Great South West Walk

Friday August 24

Section 38. PORTHCURNO TO PENZANCE. Miles: 11.5. Grading: Strenuous

Start time and location
Could you please report for registration at Porthcurno Telegraph Museum, Eastern House,
Porthcurno, Cornwall, TR19 6JX at 1pm.
The walk will commence at 1.30pm.

Parking
Plenty of parking avaialble at start points.

Bus Services
There are bus stops in Porthcurno, Treen, Lamorna, Mousehole, Newlyn and
Penzance – please see our current Annual Guide for details. Confirmation of all buses can be obtained from traveline on 0870 608 2608 www.traveline.org.uk

Trains
Penzance station is easily reached from the Coast Path, and is a main line station, so you can reach the rest of the country from here. For more information, please
telephone National Rail Enquiries on 08457 484950.

Maps
Ordnance Survey Landranger Series (scale 1:50 000) - Number 203, Land’s End & The Lizard.
Ordnance Survey Explorer Series (scale 1:25 000) - Number 102, Land’s End,
Penzance & St Ives.

General
Porthcurno: accommodation, refreshments, parking and toilets.
Treen (off Coast Path): accommodation, shop, pub, parking, toilets and public
telephone.
Penberth: toilets
Lamorna: accommodation, pubs, café, parking, toilets and public telephone.
Newlyn: cafés, toilets, parking and public telephone.
Penzance: accommodation (including a youth hostel), cafés, restaurants, pubs, shops (including a chemist), post office, toilets, parking and public telephones.

TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE
Station Road, Penzance, TR18 2NF. Tel: 01736 362207.

YOUTH HOSTEL
Castle Horneck (1 mile/1.5 km north west of the town centre).

TAXIS
Call the National Taxi Hotline on 0800 654321, and you will be put through to the nearest participating cab firm.

The Route
This section of the Coast Path is a mixture of superb, strenuous coastal walking then, after Mousehole, it becomes urban. However, the word urban does apply to a path with superb views across Mount’s Bay, and there are certainly worse urban areas to be in than Mousehole, Newlyn and Penzance. Mousehole is probably the most picturesque of the Cornish honey-pots, Newlyn is the UK’s busiest fishing port, and
Penzance is a fascinating town with many truly interesting attractions.

PORTHCURNO TO LAMORNA COVE

Porthcurno Bay is one of the most
beautiful coves in Cornwall - golden sands backed by magnificent cliffs face a beautiful bay where the sea varies in colour from deep purple to jade green and Mediterranean blue.
The Coast Path starts at the back of Porthcurno beach. You join a steep track, overlooking the beach to Percella Point.

The white pyramid by the path is a guide for shipping and marks where the first transatlantic cable came ashore in 1880. Porthcurno is the landfall of a fibre optic cable laid in 1995 and the longest undersea cable laid in 1996 to Japan through landing points in Spain, Italy, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Korea to Japan; and of 14 now disused telegraph cables. There are
magnificent views over Porthcurno, the Minack Theatre and to the Logan Rock. At Percella Point is a yellow/red Telegraph Cable sign.

(Just beyond the Telegraph Cable sign the National Trust has put in a path which loops round the next headland and keeps you nearer to the sea. There is also a steep path that goes down Treen Cliff to the beach. You can use this beach if you've not got room in your rucksack for your costume - it is a steep climb, but the views can be magnificent!)

The headland loop path joins up with the main Coast Path and just after is a path inland to Treen (10 minutes). There is a campsite, shop, toilets,
accommodation and also the Logan Rock Inn. The Coast Path then crosses the base of Treryn Dinas (fortress settlement) with an Iron Age cliff castle.

Most people will want to make the diversion onto this headland because of its well known Logan stone. The word 'logan' itself comes from a Cornish verb to log,
meaning to move.

The Logan Rock is said to weigh 80 tons. Dr Borlase, the great Cornish antiquary of the 18th century said of the rock, ‘It is impossible that any lever, or indeed force,
however applied in a mechanical way, can remove it from its present situation’. This statement was made in 1824 and was the indirect cause of the stone being overthrown. Lieutenant Goldsmith, a nephew of the poet, Oliver Goldsmith, when cruising the coast, determined to prove that Dr Borlase was wrong. Landing with a dozen
sailors he succeeded in dislodging the giant rock. There was a local outcry and the Admiralty compelled the officer to replace the stone at his own cost, and the bill for this mammoth task, which required 50 men, may be seen in the Logan Rock Inn. Sadly, the stone no longer rocks.

Passing over Cribba Head, Tater-du lighthouse comes into view ahead. The path then drops into Penberth Cove.

