Lamorna Cove lies just down the coast from Mousehole. There is a tiny village a bit inland and then a small beach set a bit further down the road. Its setting is pretty stunning – it lies in a very narrow valley and like everything else down here, the South West Coast Path goes right through it.
It was a beautiful morning, so we opted to walk down the coast path a bit. Gwendolyn had opted for her ice cream allocation first thing, so she enjoyed hers on the trail.
The coastal relief here was steep, so we were working hard to make our way down the path. Note the Celtic cross perched on this bit of the trail. You may even be able to spot the girls.
There were several spots with sheer drops to the water. We’ve gotten used to these and the girls have become quite good at not getting too nervous going through. We eventually came to a high headland, however, and were rewarded with a nice view of a lighthouse. As you can see, the weather was fantastic.
After about a mile and a half, we returned to Lamorna Cove via the same trail – no circular route, unfortunately.
The girls couldn’t wait to dip their feet in the water. There was a very flat and safe beach here, and they dug in the sand
and as they always do, they ran all over the beach.
The parents, meanwhile, enjoyed some excellent coffee at the quayside café.
A good coffee at a café overlooking the beautiful Cornish coast is enough to keep us quite happy.
Well, the bit in Lamorna Cove took up our whole morning and our plans for the day were beginning to look overly ambitious. We continued on to Porthcurno near the southern tip of the peninsula, designated an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’, as is the area where we live.
This area was once the eastern end of the Transatlantic Cable and during World War II was the scene of a large, underground communications center. After lunch at the appropriately-named Cable Station Inn, we headed down to the beach, yet again looked after by the National Trust.
As we reached the beach, I realized that I had seen pictures of this place before. Finally I realized that the beach is the site pictured on the cover of our Rough Guide to Devon and Cornwall.
The granite of the Penwith Peninsula has weathered to produce very large sandy beach here. It was beautiful, although I can’t seem to replicate the beautiful colors of the book cover.
As at every other beach, the girls loved this place.
We all did quite a bit of chilly swimming, but Rebecca was the champion – she stayed in the longest. I have to say that the British are a pretty hardy bunch. While many people were swimming in wetsuits, many others just had on regular swimming suits (swimming costumes here!) and would get in and swim, non-stop, for 15 or 20 minutes. We couldn’t last more than five minutes at a time. There were even those swimmers who would get in for longer stints, swimming back and forth parallel to the beach for perhaps 30 minutes. Crazy! That was it for our second day at the end of Cornwall. We headed back to the hostel in the early evening, had a nice dinner in the hostel café, a walk on some public footpaths that leave from the hostel, and called it a night.
Sunday we headed home, but not before quickly exploring Land’s End. This is, of course, a long-time tourist attraction. People have been coming here since Victorian times, and now there is a miniature theme park operating here. It is also a big deal for the British to go from Land’s End to John O’Groats, the northernmost point in Scotland. Neither of these places is particularly appealing on their own, however. Fortunately, Roland had told us that the best option to see Land’s End is to park about a mile away in Sennen Cove, and hike along the coast path to the tip, so that is what we did. The car park in this village is right on the water, and Rebecca was amused by one of the signs.
Amazingly, we set out for one of the biggest tourist attractions in the South West without anyone else around. Things don’t start very early in England, but it was a bit surprising to have the whole path to ourselves. It was a pretty walk, and the weather was lovely,
but this stretch of coast isn’t any more breathtaking that any other stretch in Cornwall. In fact, we were commenting that we had hiked on many prettier stretches. Still, the views weren’t awful
and we all had an enjoyable walk.
Here are the girls looking at the rock formations at Land’s End. I had also challenged them to try to spot the Isles of Scilly, a small archipelago about 25 miles to the southwest that is part of Cornwall. Rebecca ended up winning the contest and was rewarded with a snow globe of Land's End.
We headed back to Sennen Cove via the coast path for a quick swim before heading the two hours back to Harrowbarrow. We were able to see some nice geology, like this exfoliation pattern in the granite.
We also had a nice view of the Sennen Cove beach in the distance.
We headed to the beach straightaway
and the girls went right for the water.
There is something about beaches that makes the girls smile uncontrollably!
This is the beach where the girls taught us the RNLI rules: swim between the red and yellow flags,
surf between the black and white flags.
Rebecca went right out into the water to ride the waves. She is becoming quite brave in the water. Keep in mind that the water temperatures are in the 50s! Years of swimming in Lake Superior has paid off!
We all enjoyed ourselves, although Christine and I didn’t get in the water – we’re not crazy!
That was it for our trip. We were glad to have seen this last and famous end of Cornwall. As a parting shot, here is a picture of Gwendolyn’s interpretation of Mousehole based on The Mousehole Cat, which she did for a class project.
Lovely! Smiles on the faces of all!
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