2019 – England- Cornwall – St Buryan – Cornish Coastal Pathway and much more…

Cornwall

The Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel meet at the South- Western tip of England, “ Lands End”, County of and Duchy of Cornwall . It’s a land of craggy cliffs, granite rock weathered to amazing shapes, sandy beaches and wild moorland. Equally, Cornwall is a land of mystery, smuggling, Poldark and ancient tin mines. Today there is much for the tourist, domestic and international to explore.

It’s mid July, UK State Schools are a week away from going on holiday, so we have a week down at the far south western end of Cornwall in an AirBNB in the tiny village of St Buryan, (see map above), well placed to explore some of the best that Cornwall has to offer.

Getting to Cornwall

Car – we drove from North Essex, down to Cornwall with an overnight stop at Lyme Regis on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset. It was a good drive, we took in the New Forest and a stop in rural Dorset. Yes there are bus services to get around the County, but for me the car works every time. And it’s fun squeezing a car around the tiny Cornish lanes!!

Train / Rental Car – there is a good fast train service from London to Truro and on to Penzance. You can get rentals there and this will work for some travellers. A point in choosing a rental car, roads in Cornwall can get very very narrow, front and rear warning sensors are a real bonus when a double decker bus needs you to nudge into what looks like a hedge and is actually a hedgerow hiding a very solid earth and Cornish granite wall!

Air – Newquay has a range of flight options, including to/from London, Dublin and Manchester.

Our Plans

We decided to focus on this particular south west corner of the county, centred on St Buryan with the Cornish Coastal Path in easy striking distance for some amazing coastal loop walks. The web site Iwalkcornwall.co.uk was excellent in helping us choose walks.

We also wanted to get to local beaches and the Minack Theatre, see below, plus factor in some other “ must see venues” – like St Michaels Mount, St Ives, Mousehole and a Tin Mine without spending too much time driving.

Cornish Coastal Path

We were fortunate to be able to experience several sections of this Coastal Path. It is well signposted, the scenery is nothing short of spectacular be it in sun shine or driving rain. The Coastal Path winds along the tops of headlands and then dives down into adjoining sandy or rocky coves, with steep hedgerows either side of the path, sometimes forming a tunnel of foliage.

Down in the coves you may find a cafe, excellent public toilets and at beaches like Porthcurno there is a pub, cafe and the Telegraph Museum – site of the first telegraphic cables from India and around the world to the U.K.

If you like walking, and can get down to Cornwall, the Coastal Path will provide a rich array of walks, short or as long as you like. You can be guaranteed stunning views whatever the weather! Just come prepared, and with stout walking footwear!

St. Michaels Mount

Bearing an uncanny resemblance to its Normandy lookalike, Mont St Michel, the Cornish version of St Michaels Mount is a clear tourist favourite destination. Just across the bay from Penzance it’s impressive to view.

Some points to note if you intend to visit St Michaels Mount-:

• We visited on a partly cloudy day, took a pack lunch, had a great visit and a picnic , so overall although it was very busy, it worked well for us and had it been a sunny day the views would have been even better.
• There is well organised cash parking on the mainland across from the Mount and it’s a flat walk across the causeway, do take note of tide times, a boat may be available at high tide.
• The causeway just after the tide has left will be a little slippy and the cobbled effect of the stonework is a little uneven to walk over. Good walking trainers are ideal. We saw too many “ flip flop” style footwear, not to be recommended at all.
• Once at the Mount, it is National Trust, when we visited there was an excellent young lady telling stories to children ( and adults) who did not want to walk up to the House/ Chapel at the top of the Mount.
• The walk up the hill to the House/Chapel, is steep, uneven and requires care. Again solid walking trainer footwear as a minimum is highly recommended both for the walk up, as well as the return journey down, potentially equally challenging.
• Inside the House/ Chapel, it was delightful and the attendants, available to answer any questions, were excellent.

Mousehole ( pronounced muzzle)

Mousehole is a pretty Village and harbour, and for us at St Buryan about a 5 mile drive. We knew the roads would be narrow, the car parking challenging, but we went anyway, managed a park on the harbour quayside and had a delightful afternoon exploring.

The harbour is closed from November to April and the narrow entrance literally boarded up, but allowing sea water to pass through. Larger fishing boats head to other harbours over this period.

The Spanish were clearly active in the 18th century, we found evidence shown below of Mousehole residents being killed fighting off marauding Spanish invaders! This afternoon just a few tourists were invading, challenging one way streets and car parking spaces, it was great fun!

St. Ives

Sitting on the southern end of St Ives Bay, is the town and harbour of St Ives. The coming of the railway was critical to the seaside resort development that we now witness, equally is the location of the beaches that make up St Ives from Carbis Bay all the way around past the St Nicholas Chapel on the Point, providing great beach activities for the family whatever the weather.

Our primary reason for visiting St Ives was to visit the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Gallery and Garden. Stunning, fantastic tour guide, brilliant value for money and spectacular sculptures – see pics below.

One point to note – Getting to St Ives – arriving by car may be a necessity, but if not we can thoroughly recommend taking the train from St Erth, great Park and Ride facilities there and the train runs every 30 mins. It’s a 15 min trip, lovely views and 4 people for £8 return, seems a bargain!

Minack Theatre

The Minack Theatre is a world renowned unique theatrical venue whilst perched high above the English Channel on the Cornish Coast. Please check out their web site for plays that match your taste and timing. The play that fitted out timetable was the “ Roses of Eyam”, a tale of the Plague in 17th century Derbyshire.

It started to rained about an hour into the 3 hour performance. Fortunately we had good waterproof gear, anoraks and trousers, plus still replete from the Goat Curry served up in the car park, pre- performance which was superb.

A few notes from our Minack visit, the grassy seats are more comfortable than the concrete ones, and we highly recommend the seat cushions. There are no “pre-numbered” seats, but if you buy seats towards the front you will be assured of hearing the actors. Plenty of room in the car park but getting there early and into the queue ensures a better seat close to the front.

Nevertheless, check out the pics below, if you have a chance to go, DO, but be prepared!

Geevor Tin Mine

Some of Cornwall’s best iconic images are of Tin Mine chimneys in stark relief against the dramatic coastline. We wanted to get a sense of Tin mining and about 30 minutes drive north west from our AirBNB base in St Buryans was the Geevor Tin Mine.

Now a museum, it is beautifully presented and a stark reminder of the dreadful, “ no health or safety” conditions that the miners worked under. The museum is worth at least half a day to visit and includes if you wish a walk, or in my case a “ bent over squeeze”, through an original 19th century mine tunnel. This part of the visit brought home both that at 6ft +, I was very unsuited to being a Cornish miner who were much closer to 5 ft!!!

We really enjoyed this look back in England’s glorious industrial past that made a very few Mine owners and families extremely wealthy and very many Miners and their families live short very hard working lives.

Our week in Cornwall was too short to do more than concentrate on a small area, enjoy lots of what that had to offer and some superb Cornish food, beer and hospitality along the way.

Our base was the village of St Buryan and the pics below show the narrow lanes that abound – do please drive with care- our AirBNB cottage – quite excellent accommodation – the village centre – pub, shop, and lovely church plus a reminder of both the excellent food and Cornish beer – “Proper Job”- and it was!!