Today’s distance walked – approx 23.5 kms (14.6 miles).
Ascent – approx 642m (2106 ft).
I had thought about staying another day in Porthcurno, but the horrific snoring of the man in the tent next door completely changed my mind. I was up and out by 7.35am.
Today was a decent day, nothing too difficult (despite the guidebook giving half of it a ‘strenuous’ rating) and had a nice variety of scenery.
I started off from the campsite out to Logan Rock and walked several headlands with more impressive granite cliffs. I think this is some of my favourite scenery thus far. The sharp jagged high cliffs on the Northern coastline is beautiful and spectacular, but there’s something about the weathering and the rock formations here that I really like. You really get a sense of the age of the land.
I dropped down into the tiny fishing village of Penberth before more clifftops until St Loy. There was a nice change of scenery here as I entered a wooded section, and then a short length of boulder hopping along the beach. The sun came out from behind a large cloud bank at about 9.15am and the day turned into another scorcher.
The next landmark was the Tater Du lighthouse. After this securing I saw a few people on the trail, including a couple of guys strimming back the overgrown sections. I had to take particular care over the large rocks immediately afterwards as they hadn’t cleared up all the debris and it was difficult to know what we solid under foot. I reached Lamorna at 9.45am.
I had another toilet disappointment in Lamorna (they were closed down) which is beginning to irritate me!
Back onto the next leg I rounded the headland of Carn Du, and saw my first glimpse of St Michaels Mount in the distance of Mount’s Bay. I passed through a nice area of protected woodland called Kemyel Crease, where there loads of birds.
I reached Mousehole 10.50am. It is another quaint old village with a beautiful harbour, tons of character and plenty of tourists. I had a hot chocolate and a large piece of magnificent, light, fluffy Victoria sponge cake in the 2 Fore Street bistro and enjoyed the break.
I left at midday. From here it was road walking through the fishing port of Newlyn, to Penzance. I reached Penzance at 1pm. The beachside promenade was like a step back in time, wasn’t overly nice and was in need of a bit of TLC. But there was a highlight – the fabulous Jubilee swimming pools building which is a wonderful time capsule! It looks like it should have been a location for a 1970’s James Bond film. I did some resupply shopping in Penzance and got under way again.
I reached Marazion in good time and checked into the Dove Meadows Campsite. As I was sorting myself out, Steve who I had the epic burger with in Gwithian, strolled in. It was good to catch up about our past few days on the trail.
I went down to the sea front to see if I could get a boat over to St Michael’s Mount (the tide was in, so I couldn’t walk the causeway) but I was too late, and it was closing. Instead I had a ramble through the main street, of the very cute little village. Back at the campsite in the evening I did a bit of beautification and washed my hair for the first time in 2 weeks, and did my nails. Clean hair feels amazing!