D132: PENZANCE to LANDS END
Friday 3rd May 2024
Today miles: 15.1 Total miles: 2171.7
After a decent sleep I quickly packed up all my gear and then made my way into the Youth Hostel, to participate in the ‘all I can eat’ breakfast. It was a nice change to be starting my day on a full stomach. After leaving the Youth Hostel I made my way back to the coast, via the Aldi store to pick up some additional snacks.
There’s a nice promenade running adjacent to the road all the way to Newlyn Harbour. I met up with a couple of nice locals who were warming up before their morning jog towards Mousehole. We got to talking and instead of running they decided to keep me company by walking and talking for the next two miles. It was nice to have company. I decided to take a short break at Mousehole, overlooking the harbour and enjoyed a cold can of fizzy pop. After Mousehole (apparently it’s pronounced Mousel) there’s a long gradual ascent along the pavement, then a rough track up towards Penzer Point. There’s several old ruined tin mines close to the path along this section of coast.
The route continued across the hilltop until the approach into Lamorna where the path descends down into Lamorna Valley. There’s a small wooden bridge over the stream and then a short descent up to Rosemodress Cliffs. There’s several houses and bungalows randomly spread across the hillside. The footpath would randomly split off in several directions but I chose to just stick to the track that looked the most trodden and this worked out well. I could see several small secluded beaches with people playing on the sand and wondered how they had managed to get down the side of the cliffs. The next few miles went by quickly, the landscape was fairly flat but pretty. The footpaths were reasonably busy and I encountered dozens of dog walkers.
There’s several more small coves to walk across, many starting with ‘Porth’ like Porth Corno, Porth Chapel and Porthgwarra. This translates in Cornish to port or harbour. At one of these small bays, Mill Bay I dropped onto the beach and walked along the rocks for a few minutes. I noticed a huge bone, around five foot long sitting on the beach. It looked like a whale bone and it’s probably been there for many years At Gwennap Head there’s a large section of path which winds its way through huge boulders and rock formations, it’s pretty and interesting to look at. On arrival at Gwennap Head lighthouse I decided to take an extended break. I spread out my wet tent to dry in the sun and spread myself out in the shade of a huge boulder. I eventually moved on two hours later. The final three miles towards Lands End are through pretty rolling hills with lots of footpaths.
I arrived at Lands End and headed straight for the pub and ordered myself a drink whilst I waited for the bus to arrive and take me back to Penzance. I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening in the Penzance Wetherspoons. My bus back to Alnwick arrived at 9.30pm and I’m hoping the four pints of lager that I drank will help me to sleep.
Werewolfandflump UK Coast Path 