This is a wild and picturesque cove with a large windlass at the head of a slipway paved with great flat stones. There are a few very substantially built stone cottages, lobster pots, fishing nets and other gear, as well as discreet toilets behind the National Trust sign. Penberth, according to tradition, was in ancient times a landing place for Phoenician merchants who came for Cornish tin.

If you are walking from Penberth to Tater-du in springtime, there is a blanket of wild flowers: bluebells, whitebells, thrift, daffodils, narcissi and many more.

Porthguarnon Cove is unspoilt and at the top of the next hill you meet a footpath that goes to Treverven Farm (should you be wanting a campsite) and to the seaward side is Coffin Rock.

As you progress east along Trevedran Cliff you will notice the path is veering away from the cliff top. As a result it does not run out to and around Merthen Point. As the path loses height nearing St Loy’s Cove you will pass a series of small high-walled granite fields - plots would be a better word.

The path starts to come in towards a wooded valley and you will pass above a house seaward of you. Once past it immediately watch for a stile on your right – this is your route. Once over the stile the Coast Path drops steeply and sometimes muddily into an area of woods which are best described as almost tropical. The path meanders through the trees and crosses a stream.

Those walking this section nowadays are indeed fortunate as there is now a B & B and a tea room in this idyllic valley.

To continue your walk, follow the path through the trees. You will emerge onto a bouldered beach. Your path is along these boulders so watch your step and, at the same time, watch for a cleft in the low cliff with a Coast Path direction sign because your beach exit is only about 50 yards (46 m) along from where you joined it. It has been known for some, being so intent on watching their footing, to have missed the exit completely and continued along until forced to return, which is extremely frustrating, so you need to be alert.

The Coast Path rises from the beach through a lush section which can overgrow quickly in the spring.

Chough Zawn is where the Penlee (Mousehole) lifeboat, The Solomon Browne, was lost with all hands at Christmas 1981 during an astonishingly courageous bid to
escue the crew of the coaster Union Star. The coaster had been driven ashore in savage south-easterly gales gusting to Force 12. All eight aboard the Union Star were lost.

Tater-du lighthouse was first operated in 1965, after this part of the coast had a bad reputation for wrecks. In fact it earned itself the title of 'fishing boat graveyard'. These wrecks continued until October 1965 when the Spanish vessel 'Juan Ferrer' went ashore at Carn Boscawen and eleven men were drowned. The loss of life caused a public outcry which resulted in the lighthouse at Tater-du being built. The lighthouse is fully automated and private - public access is prohibited.

Leave Tater-du through the large gates heading east (disused quarry north, lighthouse south). This section of the Coast Path takes you through a
tumbled granite landscape to Lamorna. There is a striking stone monolith at the top of Carn Barges (mid-way between Tater-du and Lamorna). Be
careful on Carn Barges not to be diverted on to the inland path to Lamorna - the better and official route is round the coast.

Look out for the cross just before Lamorna, inscribed 'D.W.W. March 18th 1873'. Lamorna itself is not seen until the last minute.

LAMORNA

Lamorna has a harbour and deserted quarries scar the cliffs. It is a very wild, untidy place - it has large granite boulders and these provide excellent view points and picnic spots.

In the past Lamorna was best known as the producer of fine quality granite, and this was shipped out from the little harbour. Much of the stone for the Thames Embankment, the Bishop Rock and the Wolf Rock lighthouses, came from Lamorna.

Refreshments can be obtained at the café and toilets are at the far side of the bay. Along the road is the pretty hamlet of Lamorna with the Lamorna Wink Inn, originally an illegal beer house. The nickname goes back to the time when for £20 anyone could open an alehouse such as this. Spirits were barred but a wink could produce smuggled brandy, as shown on the sign!

LAMORNA COVE TO PENZANCE

After the café you continue on behind the harbour and cross the bridge (toilets on your left). You go up past a complicated waymark which, unless you look at it carefully, almost sends you the wrong way. However, keep right with only one house on your right (the track on the left is an inland route to Mousehole).

The path from Lamorna to the next headland, Carn-du, is a scenically striking granite cliff formation. From Carn-du is a magnificent seascape - St Michael's Mount, Tater-du and Lamorna.

The path then goes through the Kemyel Crease Nature Reserve, a reserve owned by the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

You then come to the disused coastguard lookout at Penzer Point. Continue along this leafy lane past some houses and join a road where you turn right into Mousehole. This road entry is opposite Point Spaniard on the seaward side.

It has this name because it was the supposed landing place of a force of raiding Spaniards in 1595 and with the exception of one house, (the Keigwin, reportedly the oldest building in Mousehole), Mousehole was burnt to the ground before the raiders destroyed Newlyn, Paul and Penzance.

The views coming into Mousehole are urban but good, with the town huddled around the harbour. St Clement's Isle forms a natural and valuable breakwater at the mouth of Mousehole Harbour. Long ago it was the abode of a hermit and it is from him that the island takes its name.

As you walk down the road to Mousehole on the left is the Wild Bird Hospital. This was started by the Yglesias sisters, one of whom (Dorothy) wrote ‘The Cry of a Bird’. It is now run by the RSPCA - note the ship's bell to be rung by those who have brought a bird for treatment.

Few find the correct route into Mousehole. When you have passed the Bird Hospital on your left there is a post box on your right with a Coast Path sign pointing the way you have come, but not the way you are going! Turn right at an acute angle opposite Kemyel Cottage. Go down a narrow tarmac lane. Part way down bear slightly left heading towards the rocks (St
Clement's Isle) which you can see out to sea.

Just before the foreshore bear left along a terrace and fork right into a car park. Go to the bottom right end of the car park to continue briefly along the harbour side. You then have to turn in again left and first right. However, those with an interest in history should go past the house with the pillars, the Keigwin, the oldest and most attractive house in the village. It has a large porch with granite columns. The turn brings you out on to a busier street; bear right along it to come behind the harbour again.

This route takes you past the home of Nettie Pender who has written a book about her early recollections of Mousehole.

MOUSEHOLE

Mousehole (pronounced ‘mow-zell’) is named after the cave the Mousehole. The harbour was the centre of Mousehole in more ways than one. Long ago it achieved fame as the landing place of the Knights of St John back from the Holy Land, and the
harbour is still the main attraction for tourists today, but its
commercial use has sadly decreased with the development of a much better harbour at Newlyn.

The official Coast Path leaving Mousehole goes up a narrow road. We
suggest you pass through the car park at the other end of the harbour, near some toilets, and along a concrete path. Go round the corner and up steps past a lifebuoy. At the top turn right along a pavement.

What was once a ‘road’ Coast Path to Newlyn is no more. In 2001 a new cycle/walkway was opened seaward of the road. Your only hazard is being run over by a cyclist which is preferable to a bus as was the case up until the walkway was built and opened.

Just past Penlee Point is the Penlee lifeboat station. The tragedy at Christmas 1981 is commemorated by a small garden at the lifeboat station. The new larger lifeboat is stationed at Newlyn.

On the landward side is the Penlee Quarry and blasting can be heard. The works are an eyesore and if it is windy it can be unpleasant.

NEWLYN

There are three quays at Newlyn. The first is the South Pier which has the Ordnance Survey Tidal Observatory, which is a rather insignificant red and white building near the harbour lighthouse – the mean sea level used in Ordnance Survey maps is taken from Newlyn. There is also a small medieval quay.

The harbour presents a colourful picture with many boats, a landing stage, nets and boxes of fish. Just before the memorial of Louisa A M MacTrigor, who died in service in 1917, notice on your left Cooper's Court, which is a reminder of the time when a plentiful supply of barrels was an essential part of the fish exporting trade.

Go round the back of Newlyn Harbour passing the War Memorial. Then bear right over the little bridge; the Seaman's Mission is on the right. Over the bridge bear right to come out once more behind the beach. Walk along the only promenade in Cornwall.

As you reach the road there are some toilets and this part of Penzance is known as Wherry Town.

There are some rocks here known as Wherry Rocks on which used to be a tin mine with power being transmitted by flat rods from the engine onshore.

You walk past an open air swimming pool dating from 1935. The War
Memorial is a good place for a last look back at the coast.

The Battery Rocks were used for coastal defence. There are some interesting
buildings: the Barbican, the Dolphin, Coinagehall Street, the Trinity House building housing the National Lighthouse Museum, the Customs House and Holman's dry dock.

From Penzance harbour the Scillonian III sails to the Isles of Scilly.

At journey's end is Penzance station opened in 1852. There is a Tourist Information Centre outside the station and further information about Penzance can be obtained.

PENZANCE

Penzance in Cornish means 'holy head' or 'holy headland' (pen - head; sans - holy) and is supposed to refer to a small chapel dedicated to the patron saint of fishermen, St Anthony, that stood above the harbour.

Market Jew Street has some remarkable raised pavements together with many of the principal shops and the Market House, a domed granite building occupied by a bank. In front of the classical façade stands a statue of Sir Humphrey Davy, the inventor of the miner's safety lamp who was born in Penzance.

From the Market House you can turn into Chapel Street to the see the extraordinary Egyptian House, built in 1835-6 and now used by the National Trust as a shop. This was designed by John Foulston the architect who planned a whole town centre for Devonport (Plymouth). Number 25 Chapel Street, a pleasant red brick Georgian house, was once the home of Maria Branwell, the mother of the Bronté sisters.

The Admiral Benbow pub was once owned by Roland Morris, the expert skin diver and wreck explorer. It is filled with items of interest collected from the seabed.

Just down from Chapel Street is Coinage Hall Street, and although there is nothing of note now to be seen it is its name which is important. This stems from the time when Penzance was a Stannary town, and here ingots of tin were brought to be assayed as a check on purity and for assessment of taxes. In this process a corner, or coign, was taken off each ingot, hence the name Coinage.

Penzance is a busy and attractive town and if time permits visit the Morrab Gardens and the Penlee Memorial Park with its Museum and 1,000 year old Cornish Cross with a Latin inscription. The fascinating Geological Museum is in Alverton Street.

CIRCULAR WALKS (all distances are approximate)
1. TREEN 394 231

From Treen a variety of circular walks are possible. It is one of the most stunningly scenic areas in West Cornwall.

There is a car park, toilets, shop and the Logan Rock pub at Treen. From the car park go through the gate at the back of the toilets and turn right, following the field edge and then cut across some fields to join a lane into Penberth. Unfortunately this footpath is not signposted or waymarked.

An alternative, but longer route is to follow the road out of Treen past the pub and then turn right on to the St Buryan Road and right again on to the Penberth Road. This brings you to the village of Penberth.

Ascend the Coast Path towards Porthcurno. As you walk over Cribba Head the Logan Rock can be seen on your left. Cross a small stream before reaching a path junction. Here you can turn left to visit the Logan Rock. Return to the Coast Path with views to Porthcurno and the Minack Theatre.

You now have a choice of routes:-
Return to your car at Treen (1.5 miles - 2.5 km)

b) Turn left on to a more rugged path nearer the sea over Treen Cliff, or keep on the Coast Path, and visit Porthcurno and the Minack Theatre (very steep paths) (3.25 miles - 5 km).

c) Cross the car park opposite the Minack Theatre. Follow the Coast Path to the sandy cove of Porthchapel. Water from the Holy Well of St Levan is still used for baptisms. Shortly after the well leave the Coast Path to continue straight ahead to St
Levan, named after the 5th century Breton saint, St Selevan. The track emerges to cross a metalled lane. Cross the field to climb stone steps before continuing across a path between fields heading for Rospletha farm. From here a lane takes you to Porthcurno where you cross a metalled road and then cross fields to Trendrennen Farm and back to Treen (4 miles - 6.5 km).

2. LAMORNA COVE 451 242

Leave the cove heading west past the café. Walk to Tater-du lighthouse. Pass the gate and driveway down to the lighthouse continuing ahead to the cottages.

You now have the choice of two routes. From the cottages you can either:

Continue up the driveway to Tregiffian Farm. Turn right and follow the field edge to
Rosemodress Farm, Tregurnow Farm and back to Lamorna (3.25 miles - 5 km).

or: (see over)
Turn left to Boscawen Point and St Loy's Cove. Follow the Coast Path over a stream, but when the Coast Path turns left you continue through a wooded valley to the road where you turn right. An alternative to this is to follow the track from St Loy's to Boskenna and across a field to Boskenna Cross. The road takes you to Tregiffian Barrow with the remains of a Bronze Age. An English Nature sign provides information on the megalithic chambered tomb, constructed some 5,000 years ago. From the barrow, follow the grassy path to a stone stile next to a metal gate.

Go to the Merry Maidens stone circle (possibly from Menr Maen - meaning Great Stone). A path leads from the middle of the circle to the corner of the field directly opposite the stone stile. Cross the stile, noting two further large standing stones in a field to the left. These are The Pipers, two Bronze Age standing stones 12 feet (3.5 m) high, said to represent the two pipers who played for the Merry Maidens to dance on a Sunday, and who were turned to stone. Pass over a stile adjacent to the main road, bearing right down a metalled lane signed to
Menwinnian Country House Residence for the Elderly. Pass a converted chapel and take the bridleway on your left, then turn right passing the Lamorna Wink pub back to your car (5 miles - 8 km).

3. LAMORNA COVE 451 242

Leave the cove heading east past the toilets. Walk to Mousehole on the Coast Path. Have a look at the quaint streets and possibly have lunch or a cream tea. For the r
eturn you can either go back up the road that you used to get to Mousehole and then when you leave the road, look for the stone stile on your right and follow the path to Kemyel Drea, Kemyel Crease and Kemyel Wartha, back to Lamorna. An alternative is to turn to take the field path from the steep lane that runs from the harbour to Raginnis Farm and cross the metalled road to join up with the path to Kemyel Drea as above (4 miles - 2.5 km).

If you have any question on any of the above please do not hesitate to contact one the event organisers found on the Contact us page click here

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