Day 21. Gurnard's Head to Porthcurno.

The Longest Day

Felt much better after a hearty meal washed down with a few pints last night at the excellent Logan Rock Inn near the campsite.

After the previous day's wobble I went super lightweight.
Leaving behind sun glasses, sun cream, hand sanitizer, bus timetable, guide book and loose change to make room for more food and water.
As I wasn't carrying a day pack all the supplies were stuffed into my pockets making my shorts look tighter than Ray Mears'.
That's not actually true because no-one has shorts tighter than Ray Mears but a long stride would be out of the question and climbing over stiles would be difficult.

I picked up the path back at Gurnard's Head and set off for Pendeen hoping to make up for time lost yesterday.

The going was still tough but the temperature was more reasonable and a slight breeze helped to keep me a bit cooler.

Porthmeor Cove

Sturdy Bridge

 Camera phones are very handy and take good snaps but sometimes they can't capture the full scale and beauty of the scenery.
For example, this picture of Bosigran Cliffs looks ok.

 Look at the almost horizontal crease about a third of the way down with three dark indents just above it.

To put some perspective on it, in this zoomed in picture, if you look at the triangular shaped dark indent, third from the left, the two dots in there are rock climbers.

This area is littered with old mine shafts, adits, carns and caves and could get very boggy but, fortunately, not during this heatwave. 

 Portheras Cove with Pendeen Watch behind the cliff.
I walked down to the small beach in the background and saw some dolphins about thirty feet off shore.

Pendeen Watch

After Pendeen lighthouse the path went through the scarred, industrial landscape of Geevor and Levant mines.

The scale of the industry here was immense and the information boards vividly illustrated the hard lives the men, women and children had.

Levant Mine

 I lost the path a bit after the mines and was scrambling around on the cliffs when a sea fog suddenly rolled in so I swiftly moved back inland

Kenidjack valley was beautiful, isolated and eerie in the thickening fog.

I stopped for a sandwich at the National Trust car park at Cape Cornwall.

The women working there thought I was hilarious when I told them that I planned to walk to Porthcurno that evening.

Every time I've been to Cape Cornwall to play golf or have a hike the weather has always turned inclement which is a shame because the views around here are spectacular.

Looking back to Cape Cornwall through the sea fog

Time was getting on so I got a bit of a spurt on to Sennen Cove.
Five hours of step aerobics deserves a pint so I stopped for a quick one in The Old Success.

Sennen Cove

The sea fog had lifted and the sun was shining.
The quick spurt I had put in left me standing at the bar in a pool of perspiration.
If sweat was money I'd be Bill Gates.

It was a well paved path over to Land's End where, fortunately, I was too late for the cheesy photograph and made do with a selfie.
Glad to say there wasn't any summer solstice shenanigans going on.

I had the cliffs to myself and it was a lovely evening.

The Lions Den with Longships in the background

There was still a long way to go and plenty of valleys to traverse.

Porthgwarra was another picturesque fishing village now eerily quiet from de-population and second home ownership or holiday cottages.

There was a performance on when I passed the Minack Theatre but I couldn't sneak a peek.

The steps from the theatre down to Porthcurno beach were particularly difficult after a long day and there was still a couple of miles to go before I reached the campsite.

It was starting to get dark when I got to the tent.

That was the longest day

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