthday party.
We began our day early and decided to get some tea and coffee before heading out on our eight-mile hike. We enjoyed a fine snack at the Polpeor Café, whose claim to fame is being England’s southernmost café, before heading out on the trail.
Here is a view of Lizard Point. There is a lighthouse here
and an old lifeboat station (notice how tucked into the cliffs it is!),
but other than those two places and a couple of cafés, it is primarily unspoiled – unlike Land’s End. We bonded with Val over Land’s End. She is definitely of the same opinion about the place as we are!
We started our hike following a clockwise route: beginning up the west side of The Lizard, crossing some heathlands to the east side, and then walking south to our starting point. Almost immediately after beginning, the fog rolled in. Phil started telling the girls that the fog rolls in when the kraken, a sea monster, is about to strike. He told them that the fog doesn’t lift until it gets its victim. Sometimes you can even hear it, he said, but the sound description that he gave sounded remarkably like a foghorn. The girls had fun with this story. Here are a couple of views of the fog. They added to the scenery in their own way.
Rebecca and Aine are great hikers, and as you can see, the scary story didn’t faze them a bit.
I was excited to be on The Lizard because of the rocks, which are made up of ocean crust that has uplifted. In fact, serpentine has been mined from the area for a long time.
Our first stop on the trail was a Kynance Cove, a place recommended by Roland because of the excellent rock outcrops.
This is a lovely beach setting with a soft, fine sand. We walked down to the cove for lunch and lounged around for a bit.
Rebecca did a bit of wading, or, as they say here, she went for a 'paddle'.
After lunch and relaxation, we headed inland across the heathlands of the Lizard Downs National Nature Reserve with the destination of Cadgwith. The sun was shining up here away from the coast. We went through some varied terrain, crossed many stiles (perhaps the most varied and highest number we’ve crossed on any hike here!), covering this stretch rather quickly. Here’s all of the group but me standing on my favorite kind of stile, one with stones steps sticking out of a stone wall.
The public footpath led through a churchyard
and we were able to explore the grounds and the interior. A German family who had passed us on the trail were inside singing some sort of song with nice harmonies. This added to the ambience of the place, but it also made me feel as if I was intruding on them! From here it was a short walk to Cadgwith, a cute little fishing village. Typically Cornish, this village is tucked into a very narrow and steep valley. It seems to still be a fishing village and not much much of a tourist haunt. This is one of the Holman’s favorite coastal villages on The Lizard. They were happy to return and we were happy to be there with them. Unlike most villages in Cornwall, Cadgwith was peppered with thatched-roof cottages like this one. We see many more of this type of roof in Devon than we do in Cornwall and this was a welcome treat.
Phil has a favorite pub in the village, the CadgwithCove Inn, and we stopped for drinks before heading on down the trail.
Phil and I spent our time perusing the Ordnance Survey map, trying to figure out how much longer we had left to hike. Christine and Val hit the gift shops.
The Cadgwith Cove Inn seems to still be a fishermen’s pub. When we were ordering our Cornish ales, a bunch of salty looking customers were discussing what would be fished in the coming week. Some of them had on traditional fishing hats and they even had the right accents. I think that they were the real thing! Here are their boats
and a bit of their equipment.
Fortunately, no TV producers have discovered this village for the setting of a new Cornish comedy! Here are the dads and their girls. We’re all smiling because we just ate Cornish ice cream.
We had just under four miles to go to return to our starting point. We started off by viewing the Devil’s Frying Pan.
Phil suspects that this is how Round Hole over near Padstow, which I wrote about in an earlier blog, will end up. I think that he’s right.
The South West Coast Path signs pointed us in the right direction and we proceeded with the hike.
We had beautiful and sunny weather and the colors were fantastic. The flowers are incredible along this stretch of coast as well. I read in our Rough Guide to Devon and Cornwall that the climate is so mild on The Lizard that some Mediterranean plants grow here and nowhere else in Great Britain.
Rebecca and Aine were having fun goofing off. It was wonderful to hear Rebecca laughing hysterically for six hours, practically non-stop!
We passed the Lion’s Den, which is another natural arch along the coast. The coast of Cornwall is quite amazing with its preponderance of sea caves, arches, and sinkholes. I can’t think of a comparable coast that I’ve explored.
We continued on, but were a bit wary with the fog rolling onshore in the distance.
It wasn’t long before we once again heard the kraken, which got louder and louder, it seemed, the closer we got to the Lizard Point Lighthouse. The fog also got thicker and thicker and it even started raining. The girls were completely unfazed by the rain. Rebecca claims to not need a raincoat here, just like the other Cornish children (Aine included) who don’t mind getting wet. All of the parents, though, were more than happy to cover up. We eventually found our way to our starting point, this time in thick fog rather than sunshine. Here’s the lighthouse and the source of the kraken’s 'voice'.
It was a great final Cornish coastal hike and we were glad to be able to spend it with friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment